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."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