If that doesn't just take the cake. Self finds herself reading about Young Adolf and his dashed hopes of becoming a painter and she actually empathizes! Hitler, a very gauche bumpkin, moves to Vienna with inflated hopes.

In the last post (before this one), a dim assessment of Adolf's artistic talent was delivered by his (only) friend Gustl Kubizek, who ends up accompanying him to Vienna. Little does Kubizek know that Adolf is harboring a deep, dark secret:

Hitler still harbored the secret of his failed exam and pretended to attend the academy each day, a bizarre situation made worse by Kubizek's easy acceptance to the Conservatoire to study music.

The Gallery of Miracles and Madness, p. 70

Could Hitler possibly have been driven mad by his rejection by the Academy of Fine Arts (Only 28 of the 113 applicants who took the entrance exam with Hitler were accepted), his disappointment exacerbated by the death of his beloved mother (and only ally) two months before? When "Hitler launched a tirade," Kubizek "had to go into bed. He would lie there as Adolf ranted and cried and gesticulated, and if Kubizek fell asleep Hitler would shake him awake to shout at him some more."

Could the Holocaust have been avoided if Hitler had only been given a little artistic encouragement?

The next section is about Hitler's "sexual frustrations" and fear of women.

Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.