Download Adolf Hitler Biography

Profile of Adolf Hitler 1889-1945
Adolf Hitler was born on 20th April 1889 in Austria. His father was a customs
official. The family name was originally Schickelgruber. Adolf Hitler grew up
with a poor record at school and left, before completing his tuition, with an
ambition to become an artist. He went to Vienna to fulfil his dream.
He failed to win a scholarship at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. In 1909 he
moved to Vienna hoping to find work but within a year he was living in homeless
shelters and eating at charity soup-kitchens. He took occasional menial jobs and
sold some of his paintings or advertising posters whenever he could. In Vienna
he developed his hatred of foreigners and Jews.
Ironically, the regimental
captain who recommended
Hitler for his Iron Cross (First
Class) award was actually
Jewish.
As a boy
In 1913 Hitler moved to Munich in southern Germany. When war broke
out in 1914 he immediately volunteered to join the German army. He
fought bravely and was promoted to corporal. He won the both the Iron
Cross second class and first class. At the end of the war in 1918 Hitler
was in hospital recovering from temporary gas-blindness. He had been
wounded by a British gas attack in the Ypres Salient.
Hitler remained in the army after the war and one of his duties was to spy on local political groups. One
such group was the German Workers Party. Hitler became interested and soon joined the party. Hitler's
skills for publicity and as a speaker saw him transform it into the Nazi Party. In 1923 he led an attempt to
overthrow the Bavarian government but this spectacularly failed. He was sentenced to nine months in
prison where he dictated his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle).
After 1925 he rebuilt the Nazi Party, deciding he had to obtain power by
democracy rather than by force. The Wall Street Crash in 1929 and the
subsequent worldwide depression hit Germany hard. Hitler used to situation to
blame Jews and Communists, using them as scapegoats to gain support for
himself.
He became Chancellor in 1933 and President in 1934 and used the title Der Führer - leader. During the
1930s he 'Nazified' Germany, removing any potential opposition and establishing his ideas for a greater
Germany.
He led Germany to war in 1939 and tried to exterminate the Jews and other groups in Germany. When
Germany was defeated in 1945 Hitler married his mistress Eva Braun in his bomb proof bunker in Berlin.
He shot himself on 30th April.
How did Hitler come to power?
1. The Munich Putsch
By 1923 Hitler was the leader of the Nazi Party. With inflation running high, Hitler thought the time was
ripe for his party to seize control in Germany. With a group of ex-soldiers, including a war time air ace
Hermann Goring, and Field Marshall Ludendorff, the Nazis plotted to seize control of Munich, the capital of
Bavaria, and then stage a march on Berlin.
It was a disaster. The plotters had not planned things carefully enough and Hitler lost his nerve. He spent
most of the crisis making speeches to his own supporters in a beer hall. When Ludendorff finally
persuaded him to lead a march through the streets, the police fired on the marchers and Hitler and the
Nazis ran away. Two days later Hitler was arrested.
Hitler received a five year prison sentence for the Munich Putsch, but prison was very comfortable and he
was let out after serving less than a year. He spent the time writing a book about his ideas - Mein Kampf.
2. A change of tactics
Hitler decided to stop trying to seize power and sought election by legal means. He claimed he would
have to use democracy. His chance came after 1929. America's economy was in trouble, so the
Americans stopped lending Germany money. The German economy collapsed.
Thousands of Germans were thrown out of work. In the election of 1932 the Nazi Party made a very
attractive set of promises based on what Hitler had written in Mein Kampf. Hitler promised to provide jobs,
sort out the economy and make Germany proud and strong again. In July 1932 the Nazi party was the
biggest in the Reichstag, the German Parliament building. Yet in November 1932, the Nazi vote dropped
back again.
3. Hitler becomes Chancellor
There was a power struggle in Germany after the 1932 election. Many of the political parties
thought they could use Hitler's popularity to their advantage. The power struggle ended in the
President asking Hitler to become Chancellor.
It was thought that other experienced politicians could control Hitler and the Nazis. They soon
found that this was a mistake. Hitler quickly organised another election and made sure the
Nazis would do well...
4. The Reichstag Fire
Just before the election in 1933 the Reichstag building was set on fire. Hitler cleverly blamed the
Communists, who were feared by many Germans. Most historians think that Hitler organised the entire
event to make people more afraid of the Communists and thus vote for the Nazis.
The Nazi vote increased in the election. By 1934 Hitler tightened his grip on Germany and had banned
other political parties. He created a Nazi dictatorship.
Why did people support Hitler?
Hitler's promises
People supported Hitler because he promised them what they wanted and needed to hear.
The Weimar Republic appeared to have no idea how to solve the problems of the
Depression. The Nazis on the other hand promised to solve the problems. Hitler promised
most groups in Germany what they wanted. Hitler used the Jews and other sections of
society as scapegoats, blaming all the problems on them. To Germans at the time Hitler
made sense, he united everyone by providing explanations for Germany's problems.
People in Germany were tired of their poor quality of life. Hitler promised to make Germany
proud again - it was exactly what people wanted to hear. Hitler pledged something for every
part of Germany society:
Group
Promise
Farmers
Higher prices for their produce - making up
for all their losses during the Depression.
Unemployed workers
Jobs building public works such as roads and
stadiums.
Middle Class
To restore the profits of small business and
the value of savings. To end the Communist
threat.
Why did people support Hitler?
Nazi beliefs
Behind the promises were a set of beliefs that were to lead to the Second World War and the
death of millions of innocent people:
1. Rearm Germany and retake what was lost at Versailles.
2. The German Race (blonde, blue eyed Aryans) were a superior
race. Anyone else was racially impure and should be removed
from Germany. Hitler called the Germans the 'master race'.
3. The 'master race' needed more living space - known (in
German) as Lebensraum'.
To all Germans Hitler promised to restore German honour by tearing up the hated Treaty of
Versailles and by making Germany great again.