"It was perhaps decisive for my whole later life that fate gave me as a history teacher one of the few who knew how to get across the important things in class and to dismiss the unimportant. Doctor Leopold Potsch… embodied this requirement to an ideal degree. An aged gentleman of kindly but determined manner, he succeeded especially through his gift of radiant eloquence, leaving us not only spellbound but also enthusiastic. Even today I think back with gentle emotion on this greying man who could, by the fire of his presentation, make us forget the present; who, as if by enchantment, carried us into past times and moulded dry historical memories into living reality. On such occasions we sat there, often aflame with enthusiasm and sometimes even moved to tears.
What made our good fortune all the greater was that this teacher knew how to illuminate the past by examples from the present, and to draw inferences from the past for the present. As a result, he had more understanding than anyone else for all the daily problems that then held us breathless. He used our budding nationalistic fanaticism as a means of educating us, frequently appealing to our sense of national honour. By this alone, he was able to discipline us little ruffians more easily than would have been possible by any other means.
This teacher made history my favourite subject. And indeed, though he had no such intention, it was then that I became a little revolutionary."
Hitler remembers his history teacher (1924) (alphahistory.com)
