Adolf Hitler Essay, Research Paper

Adolf Hitler

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 1

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.

Bibliography

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