CAMBRIDGE, England, May 5 (UPI) -- A researcher studying the history of public relations turned up an unexpected treasure -- an analysis for British intelligence of a speech by Adolf Hitler.
The report suggests Hitler, at what turned out to be the war's midpoint, was becoming more preoccupied with Jews, seeing them as a threat to civilization.
Scott Anthony of Cambridge University said the report, marked "secret," was in papers belonging to a relative of Mark Abrams, a pioneer in market research and polling. Abrams, who worked in psychological warfare during World War II, commissioned the analysis by Joseph McCurdy, an academic researcher.
McCurdy analyzed a radio speech Hitler gave in April 1942. By that time, the German armies, after conquering most of western Europe in 1940 and invading Russia in 1941, were starting to get bogged down.
"In response, Hitler began to focus his attentions to the German home front," Anthony said. "This document shows that British intelligence sensed this happening."
McCurdy noted a "dull flatness of delivery." But he also found signs of a growing "messiah complex."
"Hitler is caught up in a web of religious delusions," McCurdy said. "The Jews are the incarnation of evil, while he is the incarnation of the spirit of good. He is a god by whose sacrifice victory over evil may be achieved. He does not say this in so many words, but such a system of ideas would rationalize what he does say that is otherwise obscure."
