Three Portraits: Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin

by Emil Ludwig

Este singular opúsculo de uno de los más renombrados biógrafos del siglo xx, Emil Ludwig, fue publicado por primera vez en español en 1939, en una traducción preparada por Francisco Ayala en el Buenos Aires en que se había exiliado. Para su trabajo, Ayala se basó en los manuscritos originales del autor, a medida que éste los iba redactando. Hoy recuperamos este libro, en el que el lector se encontrará con la capacidad de análisis de un biógrafo que, ya en fecha temprana, es capaz de estudiar los mecanismos y motivaciones de determinados comportamientos que le son contemporáneos. Ludwig se había entrevistado con Mussolini y con Stalin, y esbozó para ellos sus retratos del natural. No sucedió lo mismo con Hitler, al que describió sin haberlo conocido. Especial interés tiene el último capítulo, en el que Ludwig busca el origen del militarismo alemán en el espíritu prusiano.

127 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Emil Ludwig (originally named Emil Cohn) was born in Breslau, now part of Poland. Ludwig studied law but chose writing as a career. At first he wrote plays and novella, but also worked as a journalist. In 1906, he moved to Switzerland, but, during World War I, he worked as a foreign correspondent for the Berliner Tageblatt in Vienna and Istanbul. He became a Swiss citizen in 1932, later emigrating to the United States in 1940.

At the end of the Second World War, he went to Germany as a journalist, and it is to him that we owe the retrieving of Goethe's and Schiller's coffins, which had disappeared from Weimar in 1943/44. He returned to Switzerland after the war and died in 1948, in Moscia, near Ascona.

During the 1920s, he achieved international fame for his popular biographies which combined historical fact and fiction with psychological analysis. After his biography of Goethe was published in 1920, he wrote several similar biographies, including one about Bismarck (1922–24) and another about Jesus (1928). As Ludwig's biographies were popular outside of Germany and were widely translated, he was one of the fortunate émigrés who had an income while living in the United States. His writings were considered particularly dangerous by Goebbels, who mentioned him in his journal.

Ludwig interviewed Benito Mussolini and on December 1, 1929 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. His interview with the founder of the Republic of Turkey appeared in Wiener Freie Presse in March 1930, addressing issues of religion and music. He also interviewed Joseph Stalin in Moscow on December 13, 1931. An excerpt from this interview is included in Stalin's book on Lenin. Ludwig describes this interview in his biography of Stalin. What was originally an omitted section of the interview by Joseph Stalin himself, Professor of Montclair State University Grover Furr had finally published an English version of it.

Ludwig's extended interviews with T.G. Masaryk, founder and longtime president of Czechoslovakia, appeared as Defender of Democracy in 1936.

Reviews

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fabulous little book..., fabulous. Just 125 pages, it should be read by anyone interested in history or in meta-history.

The book has three parts. The sections on Mussolini and Stalin are based on the author's private conversations/interviews with them - and contain some remarkable material. The section on Mussolini is the best. The section on Hitler is not based on any first-hand familiarity, though Ludwig does describe one revealing anecdote when he saw Hitler "ambling" down a wide stairway into the lounge of the Kaiserhof in Berlin in 1931, twirling a ring of keys on a metal rod.

Ludwig, a German living in exile, was an anti-fascist and a liberal - and had a beautiful pen and an insightful eye. He saw himself as an observer of history (and great men) in the making, like Xenophon (whom he thus overrates) or Thucydides. And while he is not the latter, he does surpass the former.

Here is a transcript of his interview with Stalin:
http://www.marxists.org/reference/arc...

[Yuri Contreras · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una biografía magnífica escrita en 1939, el análisis del “Cuarto dictador” me pareció el mejor, nos enseña muy claramente la división del Imperio Alemán y Prusia: uno es un estado de arte y espíritu, mientras que el otro favorecía la violencia militar.

[Rodrigo Pinillos Osnayo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un texto corto pero no por ello menos sorprendente.

Escrito a fines de 1939, hace un retrato breve de los 3 dictadores (Mussolini y Stalin, por fuente directa) en plena efervescencia inicial de la IIGM, rematando con un cuarto texto dedicado a Prusia, como responsable de todos los males alemanes - a juicio del autor.

Existen muchas biografías (algunas profusas en su detalle y contenido) sobre los 3 personajes (sobre todo Hitler), pero lo valioso del texto está en sintetizar en pocas páginas características que hoy, 80 años después se han confirmado, y además, en anticipar - con escaso margen de error - el final de la guerra para estos 3 contendientes y sus naciones.

Abunda en juicios de valor, opiniones y sesgos, pero se entiende que de eso se trata el texto: retratos. Y sobre Prusia, también cabe esa crítica, aunque la mentalidad de 1939 era muy distinta a la actual con respecto a las opiniones "políticamente correctas".

[Macoco G.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una auténtica maravilla. Los libros de Historia suelen analizar acontecimientos desde el análisis de hechos pasados. Lo formidable de este libro es que Emil Ludwig nos dejó no solo un estupendo dibujo de la personalidad de esos tres dictadores, si no unas predicciones del futuro desde el mismo meollo del conflicto allá en 1939.

[Chris Langer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting little book comparing and contrasting the three dictators (in 1940). I particularly enjoyed the anecdotes that came with the Mussolini section. I'm curious as to how this book would have looked had it been written a few years later.

[Santiago Armijos Valdivieso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinario opúsculo sobre tres dictadores, cuyas monstruosidades marcaron el siglo XX: Hitler, Mussolini y Stalin. Muy recomendado.

[Matteo Pazzano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un'imparziale analisi psicologica di tre protagonisti della storia effettuata in maniera ravvicinata che ci permette di vederli dentro una luce più intima di come ci viene sempre superficialmente trasmessa.

[Diana Mejia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Famoso historiador que conoció y entrevistó a los hombres que marcaron el siglo XX. Muy interesante mirada a las diferencias en términos de personalidad de los tres dictadores. Recomendado.

[Federico Rospo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Molto interessante. Soprattutto perché è stato scritto prima della fine della seconda guerra mondiale.