Otto Dietrich - Memoir: The Hitler I Knew

Memoir: The Hitler I Knew

In captivity in Landsberg Prison, Dietrich wrote The Hitler I Knew. Memoirs of the Third Reich's Press Chief, a book sharply critical of Hitler personally and strongly denouncing the crimes committed in the name of Nazism. The first part of the book contains assessments by Dietrich about his character, his reflections on Hitler as a politician and as a soldier, and his critique of his leadership. The second part (Scenes from Hitler's Life) describes Dietrich's first-hand oberservations of Hitler's daily activities before and during the war. The book was republished in 2010 by Skyhorse Publishing, with a new introduction by historian Roger Moorhouse. Moorhouse indicates that "his (Dietrich) insights are sound and sincere, but the obvious question which arises is: when did they occur to him?". However, following the suicide of Robert Ley at Nuremberg, Dietrich's sincere and insightful expression of the wrongs of the Nazi regime was the first, and perhaps the best expression of remorse with self-understanding of a convicted World War II war criminal after conviction and during incarceration. Albert Speer wrote Spandau: The Secret Diaries, Inside The Third Reich, infiltration and The Slave State: Heinrich Himmler's Master Plan for SS Supremacy, but these works were not published until well after his release from Spandau Prison in 1966.