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The One Thing Hitler Got Right

Hitler committed numerous atrocities, but he would never do this one thing

Grant Piper
5 min readOct 13, 2022
Bundesarchiv, Bild 146–1990–048–29A / CC-BY-SA 3.0

Adolf Hitler is not a popular figure to get advice from. Anyone who utters something even resembling praise for anything related to Hitler often receives quick and violent backlash. And for good reason. Adolf Hitler is one of the most despicable figures in all of human history, if not the most despicable of all.

But there is one thing that Hitler got right. One way that he was ahead of his time.

Hitler was vehemently anti-smoking.

In an era where smoking was on the rise, Hitler was actively trying to stamp it out. He was continuously worrying about “passive smoking,” or what we would call secondhand smoke today. Despite being willing to order the deaths of millions of people, Hitler seemed to care about the fate of young, non-smoking Germans who were subjected to secondhand smoke on a regular basis.

Hitler was also distraught over the fact that many of his inner circle were voracious smokers. His girlfriend Eva Braun smoked cigarettes regularly, as did his secretary Martin Bormann. Hitler was reportedly extremely irate when a statue of Herman Göring was commissioned featuring him with a massive stogie in his mouth. He didn’t want anyone smoking in public, much less…

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Grant Piper
Grant Piper

Written by Grant Piper

Professional writer. Amateur historian. Husband, father, Christian.

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