Although Adolf Hitler appeared before the German people as a selfless leader who had sacrificed everything for his country, nothing could have been further from the truth. His apparent frugality in dress and food were more than outweighed by his many extravagances and his indolent lifestyle. Until the Russians began pushing the Germans back into German territory, Hitler seldom put much effort into anything other than his carefully crafted speeches.
Before becoming Chancellor of Germany the only real work Hitler had ever done was to serve in the Army during World War One. Before then, he had lived off of pensions left to him by his dead parents, money borrowed from relatives, and the meager income he made selling paintings to mostly Jewish merchants. As a young man, he lived an extravagant lifestyle until he ran out of money and became homeless. The army was his salvation and probably would have returned to poverty if he had not entered politics. Politics proved to be even better for Hitler than the army. It made him rich and eventually powerful. Although he loved the opportunity to speak before crowds of supporters, he cared little for the day to day administration of the government. Therefore, he returned to indolence shortly after talking on the massive responsibility of running the German state.
Before long, he had lost any formal daily routine he had when he became Chancellor. He generally came out of his room shortly before lunch. After reading summaries of the news that had been prepared for him, he would go to eat. He might then hold a few meetings in the afternoon, but he preferred talking with his architect, Speer, about building projects. Things were even worse in the mountain retreat of the "Wolf's Lair." There, he was seldom seen until 2 in the afternoon after which he would eat lunch and then go for a walk. After dinner, he would watch a movie and then go to bed.
It became almost impossible for his subordinates to meet with him. Since Germany had no legislative body at that time, his often required, but impossible to obtain for long periods of time. Some of his ministers found it difficult to get meetings with him for months at a time. Of course, once the war started, Hitler took a keen interest in how the war was prosecuted and micromanaged it more than his ministers would have liked. As the war became more and more desperate, Hitler did start working longer hours, but by then it was too late to do anything. Given his overconfidence in his own abilities, it probably hurt Germany in those last days more than anything else.
