At 16, Hitler had a crush on a Jew

London: Adolf Hitler, considered as one of the most cruel men in history, too had love in his heart. But, perhaps the love lasted till he turned 20.

According to a newly published book, during his teenage years that the German dictator spent in Austria, he had a crush on a tall, slim and beautiful Jewish girl. The one-sided love continued for around four years, but Hitler could never gather enough courage to express his love to her, and made plans to forcibly kidnap the girl and jointly commit suicide with her.

This has been revealed in a book The Young Hitler I Knew written by Hitler's childhood friend August Kubizek.

The uncensored account in English, published nearly 70 years after it was written, throws a fascinating light on the fanatical mind of the future Fuhrer the famous title accorded to Hitler.

"Her eyes were very beautiful - bright and expressive. She was exceptionally well-dressed and her bearing indicated that she came from a good, well-to-do family," writes Kubizek in the book.

He adds, "From then on, Adolf did not take his eyes off Stefanie. In that moment he was changed, no longer his own self. For someone who despised and denounced the social conventions of the bourgeoisie, Hitler conformed to them rather meekly when it came to Stefanie, possibly out of stultifying shyness".

According to the book, when Hitler failed to convey his feelings to the girl called Stefanie Isak, he once confided to Kubizek that he would kidnap the girl and commit suicide with her by jumping into a river.

Kubizek writes in his book that Hitler used to get infuriated whenever he saw Stefanie interacting with defence personnel, and often used to call the military officers "conceited blockheads".

"Hitler’s hatred of them led to his ‘uncompromising enmity towards the officer class as a whole, and everything military in general. It annoyed him intensely that Stefanie mixed with such idlers who, he insisted, wore corsets and used scent’. Hitler’s dislike and distrust of the officer class — especially generals — was to stay with him for the rest of his life," the Daily Mail quoted Hitler’s best friend as saying in the book.

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On learning that his 'girlfriend' loved dancing, Hitler got infuriated and angrily said, "Once Stefanie is my wife, she won’t have the slightest desire to dance".

Kubizek further writes, "Stefanie had no idea how deeply Adolf was in love with her. She regarded him as a somewhat shy, but nevertheless remarkably tenacious and faithful, admirer. When she responded with a smile to his inquiring glance, he was happy and his mood became unlike anything I had ever observed in him. But when Stefanie, as happened just as often, coldly ignored his gaze, he was crushed and ready to destroy himself and the whole world."

According to the author, on one occasion when the girl threw a flower at Hitler, he was so happy that he considered on the top of the world. "During a flower festival Stefanie had adorned her carriage not with roses as most of the others, but with simple wild blossoms — red poppies, white marguerites and blue cornflowers," recalled Kubizek.

A bright glance falls on Adolf. Stefanie sends him a beaming smile and, picking a flower from her posy, throws it to him. The effect on Hitler was transforming. "Never again did I see Adolf as happy as at that moment. She loves me," he told his friend. "You have seen. She loves me."

Kubizek finally says in the book, "If, tragically for her, Stefanie had fallen in love with him, she might have occupied Eva Braun’s place taking cyanide in the bunker in the ruins of Berlin in April 1945. In fact, however, she married an army officer and lived after World War II in Vienna, entirely oblivious to the feelings about her that had so agitated the mind of one of the most cruel men in history."