Hitler 'war hero' tale is exposed as not true

A NOTORIOUS propaganda story told by Adolf Hitler about himself can now be exposed as a lie.

The Fuhrer claimed that he was blinded in a British mustard gas attack in the First World War but previously unpublished letters reveal that his blindness was, in fact, caused by a mental illness .

Letters written by two American neurologists cast serious doubts on Hitler's mental state at the end of the First World War, confirming he was treated for a psychiatric disorder known as "hysterical blindness".

The previously unseen evidence has been made available to a leading historian, Thomas Weber of the University of Aberdeen, following his acclaimed book Hitler's First War last year.

The letters, written in 1943, recall that Otfrid Forster, a renowned neurosurgeon, told each of the Americans in the 1930s that he had inspected Hitler's medical file in 1918 which clearly showed that Hitler had been treated for hysterical blindness.

Dr Weber described the new material as "crucial" because Hitler had his medical file destroyed, and those with knowledge of it were murdered or committed suicide.

hnews@herald.ie