Adolf Hitler kept alsatians because of their similarity to wolves while Hermann Goering owned lions, according to a study exploring Nazi leaders’ use of predatory animals as icons of power.
Hitler owned at least 12 alsatians between 1922 and 1945 including three bitches called Blondi and three males called Wolf. He approved of newsreel footage showing him with the dogs as it portrayed him as an animal-loving man of the people while conveying his status as a leader demanding obedience, the author Jan Mohnhaupt writes in his book Animals in National Socialism.
He liked to be called Wolf in private and named his East Prussian military headquarters the Wolf’s Lair. “To this day wolves are associated with the far right and that is clearly