Ibsen and Hitler: The Playwright, the Plagiarist, and the Plot for the Third Reich

Steven Sage, research fellow at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, reveals that among Hitler’s first crimes was a theft of intellectual property, until now unexamined. Sage illuminates an influence impelling Hitler’s master plan: his culling of language and phrasing from one of Europe’s greatest writers, Henrik Ibsen. The traces of this uncredited borrowing are found in the Führer’s incendiary utterances, and in Mein Kampf. Indeed, Sage shows that the blueprint for the Third Reich was scripted from a trio of works by Henrik Ibsen who had a cult following in 1920s Germany. The author unveils a historical stunner that has been hiding in plain sight for decades, letting readers connect the dots with him through every step of an unprecedented historical and literary examination.