Views As A Youth
Hitler's father Alois, though nominally a Catholic, was somewhat religiously skeptical, while his mother Klara was a practicing Catholic. At the Benedictine monastery school which Hitler attended for one school year as a child (1897–1898), Hitler became top of his class, receiving twelve 1s, the highest grade in the final quarter. He was confirmed on 22 May 1904, and also sang in the choir at the monastery. According to historian Michael Rissmann, young Hitler was influenced in school by Pan-Germanism, and began to reject the Catholic Church, receiving Confirmation only unwillingly. Rissmann also relates a story where a boyhood friend claimed that after Hitler had left home, he never again attended Mass or received the sacraments.
According to an interview with a British correspondent years after the First World War, Hitler claimed a mysterious voice told him to leave a section of a crowded trench during a minor barrage. Moments after he left the trench, a shell fell on that particular spot. Hitler saw this experience as a message that he was a uniquely illuminated individual who had a special task to fulfill. This story did not, however, appear in Mein Kampf.
Read more about this topic: Adolf Hitler's Religious Views
Famous quotes containing the words views and/or youth:
“It is surely a matter of common observation that a man who knows no one thing intimately has no views worth hearing on things in general. The farmer philosophizes in terms of crops, soils, markets, and implements, the mechanic generalizes his experiences of wood and iron, the seaman reaches similar conclusions by his own special road; and if the scholar keeps pace with these it must be by an equally virile productivity.”
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“When the merry bells ring round,
And the jocund rebecks sound
To many a youth and many a maid,
Dancing in the chequered shade;
And young and old come forth to play
On a sunshine holiday,”
—John Milton (1608–1674)