Adolf Hitler The Rise And Fall Essay, Research Paper

Adolf Hitler

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 faded.