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Question #62403 (2009-09-15)

  I'm hoping to find say, 2-3, of the most renowned,
objective and unbiased sources that will state whether
Hitler was a theist (presumably Christian, but that's not
relevant) or an atheist. I don't care which they seem to
think he was, but there is huge disagreement as to which and
I'd like to be able to reference multiple sources to state
which, if possible. Thank you.

Answer(s):

Hello and thank you for your question about Hitler's religious beliefs.

I am afraid that finding unbiased information about Hitler's religious beliefs is very difficult. There is a very balanced and well referenced article in Wikipedia about this question. You can find it at this url:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler's_religious_beliefs

As with any question, your best resource is to look at primary source material. In this case you may want to read Hitler's own writing, Mein Kampf. The Calgary Public Library has several copies of this title.

Some other respected sources about Hitler are The Hitler Myth by Ian Kershaw (call number 943.086 KER); Hitler by Ian Kershaw (2 volumes in one, 943.086 HIT K);Adolf Hitler by John Toland (943.086 HIT T); and Hitler by Joachim Fest (943.086 HIT F).

If you would like to place holds on any of the above books, you can do so at your local library branch, or through our online catalogue at:

http://calgarypubliclibrary.com

We hope this information is helpful to you. Thank you for using the Ask-A-Question service.