: SDF: Similarly we might argue that although Hitler killed millions, his dietary habits were vegetarian, so he was OK.I had to respond to the above myth once before on this board, so with a little cutting and pasting, here we go again:
While it is true that Hitler's doctors put him on a vegetarian diet to cure him of flatulence and a chronic stomach disorder, his biographers such as Albert Speer, Robert Payne, John Toland, et al, have attested to his liking for ham sausages and other cured meats. Even Spencer says that Hitler was a vegetarian from only 1931 on: "It would be true to say that up to 1931, he preferred a vegetarian diet, but on some occasions would deviate from it." He committed suicide in the bunker when he was 56 in 1945; that would have given him 14 years as a vegetarian, but we have the testimony to the contrary of the woman chef who was his personal cook in Hamburg during the late 1930s - Dione Lucas. In her "Gourmet Cooking School Cookbook," she records that his favorite dish - the one that he customarily requested - was stuffed squab (pigeon). "I do not mean to spoil your appetite for stuffed
squab, but you might be interested to know that it was a great favorite with Mr. Hitler, who dined in the hotel often."
The following was contributed to the Vegetarian Pages website by a reader with no particular expertise in the matter but supported by useful references: Hitler was not a vegetarian. His doctor sometimes prescribed that Hitler follow a vegetarian diet to improve his health.
Goebbels, the Propaganda Minister, took this and twisted it to get people to think of the Fuerer as another saintly man like vegetarian contemporary Mohandas K. Gandhi (Mahatmah Gandhi). Gandhi, however, was the complete opposite in that even when his doctor insisted on him drinking beef tea for his health, Gandhi refused, while Hitler
cheated on his doctors orders and only pretended to be a vegetarian, eating pasta stuffed with spicy beef covered up with tomato sauce (ravioli).
Refer to:
Dinshah, J. (1974, January). "Book nook". {A review of Speer, A. (1970). Inside the 3rd Reich} Ahimsa, p. 11. [Available from American Vegan Society, P.O. Box H, Malaga, NJ )8328, USA]
Meyer, R. (1985). "Was Hitler a vegetarian?" Vegetarian Voice, 12 (2), p. 6. (Rudolf Meyer is a past President of the Vegetarier Bund Deutschlands) [Available from North American Vegetarian Society, P.O. Box 72, Dolgeville, NY 13329]
