Eva Braun and Adolf Hitler with their dogs | Source: Unknown
After Adolf Hitler lost in his bid for the 1932 German presidential election, his team of supporters decided that he was badly in need of a public relations makeover. Heinrich Hoffman, Hitler's photographer, had his job cut out for him, but he was up for the challenge. The result of his work was the 1932 book The Hitler Nobody Knows.
Hoffman's book purported that the Hitler nobody knew wasn't an antisemetic egomaniacal lunatic, but a man who was the embodiment of “STRENGTH and GOODNESS”; a “NON-DRINKER, NON-SMOKER, and VEGETARIAN.” Photos of Hitler as a baby, as an adult frolicking with baby deer and dogs, and showing him as a busy, hardworking and competent politician were featured.
The book worked like a charm. It became incredibly popular, selling 400,000 copies in 1942. American magazines also lent a hand in Hitler's public relations campaign. Vogue and New York Times magazines ran flattering puff pieces about Hitler that contained tours of his home and painted a picture of him as a simple, kindly gentleman. It wasn't until the war that people learned the truth about the Hitler nobody knew.
Read more bizarre facts surrounding Adolf Hitler in this article.