Cultural representations of Hitler
Adolf Hitler has frequently been used as a character in works of fiction. An early example of a cryptic depiction is in Bertolt Brecht's 1941 play, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, in which Hitler, in the persona of the principal character Arturo Ui, a Chicago racketeer in the cauliflower trade, is ruthlessly satirised.
Amongst many other film representations, Charlie Chaplin made fun of Hitler in his 1940 movie The Great Dictator. Alec Guinness's depiction of Hitler in Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973) was a curiously idiosyncratic take on Hitler's persona.
The photomontage artist John Heartfield made frequent use of Hitler's image as a target for his brand of barbed satire. One of the more unusual late works of Salvador Dalí was Hitler Masturbating, depicting this in the center of a desolate landscape.
Mocking satirical folk lyrics include Hitler has only got one ball, and Stalin wasn't stallin'.
Forged journals of Hitler, known as the Hitler Diaries, were published in Germany by the magazine Stern in 1983.
Hitler has been known by many nicknames including Awful Adolf and The Beast of Berlin.
During the Forties, several hard-to-check news stories circulated, namely that Hitler had a nearly exact double living in Plauen, Thuringia, a grocer named Bartholdy. The only difference was said to be that the grocer's ears were bigger.
Hitler was also said to have a nephew in the U.S. Navy named William Patrick Hitler; although this seemed improbable, this was actually true.
