Adolf Hitler was born on 20th April, 1889, in the small Austrian town of Braunau near the German

border. Both Hitler's parents had come from poor peasant famili es. His father Alois Hitler, the illegitimate son of a housemaid, was an intelli gent and ambitious man and later became a senior customs official. Klara Hitler was Alois' third wife. Alois was twenty-three years older than Klar a and already had two children from his previous marriages. Klara and Alois had five children but only Adolf and a younger sister, Paula, survived to become adu lts. Alois, who was fifty-one when Adolf was born, was extremely keen for his son to do well in life. Alois did have another son by an earlier marriage but he had be en a big disappointment to him and eventually ended up in prison for theft. Aloi s was a strict father and savagely beat his son if he did not do as he was told. Hitler did extremely well at primary school and it appeared he had a bright acad emic future in front of him. He was also popular with other pupils and was much admired for his leadership qualities. He was also a deeply religious child and f or a while considered the possibility of becoming a monk. Competition was much tougher in the larger secondary school and his reaction to not being top of the class was to stop trying. His father was furious as he had high hopes that Hitler would follow his example and join the Austrian civil serv ice when he left school. However, Hitler was a stubborn child and attempts by hi s parents and teachers to change his attitude towards his studies were unsuccess ful. Hitler also lost his popularity with his fellow pupils. They were no longer will ing to accept him as one of their leaders. As Hitler liked giving orders he spen t his time with younger pupils. He enjoyed games that involved fighting and he l oved re-enacting battles from the Boer War. His favourite game was playing the r ole of a commando rescuing Boers from English concentration camps. The only teacher Hitler appeared to like at secondary school was Leopold Potsch, his history master. Potsch, like many people living in Upper Austria, was a Ger man Nationalist. Potsch told Hitler and his fellow pupils of the German victorie s over France in 1870 and 1871 and attacked the Austrians for not becoming invol ved in these triumphs. Otto von Bismarck, the first chancellor of the German Emp ire, was one of Hitler's early historical heroes.

In Pursuit of Hitler

Mein Kampf

Hitler's other main interest at school was art. His father was incensed when Hit ler told him that instead of joining the civil service he was going to become an artist. The relationship between Hitler and his father deteriorated and the con flict only ended with the death of Alois Hitler in 1903. Hitler was thirteen when his father died. His death did not cause the family fin ancial hardships. The Hitler family owned their own home and they also received a lump sum and a generous civil service pension.

Klara Hitler, a kind and gentle woman, tended to spoil her son. Like her husband she was keen for Adolf to do well at school. Her attempts at persuasion achieve d no more success than her husband's threats and he continued to obtain poor gra des. At the age of fifteen he did so badly in his examinations that he was told he wo uld have to repeat the whole year's work again. Hitler hated the idea and manage d to persuade his mother to allow him to leave school without a secondary educat ion qualification. He celebrated by getting drunk. However, he found it an humil iating experience and vowed never to get drunk again. He kept his promise and by the time he reached his thirties he had given up alcohol completely. When he was eighteen Hitler received an inheritance from his father's will. With the money he moved to Vienna where he planned to become an art student. Hitler had a high opinion of his artistic abilities and was shattered when the Vienna A cademy of Art rejected his application. He also applied to the Vienna School of Architecture but was not admitted because he did not have a school leaving certi ficate. Hitler was humiliated by these two rejections and could not bring himself to tel l his mother what had happened. Instead he continued to live in Vienna pretendin g he was an art student. In 1907 Klara Hitler died from cancer. Her death affected him far more deeply th an the death of his father. He had fond memories of his mother, carried her phot ograph wherever he went and, it is claimed, had it in his hand when he died in 1 945. As the eldest child, Hitler now received his father's was more money than many people received in wages and have to find employment. He spent most of the morning afternoon he walked around Vienna studying buildings, ng sketches. civil service pension. It meant that Hitler did not in bed reading and in the visiting museums, and maki

In 1909 Hitler should have registered for military service. He was unwilling to serve Austria, which he despised, so he ignored his call-up papers. It took four years for the authorities to catch up with him. When he had his medical for the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1914 he was rejected as being: "Unfit for combatant an d auxiliary duty - too weak. Unable to bear arms." The outbreak of the First World War provided him with an opportunity for a fresh start. It was a chance for him to become involved in proving that Germany was s uperior to other European countries. Hitler claimed that when he heard the news of war: "I was overcome with impetuous enthusiasm, and falling on my knees, whol eheartedly thanked Heaven that I had been granted the happiness to live live at this time. Rejecting the idea of fighting for Austria, Hitler volunteered for th e German Army. In times of war medical examinations are not so rigorous. Hitler liked being in the army. For the first time he was part of a group that w as fighting for a common goal. Hitler also liked the excitement of fighting in a war. Although fairly cautious in his actions, he did not mind risking his life and impressed his commanding officers for volunteering for dangerous missions. His fellow soldiers described him as "odd" and "peculiar". One soldier from his regiment, Hans Mend, claimed that Hitler was an isolated figure who spent long p eriods of time sitting in the corner holding his head in silence. Then all of a sudden, Mend claimed, he would jump up and make a speech. These outbursts were u sually attacks on Jews and Marxists who Hitler claimed were undermining the war effort.

Hitler was given the job of despatch-runner. It was a dangerous job as it involv ed carrying messages from regimental headquarters to the front-line. On one day alone, three out of eight of the regiment's despatch-runners were killed. For th e first time since he was at primary school Hitler was a success. Hitler won five medals including the prestigious Iron Cross during the First Wor ld War. His commanding officer wrote: "As a dispatch-runner, he has shown cold-b looded courage and exemplary boldness. Under conditions of great peril, when all the communication lines were cut, the untiring and fearless activity of Hitler made it possible for important messages to go through". Although much decorated in the war, Hitler only reached the rank of corporal. Th is was probably due to his eccentric behaviour and the fear that the other soldi ers might not obey the man they considered so strange. In October 1918, Hitler was blinded in a British mustard gas attack. He was sent to a military hospital and gradually recovered his sight. While he was in hospi tal Germany surrendered. Hitler went into a state of deep depression, and had pe riods when he could not stop crying. He spent most of his time turned towards th e hospital wall refusing to talk to anyone. Once again Hitler's efforts had ende d in failure. After the war Hitler was stationed in Munich, the capital of Bavaria. While Hitl er was in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, Kurt Eisner, leader of the Independent Socialist Party, declared Bavaria a Socialist Republic. Hitler was appalled by the revolution. As a German Nationalist he disagreed with the socialist belief i n equality. Hitler saw socialism as part of a Jewish conspiracy. Many of the socialist leade rs in Germany, including Kurt Eisner, Rosa Luxemburg, Ernst Toller and Eugen Lev ine were Jews. So also were many of the leaders of the October Revolution in Rus sia. This included Leon Trotsky, Gregory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, Dimitri Bogrov, Karl Radek, Yakov Sverdlov, Maxim Litvinov, Adolf Joffe, and Moisei Uritsky. It had not escaped Hitler's notice that Karl Marx, the prophet of socialism, had al so been a Jew. It was no coincidence that Jews had joined socialist and communist parties in Eu rope. Jews had been persecuted for centuries and therefore were attracted to a m ovement that proclaimed that all men and women deserved to be treated as equals. This message was reinforced when on 10th July, 1918, the Bolshevik government i n Russia passed a law that abolished all discrimination between Jews and non-Jew s. It was not until May, 1919 that the German Army entered Munich and overthrew the Bavarian Socialist Republic. Hitler was arrested with other soldiers in Munich and was accused of being a socialist. Hundreds of socialists were executed witho ut trial but Hitler was able to convince them that he had been an opponent of th e regime. To prove this he volunteered to help to identify soldiers who had supp orted the Socialist Republic. The authorities agreed to this proposal and Hitler was transferred to the commission investigating the revolution. Information supplied by Hitler helped to track down several soldiers involved in the uprising. His officers were impressed by his hostility to left-wing ideas a nd he was recruited as a political officer. Hitler's new job was to lecture sold iers on politics. The main aim was to promote his political philosophy favoured by the army and help to combat the influence of the Russian Revolution on the Ge rman soldiers. Hitler, who had for years been ignored when he made political speeches, now had a captive audience. The political climate had also changed. Germany was a defeat

ed and disillusioned country. At Versailles the German government had been force d to sign a peace treaty that gave away 13% of her territory. This meant the los s of 6 million people, a large percentage of her raw materials (65% of iron ore reserves, 45% of her coal, 72% of her zinc) and 10% of her factories. Germany al so lost all her overseas colonies. Under the terms of the Versailles Treaty Germany also had to pay for damage caus ed by the war. These reparations amounted to 38% of her national wealth. Hitler was no longer isolated. The German soldiers who attended his lectures sha red his sense of failure. They found his message that they were not to blame att ractive. He told them that Germany had not been beaten on the battlefield but ha d been betrayed by Jews and Marxists who had preached revolution and undermined the war effort. The German Army also began using Hitler as a spy. In September 1919, he was inst ructed to attend a meeting of the German Worker's Party (GWP). The army feared t hat this new party, led by Anton Drexler, might be advocating communist revoluti on. Hitler discovered that the party's political ideas were similar to his own. He approved of Drexler's German nationalism and anti-Semitism but was unimpresse d with the way the party was organized. Although there as a spy, Hitler could no t restrain himself when a member made a point he disagreed with, and he stood up and made a passionate speech on the subject. Drexler was impressed with Hitler's abilities as an orator and invited him to jo in the party. At first Hitler was reluctant, but urged on by his commanding offi cer, Captain Karl Mayr, he eventually agreed. He was only the fifty-fourth perso n to join the GWP. Hitler was immediately asked to join the executive committee and was later appointed the party's propaganda manager. In the next few weeks Hitler brought several members of his army into the party, including one of his commanding officers, Captain Ernst Roehm. The arrival of R oehm was an important development as he had access to the army political fund an d was able to transfer some of the money into the GWP. The German Worker's Party used some of this money to advertise their meetings. H itler was often the main speaker and it was during this period that he developed the techniques that made him into such a persuasive orator.

The Hitler File

The Last of the Hitlers Hitler always arrived late which helped to develop tension and a sense of expect ation. He took the stage, stood to attention and waited until there was complete silence before he started his speech. For the first few months Hitler appeared nervous and spoke haltingly. Slowly he would begin to relax and his style of del ivery would change. He would start to rock from side to side and begin to gestic ulate with his hands. His voice would get louder and become more passionate. Swe at poured of him, his face turned white, his eyes bulged and his voice cracked w ith emotion. He ranted and raved about the injustices done to Germany and played on his audience's emotions of hatred and envy. By the end of the speech the aud ience would be in a state of near hysteria and were willing to do whatever Hitle r suggested.

As soon as his speech finished Hitler would quickly leave the stage and disappea r from view. Refusing to be photographed, Hitler's aim was to create an air of m ystery about himself, hoping that it would encourage others to come and hear the man who was now being described as "the new Messiah". Hitler's reputation as an orator grew and it soon became clear that he was the m ain reason why people were joining the party. This gave Hitler tremendous power within the organization as they knew they could not afford to lose him. One chan ge suggested by Hitler concerned adding "Socialist" to the name of the party. Hi tler had always been hostile to socialist ideas, especially those that involved racial or sexual equality. However, socialism was a popular political philosophy in Germany after the First World War. This was reflected in the growth in the G erman Social Democrat Party (SDP), the largest political party in Germany. Hitler, therefore redefined socialism by placing the word 'National' before it. He claimed he was only in favour of equality for those who had "German blood". J ews and other "aliens" would lose their rights of citizenship, and immigration o f non-Germans should be brought to an end. In February 1920, the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) published its first programme which became known as the "25 Points". In the programme the party refused to accept the terms of the Versailles Treaty and called for the re unification of all German people. To reinforce their ideas on nationalism, equal rights were only to be given to German citizens. "Foreigners" and "aliens" woul d be denied these rights. To appeal to the working class and socialists, the programme included several me asures that would redistribute income and war profits, profit-sharing in large i ndustries, nationalization of trusts, increases in old-age pensions and free edu cation.

The Third Reich

Visions of Victory On 24th February, 1920, the NSDAP (later nicknamed the Nazi Party) held a mass r ally where it announced its new programme. The rally was attended by over 2,000 people, a great improvement on the 25 people who were at Hitler's first party me eting. Hitler knew that the growth in the party was mainly due to his skills as an orat or and in the autumn of 1921 he challenged Anton Drexler for the leadership of t he party. After brief resistance Drexler accepted the inevitable, and Hitler bec ame the new leader of the Nazi Party. Hitler's ability to arouse in his supporters emotions of anger and hate often re sulted in their committing acts of violence. In September 1921, Hitler was sent to prison for three months for being part of a mob who beat up a rival politicia n. When Hitler was released, he formed his own private army called Sturm Abteilung (Storm Section). The SA (also known as stormtroopers or brownshirts) were instru

cted to disrupt the meetings of political opponents and to protect Hitler from r evenge attacks. Captain Ernst Roehm of the Bavarian Army played an important rol e in recruiting these men, and Hermann Goering, a former air-force pilot, became their leader. Hitler's stormtroopers were often former members of the Freikorps (right-wing pr ivate armies who flourished during the period that followed the First World War) and had considerable experience in using violence against their rivals. The SA wore grey jackets, brown shirts (khaki shirts originally intended for sol diers in Africa but purchased in bulk from the German Army by the Nazi Party), s wastika armbands, ski-caps, knee-breeches, thick woolen socks and combat boots. Accompanied by bands of musicians and carrying swastika flags, they would parade through the streets of Munich. At the end of the march Hitler would make one of his passionate speeches that encouraged his supporters to carry out acts of vio lence against Jews and his left-wing political opponents. As this violence was often directed against Socialists and Communists, the local right-wing Bavarian government did not take action against the Nazi Party. Howe ver, the national government in Berlin were concerned and passed a "Law for the Protection of the Republic". Hitler's response was to organize a rally attended by 40,000 people. At the meeting Hitler called for the overthrow of the German g overnment and even suggested that its leaders should be executed. In 1923 the German Government had to deal with a series of difficult problems. I n January the French Army occupied the Ruhr because they claimed Germany was fal ling behind with her reparations. Workers in the Ruhr responded by going on stri ke which badly hurt the German economy. One of the consequences of this was rapi d inflation. As people found their savings becoming worthless, they turned again st their government. On 13th August, Gustav Stresemann became the new Chancellor of Germany. When Str esemann decided to call off resistance to the French occupation of the Ruhr and to start paying reparations to the Allies again, Hitler decided it was time for him to become the new leader of Germany. On 8th November, 1923, the Bavarian government held a meeting of about 3,000 off icials. While Gustav von Kahr, the leader of the Bavarian government was making a speech, Hitler and armed stormtroopers entering the building. Hitler jumped on to a table, fired two shots in the air and told the audience that the Munich Put sch was taking place and the National Revolution had began. Leaving Hermann Goering and the SA to guard the 3,000 officials, Hitler took Gus tav von Kahr, Otto von Lossow, the commander of the Bavarian Army and Hans von S eisser, the commandant of the Bavarian State Police into an adjoining room. Hitl er told the men that he was to be the new leader of Germany and offered them pos ts in his new government. Aware that this would be an act of high treason, the t hree men were initially reluctant to agree to this offer. Hitler was furious and threatened to shoot them and then commit suicide: "I have three bullets for you , gentlemen, and one for me!" After this the three men agreed. Soon afterwards Eric Ludendorff arrived. Ludendorff had been leader of the Germa n Army at the end of the First World War. He had therefore found Hitler's claim that the war had not been lost by the army but by Jews, Socialists, Communists a nd the German government, attractive, and was a strong supporter of the Nazi Par ty. Ludendorff agreed to become head of the the German Army in Hitler's governme nt. While Hitler had been appointing government ministers, Ernst Roehm, leading a gr oup of stormtroopers, had seized the War Ministry and Rudolf Hess was arranging

the arrest of Jews and left-wing political leaders in Bavaria. Hitler now planned to march on Berlin and remove the national government. Surpri singly, Hitler had not arranged for the stormtroopers to take control of the rad io stations and the telegraph offices. This meant that the national government i n Berlin soon heard about Hitler's putsch and gave orders for it to be crushed. The next day Hitler, Eric Ludendorff, Hermann Goering and 3,000 armed supporters of the Nazi Party marched through Munich in an attempt to join up with Roehm's forces at the War Ministry. At Odensplatz they found the road blocked by the Mun ich police. As they refused to stop, the police fired into the ground in front o f the marchers. The stormtroopers returned the fire and during the next few minu tes 21 people were killed and another hundred were wounded, included Goering. When the firing started Hitler threw himself to the ground dislocating his shoul der. Hitler lost his nerve and ran to a nearby car. Although the police were out numbered, the Nazis followed their leader's example and ran away. Only Eric Lude ndorff and his adjutant continued walking towards the police. Later Nazi histori ans were to claim that the reason Hitler left the scene so quickly was because h e had to rush an injured young boy to the local hospital. After hiding in a friend's house for several days, Hitler was arrested and put o n trial for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch. If found guilty, Hitler faced the death penalty. While in prison Hitler suffered from depression and talked of com mitting suicide. However, it soon became clear that the Nazi sympathizers in the Bavarian government were going to make sure that Hitler would not be punished s everely. At his trial Hitler was allowed to turn the proceedings into a political rally, and although he was found guilty he only received the minimum sentence of five y ears. Other members of the Nazi Party also received light sentences and Eric Lud endorff was acquitted. Hitler was sent to Landsberg Castle in Munich to serve his prison sentence. He w as treated well and was allowed to walk in the castle grounds, wear his own clot hes and receive gifts. Officially there were restrictions on visitors but this d id not apply to Hitler, and a steady flow of friends, party members and journali sts spent long spells with him. He was even allowed to have visits from his pet Alsatian dog. While in Landsberg he read a lot of books. Most of these dealt with German histo ry and political philosophy. Later he was to describe his spell in prison as a " free education at the state's expense." One writer who influenced Hitler while i n prison was Henry Ford, the American car-manufacturer. Hitler read Ford's autob iography, My Life and Work, and a book of his called The International Jew. In t he latter Ford claimed that there was a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world . Hitler also approved of Ford's hostile views towards communism and trade union s. Max Amnan, his business manager, proposed that Hitler should spend his time in p rison writing his autobiography. Hitler, who had never fully mastered writing, w as at first not keen on the idea. However, he agreed when it was suggested that he should dictate his thoughts to a ghostwriter. The prison authorities surprisi ngly agreed that Hitler's chauffeur, Emil Maurice, could live in the prison to c arry out this task. Maurice, whose main talent was as a street fighter, was a poor writer and the jo b was eventually taken over by Rudolf Hess, a student at Munich University. Hess made a valiant attempt at turning Hitler's spoken ideas into prose. However, th e book that Hitler wrote in prison was repetitive, confused, turgid and therefor

e, extremely difficult to read. In his writing, Hitler was unable to use the pas sionate voice and dramatic bodily gestures which he had used so effectively in h is speeches, to convey his message. The book was originally entitled Four Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice. Hitler's publisher reduced it to My Struggle (Mein Kampf). The b ook is a mixture of autobiography, political ideas and an explanation of the tec hniques of propaganda. The autobiographical details in Mein Kampf are often inac curate, and the main purpose of this part of the book appears to be to provide a positive image of Hitler. For example, when Hitler was living a life of leisure in Vienna he claims he was working hard as a labourer. In Mein Kampf Hitler outlined his political philosophy. He argued that the Germa n (he wrongly described them as the Aryan race) was superior to all others. "Eve ry manifestation of human culture, every product of art, science and technical s kill, which we see before our eyes today, is almost exclusively the product of A ryan creative power." Hitler warned that the Aryan's superiority was being threatened by intermarriage . If this happened world civilization would decline: "On this planet of ours hum an culture and civilization are indissolubly bound up with the presence of the A ryan. If he should be exterminated or subjugated, then the dark shroud of a new barbarian era would enfold the earth." Although other races would resist this process, the Aryan race had a duty to con trol the world. This would be difficult and force would have to be used, but it could be done. To support this view he gave the example of how the British Empir e had controlled a quarter of the world by being well-organised and having welltimed soldiers and sailors.

Hitler 1889-1936

Hitler 1889-1936

Hitler believed that Aryan superiority was being threatened particularly by the Jewish race who, he argued, were lazy and had contributed little to world civili zation. (Hitler ignored the fact that some of his favourite composers and musici ans were Jewish). He claimed that the "Jewish youth lies in wait for hours on en d satanically glaring at and spying on the unconscious girl whom he plans to sed uce, adulterating her blood with the ultimate idea of bastardizing the white rac e which they hate and thus lowering its cultural and political level so that the Jew might dominate." According to Hitler, Jews were responsible for everything he did not like, inclu ding modern art, pornography and prostitution. Hitler also alleged that the Jews had been responsible for losing the First World War. Hitler also claimed that J ews, who were only about 1% of the population, were slowly taking over the count ry. They were doing this by controlling the largest political party in Germany, the German Social Democrat Party, many of the leading companies and several of t he country's newspapers. The fact that Jews had achieved prominent positions in a democratic society was, according to Hitler, an argument against democracy: "a hundred blockheads do not equal one man in wisdom."

Hitler believed that the Jews were involved with Communists in a joint conspirac y to take over the world. Like Henry Ford, Hitler claimed that 75% of all Commun ists were Jews. Hitler argued that the combination of Jews and Marxists had alre ady been successful in Russia and now threatened the rest of Europe. He argued t hat the communist revolution was an act of revenge that attempted to disguise th e inferiority of the Jews. In Mein Kampf Hitler declared that: "The external security of a people in largel y determined by the size of its territory. If he won power Hitler promised to oc cupy Russian land that would provide protection and lebensraum (living space) fo r the German people. This action would help to destroy the Jewish/Marxist attemp t to control the world: "The Russian Empire in the East is ripe for collapse; an d the end of the Jewish domination of Russia will also be the end of Russia as a state." To achieve this expansion in the East and to win back land lost during the First World War, Hitler claimed that it might be necessary to form an alliance with B ritain and Italy. An alliance with Britain was vitally important because it woul d prevent Germany fighting a war in the East and West at the same time. According to James Douglas-Hamilton (Motive for a Mission) Karl Haushofer provid ed "Hitler with a formula and certain well-turned phrases which could be adapted , and which at a later stage suited the Nazis perfectly". Haushofer had develope d the theory that the state is a biological organism which grows or contracts, a nd that in the struggle for space the strong countries take land from the weak. Hitler was released from prison on 20th December, 1924, after serving just over a year of his sentence. The Germany of 1924 was dramatically different from the Germany of 1923. The economic policies of the German government had proved succe ssful. Inflation had been brought under control and the economy began to improve . The German people gradually gained a new faith in their democratic system and began to find the extremist solutions proposed by people such as Hitler unattrac tive. Hitler attempted to play down his extremist image, and claimed that he was no lo nger in favour of revolution but was willing to compete with other parties in de mocratic elections. This policy was unsuccessful and in the elections of Decembe r 1924 the NSDAP could only win 14 seats compared with the the 131 obtained by t he Socialists (German Social Democrat Party) and the 45 of the German Communist Party (KPD).

Georges, Grim Reaper, The Nation (April, 1933)

Hitler went to live in Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps. Later he was to say t his was the happiest time of his life. He spent his time reading, walking and be ing driven fast around the countryside in his new supercharged Mercedes. For the first time in his life he began to take a serious interest in women. Hitler liked the company of beautiful and frivolous women and avoided women who wanted to discuss political issues. His attitude towards women is reflected in h is comment that: "A highly intelligent man should take a primitive and stupid wo man." On another occasion he said: "I detest women who dabble in politics."

This was one of the reasons Hitler tended to be attracted to women much younger than himself, and there was a scandal when Maria Reiter, a sixteen-year-old girl he was involved with, tried to commit suicide. In 1928 Hitler asked his half-sister, Angela Raubal, to be his housekeeper. She agreed and arrived with her twenty-year old daughter, Geli Raubal. Hitler, who h ad now turned forty, became infatuated with Geli and rumours soon spread that he was having an affair with his young niece. Hitler became extremely possessive a nd Emil Maurice, his chauffeur, who also showed interest in Geli, was sacked. The couple lived together for over two years. The relationship with Geli was sto rmy and they began to accuse each other of being unfaithful. Geli was particular ly concerned about Eva Braun, a seventeen-year-old girl who Hitler took for ride s in his Mercedes car. Geli also complained about the way Hitler controlled her life On September 8, 19 31, Hitler left for Hamburg after having a blazing row with Geli over her desire to spend some time in Vienna. Hitler was heard to shout at Geli as he was about to get into his car: "For the last time, no!" After he left Geli shot herself t hrough the heart with a revolver. When he heard the news Hitler threatened to take his own life but was talked out of it by senior members of the Nazi Party. One consequence of Geli's suicide wa s that Hitler became a vegetarian. He claimed that meat now reminded him of Geli 's corpse. Rumours about Geli's death spread quickly amongst Hitler's enemies. It was claim ed that Geli had been badly beaten up by Hitler before she shot herself. Another story involved Geli committing suicide because she was expecting Hitler's child . Some people claimed she was murdered by Heinrich Himmler because she was threa tening to blackmail Hitler. Little evidence has been provided to support these s uggestions and the reasons for her death remain a mystery After the death of Geli Raubal, Hitler began to see more of Eva Braun. However h e still had relationships with other women Hitler was especially fond of film-st ars and one girlfriend the actress Renate Mueller, committed suicide by throwing herself out of a hotel window in Berlin. Eva was extremely jealous of Hitler's other girlfriends and in 1932 she also att empted suicide by shooting herself in the neck. Doctors managed to save her life , and after this incident Hitler seemed to become more attached to Eva and saw l ess of other women. Hitler had no desire to have children. He told several people that if he had chi ldren they were certain to disappoint him as they would never match his own genius. The Nazi Party always attempted to keep Hitler's love life secret. In his speech es Hitler claimed that he had never married because he was "married to the Germa n people." The severe casualties suffered during the First World War meant that there was a large number of widows and spinsters in Germany. Women in Germany fo und Hitler's bachelor image attractive and this helped win him votes during elec tions. It was for this reason that Eva Braun was never seen in public with Hitle r. Emil Kirdorf, a very wealthy industrialist met Hitler in 1927. Although Kirdorf agreed with most of Hitler's views he was concerned about some of the policies o f the Nazi Party. He was particularly worried about the opinions of some people in the party such as Gregor Strasser who talked about the need to redistribute w ealth in Germany.

Hitler tried to reassure Kirdorf that these policies were just an attempt to gai n the support of the working-class in Germany and would not be implemented once he gained power. Kirdorf suggested that Hitler should write a pamphlet for priva te distribution amongst Germany's leading industrialists that clearly expressed his views on economic policy. Hitler agreed and The Road to Resurgence was published in the summer of 1927. In the pamphlet distributed by Kirdorf to Germany's leading industrialists, Hitler tried to reassure his readers that he was a supporter of private enterprise and was opposed to any real transformation of Germany's economic and social structu re. Emil Kirdorf and his wealthy right-wing friends were particularly attracted to H itler's idea of winning the working class away from left-wing political groups s uch as the Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party. Kirdorf and other bu siness leaders were also impressed with the news that Hitler planned to suppress the trade union movement once he gained power. Kirdorf joined the Nazi Party an d immediately began to try and persuade other leading industrialists to supply H itler with the necessary funds to win control of the Reichstag. Kirdorf expected Adolf Hitler to remove left-wing members of the Nazi Party such as Gregor Strasser, Ernst Roehm and Gottfried Feder to be removed from power. W hen this did not happen, Kirdorf switched his support to the German Nationalist Party (DNVP) led by Alfred Hugenberg. In the 1928 German elections, less than 3% of the people voted for the Nazi Part y. This gave them only twelve seats, twenty fewer than they achieved in the May, 1924 election. However, the party was well organized and membership had grown f rom 27,000 in 1925 to 108,000 in 1928. One of the new members was Joseph Goebbels. Hitler first met him in 1925. Both m en were impressed with each other. Goebbels described one of their first meeting s in his diary: "Shakes my hand. Like an old friend. And those big blue eyes. Li ke stars. He is glad to see me. I am in heaven. That man has everything to be ki ng." Hitler admired Goebbels' abilities as a writer and speaker. They shared an inter est in propaganda and together they planned how the NSDAP would win the support of the German people. Propaganda cost money and this was something that the Nazi Party was very short of. Whereas the German Social Democratic Party was funded by the trade unions an d the pro-capitalist parties by industrialists, the NSDAP had to rely on contrib utions from party members. When Hitler approached rich industrialists for help h e was told that his economic policies (profit-sharing, nationalization of trusts ) were too left-wing. In an attempt to obtain financial contributions from industrialists, Hitler wrot e a pamphlet in 1927 entitled The Road to Resurgence. Only a small number of the se pamphlets were printed and they were only meant for the eyes of the top indus trialists in Germany. The reason that the pamphlet was kept secret was that it c ontained information that would have upset Hitler's working-class supporters. In the pamphlet Hitler implied that the anti-capitalist measures included in the o riginal twenty-five points of the NSDAP programme would not be implemented if he gained power.

The Hitler File

Karl Brandt: The Nazi Doctor

Hitler began to argue that "capitalists had worked their way to the top through their capacity, and on the basis of this selection they have the right to lead." Hitler claimed that national socialism meant all people doing their best for so ciety and posed no threat to the wealth of the rich. Some prosperous industriali sts were convinced by these arguments and gave donations to the Nazi Party, howe ver, the vast majority continued to support other parties, especially the rightwing German Nationalist Peoples Party (DNVP). Another new member of the NSDAP was Heinrich Himmler. Hitler was impressed by Hi mmler's fanatical nationalism and his deep hatred of the Jews. Himmler believed Hitler was the Messiah that was destined to lead Germany to greatness. Hitler, w ho was always vulnerable to flattery, decided that Himmler should become the new leader of his personal bodyguard, the Schutzstaffeinel (SS). The German economy continued to improve and as unemployment fell, so did the sup port for extremist political parties such as the NSDAP. In the General Election held in May, 1928, the Nazi Party won only 14 seats, while the left-wing parties , the German Social Democrat Party (153) and the German Communist Party (54) sti ll continued to grow in popularity. The fortunes of the NSDAP changed with the Wall Street Crash in October 1929. De sperate for capital, the United States began to recall loans from Europe. One of the consequences of this was a rapid increase in unemployment. Germany, whose e conomy relied heavily on investment from the United States, suffered more than a ny other country in Europe. Before the crash, 1.25 million people were unemployed in Germany. By the end of 1930 the figure had reached nearly 4 million. Even those in work suffered as man y were only working part-time. With the drop in demand for labour, wages also fe ll and those with full-time work had to survive on lower incomes. Hitler, who wa s considered a fool in 1928 when he predicted economic disaster, was now seen in a different light. People began to say that if he was clever enough to predict the depression maybe he also knew how to solve it. In the General Election that took place in September 1930, the Nazi Party increa sed its number of representatives in parliament from 14 to 107. Hitler was now t he leader of the second largest party in Germany. The German Social Democrat Party was the largest party in the Reichstag, it did not have a majority over all the other parties, and the SPD leader, Hermann Mull er, had to rely on the support of others to rule Germany. After the SPD refused to reduce unemployment benefits, Mueller was replaced as Chancellor by Heinrich Bruening. However, with his party only having 87 representatives out of 577 in t he Reichstag, he also found it extremely difficult to gain agreement for his pol icies. Hitler used this situation to his advantage, claiming that parliamentary democra cy did not work. The NSDAP argued that only Hitler could provide the strong gove rnment that Germany needed. Hitler and other Nazi leaders travelled round the co untry giving speeches putting over this point of view.

What Hitler said depended very much on the audience. In rural areas he promised tax cuts for farmers and government actin to protect food prices. In working cla ss areas he spoke of redistribution of wealth and attacked the high profits made by the large chain stores. When he spoke to industrialists, Hitler concentrated on his plans to destroy communism and to reduce the power of the trade union mo vement. Hitler's main message was that Germany's economic recession was due to t he Treaty of Versailles. Other than refusing to pay reparations, Hitler avoided explaining how he would improve the German economy. With a divided Reichstag, the power of the German President became more importan t. In 1931 Hitler challenged Paul von Hindenburg for the presidency. Hindenburg was now 84 years old and showing signs of senility. However, a large percentage of the German population still feared Hitler and in the election Hindenburg had a comfortable majority. Heinrich Bruening and other senior politicians were worried that Hitler would us e his stormtroopers to take power by force. Led by Ernst Roehm, it now contained over 400,000 men. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles the official Germ an Army was restricted to 100,000 men and was therefore outnumbered by the SA. I n the past, those who feared communism were willing to put up with the SA as the y provided a useful barrier against the possibility of revolution. However, with the growth in SA violence and fearing a Nazi coup, Bruening banned the organiza tion. In May 1932, Paul von Hindenburg sacked Bruening and replaced him with Franz von Papen. The new chancellor was also a member of the Catholic Centre Party and, b eing more sympathetic to the Nazis, he removed the ban on the SA. The next few w eeks saw open warfare on the streets between the Nazis and the Communists during which 86 people were killed. In an attempt to gain support for his new government, in July Franz von Papen ca lled another election. Hitler now had the support of the upper and middle classe s and the NSDAP did well winning 230 seats, making it the largest party in the R eichstag. However the German Social Democrat Party (133) and the German Communis t Party (89) still had the support of the urban working class and Hitler was dep rived of an overall majority in parliament. Hitler demanded that he should be made Chancellor but Paul von Hindenburg refuse d and instead gave the position to Major-General Kurt von Schleicher. Hitler was furious and began to abandon his strategy of disguising his extremist views. In one speech he called for the end of democracy a system which he described as be ing the "rule of stupidity, of mediocrity, of half-heartedness, of cowardice, of weakness, and of inadequacy." The behaviour of the NSDAP became more violent. On one occasion 167 Nazis beat u p 57 members of the German Communist Party in the Reichstag. They were then phys ically thrown out of the building. The stormtroopers also carried out terrible acts of violence against socialists and communists. In one incident in Silesia, a young member of the KPD had his ey es poked out with a billiard cue and was then stabbed to death in front of his m other. Four members of the SA were convicted of the rime. Many people were shock ed when Hitler sent a letter of support for the four men and promised to do what he could to get them released. Incidents such as these worried many Germans, and in the elections that took pla ce in November 1932 the support for the Nazi Party fell. The German Communist Pa rty made substantial gains in the election winning 100 seats. Hitler used this t o create a sense of panic by claiming that German was on the verge of a Bolshevi k Revolution and only the NSDAP could prevent this happening.

A group of prominent industrialists who feared such a revolution sent a petition to Paul von Hindenburg asking for Hitler to become Chancellor. Hindenberg reluc tantly agreed to their request and at the age of forty-three, Hitler became the new Chancellor of Germany. Although Hitler had the support of certain sections of the German population he never gained an elected majority. The best the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) could do in a election was 37.3 per cent of the vote they gained in July 1932. When Hitler became chancellor in January 1933, the Nazis only had a third of the seats in the Reichstag. Soon after Hitler became chancellor he announced new elections. Hermann Goering called a meeting of important industrialists where he told them that the 1933 Ge neral Election could be the last in Germany for a very long time. Goering added that the NSDAP would need a considerable amount of of money to ensure victory. T hose present responded by donating 3 million Reichmarks. As Joseph Goebbels wrot e in his diary after the meeting: "Radio and press are at our disposal. Even mon ey is not lacking this time." Behind the scenes Goering, who was minister of the interior in Hitler's governme nt, was busily sacking senior police officers and replacing them with Nazi suppo rters. These men were later to become known as the Gestapo. Goering also recruit ed 50,000 members of the Sturm Abteilung (SA) to work as police auxiliaries. Hermann Goering then raided the headquarters of the Communist Party (KPD) in Ber lin and claimed that he had uncovered a plot to overthrow the government. Leader s of the KPD were arrested but no evidence was ever produced to support Goering' s accusations. He also announced he had discovered a communist plot to poison Ge rman milk supplies. On 27th February, 1933, someone set fire to the Reichstag. Several people were a rrested including a leading, Georgi Dimitrov, general secretary of the Comintern , the international communist organization. Dimitrov was eventually acquitted bu t a young man from the Netherlands, Marianus van der Lubbe, was eventually execu ted for the crime. As a teenager Lubbe had been a communist and Hermann Goering used this information to claim that the Reichstag Fire was part of a KPD plot to overthrow the government. Hitler gave orders that all leaders of the German Communist Party should "be han ged that very night." Paul von Hindenburg vetoed this decision but did agree tha t Hitler should take "dictatorial powers". KPD candidates in the election were a rrested and Hermann Goering announced that the Nazi Party planned "to exterminat e" German communists. Thousands of members of the Social Democrat Party and Communist Party were arres ted and sent to recently opened to concentration camp. They were called this bec ause they "concentrated" the enemy into a restricted area. Hitler named these ca mps after those used by the British during the Boer War. Left-wing election meetings were broken up by the Sturm Abteilung (SA) and sever al candidates were murdered. Newspapers that supported these political parties w ere closed down during the 1933 General Election. Although it was extremely difficult for the opposition parties to campaign prope rly, Hitler and the Nazi party still failed to win an overall victory in the ele ction on 5th March, 1933. The NSDAP received 43.9% of the vote and only 288 seat s out of the available 647. The increase in the Nazi vote had mainly come from t he Catholic rural areas who feared the possibility of an atheistic Communist gov ernment.

After the 1933 General Election Hitler proposed an Enabling Bill that would give him dictatorial powers. Such an act needed three-quarters of the members of the Reichstag to vote in its favour. All the active members of the Communist Party, were in concentration camps, in h iding, or had left the country (an estimated 60,000 people left Germany during t he first few weeks after the election). This was also true of most of the leader s of the other left-wing party, Social Democrat Party (SDP). However, Hitler sti ll needed the support of the Catholic Centre Party (BVP) to pass this legislatio n. Hitler therefore offered the BVP a deal: vote for the bill and the Nazi gover nment would guarantee the rights of the Catholic Church. The BVP agreed and when the vote was taken, only 94 members of the SDP voted against the Enabling Bill. Hitler was now dictator of Germany. His first move was to take over the trade un ions. Its leaders were sent to concentration camps and the organization was put under the control of the Nazi Party. The trade union movement now became known a s the Labour Front. Soon afterwards the Communist Party and the Social Democrat Party were banned. P arty activists still in the country were arrested. A month later Hitler announce d that the Catholic Centre Party, the Nationalist Party and all other political parties other than the NSDAP were illegal, and by the end of 1933 over 150,000 p olitical prisoners were in concentration camps. Hitler was aware that people hav e a great fear of the unknown, and if prisoners were released, they were warned that if they told anyone of their experiences they would be sent back to the cam p. It was not only left-wing politicians and trade union activists who were sent to concentration camp. The Gestapo also began arresting beggars, prostitutes, homo sexuals, alcoholics and anyone who was incapable of working. Although some inmat es were tortured, the only people killed during this period were prisoners who t ried to escape and those classed as "incurably insane". Hitler's Germany became known as a fascist state. Fascist was originally used to describe the government of Benito Mussolini in Italy. Mussolini's fascist one-p arty state emphasized patriotism, national unity, hatred of communism, admiratio n of military values and unquestioning obedience. Hitler was deeply influenced b y Mussolini's Italy and his Germany shared many of the same characteristics. The German economic system remained capitalistic but the state played a more pro minent role in managing the economy. Industrialists were sometimes told what to produce and what price they should charge for the goods that they made. The gove rnment also had the power to order workers to move to where they were required. By taking these powers Hitler's government was able to control factors such as i nflation and unemployment that had caused considerable distress in previous year s. As the government generally allowed companies to maintain their profit margin s, industrialists tended to accept the loss of some of their freedoms. Under fascism, most potential sources of opposition were removed. This included political parties and the trade union movement. However, Hitler never felt stron g enough to take complete control of the German Army, and before taking importan t decisions he always had to take into consideration how the armed forces would react. By the time Hitler gained power he had ceased to be a practising Christian. He d id not have the confidence to abolish Christianity in Germany. In 1934 Hitler si gned an agreement with Pope Pius XI in which he promised not to interfere in rel igion if the Catholic Church agreed not to become involved in politics in German

y. The individual had no freedom to protest in Hitler's Germany. All political orga nizations were either banned or under the control of the Nazis. Except for the o ccasional referendum, all elections, local and national, were abolished. All information that people in Germany received was selected and organized to su pport fascist beliefs. As Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels kept a close c heck on the information provided by newspapers, magazines, books, radio broadcas ts, plays and films. Hitler, who had been deeply influenced by his own history teacher, was fully awa re that schools posed a potential threat to the dominant fascist ideology. Teach ers who were critical of Hitler's Germany were sacked and the rest were sent awa y to be trained to become good fascists. Members of the Nazi youth organizations such as the Hitler Youth, were also asked to report teachers who questioned fas cism. As a further precaution against young people coming into contact with informatio n and the government disapproved of, textbooks were withdrawn and rewritten by N azis. Brandt joined Hitler's inner circle and was given the rank of major-general in t he Waffen-SS. He was also appointed Reich Commissioner for Health and Sanitation . By 1934 tators, wer. To nd rule einrich Hitler appeared to have complete control over Germany, but like most dic he constantly feared that he might be ousted by others who wanted his po protect himself from a possible coup, Hitler used the tactic of divide a and encouraged other leaders such as Hermann Goering, Joseph Goebbels, H Himmler and Ernst Roehm to compete with each other for senior positions.

One of the consequences of this policy was that these men developed a dislike fo r each other. Roehm was particularly hated because as leader of the Sturm Abteil ung (SA) he had tremendous power and had the potential to remove any one of his competitors. Goering and Himmler asked Reinhard Heydrich to assemble a dossier o n Roehm. Heydrich, who also feared him, manufactured evidence that suggested tha t Roehm had been paid 12 million marks by the French to overthrow Hitler. Hitler liked Ernst Roehm and initially refused to believe the dossier provided b y Heydrich. Roehm had been one of his first supporters and, without his ability to obtain army funds in the early days of the movement, it is unlikely that the Nazis would have ever become established. The SA under Roehm's leadership had al so played a vital role in destroying the opposition during the elections of 1932 and 1933. However, Hitler had his own reasons for wanting Roehm removed. Powerful supporte rs of Hitler had been complaining about Roehm for some time. Generals were afrai d that the Sturm Abteilung (SA), a force of over 3 million men, would absorb the much smaller German Army into its ranks and Roehm would become its overall lead er. Industrialists such as Albert Voegler, Gustav Krupp, Alfried Krupp, Fritz Thysse n and Emile Kirdorf, who had provided the funds for the Nazi victory, were unhap py with Roehm's socialistic views on the economy and his claims that the real re volution had still to take place. Many people in the party also disapproved of t he fact that Roehm and many other leaders of the SA were homosexuals. Hitler was also aware that Roehm and the SA had the power to remove him. Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler played on this fear by constantly feeding him with

new information on Roehm's proposed coup. Their masterstroke was to claim that Gregor Strasser, whom Hitler hated, was part of the planned conspiracy against h im. With this news Hitler ordered all the SA leaders to attend a meeting in the Hanselbauer Hotel in Wiesse. Meanwhile Goering and Himmler were drawing up a list of people outside the SA th at they wanted killed. The list included Strasser, Kurt von Schleicher, Hitler's predecessor as chancellor, and Gustav von Kahr, who crushed the Beer Hall Putsc h in 1923. On 29th June, 1934. Hitler, accompanied by the Schutz Staffeinel (SS), arrived a t Wiesse, where he personally arrested Ernst Roehm. During the next 24 hours 200 other senior SA officers were arrested on the way to Wiesse. Many were shot as soon as they were captured but Hitler decided to pardon Roehm because of his pas t services to the movement. However, after much pressure from Hermann Goering an d Heinrich Himmler, Hitler agreed that Roehm should die. At first Hitler insiste d that Roehm should be allowed to commit suicide but, when he refused, Roehm was shot by two SS men. Roehm was replaced by Victor Lutze as head of the SA. Lutze was a weak man and t he SA gradually lost its power in Hitler's Germany. The Schutz Staffeinel (SS) u nder the leadership of Himmler grew rapidly during the next few years, replacing the SA as the dominant force in Germany. The purge of the SA was kept secret until it was announced by Hitler on 13th Jul y. It was during this speech that Hitler gave the purge its name: Night of the L ong Knives (a phrase from a popular Nazi song). Hitler claimed that 61 had been executed while 13 had been shot resisting arrest and three had committed suicide . Others have argued that as many as 400 people were killed during the purge. In his speech Hitler explained why he had not relied on the courts to deal with th e conspirators: "In this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German peopl e, and thereby I become the supreme judge of the German people. I gave the order to shoot the ringleaders in this treason." The Night of the Long Knives was a turning point in the history of Hitler's Germ any. Hitler had made it clear that he was the supreme ruler of Germany who had t he right to be judge and jury, and had the power to decide whether people lived or died. In 1935 Heinrich Hoffman, who worked as a photographer for Adolf Hitler, was tre ated by Dr. Theodor Morell for gonorrhoea. Hoffman told Hitler about his new doc tor and eventually he was asked to examine the leader of the Nazi Party. At the time Hitler was suffering from stomach cramps. According to Morell, this was bei ng caused by "complete exhaustion of the intestinal system" and recommended the treatment of vitamins, hormones, phosphorus, and dextrose. Hitler's personal physician, Karl Brandt, warned him he was in danger of being p oisoned by these large dosages of drugs and vitamins. Hitler rejected Brandt's a dvice and replied: "No one has ever told me precisely what is wrong with me. Mor rell's method of cure is so logical that I have the greatest confidence in him. I shall follow his prescriptions to the letter." Later he was to remark: "What l uck I had to meet Morell. He has saved my life." It was not long before Hitler began to feel unwell again. As well as stomach cra mps he also suffered from headaches, double vision, dizziness and tinnitus. More ll began treating Hitler with intestinal bacteria "raised from the best stock ow ned by a Bulgarian peasant". Morell tested dozens of unknown drugs on Hitler. Th is included biologicals from the intestines of male animals and amphetamines. In the 1933 Election campaign, Hitler had promised that if he gained power he wo

uld abolish unemployment. He was lucky in that the German economy was just begin ning to recover when he came into office. However, the policies that Hitler intr oduced did help to reduce the number of people unemployed in Germany. These policies often involved taking away certain freedoms from employers. The g overnment banned the introduction of some labour-saving machinery. Employers als o had to get government permission before reducing their labour force. The gover nment also tended to give work contracts to those companies that relied on manua l labour rather than machines. This was especially true of the government's mass ive motorway programme. As a result of this scheme Germany developed the most ef ficient road system in Europe. Hitler also abolished taxation on new cars. A great lover of cars himself, and i nfluenced by the ideas of Henry Ford, Hitler wanted every family in Germany to o wn a car. He even became involved in designing the Volkswagen (The People's Car) . Hitler also encouraged the mass production of radios. In this case he was not on ly concerned with reducing unemployment but saw them as a means of supplying a s teady stream of Nazi propaganda to the German people. Youth unemployment was dealt with by the forming of the Voluntary Labour Service (VLS) and the Voluntary Youth Service (VYS), a scheme similar to the Civilian C onservation Corps introduced by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States. The VYS planted forests, repaired river banks and helped reclaim wasteland. Hitler men to civil f 1000 also reduced unemployment by introducing measures that would encourage wo leave the labour market. Women in certain professions such as doctors and servants were dismissed, while other married women were paid a lump sum o marks to stay at home.

By 1937 German unemployment had fallen from six million to one million. However, the standard of living for those in employment did not improve in the same way that it had done during the 1920s. With the Nazis controlling the trade unions, wage-rates did not increase with productivity, and after a few years of Hitler's rule workers began to privately question his economic policies. In Mein Kampf Hitler made it absolutely clear that he had a deep hatred of the J ewish race. However, anti-Semitism did cause difficulties for Hitler when he was trying to gain power in Germany. Jewish businessmen in Germany and the rest of the world were occasionally able to use their influence to prevent anti-Semitic ideas being promoted. Henry Ford was forced to stop publishing anti-Semitic attacks in the United Stat es after the Jewish community organized a boycott of Ford cars in the late 1920s . Lord Rothermere, who used his newspaper, The Daily Mail, to argue for Hitler's policies abruptly withdrew his support in 1930. Later that year, Rothermere tol d Hitler that Jewish businessmen had withdrawn advertising from the newspaper an d he had been forced to "toe the line". Aware of the power of Jewish money, Hitler began to leave out anti-Semitic comme nts from his speeches during elections. This was one of the major factors in the increase in financial contributions from German industrialists in the 1933 Gene ral Election. His change in tactics was so successful that even Jewish businessm en began contributing money to the National Socialist German Workers Party. Once in power Hitler began to express anti-Semitic ideas again. Based on his rea dings of how blacks were denied civil rights in the southern states in America, Hitler attempted to make life so unpleasant for Jews in Germany that they would emigrate. The campaign started on 1st April, 1933, when a one-day boycott of Jew

ish-owned shops took place. Members of the Sturm Abteilung (SA) picketed the sho ps to ensure the boycott was successful. The hostility of towards Jews increased in Germany. This was reflected in the de cision by many shops and restaurants not to serve the Jewish population. Placard s saying "Jews not admitted" and "Jews enter this place at their own risk" began to appear all over Germany. In some parts of the country Jews were banned from public parks, swimming-pools and public transport. Germans were also encouraged not to use Jewish doctors and lawyers. Jewish civil servants, teachers and those employed by the mass media were sacked. Members of the SA put pressure on people not to buy goods produced by Jewish companies. Fo r example, the Ullstein Press, the largest publisher of newspapers, books and ma gazines in Germany, was forced to sell the company to the NSDAP in 1934 after th e actions of the SA had made it impossible for them to make a profit. Many Jewish people who could no longer earn a living left the country. The numbe r of Jews emigrating increased after the passing of the Nuremberg Laws on Citize nship and Race in 1935. Under this new law Jews could no longer be citizens of G ermany. It was also made illegal for Jews to marry Aryans. The pressure on Jews to leave Germany intensified. Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and R einhard Heydrich organized a new programme designed to encourage Jews to emigrat e. Crystal Night took place on 9th-10th November, 1938. Presented as a spontaneo us reaction of the German people to the news that a German diplomat had been mur dered by a young Jewish refugee in Paris, the whole event was in fact organized by the NSDAP. During Crystal Night over 7,500 Jewish shops were destroyed and 400 synagogues w ere burnt down. Ninety-one Jews were killed and an estimated 20,000 were sent to concentration camps. Up until this time these camps had been mainly for politic al prisoners. The only people who were punished for the crimes committed on Crys tal Night were members of the Sturm Abteilung (SA) who had raped Jewish women (t hey had broken the Nuremberg Laws on sexual intercourse between Aryans and Jews) . After Crystal Night the numbers of Jews wishing to leave Germany increased drama tically. It has been calculated that between 1933 and 1939, approximately half t he Jewish population of Germany (250,000) left the country. This included severa l Jewish scientists who were to play an important role in the fight against fasc ism during the war. A higher number of Jews would have left but anti-Semitism wa s not restricted to Germany and many countries were reluctant to take them. Once in power Hitler began to consider how he could expand the territory he cont rolled. Hitler's reading of history convinced him that Britain posed the main th reat to his dream of a Germany that dominated Europe. In the 1930s Britain still had an empire that covered a quarter of the world. In the past Britain had reacted swiftly to any country that had threatened her emp ire or attempted to become the main power in mainland Europe. Hitler respected the British and considered them to share many of the qualities possessed by Germans. In Mein Kampf he argued that to achieve his foreign policy objectives, Germany would probably have to form an alliance with Britain. "No s acrifice," Hitler wrote, was "too great if it was a necessary means of gaining E ngland's friendship." In his first few years in power Hitler had meetings with several British politic ians and diplomats. He discovered that the British now tended to believe that th e terms of the Treaty of Versailles were too harsh on the defeated countries and

that Britain was unlikely to declare war if Germany ignored them. Hitler also b ecame aware that the British had a strong dislike of communism and feared a Euro pe dominated by the Soviet Union. France was more committed to the Treaty of Versailles but Hitler guessed she wou ld be unwilling to take action against Germany without support of the British. H itler therefore felt he was in a strong position. With Franklin D. Roosevelt, th e president of the United States, making it clear that he would not interfere in European disputes and both Italy and Japan having right-wing governments sympat hetic to Germany, Hitler felt he was in a position to make a move. In October 1933, Hitler withdrew from the League of Nations and claimed that he had done so because of the failure of the disarmament talks. Hitler argued that under the Treaty of Versailles Germany was militarily weak. He said that Germany had been willing to keep to this state of affairs if other countries disarmed. As this had not happened, Germany now had to take measures to protect herself. In the months that followed, Hitler trebled the size of the German Army letely ignored the restrictions on weapons that had been imposed by the f Versailles. By 1935, when it was clear that no action was going to be ainst Germany for breaking the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler felt strong o introduce military conscription. and comp Treaty o taken ag enough t

Hitler was not sure how far he could go and was constantly looking for clues tha t would reveal at what point Britain and France would go to war with Germany. Hi tler was heartened when Benito Mussolini was allowed to send his army Ethiopia i n October 1935 without any serious political reaction. Hitler knew that both France and Britain were militarily stronger than Germany. However, he became convinced that they were unwilling to go to war. He therefore decided to break another aspect of the Treaty of Versailles by sending German t roops into the Rhineland. The German generals were very much against the plan, claiming that the French Ar my would win a victory in the military conflict that was bound to follow this ac tion. Hitler ignored their advice and on 1st March, 1936, three German battalion s marched into the Rhineland. The French government was horrified to find German troops on their border but we re unwilling to take action without the support of the British. The British gove rnment argued against going to war over the issue and justified its position by claiming that "Germany was only marching into its own back yard.". Hitler's gamble had come off and, full of confidence, he began to make plans to make Austria part of Germany (Anschluss). In February, 1938, Hitler invited Kurt von Schuschnigg, the Austrian Chancellor, to meet him at Berchtesgarden. Hitler demanded concessions for the Austrian Nazi Party. Schuschnigg refused and after resigning was replaced by Arthur Seyss-Inquart, the leader of the Austrian Nazi Party. On 13th March, Seyss-Inquart invited the German Army to occupy Austria a nd proclaimed union with Germany. After his success in Austria Hitler was now in a good position to take on Czecho slovakia. The country had been created in 1918 from territory that had previousl y been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As well as the seven million Czechs, two million Slovaks, 700,000 Hungarians and 450,000 Ruthenians there were three and a half million German speaking people living in Czechoslovakia. Although Czechoslovakia had never been part of Germany, these people liked to ca ll themselves Germans because of their language. Most of these people lived in t he Sudetenland, an area on the Czechoslovakian border with Germany. The German s

peaking people complained that the Czech-dominated government discriminated agai nst them. German's who had lost their jobs in the depression began to argue that they might be better off under Hitler. Hitler wanted to march into Czechoslovakia but his generals warned him that with its strong army and good mountain defences Czechoslovakia would be a difficult country to overcome. They also added that if Britain, France or the Soviet Union joined on the side of Czechoslovakia, Germany would probably be badly defeated. One group of senior generals even made plans to overthrow Hitler if he ignored their advice and declared war on Czechoslovakia. In September 1938, Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister, met Hitler a t his home in Berchtesgaden in Germany. Hitler threatened to invade Czechoslovak ia unless Britain supported Germany's plans to takeover the Sudetenland. After d iscussing the issue with the Edouard Daladier (France) and Eduard Benes (Czechos lovakia), Chamberlain informed Hitler that his proposals were unacceptable. Hitler was in a difficult situation but he also knew that Britain and France wer e unwilling to go to war. He also thought it unlikely that these two countries w ould be keen to join up with the Soviet Union, whose communist system the wester n democracies hated more that Hitler's fascist dictatorship. Benito Mussolini suggested to Hitler that one way of solving this issue was to h old a four-power conference of Germany, Britain, France and Italy. This would ex clude both Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, and therefore increasing the pos sibility of reaching an agreement and undermine the solidarity that was developi ng against Germany. The meeting took place in Munich on 29th September, 1938. Desperate to avoid war , and anxious to avoid an alliance with Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union, Nevi lle Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier agreed that Germany could have the Sudetenl and. In return, Hitler promised not to make any further territorial demands in E urope. On 29th September, 1938, Adolf Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier and Benito Mussolini signed the Munich Agreement which transferred the Sudetenland to Germany. When Eduard Benes, Czechoslovakia's head of state, protested at this decision, N eville Chamberlain told him that Britain would be unwilling to go to war over th e issue of the Sudetenland. The German Army marched into the Sudetenland on 1st October, 1938. As this area contained nearly all Czechoslovakia's mountain fortifications, she was no longer able to defend herself against further aggression. From his meetings with Neville Chamberlain, Hitler had discovered that this man would do anything to avoid military conflict. Chamberlain was aware of the appal ling destruction that would take place during a modern war. He also feared that a large-scale war in Western Europe would weaken the countries involved to the p oint where they would be vulnerable to a communist takeover. Hitler told Albrech t Haushofer: "This fellow Chamberlain shook with fear when I uttered the word wa r. Don't tell me he is dangerous." Haushofer told his friend Fritz Hesse that "H itler is now convinced that he can afford to do anything. Formerly he believed t hat we must have the maximum armaments because of the warlike menaces of the Pow ers striving to encircle us, but now he thinks that these Powers will crawl on a ll fours before him!" Confident that Britain and France would not interfere as long as Germany headed east towards the Soviet Union, Hitler began to make plans for his next step. Pol

and was the obvious choice as it was in the east and included areas of land take n from Germany by the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler began to make speeches demand ing the return of Danzig, and German access to East Prussia through Poland. Neville Chamberlain now changed tactics in an attempt to convince Hitler that Br itain would indeed go to war if Germany continued to invade other countries. He made a speech in the House of Commons promising to support Poland if it were att acked by Germany. The British government also sent diplomats to the Soviet Union to talk to Joseph Stalin about the possibility of working together against Germ any. The British government were still uncertain about signing a military agreement w ith the Soviet Union, and while they hesitated Germany stepped in and signed one instead. The Nazi-Soviet Pact took the world by surprise. Fascists and communis ts had always been enemies. However, both Hitler and Stalin were opportunists wh o were willing to compromise for short-term gain. In August 1939, a group of concentration camp prisoners were dressed in Polish u niforms, shot and then placed just inside the German border. Hitler claimed that Poland was attempting to invade Germany. On 1st September, 1939, the German Arm y was ordered into Poland. Hitler, who wanted a series of localized wars, was surprised when Neville Chambe rlain declared war on Germany. Even after it happened he found it difficult to b elieve that during the first few months of the war he genuinely believed that Br itain would still negotiate a peace settlement. For most of the war Hitler lived underground in a concrete shelter at his headqu arters in East Prussia. It was here that Hitler controlled the German war effort . At first he was extremely successful. Employing fast-moving tanks backed up wi th air support, Germany defeated Poland in four weeks. This victory was followed by the occupation of Norway (four weeks), Netherlands (five days), Belgium (thr ee weeks) and France (six weeks). The German Army was amazed at how quickly they defeated these countries and they became convinced that Hitler was a military g enius. The English Channel meant that these Blitzkrieg tactics could not be continued a gainst Britain. Hitler had great respect for Britain's navy and airforce and fea red that his forces would suffer heavy casualties in any invasion attempt. Hitle r, who had not seen the sea until he was over forty, lacked confidence when it c ame to naval warfare. As he told his naval commander-in-chief: "On land I am a h ero. At sea I am a coward." At this stage Hitler still hoped that Britain would change sides or at least acc ept German domination of Europe. His dreams of a large German empire were based on the empire created by the British during the nineteenth century. Although Hit ler was often guilty of extreme arrogance he lacked confidence and tended to hes itate when dealing with Britain. Immediately after the defeat of France in June 1940, Adolf Hitler ordered his ge nerals to organize the invasion of Britain. The invasion plan was given the code name Operation Sealion. The objective was to land 160,000 German soldiers along a forty-mile coastal stretch of south-east England. Within a few weeks the Germans had assembled a large armada of vessels, includin g 2,000 barges in German, Belgian and French harbours. However, Hitler's general s were very worried about the damage that the Royal Air Force could inflict on t he German Army during the invasion. Hitler therefore agreed to their request tha t the invasion should be postponed until the British airforce had been destroyed .

On the 12th August the German airforce began its mass bomber attacks on British radar stations, aircraft factories and fighter airfields. During these raids rad ar stations and airfields were badly damaged and twenty-two RAF planes were dest royed. This attack was followed by daily raids on Britain. This was the beginnin g of what became known as the Battle of Britain. Although plans for an invasion of Britain were drawn up Hitler was never very en thusiastic about them and they were eventually abandoned on October 12, 1940. In stead, Hitler attempted to batter Britain into submission by organising a sustai ned night-bombing campaign. Frustrated by his lack of immediate success over Britain. Hitler began to concen trate his attentions on Eastern Europe. After taking over Poland, Germany now sh ared a frontier with the Soviet Union. In Mein Kampf and in numerous speeches Hitler claimed that the German population needed more living space. Hitler's Lebensraum policy was mainly directed at the Soviet Union. He was especially interested in the Ukraine where he planned to d evelop a German colony. The system would be based on the British occupation of I ndia: "What India was for England the territories of Russia will be for us... Th e German colonists ought to live on handsome, spacious farms. The German service s will be lodged in marvellous buildings, the governors in palaces... The German s - this is essential - will have to constitute amongst themselves a closed soci ety, like a fortress. The least of our stable-lads will be superior to any nativ e." Hitler intended to force Norwegians, Swedes and Danes to move to these territori es in the East. Hitler believed that the Blitzkrieg tactics employed against the other European countries could not be used as successfully against the Soviet U nion. He conceded that due to its enormous size, the Soviet Union would take lon ger than other countries to occupy. Stalin's response to France's defeat in the summer of 1940 was to send Vyachesla v Molotov to Berlin for discussions. Molotov was instructed to draw out these ta lks for as long as possible. Stalin knew that if Adolf Hitler did not attack the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941 he would have to wait until 1942. No one, no t even someone as rash as Hitler, would invade the Soviet Union in the winter, h e argued. Germany was now in a strong negotiating position and found it impossible to agre e to Hitler's demands. As soon as talks broke-up, Hitler ordered his military le aders to prepare for Operation Barbarossa. The plan was for the invasion of the Soviet Union to start on the 15th May, 1941. Hitler believed that this would giv e the German Army enough time to take control of the country before the harsh So viet winter set in. Hitler's plan was to attack the Soviet Union in three main army groups: in the n orth towards Leningrad, in the centre towards Moscow and in the south towards Ki ev. The German High Command argued that the attack should concentrate on Moscow, the Soviet Union's main communication centre. Hitler rejected the suggestion an d was confident that the German army could achieve all three objectives before t he arrival of winter. There was also disagreement about Hitler's plans for the territory captured in t he Soviet Union. Himmler's SS rather than the army was to take control. The SS w ere instructed to wipe out all aspects of communism in the Soviet Union. Communi st officials should be executed and, as the Russians were 'sub-human', ordinary conventions of behaviour towards captured soldiers did not apply. It is estimate d that during the first year of invasion, over a million communists were execute

d by the SS. Senior officers objected on tactical as well as humanitarian ground s. They argued that knowledge that they faced death or torture would encourage t he Soviets to carry on fighting instead of surrendering. Hitler, as always, was unwilling to listen to opposing arguments. If his adviser s persisted in disagreeing with him they were dismissed. Of the seventeen field-marshals only one managed to keep hi s post throughout the war. Thirty-six colonel-generals were also involved in adv ising Hitler during the Second World War. Of these, twenty-six were sacked or ex ecuted. As seven were killed in action, only three managed to hold on to their p ositions during the war. Hitler's unwillingness to listen to information that might lead him to change hi s desired goals constantly caused him problems during the war. This was especial ly true of his attack on the Soviet Union, when he ignored warnings concerning w inter weather and poor road conditions. Instead he relied on information that su ggested that the morale in the Red Army was extremely low and that they would ra ther surrender than be involved in a long drawn-out struggle with Germany. Hitle r was so confident of early success that the German Army was sent into the Sovie t Union with equipment for only a summer campaign. At first the German forces made good progress and important cities such as Riga and Kiev were taken. However, the heavy rains in October interfered with the spe ed and efficiency of Germany's tanks. This was followed by heavy snow in Novembe r and December that brought Germany's advance to a halt. Hitler refused to accep t his mistake and ignored suggestions that the German army should make a tactica l withdrawal. After taking over Poland Hitler had another three and a half million Jews under his control. For a time there was talk of deporting all Jews to Madagascar or ke eping them confined to a small area in Poland. The number of Jews under Hitler's control grew as German forces advanced deeper into the Soviet Union. Over two million Jews lived in the Soviet Union and most of them lived in the areas under German occupation. It was while the SS were rou nding up the Jews in the Soviet Union that Hitler decided on what became known a s the Final Solution. In 1942, Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary about Hitler's plans: "The Fuehrer.. . expressed his determination to clean up the Jews in Europe... Not much will re main of the Jews. About sixty per cent of them will have to be liquidated; only about forty per cent can be used for forced labour." Special units from the SS were set up under the control of Heinrich Himmler to c arry out this extermination programme. At first the victims were shot but, with a high proportion of those involved in the killings suffering from nervous break downs a more impersonal method was developed. By the beginning of 1942 over 500,000 Jews in Poland and Russia had been killed by the Schutz Staffeinel (SS). At the Wannsee Conference held in January 1942, R einhard Heydrich chaired a meeting to consider what to do with the large number of Jews in Germany's concentration camps. Also at the meeting were Heinrich Mull er, Adolf Eichmann and Roland Friesler. Those at the meeting eventually decided on what became known as the Final Soluti on. From that date the extermination of the Jews became a systematically organiz ed operation. After this date extermination camps were established in the east t hat had the capacity to kill large numbers including Belzec (15,000 a day), Sobi bor (20,000), Treblinka (25,000) and Majdanek (25,000).

It was decided to make the extermination of the Jews a systematically organized operation. After this date extermination camps were established in the east that had the capacity to kill large numbers including Belzec (15,000 a day), Sobibor (20,000), Treblinka (25,000) and Majdanek (25,000). It has been estimated that between 1942 and 1945 around 18 million were sent to extermination camps. Of the se, historians have estimated that between five and eleven million were killed. Except for the execution of Ernst Roehm, Hitler never showed any signs of remors e when people died because of his actions. It was reported that Hitler used to l augh when Joseph Goebbels described the sufferings of the Jews. Hitler also showed little concern over the numbers of Germans who died. Late in the war, when all chance of victory had disappeared, he gave orders that resulte d in thousands of German soldiers being unnecessarily killed. When commanders re fused to carry out these orders he had them executed. Hitler never showed any si gns of regret for these actions. He once remarked that a guilty conscience was a Jewish invention. At the start of the Second World War, President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced the intention of the United States to remain neutral. Roosevelt was personally h ostile to Hitler's Nazi dictatorship but he was aware that the American people h ad no desire to become involved in the war. However, Roosevelt did arrange for B ritain to receive supplies and loans that enabled her to continue fighting the w ar. Hitler believed that he would eventually be forced to fight the United States bu t he wanted to make sure that he controlled Europe before that happened. He gave strict instructions that German submarines should avoid firing on ships that we re likely to be carrying American passengers. He also attempted to persuade his Japanese allies to attack the Soviet Union and to leave the United States alone. They ignored Hitler's advice and on December 7, 1941, the Japanese Air Force at tacked Pearl Harbor and declared war on the United States. Hitler, who had not been told of Japanese plans, was furious at first that the U nited States had been dragged into the war. Hitler, who had previously called th e Japanese "honorary Aryans" claimed that this is what happens what your allies are not Anglo-Saxons. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan but did not mention German y in his speech. It was still possible for Hitler to postpone the war with the U nited States but he decided to honour his treaty obligations with Japan, and on December 11 announced that Germany was at war with the United States. Once again he became a victim of his own prejudice. Hitler claimed that America had been " corrupted by Jewish and African blood" and would be no match for Aryans. In the second campaign on the Soviet Union Hitler concentrated his attack on Sta lingrad. During the winter of 1941-42 the Soviets had reorganised their defences and were able to halt the German advances. In the autumn of 1942 they counter-a ttacked and by November the German Sixth Army was surrounded. The German Army co mmander in the Soviet Union, Freidrich Paulus, asked permission to break out, bu t Hitler, refusing to believe the Soviets could beat Germany in battle, told Pau lus to stand and fight. On February 2, 1943, Paulus and the Sixth Army were forc ed to surrender. Out of the 265,000 men, 100,000 had been killed, 34,000 wounded and 90,000 taken prisoner. Once again Hitler refused to accept responsibility and failed to learn from the defeat. He blamed Hermann Goering and the Luftwaffe for not providing the Sixth Army with the necessary support. He also claimed that he was travelling by train during an important stage of the battle and was therefore not in a position to direct operations which would have enabled the Sixth Army to defeat the Soviet f

orces. The German defeat at Stalingrad was the turning point in the war. The Soviet arm y now began to advance from the East. For the rest of the war Germany was on the retreat. Hitler had always found it difficult to cope with defeat. He refused to believe he was guilty of mistakes and instead accused those around him of betrayal. Hitl er began to suffer from depression and his insomnia became worse. In 1943 Hitler's health deteriorated rapidly. He was constantly ill with stomach pains, headaches, nausea, shivering fits and diarrhoea and was now completely d ependent on the treatment of Dr Theodor Morell. In September 1944, Hitler suffer ed a heart attack and was forced to spend several days in bed. He also showed si gns of Parkinson's disease. Morell was now sent away and Hitler turned to Dr Kar l Brandt. Hitler was constantly tired. He rarely got out of bed before 11.00 a.m. At noon he was informed of the latest military developments. After quickly considering t he news Hitler issued his orders to the relevant military personnel. After Germa ny's defeat at Stalingrad, Hitler was unwilling to discuss the war outside these conferences and refused to read reports that gave bad news. His secretaries, fo r example, were ordered not to mention the war in Hitler's presence. Hitler would then have a long lunch followed by an afternoon nap. When Hitler wa s asleep no one was allowed to disturb him. Even when important events were taki ng place, such as the allied landing in Normandy, Hitler was left to carry on sl eeping. Whereas Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt made use of radio broadcasts to raise the morale of their people. Hitler remained virtually silent. After th e German defeat at Stalingrad, Hitler only made two public speeches and five rad io broadcasts. Nor did he make visits to bombed areas of Germany. Hitler also av oided contact with injured German soldiers and rarely visited the front. By 1943, it became clear to many senior German officers that to continue fightin g a war on two fronts was bound to end in failure. It was proposed that Germany should negotiate a peace with Britain and the United States, which would then al low them to concentrate their efforts on defeating the Soviet Union. Hitler rejected this idea. He knew that the allies would insist on his removal b efore agreeing to a deal with Germany. Some senior officers decided that the onl y solution was to assassinate Hitler. In 1943 seven assassination attempts were planned but none of them was successfully carried out. The most dramatic of these attempts was the July Plot. On July 20, 1944, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who was attending one of Hitler's military conferences, placed a bomb in a briefcase under the table. When the bomb exploded it killed four people and seriously injured ten others, but Hitler only suffered minor cut s and burns. Over the next few months most of those involved in plot to kill Hitler, includin g Wilhelm Canaris, Carl Goerdeler, Julius Leber, Ulrich Hassell, Hans Oster, Pet er von Wartenburg, Henning von Tresckow, Ludwig Beck, Erwin von Witzleben and Er ich Fromm were either executed or committed suicide. It is estimated that around 4,980 Germans were executed after the July Plot. Hit ler decided that the leaders should have a slow death. They were hung with piano wire from meat-hooks. Their executions were filmed and later shown to senior me mbers of both the NSDAP and the armed forces.

Hitler believed that General Erwin Rommel, Germany's most famous military leader , was also involved in the July Plot. Rommel was so popular that Hitler was unwi lling to have him executed for treason. Rommel was therefore forced to commit su icide and the public was told that he had died of a heart attack. In January 1945, the Soviet troops entered Nazi Germany. Hitler was forced to le ave his headquarters in East Prussia and moved south to Berlin. Soon afterwards he was joined by his mistress, Eva Braun. Hitler talked of the possibility that Britain and the United States would go to war with the Soviet Union and that Ger many would be saved. He told one of his generals that "throughout history coalit ions have always gone to pieces sooner or later." Hitler was right that the Sovi et Union and the United States would eventually be in conflict, but unfortunatel y for him this did not happen until after the war had ended. Hitler was now nearly fifty-five years old but looked much older. His hair had g one grey, his body was stooped, and he had difficulty in walking. His voice had become feeble and his eyesight was so poor that that he needed special lenses ev en to read documents from his 'Fuehrer typewriter'. Hitler also developed a tremor in his left arm and leg. He had originally suffer ed from this during the First World War and also after the failure of the Munich Putsch in 1923. It was a nervous disorder that reappeared whenever Hitler felt he was in danger. People who had not seen him for a few months were shocked by his appearance. One man remarked: "It was a ghastly physical image he presented. The upper part of his body was bowed and he dragged his feet as he made his way slowly and laborio usly through the bunker from his living room... If anyone happened to stop him d uring this short walk (some fifty or sixty yards), he was forced either to sit d own on one of the seats placed along the walls for the purpose, or to catch hold of the person he was speaking to... Often saliva would dribble from the comers of his mouth... presenting a hideous and pitiful spectacle." Heinrich Himmler and Herman Goering both considered the possibility of overthrow ing Hitler. One plan involved Himmler arresting Hitler and announcing to the Ger man people that Hitler had retired due to ill-health. Their main concern was to do a deal with Britain and the United States that would prevent the Soviet Union occupying Germany. The German leaders were not only concerned about the imposit ion of communism, but also feared what Soviet soldiers anxious to gain revenge f or the war crimes committed against their people by the SS might do. (Of the fiv e million Soviet soldiers captured by the Germans an estimated three million wer e murdered or allowed to die of starvation.) When the Soviet troops entered Germany it was suggested that Hitler should try t o escape. Hitler rejected the idea as he feared the possibility of being capture d. He had heard stories of how the Soviet troops planned to parade him through t he streets of Germany in a cage. To prevent this humiliation Hitler decided to c ommit suicide. Two days before his death Hitler married Eva Braun. That night he tested out a c yanide pill on his pet Alsatian dog, Blondi. Braun agreed to commit suicide with him. She could have become rich by writing her memoirs but she preferred not to live without Hitler. The Soviet troops were now only 300 yards away from Hitler's underground bunker. Although defeat was inevitable, Hitler insisted his troops fight to the death. Instructions were constantly being sent out giving orders for the execution of a ny military commanders who retreated.

Hitler made a will leaving all his property to the Nazi Party. On 30th April, 19 45, after saying their farewells, Hitler and Eva Braun went into a private room and took cyanide tablets. Hitler also shot himself in the head. His body was the n cremated and his ashes were hidden in the Chancellery grounds. The place where he was buried is now under the shadow of the Berlin Wall. The ma n who tried to increase the size of Germany had in fact become responsible for d ividing it into two. As a direct result of Hitler's actions, communism, which he had attempted to des troy, covered the whole of Eastern Europe, including half of Germany. The Jewish race, which he had tried to eliminate, had formed their own state and became a powerful force in world politics. Hitler left a devastated Europe and with it a warning for the future. His regime had illustrated the dangers of nationalism, the obscenity of racism and the imp ortance of democracy. It was an expensive lesson, but it did provide the basis f or a better future.