Was Hitler a Vegetarian?

Of the following people, one is not a vegetarian:

 

              Adolph Hitler                                        Albert Einstein     

      Mahatmas Gandhi                                       Alicia Silverstone

 

           Paul McCartney                                                 Beyonce                

Hitler (brilliantly?) promoted himself as a kindhearted animal lover and even a strict vegetarian. He also claimed he was too pure to touch stimulants such as cigarettes or alcohol. But let's look at the facts:

1) "Dione Lucas, [Hitler's] cook before the war, claimed that he was a fan of stuffed pigeon and he was also known to be partial to Bavarian sausages and the occasional slice of ham" (Link).

2) "The Hitler Book" details Hitler's daily routine in 1944: "After midnight [Eva] would direct that there should be another light snack of turtle soup, sandwiches, and sausages" (Link).

3) "The Fuehrer's close associate, Albert Speer, has written that his leader had a weakness for meat-filled ravioli and sausages from butcher shops in Munich" (Link).

4) "The April 14, 1996, Sunday magazine edition of The New York Times, celebrating its 100th anniversary, included this early description of Hitler's diet in an article previously published on May 30, 1937, 'At Home With The Fuhrer.' "'It is well known that Hitler is a vegetarian and does not drink or smoke. His lunch and dinner consist, therefore, for the most part of soup, eggs, vegetables and mineral water, although he occasionally relishes a slice of ham and relieves the tediousness of his diet with such delicacies as caviar ..." (Link).

5) Regarding Hitler being "too pure" to touch alcohol or nicotine? Actually, Hitler preferred the harder drugs, taking over 70 different medications during his dictatorship of Nazi Germany (Link).

6) Hitler often wore leather trench coats, which is something a truly strict vegetarian would never do.

In Robert Payne's biography of Hitler, The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler, he explains why Hitler would benefit from convincing people he was a vegetarian:

"Hitler's asceticism played an important part in the image he projected over Germany. According to the widely believed legend, he neither smoked nor drank, nor did he eat meat or have anything to do with women. Only the first was true. He drank beer and diluted wine frequently, had a special fondness for Bavarian sausages and kept a mistress, Eva Braun, who lived with him quietly in the Berghof. There had been other discreet affairs with women. His asceticism was fiction invented by Goebbels to emphasize his total dedication, his self-control, the distance that separated him from other men. By this outward show of asceticism, he could claim that he was dedicated to the service of his people" (Link).