When Riefenstahl asked Hitler what he liked to read, he allegedly replied, “Schopenhauer.”
“Not Nietzsche?” Riefenstahl asked.
“No, I can’t really do much with Nietzsche,” Riefenstahl recalls Hitler telling her. “He is more an artist than a philosopher; he doesn’t have the crystal-clear understanding of Schopenhauer. Of course, I value Nietzsche as a genius. He writes possibly the most beautiful language that German literature has to offer us today, but he is not my guide.”
Huh. Well, I have to agree with Hitler there. (There’s a sentence one never expects to write, but intellectual integrity is a demanding mistress, leading one into all sorts of unforeseen circumstances.) Anyway, just thought I’d make note of that as an addendum.