I’m fi nished, spent, nothing left to give. It’s been
seven straight days of researching, contemplating
and writing about Hitler, and now when I blink I swear
I’m seeing his stubby little ’tach on my eyelids. Who
knows how authors on the subject do it, devoting
months, even years, to that dark, oppressive period
of history, writing hundreds of thousands of words.
But therein lies the unpalatable truth about the
Führer and the Nazis: they’re strangely compelling.
Whenever I think about Hitler’s enduring pull
on popular culture, seventy years after that moment
in the bunker, I’m reminded of a story about the late
British author Alan Coren, who after spending time
poring over the UK’s most popular book titles,
noticed they were either about cats, golf or Nazis.
He promptly published a book in 1975 called
Golfi ng For Cats and stuck a swastika on the
cover. And guess what.
It was a bestseller.
A quick poke around the internet reveals that
fi ve years ago, 850 new – new! – books about the
Nazis were published in Britain, and I’d wager
most of them would be available in Australia.
Google ‘fi lms about Hitler’ and you’ll get lost
down the Nazi rabbit hole for days.
So what’s going on here? What is it about Hitler
that makes him such a draw card? My theory is that
we all love a good-versus-evil story, especially one
where the villain is put to the sword.
But that’s all I’ve got to offer right now. I need a
break from Mr Hitler and his cronies. I’m off to write
about unicorns or something. Vince Jackson, Editor
12 MB | World of Knowledge - March 2016.pdf
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