He is the author of The Red Ripper: Inside the Mind of Russia's Most Brutal Serial Killer ( about Andrei Chikatilo ); Mad Vlad: Vladimir Zhirinovksy and the New Russian Nationalism and Hitler's Piano Player ( about Ernst Hanfstaengl a. k. a. Putzi ).

The Independent called Hitler's Piano Player " an exemplary piece of biographical writing ".

In 2004, his story was told by author Peter Conradi in his book Hitler's Piano Player: The Rise and Fall of Ernst Hanfstaengl, Confidante of Hitler, Ally of FDR.

The 2003 television film Hitler: The Rise of Evil stars Robert Carlyle in the title role and depicts a semi-fictional account of Hitler's life from childhood to the new position of Führer und Reichskanzler, completing his ascension to full totalitarian, dictatorial power in Germany.

According to William R. Shirer in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, von Fritsch played a pivotal role when he balked at Hitler's initial overture to the Army to succeed ailing President von Hindenburg upon his death.

He was, however, an important supporting character in both the TV movie Hitler: The Rise of Evil ( in which he was portrayed by Liev Schreiber ) and author Ron Hansen's historical fiction novel Hitler's Niece.

Baku then became the primary strategic goal of Hitler's 1942 Fall Blau offensive.

Like General Ludwig Beck, Brauchitsch opposed Hitler's annexation of Austria ( the Anschluss ) and Czechoslovakia ( see Fall Grün ), although he did not resist Hitler's plans for war.

Following the Fall of France, the fears that Hitler's expansionist policies would bring ruin upon Germany appeared to have been wrong, and Hoepner, like most opposition generals, even on the OKH, became less critical of Hitler.

Left-wing journalists outed Adolf Hitler's closest ally Ernst Röhm in the early 1930s, causing Brand to write, " when someone — as teacher, priest, representative, or statesman — would like to set in the most damaging way the intimate love contacts of others under degrading control — in that moment his own love-life also ceases to be a private matter and forfeits every claim to remain protected hence-forward from public scrutiny and suspicious oversight.

Beginning in April 1934, and at Hitler's request, Heydrich and Himmler began building a dossier on Sturmabteilung ( SA ) leader Ernst Röhm in an effort to remove him as a rival for party leadership.

Ernst Röhm, SA Chief of Staff, was shot on Hitler's orders, after refusing to commit suicide, in the Night of the Long Knives purge in 1934

Despite the best attentions of French and German doctors, including Adolf Hitler's personal physician Karl Brandt, Ernst vom Rath died on 9 November.

With Hitler's approval he remained head ( Reichsstatthalter ) of the newly named Ostmark, with Ernst Kaltenbrunner his chief minister and Josef Burckel as Commissioner for the Reunion of Austria ( concerned with the " Jewish Question ").

In 1934, the Crimson defended a proposal by Hitler's press secretary, Ernst F. Sedgwick Hanfstaengl, to donate to Harvard a prize scholarship to enable a Harvard student to attend a Nazi university.

Both groupings were not unaffected by Hitler's self-portrayal as a moderate seeking cooperation as opposed to the more revolutionary SA led by Ernst Röhm.

That is especially true for the millions of dead of this century, from the Armenians all the way to the victims of the Gulag Archipelago or the Cambodians who were and still are being murdered before all of our eyes-but who have still been dropped from the world's memory " In his " Postscript " of 21 April 1987, Fest wrote that in his view :" In its substance, the dispute was initiated by Ernst Nolte's question whether Hitler's monstrous will to annihilate the Jews, judging from its origin, came from early Viennese impressions or, what is more likely, from later Munich experiences, that is, whether Hitler was an originator or simply being reactive.

In the early morning of 7 July 1943, Dr Ernst Steinhoff flew von Braun and Major-General Dornberger in his Heinkel He-111 to Hitler's Führerhauptquartier " Wolfsschanze " headquarters and the next day Hitler viewed the film of the successful V-2 test launch ( narrated by von Braun ) and the scale models of the Watten bunker and launching-troop vehicles:

He was never enticed to join the far right in Germany, despite Hitler's attempts to win him over through Ernst Röhm and promises of royal restoration.

After Hitler's rise to power, Ernst Röhm, who headed the SA, then the most important paramilitary wing of the Nazi party, called for a " second revolution ," aimed at removing the elites from control.

Another result of the Stennes Revolt was Hitler's recall of his old Putsch comrade Ernst Röhm from South America to take over the day-to-day running of the SA with the title of SA-Stabschef.

An article " Hitler's Forgotten Library " by Timothy Ryback, published in The Atlantic ( May 2003 ), mentions a book from Hitler's private library authored by Dr. Ernst Schertel.

Otto Wagener held the office under Oberste SA-Führer Franz Pfeffer von Salomon from 1928-1930, and effectively headed the SA from Hitler's assumption of the title Oberste SA-Führer in August until Ernst Röhm replaced him in January 1931.

Both groupings were not unaffected by Hitler's self-portrayal as a moderate seeking co-operation, as given on the Day of Potsdam of 21 March, as against the more revolutionary SA led by Ernst Röhm.

Egon Hanfstaengl ( elder brother of Ernst " Putzi " Hanfstaengl, a prominent figure in the recent 2011 novel In The Garden Of Beasts ), the son of Hitler's foreign press officer, said in a documentary, Fatal Attraction Of Hitler: " He had that ability which is needed to make people stop thinking critically and just emote.

* Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil ( 1985 )... as Ernst Rohm

Hanfstaengl was removed from Hitler's staff in 1933.

Hanfstaengl fell completely out of Hitler's favour after he was denounced by Unity Mitford, a close friend of both the Hanfstaengls and Hitler.

Hanfstaengl has rarely been mentioned or portrayed in dramatizations of Hitler's life or of life in Nazi Germany.

* 1945 – Adolf Hitler's designated successor Hermann Göring sends him a telegram asking permission to take leadership of the Third Reich, which causes Hitler to replace him with Joseph Goebbels and Karl Dönitz.

Attlee responded the next day in the debate on increased air estimates that Hitler's speech contained unfavourable references to the Soviet Union but that " We see here a chance to call a halt in the armaments race ... We do not think that our answer to Herr Hitler should be just rearmament.

Upon Hindenburg's death on 2 August 1934, Hitler's cabinet passed a law proclaiming the presidency vacant and transferred the role and powers of the head of state to Hitler as Führer und Reichskanzler ( leader and chancellor ).

* Hitler: Speeches and Proclamations, a book series compiling Hitler's speeches

Himmler and Hitler met for the last time on 20 April 1945 — Hitler's birthday — in Berlin, and Himmler swore total loyalty to Hitler.

Critics argue that the Charter presents the history of German people as starting from the expulsions, while ignoring events like Holocaust: professor Micha Brumlik pointed out that one third of signatories were former devoted Nazis and many actively helped in realisation of Hitler's goals ; Ralph Giordano wrote in Hamburger Abendblatt " the Charter doesn't contain a word about Hitler, Auschwitz and Buchenwald.

As Hitler began his aggressions, Mussolini decided to occupy Albania as a means to compete with Hitler's territorial gains.

On 30 April, Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide, after which Soviet forces found their remains, which had been burned at Hitler's directive.

But Hitler, supported by Göring, resisted these demands, which he feared would weaken civilian morale and lead to a repetition of the debacle of 1918, when the German army had been undermined ( in Hitler's view ) by a collapse of the home front.

Instead, Hitler appointed Goebbels Reich Chancellor ; Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, who was at Flensburg near the Danish border, Reich President ; and Martin Bormann, Hitler's long-time chief of staff, Party Minister.

" The remains of the Goebbels family were repeatedly buried and exhumed, along with the remains of Hitler, Eva Braun, General Hans Krebs and Hitler's dogs.

He was emotionally dependent on Hitler's favour to the extent that he suffered from psychosomatic illnesses if Hitler was unhappy with him.

In particular, Ribbentrop acquired the habit of listening carefully to what Hitler was saying, memorizing the Führer's pet ideas, and then later presenting Hitler's ideas as his own – a practice that much impressed Hitler as proving Ribbentrop was an ideal National Socialist diplomat.

Hitler's meeting with de Brinon had a huge impact on French public opinion, and helped to put an end to the calls for a preventive war by convincing many in France that Hitler was a man of peace who only wanted to do away with Part V.

That Ribbentrop possessed the power to set up meetings with Hitler and represented himself as Hitler's personal envoy made him for a time a much-courted figure in Britain.

Following the lead of Andreas Hillgruber, who argued that Hitler had a Stufenplan ( stage by stage plan ) for world conquest, Hildebrand argued that Ribbentrop may not have fully understood what Hitler's Stufenplan was, or alternatively in pressing so hard for colonial restoration was trying to score a personal success that might improve his standing with Hitler.

This degree of unity within the German government with both the diplomats and the military united in their support of Hitler's anti-Polish policy, which stood in contrast to their views the previous year about destroying Czechoslovakia, very much encouraged Hitler and Ribbentrop with their chosen course of action.

Ribbentrop, for his part, because of his status as the Nazi British expert, resolved Hitler's dilemma by supporting the anti-British line and by repeatedly advising Hitler that Britain would not go to war for Poland in 1939.

The extent that Hitler was influenced by Ribbentrop's advice can be seen in Hitler's orders for a limited mobilization against Poland alone.

Unlike the other factions, Ribbentrop's foreign policy programme was the only one that Hitler allowed to be executed during the years 1939 – 41, though it was more due to the temporary bankruptcy of Hitler's own foreign policy programme that he had laid down in Mein Kampf and Zweites Buch following the failure to achieve an alliance with Britain, than to a genuine change of mind.

Ribbentrop — who was opposed to Hitler's plans lest Germany lose yet another ally — talked Hitler into giving the Hungarians an ultimatum.

However, Munk's attitude towards Hitler ( and Mussolini ) turned to outspoken disgust, as he witnessed Hitler's persecution of the German Jewish community, and Mussolini's conduct of the war in Ethiopia.