- NICKNAME
- Der Führer ("The Leader")
- FULL NAME
- Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was the leader of Nazi Germany from 1934 to
1945. He initiated World War II and oversaw fascist policies that resulted in
millions of deaths.
Synopsis
Born in Austria in 1889, Adolf Hitler rose to power in
German politics as leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, also
known as the Nazi Party. Hitler was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945,
and served as dictator from 1934 to 1945. His policies precipitated World War
II and the Holocaust. Hitler committed suicide with wife Eva Braun on April 30,
1945, in his Berlin bunker.
Early Years
Dictator Adolf Hitler was born in Branau am Inn, Austria, on
April 20, 1889, and was the fourth of six children born to Alois Hitler and
Klara Polzl. When Hitler was 3 years old, the family moved from Austria to
Germany. As a child, Hitler clashed frequently with his father. Following the
death of his younger brother, Edmund, in 1900, he became detached and
introverted. His father did not approve of his interest in fine art rather than
business. In addition to art, Hitler showed an early interest in German
nationalism, rejecting the authority of Austria-Hungary. This nationalism would
become the motivating force of Hitler's life.
Alois died suddenly in 1903. Two years later, Adolf's mother
allowed her son to drop out of school. He moved to Vienna and worked as a
casual laborer and a watercolor painter. Hitler applied to the Academy of Fine
Arts twice, and was rejected both times. Out of money, he moved into a homeless
shelter, where he remained for several years. Hitler later pointed to these years
as the time when he first cultivated his anti-Semitism, though there is some
debate about this account.
At the outbreak of World War I, Hitler applied to serve in
the German army. He was accepted in August 1914, though he was still an
Austrian citizen. Although he spent much of his time away from the front lines,
Hitler was present at a number of significant battles and was wounded at the
Somme. He was decorated for bravery, receiving the Iron Cross First Class and
the Black Wound Badge.
Hitler became embittered over the collapse of the war
effort. The experience reinforced his passionate German patriotism, and he was
shocked by Germany's surrender in 1918. Like other German nationalists, he
believed that the German army had been betrayed by civilian leaders and
Marxists. He found the Treaty of Versailles degrading, particularly the
demilitarization of the Rhineland and the stipulation that Germany accept
responsibility for starting the war.
After World War I, Hitler returned to Munich and continued
to work for the military as an intelligence officer. While monitoring the
activities of the German Workers’ Party (DAP), Hitler adopted many of the
anti-Semitic, nationalist and anti-Marxist ideas of DAP founder Anton Drexler.
Drexler invited Hitler to join the DAP, which he did in 1919.
To increase its appeal, the DAP changed its name to the
Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP). Hitler personally
designed the party banner, featuring a swastika in a white circle on a red
background. Hitler soon gained notoriety for his vitriolic speeches against the
Treaty of Versailles, rival politicians, Marxists and Jews. In 1921, Hitler
replaced Drexler as NSDAP party chairman.
Hitler's vitriolic beer-hall speeches began attracting
regular audiences. Early followers included army captain Ernst Rohm, the head
of the Nazi paramilitary organization, the Sturmabteilung (SA), which protected
meetings and frequently attacked political opponents.
On November 8, 1923, Hitler and the SA stormed a public
meeting of 3,000 people at a large beer hall in Munich. Hitler announced that
the national revolution had begun and declared the formation of a new
government. After a short struggle including 20 deaths, the coup, known as the
"Beer Hall Putsch," failed.
Hitler was arrested three days later and tried for high
treason. He served a year in prison, during which time he dictated most of the
first volume of Mein Kampf ("My Struggle") to his deputy, Rudolf
Hess. The book laid out Hitler's plans for transforming German society into one
based on race.
Rise to Power
The Great Depression in Germany provided a political
opportunity for Hitler. Germans were ambivalent to the parliamentary republic
and increasingly open to extremist options. In 1932, Hitler ran against Paul
von Hindenburg for the presidency. Hitler came in second in both rounds of the
election, garnering more than 35 percent of the vote in the final election. The
election established Hitler as a strong force in German politics. Hindenburg
reluctantly agreed to appoint Hitler as chancellor in order to promote
political balance.
Hitler used his position as chancellor to form a de facto
legal dictatorship. The Reichstag Fire Decree, announced after a suspicious
fire at the Reichstag, suspended basic rights and allowed detention without
trial. Hitler also engineered the passage of the Enabling Act, which gave his
cabinet full legislative powers for a period of four years and allowed
deviations from the constitution.
Having achieved full control over the legislative and
executive branches of government, Hitler and his political allies embarked on a
systematic suppression of the remaining political opposition. By the end of
June, the other parties had been intimidated into disbanding. On July 14, 1933,
Hitler's Nazi Party was declared the only legal political party in Germany.
Military opposition was also punished. The demands of the SA
for more political and military power led to the Night of the Long Knives,
which took place from June 30 to July 2, 1934. Ernst Röhm and other SA leaders,
along with a number of Hitler's political enemies, were rounded up and shot.
The day before Hindenburg's death in August 1934, the
cabinet had enacted a law abolishing the office of president and combining its
powers with those of the chancellor. Hitler thus became head of state as well
as head of government, and was formally named as leader and chancellor. As head
of state, Hitler became supreme commander of the armed forces. He began to
mobilize for war. Germany withdrew from the League of Nations, and Hitler
announced a massive expansion of Germany’s armed forces.
The Nazi regime also included social reform measures. Hitler
promoted anti-smoking campaigns across the country. These campaigns stemmed
from Hitler's self-imposed dietary restrictions, which included abstinence from
alcohol and meat. At dinners, Hitler sometimes told graphic stories about the
slaughter of animals in an effort to shame his fellow diners. He encouraged all
Germans to keep their bodies pure of any intoxicating or unclean substance.
A main Nazi concept was the notion of racial hygiene. New
laws banned marriage between non-Jewish and Jewish Germans, and deprived
"non-Aryans" of the benefits of German citizenship. Hitler's early
eugenic policies targeted children with physical and developmental
disabilities, and later authorized a euthanasia program for disabled adults.
The Holocaust was also conducted under the auspices of
racial hygiene. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazis and their collaborators were
responsible for the deaths of 11 million to 14 million people, including about
6 million Jews, representing two-thirds of the Jewish population in Europe.
Deaths took place in concentration and extermination camps and through mass
executions. Other persecuted groups included Poles, communists, homosexuals,
Jehovah's Witnesses and trade unionists, among others. Hitler probably never
visited the concentration camps and did not speak publicly about the killings.
World War II
In 1938, Hitler, along with several other European leaders,
signed the Munich Agreement. The treaty ceded the Sudetenland districts to
Germany, reversing part of the Versailles Treaty. As a result of the summit,
Hitler was named Time magazine's Man of the Year for 1938. This diplomatic win
only whetted his appetite for a renewed German dominance. On September 1,
Germany invaded Poland. In response, Britain and France declared war on
Germany.
Hitler escalated his activities in 1940, invading
Scandinavia as well as France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium. Hitler
ordered bombing raids on the United Kingdom, with the goal of invasion.
Germany’s formal alliance with Japan and Italy, known collectively as the Axis
powers, was signed to deter the United States from supporting and protecting
the British.
On June 22, 1941, Hitler violated a non-aggression pact with
Joseph Stalin, sending 3 million German troops into the Soviet Union. The
invading force seized a huge area before the German advance was stopped outside
Moscow in December 1941.
On December 7, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Hitler
was now at war against a coalition that included the world's largest empire
(Britain), the world's greatest financial power (the U.S.) and the world's
largest army (the Soviet Union).
Facing these odds, Hitler's military judgment became
increasingly erratic. Germany's military and economic position deteriorated
along with Hitler's health. Germany and the Axis could not sustain Hitler's
aggressive and expansive war. In late 1942, German forces failed to seize the
Suez Canal. The German army also suffered defeats at the Battle of Stalingrad
and the Battle of Kursk. On June 6, 1944, the Western Allied armies landed in
northern France. As a result of these significant setbacks, many German
officers concluded that defeat was inevitable and that Hitler's denial would
result in the destruction of the country.
Death and Legacy
By early 1945, Hitler realized that Germany was going to
lose the war. The Soviets had driven the German army back into Western Europe,
and the Allies were advancing into Germany. On April 29, 1945, Hitler married
his girlfriend, Eva Braun, in a small civil ceremony in his Berlin bunker.
Around this time, Hitler was informed of the assassination of Italian dictator
Benito Mussolini. Afraid of falling into the hands of enemy troops, Hitler and
Braun committed suicide the day after their wedding, on April 30, 1945. Their
bodies were carried to the bombed-out garden behind the Reich Chancellery,
where they were burned. Berlin fell on May 2, 1945. Five days later, on May 7,
1945, Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies.
Hitler's political program had brought about a world war,
leaving behind a devastated and impoverished Eastern and Central Europe,
including Germany. His policies inflicted human suffering on an unprecedented
scale and resulted in the death of an estimated 40 million people, including about
27 million in the Soviet Union. Hitler's defeat marked the end of a phase of
European history dominated by Germany, and the defeat of fascism. A new
ideological global conflict, the Cold War, emerged in the aftermath of World
War II.
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