Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945), ruled Germany as dictator from 1933 to 1945.

He turned

Germany into a powerful war machine and provoked World War II in 1939. Hitler's

forces conquered most of Europe before they were defeated in 1945.

Hitler spread death as no person has done in modern history. "Have no pity! Act

brutally!" he told his soldiers. He ordered tens of thousands of those who opposed

him to be executed, and hundreds of thousands to be thrown into prison. He was

totally unscrupulous and believed that the strong must win, while the weak lose. In

the struggle for power, any trick, however ruthless, was justified. His strength of

will, his ability to lie, cheat, and flatter helped him to win power.

Hitler particularly persecuted Jews. He ordered them removed and killed in countries

he controlled. Hitler set up concentration camps where about 3 million Jews were

murdered. Altogether, Hitler's forces killed about 6 million European Jews as well as

about 5 million other people that Hitler regarded as racially inferior or politically

dangerous.

Adolf Hitler began his rise to political power in 1919, the year after World War I had

ended. The German Empire had been defeated, and the nation's economy lay in

ruins. Hitler joined a small group of men who became known as Nazis. He soon

became their leader. Hitler and his followers believed he could win back Germany's

past glory. He promised to rebuild Germany into a mighty empire that would last a

thousand years.

Hitler became dictator of Germany in 1933 and quickly succeeded in regaining

some territories taken from Germany as a result of World War I. He threatened war

against Czechoslovakia in 1938, but was stopped by a combination of

counterthreats and concessions. His forces invaded Poland in 1939. Then Great
Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada declared war on

Germany, and World War II began.

Hitler had a clear vision of what he wanted, and he had the daring to pursue it. But

his aims had no limits, and he overestimated the resources and abilities of Germany.

Hitler had little regard for experts in any field. He regularly ignored the advice of his

generals and followed his own judgment, even while Germany was being defeated

in the last years of the war. Finally, as United States, British, and Soviet troops

closed in on the heart of Germany, during the first months of 1945, Hitler killed

himself.

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, in Braunau, Austria, a small town across the

Inn River from Germany. He was the fourth child of the third marriage of Alois Hitler,

a customs official. Alois Hitler was 51 years old when Adolf was born. Adolf's

mother, Klara Polzl, was 28 years old. She was a farmer's daughter.

Alois Hitler was born to an unmarried woman named Anna Maria Schicklgruber. A

wandering miller named Johann Georg Hiedler married her about five years later.

Hiedler died in 1856, when Alois was 20 years old, having never recognized Alois as

his child. In 1876, Hiedler's brother arranged for Alois to be registered as the

legitimate son of Johann Georg and Maria Hiedler. The priest who made the entry

spelled the name "Hitler." Years later, before he came to power, some of Hitler's

political opponents called him Schicklgruber as an insult. Only four of Alois Hitler's

eight children lived to adulthood. Adolf had a sister, Paula; a half brother, Alois; and

a half sister, Angela.

Alois Hitler died in 1903, and Adolf left secondary school 21/2 years later at the age

of 16. His mother drew a widow's pension and owned some property. Adolf did not
have to go to work. He spent his time daydreaming, drawing pictures, and reading

books.

In 1907, Hitler went to Vienna, the capital of Austria-Hungary. He wanted to be an

art student, but he failed the entrance examination of the Academy of Fine Arts

twice. His mother died in 1907. Adolf had an income from the money his mother left

her children and inherited some money from his aunt. He also claimed an orphan's

pension. Sometimes he sold his drawings and paintings. He lived comfortably and

idly during most of his stay in Vienna, considering himself an artist.

Hitler also concerned himself with political observations, admiring the effective

leadership and organization of the Social Democratic Party in Vienna. He developed

a growing hatred for Jews and Slavs. Like many German-speaking Austrians, Hitler

became fiercely nationalistic. No form of government could last, he thought, if it

treated people of different nationalities equally.

In 1913, Hitler moved to Munich, Germany. The Austrian Army called him for a

physical examination, but he was found unfit for service.

World War I began in August 1914. Hitler volunteered immediately for service in the

German Army and was accepted. He served valiantly as a messenger on the

Western Front for most of the war, taking part in some of the bloodiest battles. He

was wounded and twice decorated for bravery. But Hitler rose only to the rank of

corporal. When Germany surrendered in November 1918, he was in a military

hospital recovering from temporary blindness that resulted from his exposure in

battle to mustard gas. He was deeply shaken by news of the armistice. He believed

that the unity of the German nation was threatened, and that he must attempt to

save Germany.
Defeat in World War I shocked the German people. Despair and turmoil increased as

the army returned to a bankrupt country. Millions of Germans could not find work. A

socialist-liberal republic replaced the defeated empire.

After World War I, Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty

held Germany responsible for the war. It stripped the nation of much territory and

restricted the German Army to 100,000 men. It also provided for a 15-year foreign

occupation of an area of western Germany called the Rhineland. But the harshest

part was the demand that Germany pay huge reparations (payments for war

damages). The sums demanded by the treaty were so great that they made peace

difficult. Nationalists, Communists, and others attacked the new government. The

nationalists demanded punishment for the "criminals" who had signed the treaty.

After Hitler recovered from the effects of the mustard gas, he returned to Munich

and remained in the army until March 1920. In the autumn of 1919, he began to

attend meetings of a small nationalist group called the German Workers' Party. He

joined the party and changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers'

Party. The group became known as the Nazi Party. The Nazis called for the union of

all Germans into one nation, including the Austrians and German minorities in

Czechoslovakia and other countries. They demanded that citizens of non-German or

Jewish origin be deprived of German citizenship, and they called for the cancellation

of the Treaty of Versailles.

Hitler was a skilful politician and organizer. He became leader of the Nazis and

quickly built up party membership--partly by his ability to stir crowds with his

speeches. Hitler attacked the government and declared that the Nazi Party could

restore the economy, assure work for all, and lead Germany to greatness again.
Hitler also organized a private army he called storm troopers. He used brown-

shirted uniforms and the swastika emblem to give his party and the storm troopers--

known as the SA--a sense of unity and power (see SWASTIKA). The troopers fought

the armies of the Communist, Social Democratic, and other parties who opposed

Nazi ideas or tried to break up Nazi Party rallies. By October 1923, the storm

troopers numbered 15,000 members. They had a considerable number of machine

guns and rifles.

In 1923, Germany was in deep trouble. France and Belgium had sent troops to

occupy the Ruhr District, the chief industrial region. German workers there

responded by going on strike. The strike aggravated a crisis in Germany's economy,

which had already been weakened by the reparations payments, and German

money lost almost all value. Communist and nationalist revolts flared up throughout

Germany, and the state of Bavaria was in open conflict with the central government

in Berlin. Hitler saw an opportunity amid these troubles to overthrow both the

Bavarian and national German governments.

On Nov. 8, 1923, at a rally in a Munich beer hall, Hitler proclaimed a Nazi revolution,

or putsch. The next day, he tried to seize the Bavarian government in what became

known as the Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler, supported by the German General Erich F. W.

Ludendorff, led over 2,000 storm troopers on a march against the Bavarian

government. But state police opened fire and stopped the procession, killing 16

marchers. The plot failed. Hitler was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison.

Mein Kampf. While he was imprisoned, Hitler began writing his book Mein Kampf (My

Struggle). In the book, he stated his beliefs and his ideas for Germany's future,

including his plan to conquer much of Europe. Territories lost in World War I would

be recovered. Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia where Germans lived would be

added to Germany. The growing German nation would seize lebensraum (living

space) from Poland, the Soviet Union, and other countries to the east.

Hitler also wrote that Germans represented a superior form of humanity. They must

stay "pure," he said, by avoiding marriage to Jews and Slavs. Hitler blamed the Jews

for the evils of the world. He accused them of corrupting everything of ethical and

national value. He said: "By defending myself against the Jews, I am doing the

Lord's work." Democracy, said Hitler, could lead only to Communism. A dictatorship

was the only way to save Germany from the threats of Communism and Jewish

treason.

Hitler was freed about nine months after his trial. He left prison in December 1924.

Great changes had taken place in Germany during 1924. A schedule for Germany's

reparations payments helped stabilize the German currency, and the nation showed

signs of recovering from the war. Most people had work, homes, food, and hope for

the future.

The government had outlawed the Nazis after the Beer Hall Putsch. Many party

members had drifted into other political groups. After Hitler was released from

prison, he began to rebuild his party. He gradually convinced the government that

the party would act legally, and the government lifted its ban on the Nazis. Hitler

won friends in small towns, in trade unions, and among farmers and a few business

people and industrialists. He also set up an elite party guard, the Schutzstaffel,

known as the SS. By 1929, though the Nazis had not yet gained substantial voter

support, their organization and discipline had made them an important minority

party.
By this time, Hitler had assembled some of the people who would help him rise to

power. They included Joseph Goebbels, the chief Nazi propagandist; Hermann

Goering, who became second in command to Hitler; Rudolf Hess, Hitler's faithful

private secretary; Heinrich Himmler, the leader of the SS; Ernst Rohm, the chief of

the SA; and Alfred Rosenberg, the party philosopher.

In 1930, the worldwide Great Depression hit Germany. Workers again faced

unemployment and hunger. That same year, Germany agreed to the Young Plan of

1929 to reschedule reparations payments. In 1929, Hitler had launched a campaign

to defeat the plan. This campaign made him a political force throughout the country.

He led protest marches, organized mass meetings, and delivered speeches all over

Germany.

Hitler used his old arguments in the campaign against the Young Plan and in a

national election campaign that took place in 1930. But he toned down his violent

speeches against Jews, which had failed to attract many votes. Hitler promised to

rid Germany of Communists and other "enemies" and to reunite Germany and all

the other parts of Europe in which German was spoken.

In 1932, five major elections were held in Germany as its leaders struggled to give

the nation political stability. In the July elections for the Reichstag (parliament), the

Nazis became Germany's strongest party, receiving nearly 38 per cent of the vote.

Leaders of the other parties offered Hitler Cabinet posts in exchange for Nazi

support. But as leader of the strongest party, he refused to accept any arrangement

that did not make him chancellor (prime minister) of Germany.

The majority of the German people and the leading politicians did not want Hitler to

become chancellor. They understood that he would make himself dictator and set

up a reign of terror. Germany's president, Paul von Hindenburg, also had serious
misgivings about Hitler. But the 85-year-old Hindenburg, persuaded by his friends

and his son Oskar, accepted Hitler's promise to act lawfully if he were named to

form a government. On Jan. 30, 1933, Hindenburg named Hitler chancellor.

When Hitler left prison and tried to rebuild the party, he met with great difficulties.

He was challenged in northern Germany by the " socialist Nazi left leader Gregor

Strasser, who aimed his appeal at the workers. To meet the challenge, Hitler wooed

certain extremist military groups, the leftovers from World War I. While the workers

ignored Strasser's program, the military outcasts eagerly followed Hitler. At a party

conference in May 1926, Hitler outflanked Strasser and won back the dictatorial

chairmanship, which he subsequently reinforced by declaring the party program

unalterable, thus undercutting any attempt to revive the controversy over socialism.

Social conditions still prevented the party from growing, however. Interest in

extremist solutions had waned as Germany had regained economic and political

stability. In addition, Hitler was prohibited from speaking, which deprived him of his

most powerful weapon. His breakthrough came in 1929, when the German

Nationalist party made him politically respectable by soliciting his help in its vicious

campaign against the Young Plan's arrangements for German reparations. In

September 1930, after the depression had hit Germany, the Nazis made their first

substantial showing (18.3% of the vote) in national elections, and from then on

Hitler seemed to rise irresistibly. He still used propaganda, demagoguery, and terror,

but he now proclaimed, and defended against strong party opposition, a policy of

legality. While his propaganda appealed to the lower class victims of the depression,

his insistence on legality made him acceptable to the conservatives, nationalists,

and the military.

During this period, Hitler lived mainly from royalties for his book and fees for

newspaper articles. He was able to afford an apartment in Munich, a villa in the

Alps, and a car, but his style of life remained modest. He had a craving for pastries,

movies, and Richard Wagner's music. His behavior still alternated between

outbursts of energy and periods of inactivity and laziness. His sex life seems to have

been abnormal. In 1928 he began a passionate affair with his niece Geli Raubal. The

affair ended tragically in 1931 when Geli, feeling suffocated by his tyranny,

committed suicide. After he became dictator, he made Eva Braun, a clerk, his

mistress, but refused to marry her in order to preserve his image as a self-denying

public servant.

In 1932, with Germany close to anarchy, Hitler's career approached its crisis. He

narrowly lost to the incumbent Paul von Hindenburg in the presidential elections in

April, and the Nazis polled their highest vote (37.2%) in the July elections. In the

November elections, however, the Nazi vote decreased to 33.1%. Hitler had lost

prestige through his stubborn insistence on "total power; the party was

psychologically and financially exhausted; and the depression was beginning to

wane. At this moment, a conservative group led by former Chancellor Franz von

Papen arranged for Hitler to enter the government. On Jan. 30, 1933, the aged

President Hindenburg appointed him chancellor in a coalition government with the

conservatives.

The conservatives deluded themselves in thinking they could use Hitler for their

own interests. Within four months, Hitler had dramatically established his mastery

over them and over all other political groups. He had destroyed the Communist and

Socialist parties and the labor unions; forced the bourgeois and right wing parties to

dissolve; emasculated or destroyed the paramilitary organizations; eliminated the

federal structure of the republic; and on March 23, 1933, won from a decimated and

intimidated Reichstag an enabling law that gave him dictatorial powers. His success

came from a combination of pseudo-democratic mass demonstrations; terror by the

SA and the Nazi-controlled police, which accelerated after the Reichstag fire in

February; and a seemingly conservative program that kept the conservatives

quiescent.

In early 1934, however, he faced new conflicts, mainly from within the party. The

SA, still led by Roehm, and the Nazi left vigorously opposed his alliance with

business and military leaders, and a group of monarchists was campaigning for a

restoration of the monarchy. Hindenburg's deteriorating health raised the question

of his succession. Hitler survived the crisis by adopting the most radical methods.

He rallied behind himself the party leaders, the army, and Himmler 's SS (the

Schutzstaffel, or Blackshirts), and on June 30, 1934, he struck. A number of SA

leaders, monarchists, and other opponents were murdered; the influence of the SA

was drastically reduced; and Hitler emerged as the undisputed master of Germany.

When Hindenburg died on August 2, Hitler officially assumed the title of Fuhrer, or

supreme head of Germany.

From 1935 to 1938 he consolidated his dictatorship. The basis of his power was still

his control over the masses, who admired him as the "man of the people and falsely

credited Germany's economic recovery to him. (Its real architect had been Hjalmar

Schacht, a conservative banker.) In 1937-1938 the economy reached full

employment, thanks to an increasingly reckless rearmament policy. Hitler also

protected his position by promoting rivalries among his subordinates, and he

encouraged Himmler to build a formidable apparatus of terror by means of the SS,

the Gestapo, and the concentration camps. He then escalated the persecution of
the Jews through the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, which deprived Jews of their

citizenship and forbade marriages between Jews and non-Jews. Additional restrictive

laws were passed during the next few years, and Hitler's policies resulted in a large-

scale emigration of Jews, socialists, and intellectuals and in the virtual destruction of

Weimar Germany's highly creative culture.

In foreign affairs, as long as Hitler felt weak, he shielded his regime by peaceful

declarations and by treaties, such as those with the Vatican in July 1933 and with

Poland in January 1934. Nevertheless, he indicated his true intentions in October

1933, when he withdrew from the League of Nations. As his strength increased, he

proceeded to remove the restrictions imposed by the Versailles Treaty by

proclaiming open rearmament in March 1935 and by remilitarizing the Rhineland in

1936. Simultaneously, he tried to win the neutrality of Britain through a naval treaty

in June 1935, and gained Italy's allegiance by supporting MUSSOLINI's Ethiopian war

(1935-1936). The Italian alliance materialized in October 1936, strengthened by

their joint interference in the Spanish Civil War.

From the outset, Hitler had been determined to conquer Lebensraum. In November

1937 he disclosed his war plans to his ministers, and when they objected, he

dismissed Schacht and the heads of the army and of the foreign ministry. By

replacing these men, he eliminated the last traces of the conservative alliance and

cleared the way for war. Under the guise of a policy of self-determination, Hitler

annexed Austria in March 1938 and the Sudetenland, the German-inhabited border

areas of Czechoslovakia, in October. By disclaiming any further expansionist aims,

he won approval of the Sudetenland occupation from Britain, France, and Italy at a

conference in Munich.
When he nevertheless extended his rule over all of Czechoslovakia in March 1939

and then threatened Poland, Britain and France abandoned their appeasement

policy and guaranteed Poland's integrity. Unimpressed, Hitler continued his

preparations by signing a nonaggression pact with Russia on August 23. When he

attacked an unyielding Poland on September 1, Britain and France surprised him by

declaring war.

The Nazis, through Frick's key position as minister of the interior, controlled all

national police authority. Goering controlled the Prussian police. An emergency

decree signed by Hindenburg on Feb. 4, 1933, gave the Nazis legal authority to

prohibit assemblies, to outlaw newspapers and other publications, and to arrest

people on suspicion of treason. The Nazis were thus able to put down much of their

political opposition. Goering created an auxiliary police force made up of thousands

of storm troopers and ordered them to shoot in encounters with "enemies."

On Feb. 27, 1933, a fire began that destroyed the Reichstag building. Many

historians believe that it was planned by the Nazis. A pro-Communist Dutch

anarchist was found at the site of the fire and admitted that he had started it. The

Nazis quickly blamed the Communists. Hindenburg signed another emergency

decree that gave the government almost unlimited powers.

Elections for a new Reichstag were held on March 5, 1933. Hitler hoped to win more

than 50 per cent of the vote for the Nazi Party. But the party received only 43.9 per

cent despite using terror to influence voters.

After the election, the Communist deputies were arrested or not admitted to the

Reichstag. This gave the Nazis a majority of the seats. On March 23, 1933, the Nazi-

dominated Reichstag passed a law "for the removal of distress from the people and
the state." This law, known as the Enabling Act, gave the government full dictatorial

powers and, in effect, suspended basic civil and human rights for four years. When

the president had signed it, Hitler had a firm "legal" basis on which to govern as he

pleased. He had also destroyed the constitution through outwardly legal means.

By mid-July 1933, the government had outlawed freedom of the press, all trade

unions, and all political parties except the Nazis. The Gestapo (secret state police)

hunted down the enemies and opponents of the government. People were jailed or

shot on suspicion alone. By the time Hindenburg died in August 1934, Hitler ruled

Germany completely. He assumed the title Fuhrer und Reichskanzler (leader and

reich chancellor).

The Nazis used the press, radio, and films to flood Germany with propaganda

praising the New Order, Hitler's term for his reordering of German society and for

his plans to reorder the rest of Europe. The regime applauded military training,

rearmament, national pride, and industry. Jews were forced out of the civil service,

universities and schools, and the professions and managerial positions. In 1935,

German Jews were declared citizens of lesser rights. Thousands left the country.

Many who stayed were sent to concentration camps along with hundreds of

thousands of political suspects. A person needed official permission to accept work,

change jobs, move, or travel abroad. The government regulated wages, housing,

and production of goods. All workers and employers were supposed to belong to the

German Labour Front, which was intended to replace Germany's trade unions.

Through the Labour Front, the government regulated production, wages, working

hours, and leisure activities.

Hitler also set up organizations for young people between the ages of 6 and 18.

These groups included the Hitler Youth for boys 14 years and older and the Society
of German Maidens for girls 14 years and older. The organizations were designed to

condition German children to military discipline and to win their loyalty to the Nazi

government. All German children were required to join such groups from the age of

10. They wore uniforms, marched, exercised, and learned Nazi beliefs. The Nazis

taught children to spy on their own families and report any anti-Nazi criticism they

might hear.

A network of spies kept watch on the German people and maintained an

atmosphere of terror. The Reichstag met only to listen to Hitler's public speeches.

Judges and courts continued to function, but Hitler or his lieutenants reversed any

decision they did not agree with.

From 1933 onward, Hitler prepared Germany for war. He rearmed the nation, first

secretly, then in open violation of the Treaty of Versailles. No nation acted to stop

him, and so Hitler's steps became bolder. Hitler planned to establish Germany as

the world's leading power and to destroy the Jewish people.

In 1936, Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland, again violating the Treaty of

Versailles. His generals had opposed this dangerous challenge to France. But Hitler

guessed correctly that France would not stop him. The stationing of German troops

in the Rhineland was the first of the Nazi dictator's victories without war.

In March 1938, Hitler's troops invaded Austria. Austria then became part of

Germany. In September, France and Great Britain consented to Hitler's occupation of

the German-speaking areas of Czechoslovakia that had belonged to Austria-

Hungary before World War I ended . After this move, Hitler said he wanted no more

territory. But after each success, he planned a new take-over. He took control of the

rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939.

Poland came next on Hitler's list. But Britain and France took action to try to stop

any further German expansion. They guaranteed Poland's independence, saying

that they would go to war against Germany if Hitler attacked Poland. Hitler doubted

that they would do so. In August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed

treaties of friendship. They promised mutual cooperation, trade privileges, and

neutrality in case of war with other countries. A secret part of the treaties divided

Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union and promised the Soviet Union other

territory in eastern Europe. On Sept. 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Britain and

France declared war on Germany two days later.

Hitler's armies overran Poland in just a few weeks. In the spring of 1940, they easily

conquered Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.

Benito Mussolini, Italy's dictator, declared war on France and Britain on June 10,

1940, when the defeat of France seemed certain. On June 22, 1940, France signed

an armistice with Germany.

Britain fought on alone. A major German air offensive failed to weaken British

resistance. Hitler kept delaying an invasion of Britain. Instead, in July 1940, he

began to consider an invasion of the Soviet Union. He explained to his generals that

Britain would not surrender until its last potential ally on the European continent

had been defeated.

In June 1941, the attack on the Soviet Union began. At first, the German forces

made rapid progress. But their advance began to slow in November. By December,

it was halted outside Moscow. An unusually bitter winter, Soviet reinforcements, and

supplies sent by the United States helped the Soviet forces stop the Germans and

begin to push them back during the winter. Renewed German attacks in 1942 and

1943 could not break through. During the Battle of Stalingrad, which lasted for five
months during 1942 and 1943, the Soviets wiped out an entire German army of

300,000 men. This German defeat was a major turning point in the war.

While his empire lasted, Hitler directed the storm troopers, Nazi officials, and

members of the army and the civil service in a campaign of mass slaughter. About 6

million Jews--over two-thirds of the Jews of Europe--were murdered. More than 3

million Soviet prisoners of war were starved and worked to death. Hitler's victims

also included large numbers of Gypsies, Poles, Slavs, Jehovah's Witnesses, priests

and ministers, mental patients, and Communists and other political opponents.

The German resistance had tried since 1938 to kill Hitler and overthrow the Nazis.

But repeated plots failed. On July 20, 1944, Hitler narrowly escaped death when a

German Army officer placed a bomb in Hitler's briefing room.

By April 1945, Hitler had become a broken man. His head, hands, and feet trembled,

and he was tortured by stomach cramps. Eva Braun, Hitler's mistress since the

1930's, joined him at his headquarters in a bomb shelter under the Reich

Chancellery in Berlin. She and Hitler were married there on April 29. The next day,

they killed themselves. Aides burned their bodies. Seven days later, Germany

surrendered.

References:

MSN Encarta. http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761556540/Hitler.html

About.com. World War II Begins.

http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/aa090399.htm

World War II. http://history-world.org/world_war_ii.htm

A History Place. The Rise of Adolf Hitler.

http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/index.htm

Adolf Hitler. http://remember.org/guide/Facts.root.hitler.html