First published in 1938 “I Knew Hitler” is the missing link in the literary trail which traces the fortunes of Adolf Hitler from Linz to Berlin. There are surprisingly few personal accounts of life with Hitler from inside the inner circle during the years before he seized power and besides Goebels’ diaries Ludecke is by far the most important of them. Kurt Ludecke was a former confident of Hitler’s who had the misfortune to find himself on the wrong side of the political gulf which led to the 1934 blood purge better known outside of Germany as “The Night Of The Long Knives”. Ludecke was incarcerated twice on Hitler’s orders before finally escaping to Switzerland. Ludecke provides the only detailed account surrounding the actions of Hitler as he took the first steps from Landsberg prison to achieve power through the horse trading following the ill starred election of 1933.
