A newly uncovered postcard written by Hitler during World War I suggests that the Nazi dictator wasn’t great at spelling. The postcard was written by the former Fascist leader as he recovered from a war wound in a Munich hospital in December 1916. In it he makes the mistake of spelling the German word ‘sofort’, meaning ‘immediately’, with double ‘f’ instead of one.
The postcard surfaced at a family history roadshow almost a century after being sent by the future dictator to his comrade Karl Lanzhammer. It shows that Hitler was surprisingly keen to return to the front line after being injured in the First World War. From his hospital bed in Munich, nursing a leg wound received in the Battle of the Somme, the then 27-year-old soldier wrote of his intention to ‘report voluntarily for the field immediately’.
Historians say this demonstrates his attachment to his new network of army friends as much as his militaristic zeal. Dr Thomas Weber, an expert on the period from the University of Aberdeen, said: ‘What’s clear is Hitler desperately wants to return to the front and that’s rather unusual, even for soldiers who were generally willing to fight in the war and thought Germany’s cause was a just one.
‘By 1916, if they were on home leave, they tried to stay as long as they could, while Hitler desperately wants to get back to the front. ‘We know from other sources he disliked the sentiment on the home front, where the war was being increasingly criticised, and what he wants is to return to his surrogate family on the front line and…
