Adolf Hitler

EARLY YEARS

Adolf Hitler was born in Austria, on the 20th of April 1889. His father was a customs officer and his mother a peasant girl, he was a poor student who never completed high school. He lived in Vienna until 1913 and lived off his orphans pension and money from pictures he drew. He read a lot of books and began to develop anti-Jewish and antidemocratic beliefs, a like to outstanding individuals and a dislike for ordinary working people.

In World War I Hitler, who was in Munich, volunteered in the *Bavarian army. He proved to be a dedicated and courageous soldier but he was never promoted beyond private first class. After Germany's defeat in 1918 he returned to Munich staying in the army till 1920. His commander then made him an educational officer with the permission to justify his charges against pacifist and democratic ideas. In September 1919 he joined the nationalist German Workers party and in April 1920 he went on to work full time for the party that had changed its name to the National German Workers (nazi) party. In 1921 he was elected party chairman with very dominating powers.

RISE TO POWER

Hitler after organizing many meetings, terrorizing political rivals spread his racial hatred and soon became an important part in Bavarian Politics, and was assisted by his high officials and businessmen. In November 1923 he led an uprising against the Weimar Republic but without military support his rebellion failed and as the organizer he was sentenced to five years in prison, of which he served 8 months and was then released as the result of a general amnesty. He then rebuilt his party without interference from the government in December 1924. When the Great Depression struck in 1929 his theory of it as a Jewish plot to make Germany a communist country was accepted by many Germans, he then promised a stronger country with many jobs and national glory, he attracted millions of voters and Nazi representation in Germanys parliament rose from 12 seats to 107 in just 2 years. During the next two years the nazi party kept expanding and benefiting from the growing unemployment, fear of everyone becoming an equal (communism) and the shyness of his political rivals.

GERMANY'S DICTATOR

When Hitler established himself as a dictator thousands of anti-Nazis were hauled off to concentration camps and all public knowledge was kept quiet. An Enabling Act passed by a passive legislature allowed him to modify the government system and judiciary, replace all labour unions with one Nazi controlled German Labour Front, and ban all political parties except his own. The economy, the media, and all cultural activities were brought under Nazi authority making a persons employment rely on their political choice and loyalty.

Hitler relied a lot on his secret police, the Gestapo, and on jails and concentration camps to frighten his opponents, which may have not been needed as most Germans supported him enthusiastically. With this powerful drive he wiped out unemployment and his foreign policy success impressed the nation and because of these accomplishments he managed to form the German people into the flexible tool he needed to start a German rule over Europe and other parts of the world. He then damaged the reputation of the churches with charges of lies and sin and ridiculed the concept of humans as equals and claimed Germans the superior race. As the superior race the Germans were told they had the right to rule all countries they wanted to.

To begin his empire-building mission Hitler sent troops to Rhineland, an area where all weapons and soldiers