HITLER & LINCOLN – Maxine Harris book The Loss That is Forever

HITLER & LINCOLN – Maxine Harris book The Loss That is Forever

In her book The Loss That is Forever, the author, Maxine Harris, talks about an unlikely connection between two very different men, Abraham Lincoln and Adolph Hitler. They both shared fear of death Hitler as well as their mutual desire to be remembered in history. Both had suffered deaths in their family. Hitler was orphaned at seventeen and Lincoln’s mother died when he was nine.

She says that throughout his life Hitler was obsessed with the idea that time was short and he did not have enough time to accomplish the great things he wanted done. She writes that he repeatedly commented "I shall become the greatest man in history. I have to gain immortality even if the whole German nation parishes in the process."

She writes that Lincoln had a preoccupation with death and a desire to live on in history. He wrote friends that he believed that by doing something great his name would "live on forever" in memory of Lincoln the minds of men and women.

In fact, both men achieved their goals, but in very different ways. Hitler did gain immortality of sorts and the German nation did almost totally parish. Lincoln gained immortality in a very different way, by his enormous contribution to America and by his ethical principles. As a result he became the most famous of American president’s. 

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