<style type="text/css"> .no-show { display: none; } .disable-fade-in{ opacity: 1 !important; transform: none !important; visibility: visible !important; } </style>
Artifacts

A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler by Walter Langer*

Artifact Details

The preface of Walter Langer's book, alongside a photo of Adolph Hitler.

Dr. Walter Langer scoured written sources, interviewed everyone they could find who had met Hitler, and accumulated over 11,000 pages of data to make his report.

William Langer headed the OSS Research & Analysis Branch.  His younger brother Walter worked as a psychoanalyst for the same OSS component.  Walter Langer achieved a measure of fame in 1943 for his classified 249-page analysis of Hitler’s character.  The book addressed how the dictator viewed himself and how the German public and his own close associates saw him; it also featured a reconstruction of Hitler’s life to explain his behavior during World War II.  In the book’s conclusion, Langer accurately predicted that the dictator would commit suicide just before the German surrender.

*Langer used an English spelling of Hitler’s first name instead of the German spelling “Adolf.”

Artifact Specs

29.2 cm x 23.1 cm x 2.8 cm

(L x W x H)

Additional Photos

The first page of Walter Langer's book, "A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler".

Learn More

Official OSS Exhibition Catalogue

The Office of Strategic Services: America’s First Intelligence Agency