Dissertation Paper - The Man Who Sold Hitler
This is a new type of content for the blog; here is my final paper I wrote for my degree.
A paper exploring the powerful mystique of Adolf Hitler’s public image.
Originally, I had the idea to research how we interpret facial expressions using an evolutionary understanding of human expression. To understand if/to what degree contrived expressions in staged portraiture are accepted by us as genuine. I’d started research by looking at the likes of Paul Ekman and Charles Darwin, but I wasn’t completely sold on the idea.
However, after re-discovering Arnold Newman’s portrait of Alfred Krupp - a German industrialist with previous ties to Nazism - a confident new idea solidified.
Arnold Newman - Portrait of Alfred Krupp
Delving deeper into the photographic documentation of the Nazi era, I saw many portraits of Adolf Hitler which lead me to the question… who was Hitler’s photographer?
Through my research efforts, I discovered an intriguing story of political persuasion through photographic propaganda. A man whose image was manipulated depending upon circumstance, depending upon who it was that the people needed at the time. At the heart of this was a photographer by the name of Heinrich Hoffmann. Hitler’s only official photographer, a man who shared a close personal relationship with the tyrant and found himself present for some of the key Nazi party events.
I had no major interest in history before beginning this paper, but as I began working I developed a deep interest in the events surrounding the war. Some notable research sources for this writing include an interview with author Nicholas O’Shaughnessy and negotiating time with some original Hoffmann photo-book’s at the London Imperial War Museum Archives. This paper was graded at: 86%.
Click the button below to open the PDF!