At half past six on the evening of April 20th, 1889 a child was born in the small town of Branau, Austria. The name of the child was Adolf Hitler. He was the son of a Customs official Alois Hitler, and his third wife Klara. As a young boy Adolf attended church regularly and sang in the local choir. One day he carved a symbol into the bench which resembled the Swastika he later used as the symbol of the Nazi party. He was a pretty good student. He received good grades in most of his classes.
However in his last year of school he failed German and Mathematics, and only succeeded in Gym and Drawing. He dropped out of school at the age of 16, spending a total of 10 years in school. From childhood his dream was to become an artist or architect. He was not a bad artist, as his surviving paintings and drawings show but he never showed any originality or creative imagination. To fulfill his dream he had moved to Vienna the capital of Austria, where the Academy of arts was located.
He failed the first time he tried to admit into college and in 1907 he tried again and was very sure of success. To his surprise he failed again. In fact the Dean of the academy was not very impressed with his performance, and gave him a really hard time and said to him “You will never be painter. ” The rejection really crushed him as he now reached a dead end. He could not apply to the school of architecture because he had not had a high-school diploma. During the next 35 years of his life the young man never forgot the rejection he received in the dean’s office that day.
Many Historians like to speculate what would have happened if the small town boy would have had a bit more talent and the Dean had been a little critical, the world might have been spared the nightmare into which this boy was eventually to plunge it. While living in Vienna, Adolf Hitler made his living by drawing small pictures of famous landmarks which he sold as post cards. But he was always poor. He was also a regular reader of a small paper which claimed that the Araban race was superior to all and was destined to rule the world.
The paper blamed Communists and Jews for all their problems and Hitler agreed to those views. Hitler agreed with most of the points made in the publication. He continued to live a poor life in Vienna and in 1913 decided to move to Munich, Germany. Still living in Vienna and being Austrian by birth, Hitler showed more loyalty to Germany. He thought that the Aryan race was destined to rule the world. Many believe that he tried to escape the draft but it was never proven. His life in Munich was not much better then before and he continued to be poor.
Then in 1914 World War I broke out and Hitler saw this as a great opportunity to show his loyalty to the “fatherland” by volunteering for the Imperial army. He did not want to fight for the Austrian Army. Hitler was a good soldier. Many of political opponents claimed that he was a coward but records clearly show that he was not. He received awards of bravery but never achieved a high Rank. In 1918 Germany surrendered and Hitler was very upset about the loss. He believed that it was the Jews and the Communists who betrayed the “fatherland” and from that point on he disliked the Jews. Germany after the war was in chaos.
With no concrete government to control the country, many groups tried to take control. One day a big communist group staged a big riot but another group of ex-soldiers including Hitler managed to hold them back. Since there were not many opportunities for employment Hitler stayed in the army. Hitler was assigned the job of going to various meetings of groups, which popped up every once in a while and to report on them. September 12, 1919 a fateful day in history, Hitler was sent to investigate a small group which was called the “German Workers Party”. Hitler was not happy about his assignment.
He thought it wouldn’t be worth to even go. At the meeting, the group mainly talked about the Country’s problems and how the Jews, Communists and others where threatening the master race and offered their own solutions. Hitler was bored by the meeting but when a man stood up and claimed that Bavaria should be separate from Germany. Hitler got up and argued that point. He argued that Germany and Germans must unite into one to survive. His natural ability to speak impressed the leader of the group and at the end of the meeting he gave Hitler a pamphlet and an initiation to the next meeting.
He wasn’t interested in attending but after reading the hand out he decided to join in the next meeting. He later joined the German Workers Party and was in charge of the Propaganda. The party was small at first but Hitler’s great skill at deliberating speeches attracted more and more listeners and it soon became a major party with many followers. Eventually Adolf Hitler became its leader. While spending time in prison for trying to overthrow the government Adolf Hitler wrote his famous book “Mein Kampf”, in which he describes many problems. e also states that the Jews and communists were responsible for those problems. He also decided on the “Final Solution” to the “Jewish Question”. It was his goal to eliminate the Jewish race from the European continent. It is interesting to look and see how a small town boy from Austria with no education, money or political background could become within, a few years, the leader of big nation such as Germany. Historians believe that Hitler saw a great opportunity to get his views across to the German people who have lost all hope.
Of course people did not start to support him right away. After he came into power, the Nazi party took control over every aspect of every day life. Hitler ordered the creation of a special police force to make sure that all opponents would be eliminated, the Gestapo. He also gave orders to set up a special force which would be used to transport and take care of all political prisoners and people thought to be inferior. The name of the force was the feared SS. Mass propaganda was used to persuade the German people that the “Fuhrer” would make the country strong and powerful again.
They also used propaganda against the Jews and other minority groups which were considered enemies. Teachers had to belong to the Nazi party, and children were taught that Jews were the source of all their problems. Since the country was in chaos after the war, and was forced to pay billions in damages, The Germans saw hope in Adolf Hitler. In the late 20’s the depression hit, which made the situation even worse. Hitler in his speeches blamed the Jews and Communists for their misfortunes. Unemployment was very high at the time standing at about 25%.
Hitler also spoke out against the unfairness of the Versailles treaty. Germany lost a lot of its territory. The Empire was no more. He preached that all Germans must unite in order to succeed. Hitler’s publicly stated his views on the Jews. But the Jews of Germany didn’t see Hitler as a great threat at first. However, when Hitler became chancellor and eventually took over totally they changed their mind. The first thing he did was to take the Jews their right to vote. Soon they were not allowed to marry with a pure German, they could not hold positions such as teachers, doctors’ lawyers, and many other places.
Many Jews only then realized that he was serious and many fled Germany. Why did so many Germans follow Hitler? When he took power the economy was basically non-existent. Many looked for answers and hope. Hitler was their answer. He promised to rebuild the Glorious Germany of the past. First he started to build up the Wehrmacht. Germany was not allowed to have more than 100,000 men, but Hitler broke the treaty and gave orders to increase that number. Factories started putting out weapons and people now had jobs. To the Germans this was a very good sign.
Mass rallies were held, where Hitler continued to use his powers of speech on the German people. At first the allies did nothing about the fact that Hitler broke the Treaty. He gave speeches in which he indicated that the German people needed living space. Later he marched into the Reihnland, an area that Germany lost. Next He moved into Austria, his home country and annexed it without a shoot being fired into the Reich. Following Austria, he wanted control of the Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia, which was mainly German speaking.
He also achieved that goal. The allies didn’t want another war so they led Hitler to do what he wanted to, but when he Attacked Poland on September 1st, 1939 the allies no longer stood by and watched. Britain and France declared war on Germany a few days later World War II began. After the Wehrmacht conquered and occupied a territory the SS quickly followed. They would round up Jews, Communists, Gypsies, Homosexuals and others that were viewed as “Inferior” according to Nazi racial theory and enemies of the German people and put on trains.
They were all sent to Concentration camps, which were set up to implement the ‘final solution’, were in places such as Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Bergen. Belsen was all equipped with gas chambers to make the killing process quick and effect full. In those camps the Nazis killed 6 million Jews and many others. Hitler’s army seemed unstoppable but in the end, the allies managed to win many decisive battles. Eventually on Aril 30th, 1945 Hitler committed suicide in his bunker by shooting himself in the mouth. His body was burned, but no one knows what happened to the “Fuhrer’s” ashes.
On May 7th, 1945 Germany surrendered unconditionally. Hitler was one of the most, if not the cruelest man to ever walk the face of the earth. His believe of the superiority of the “Aryan” race made him hate all others. He believed that the slaws to the east should be made work for the German people. He thought of blacks as being “Sub-human”. And Most of all he hated the Jews. So much that in early 1945, when equipment and manpower was badly needed on the front Hitler insisted on man and equipment staying and continuing to transport Jews to the camps.
In his testament he left his money to his family, and a message to the German people. “Above all I charge the leaders of the nation and those under them to scrupulous observance of the laws of race and to merciless opposition to the universal poisoner of all peoples, international Jewry”. The only people who would be spared were the Scandinavians to the north, since they were closely related to the German race. With Hitler’s death the Nazi party quickly fated. But there is still a lot of tension in today’s Germany.
