Travel | History | Politics

I Saw Hitler’s Ghost in Europe; He Followed Me Home to America

Lessons from The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

The Hohensalzburg, a medieval fortress in Salzburg, Austria, sits in the gloaming beneath a fresh dusting of snow, casting its reflection on the Salzach River. Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau, not far from here. The Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s mountain retreat and command center during WWII, was located in the mountains about a dozen miles to the south. (Photo: ©Craig K. Collins)

Hitler’s ghost first appeared to me in Paris at the Place du Trocadéro in 2022, as I looked out over the Seine at the Eiffel Tower glimmering at dusk beneath a cold December sky.

There he was, looking warm and natty in his black trousers, double-breasted field-grey coat, white shirt, and black tie, his supreme commander cap atop his head — just as he looked on this very spot in June 1940 when he arrived to survey his spoils of victory.

As I stared at his haunting specter, a winter wind swirled over the Seine, whistled across the Pont d’Iéna, and swept through the Trocadéro, chilling my ears, nose, and fingers.

I shivered.

Hitler didn’t.

And once I saw Hitler, I couldn’t unsee him.

For he was everywhere during my monthlong trip through the Continent.

Left: Albert Speer, Adolf Hitler, and Arno Breker pose with the Eiffel Tower at the Place du Trocadéro, Paris, June 23, 1940. (Photo: U.S. National Archives). Right: The Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro is illuminated beneath a December sky. (Photo: ©Craig K. Collins)

There he was at the Church of Our Lady in Bruges, as I admired Michelangelo’s Madonna and…