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."1 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."2
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.
Literature Cited
1. Arthur M. Schlesinger, World Leaders. P. 14 Wepman
New York 1985
2. Allan Bullock, Hitler a study in Tyranny. P. 795 Harper
New York, 1962
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