Thomas Weber

Historian Professor Thomas Weber charts the rise of Hitler from the awkward post-World War One loner to ruthless dictator and offers new evidence that a biography that helped his rise to power was written by Hitler himself.

Weber says Hitler’s own account of his activities and rise to power is highly unreliable. He explains how a man with no obvious leadership qualities and fluctuating political ideas turned himself into a charismatic, self-assured and virulently anti-Semitic leader.

Weber is professor of history and international affairs at the University of Aberdeen. Becoming Hitler: The Making of a Nazi is a follow-up to his book Hitler’s First War: Adolf Hitler, the Men of the List Regiment, and the First World War, which is being adapted into a television mini-series. He is also author of Our Friend “The Enemy” , winner of the Duc d’Arenberg History Prize.

This event is part of British Academy day at the festival.