ADOLF HITLER Essay, Research Paper

1. THE BEGINNING

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 a Customs official Alois

Hitler, and his third wife Klara.

As a young boy Adolf attendated church regulary 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 marks 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 drooped out of school at the age of 16, spending a

total of 10 years in school. From childhood one it was his dream

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 fullfil 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 get admission

and in the next year, 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 as he

had no high-school diploma. During the next 35 years of his live

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…. perhaps the small town boy would

have had a bit more talent….or IF the Dean had been a little

less critical, the world might have been spared the nightmare

into which this boy was eventually to plunge it.

2. WORLD WAR I

While living in Vienna Hitler he 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 agree with most of the points made in the publication. He

continued to live a poor live in Vienna and in 1913 decided to

move to Munich. Still living in Vienna and being Austrain by

birth, Hitler showed more loyalty to the Geramny. 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

live 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 in 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 to 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 it was here that his disliking

of the Jews most likely began. Germany after the war was in

chaos. With no real 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.

3. THE NAZI PARTY

Since there were not many chances for employment Hitler

stayed in the army. Hitler was assigned the job of going go to

various meetings of groups which sprang up like mushrooms and to

report on them. One day September 12, 1919 – a fateful day in

history, Hitler was sent to investigate a small group which

called itself the "German Workers Party". Hitler was not to

happy about his assignment. He thought it wouldn’t be worth it

to even go. At the group mainly talked about the Countries

problem 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 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 imprest the leader

of the group and at the end of the meeting he gave Hitler a

pamphlet and an initiation the next meeting. He wasn’t

interested in attending but after reading the hand out he

accepted. He later joined the German Workers Party and was in

charge of 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 it’s leader and the rest as they

say….is history.

4. HITLER IN POWER

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 and where he 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 time

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

elimanted, the Gestapo. He also gave orders to set up a special

force which would be used to transport and take care of all

political prisioners 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 very 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 and many listed. Unemployment was very high at

that 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 believed the pure

Araban race is destined to rule the world and wanted to build an

Empire that would last a 1000 years. He preached that all

Germans must unite in order for this goal to succeed.

Hitler 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 so on. 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.

5. THE ROAD TO WAR

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, and area which 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 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 after later, World War II began.

6. THE DARK SIDE

After the Wehrmacht conquered and occupied a territory the

SS quickly followed. They would round up Jews, Communists,

Gypsies, Homosexuals and others which 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’. Camps such

as Auschwitz, Treblinka, Bergen Belsen were all equipped with gas

chambers to make the killing process quick and efectfull. In

those camps 6 million Jews and many others were killed by the

Nazis. 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 ones knows

what happened to the "Fuhrer’s" ashes. On May 7th, 1945 Germany

surrendered unconditionally.

7. THE MAN

Hitler was one of the most, if not the most cruel man to

ever walk the face of the earth. His believe of the

superiorority 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

insisited on man and equipment staying and continuing to tranport

Jews to the camps. In his Testament he left his money to his

family. And message to the Germany 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 which would be spared where 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 todays Germany.

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