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@hugo7
Not wanting to kick-start the debate too much but I'll throw my 2p in anyway...
re 'orator' - it depends on how you define it. I managed to find a definition that seemed very fitting ; )
But you’ve pretty succinctly nailed his strengths.
re leader – really depends what you mean. He operated a pretty laissez faire approach. Him at the top and then everyone below fighting for prominence. For e.g. there is an argument to be made that he didn’t actually have a great deal of insight into the details of the holocaust (the lack evidence on this is one of the things holocaust deniers latch onto when trying to dispute the idea of a properly cohesive “final solution policy”). Much of it was pushed hardest by those trying to curry favour.
I think you make a really good point about the mythological status Hitler has. My opinion is it’s a mixture of good use of imagery/iconography/impressive marketing/etc. at the time and the post war need for a ‘villain’... which I guess helps to absolve all sorts of guilt for all sorts of people... as well as probably a political device. Still without wanting to sound like some sort of Nazi fan-boy ‘they’ still created that image.
I do disagree with you on MK. People clearly underestimated him, however, I think you should always be careful about putting too much on the idea of MK being a blue-print. Ultimately (imo) he wanted power, and I think he’d have sacrificed whatever to get it (like dropping his socialist policies). Also (from memory) much of it is fairly par for the course when it comes to extremist doctrines/manifestos. Anyway you can’t really blame people for not reading it...it's pretty hard work, I’m sure a fair few tried to start it tho!
If there's anything to be pointed to imo, it's his undeniable raw skill as a political maneuver, which you’ve touched on in your eg of the SA.