Berlin: A German amateur historian on Tuesday presented a four-volume itinerary of Adolf Hitler's life, detailed at times down to the hour, a monumental tome based on 25 years of research.
"Hitler - Das Itinerar" runs to a total of 2,500 pages and is published by Berlin Story, which presented it in a World War II-era Berlin bunker turned event space.
Its author, IT manager Harald Sandner, 54, from the southern city of Coburg, spent a quarter of a century creating the meticulous account of Hitler's travels and deeds.
Entries range from the mundane, such as nights in certain hotels, to historic dates such as when Hitler gave the order to attack Poland, starting World War II.
Among other findings, the book shows that Hitler travelled to Hamburg 75 times, despite the fact the Nazis hated the northern port city because of its "openness to the world," said Sandner.
Asked about the risk of "fetishisation" of the dictator, Sandner responded with a quote from German journalist and historian Sebastian Haffner.
"The best way to fight against the infection of Hitlerism is knowledge about Hitler," he said. "The best therapy is Hitler himself."
The book will be published Thursday - between the anniversary of Hitler's birth on April 20, 1889 in Austria and that of his suicide on April 30, 1945 in his Berlin bunker.
The initial print run of 500 copies hits the market months after the first post-WWII publication in Germany of Hitler's "Mein Kampf", which was released with historians' critical annotations.
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