How to be a Dictator

Being a dictator is the hardest job in the world. From the moment he assumes absolute power, the dictator lives in perpetual paranoia. To maintain power, he must use brutal force first and foremost against his closest friends. In his conversation with Die Weltwoche, Professor Frank Dikötter examines the magic of perfectly orchestrated cults of personality, of symbols like Hitler’s peculiar moustache or Stalin’s signature pipe, and he explains why there have been very few dictators of the female persuasion.

The twentieth century offered a rich variety of dictators: an impoverished shepherd boy (Saddam Hussein); a poorly trained shoemaker (Nicolae Ceaușescu); a cold-blooded bank robber (Josef Stalin); even a rumored cannibal (Idi Amin). Each of these men skillfully seized power and tyranized hundreds of millions.

How to be a Dictator

Disparate as they are, they have one thing in common: “Dictators are all highly talented people,” says Frank ...