"He was, and would remain until shortly before he became Chancellor, technically a foreigner, an Austrian, in the German Reich. It is only as an Austrian who came of age in the last decade before the collapse of the Hapsburg Empire, who failed to take root in its civilized capital, who embraced all the preposterous prejudices and hates then rife among its German-speaking extremists and who failed to grasp what was decent and honest and honorable in the vast majority of his fellow citizens, were they Czechs or Jews or Germans, poor or well off, artists or artisans, that Hitler can be understood."

A powerful, angry denunciation by William Shirer. Diagramming the sentence, we can feel its full effect:

A foreigner
   who failed to take root in its civilized capital
   who embraced
     preposterous prejudices
    and hates
 who failed to grasp
   in the vast majority of his fellow citizens
     were they Czechs
     or Jews
     or Germans
     poor
     or well off
    artists
    or artisans
what was
   decent
   and honest
   and honorable


"It is only as" that man that Adolph Hitler can be understood.