GOEBBELS'S HEALTH
"Then I remember a Sunday when our family took a long walk to Geistenbeck. Next day the problem with my foot returned. What incredible pain! Despite months of treatment, my foot was paralyzed for life. From that moment, my youth held little joy for me. I had to look after myself, and could no longer join in the other children's games. I became lonely and solitary. My former friends had no affection for me."
-Joseph Goebbels's diary 1924 |
Through this loneliness, Goebbels turned to books as his source of entertainment. He was given a volume of fairy tales.
[Club Foot Compared to a Normal Foot]
A few years after being sick with pneumonia, Goebbels was diagnosed with congenital talipes equinovarus or "club foot". This occurs when the affected foot appears to have been rotated internally at the ankle.
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"These books awakened the joy in reading. From then on, I devoured everything in print, including the newspapers, even politics, without understanding the slightest thing."
-Joseph Goebbels
-Joseph Goebbels
Due to his limp, Goebbels couldn't enlist in the army causing him to become very angry, which eventually effected his perspective towards Jews later on in life. Despite this, whenever he was asked about his limp, Goebbels would insist that it was from an injury during World War I.