"How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think."
~ Adolf Hitler
The most infamous dictators of all time.
Adolf Hitler was believed to have been anywhere from 5-feet-7 inches to 6 feet tall, though the most reliable reports often put his height as 5-feet-9 inches or just a bit below it.
Like the German version of Dr. Morell's (Adolf Hitler's personal physician) diary states on page 165: "Hitler war etwa 174 cm groß, wog wahrscheinlich 72 bis 74 Kilogramm." (Hitler was about 174 cm tall, weighted probably between 72 and 74 kg).
Though this sounds pretty speculative, we doubt if Dr. Morell had the nerve to ever measure up Hitler shoeless. Joking aside, we too have the same impression of Hitler's height from looking at his old photos with some well-known people like Stalin or Churchill.
This is a bit below the average height of males in most of the developed countries now but could have been considered tall in his time, and indeed as a youth, Hitler was described as a "tall boy".
So the short answer is that he was 5-feet-8½ inches (probably measured in late morning) in his youth. Though by the infamous time of WWII, he was well into his 50s and was likely between 5ft 7¾ and 5ft 8. This was approximately average height for adult German males at that time.
In any case, Hitler was the tallest wartime leader of his time. Joseph Stalin was 5’6”, Mussolini was 5’7”, while Winston Churchill was only 5′6½″, Franklin D. Roosevelt was 5'8".
The real height of Adolf Hitler was
5'8½" or 171.5 cm
 |
| Adolf Hitler looking angrier than usual in his shorts and socks with some other heavyweights: Joseph Stalin (5'6"), and Winston Churchill (5'6½") |
For reference, here is the average human height around the world.
| Country | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
| Indonesia | 5'4" | 4'11" |
| India | 5'5½" | 5'½" |
| Mexico | 5'6½" | 5'1½" |
| China | 5'6½" | 5'1½" |
| Japan | 5'7½" | 5'2½" |
| Brazil | 5'8" | 5'3" |
| Russia | 5'9" | 5'3¾" |
| United States | 5'9¼" | 5'4" |
| United Kingdom | 5'9½" | 5'4¼" |
| Canada | 5'10" | 5'4½" |
| Australia | 5'10" | 5'4½" |
| Germany | 5'10½" | 5'5" |
| Sweden | 5'11" | 5'5½" |
| Netherlands | 5'11½" | 5'6" |
Data was collected from official sources wherever possible. A more detailed chart can be found here.
"The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one."
~ Adolf Hitler