Essay/Term paper: Hitler

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Biography

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." 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.