Hitler: Is there more to learn?

Is history better served by a more personal study of Adolf Hitler? Much has been learned, through documentary study, about the aims and strategies of the Third Reich. But by looking more closely at Hitler the man, as Professor Kershaw does in his biography, can we learn more about why the Nazis did what they did?

"The masses need an idol," Hitler is known to have said, and his natural aloofness appears to have been used to his advantage. By temperament, he was a "very private, even secretive" person and few could claim to know him. But he inspired people to worship him: Joseph Goebbels saw him not only as a father-figure but thought him "a fabulous man". Eva Braun, whom he treated abysmally and humiliated regularly in front of others, stayed with him until the end.

What inspired such loyalty, and will history benefit from what is learned? Send us your view.