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 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."
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.