Early Life: Nazi Party

1.
Early Life
2. Military Career of Adolf Hitler
3. Nazi Party
4. Beer Hall Putsch
5. 'Mein Kampf'
6. Aryan Race
7. The Schutzstaffel (SS)
8. Eva Braun
9. The Third Reich
10. Reichstag Fire
11. Hitler's Foreign Policy
12. Night of the Long Knives
13. Persecution of Jews
14. Outbreak of World War II
15. Blitzkrieg
16. Concentration Camps
17. End of World War II
18. How Did Adolf Hitler Die?
19. Sources
Adolf Hitler, the leader of Germany’s Nazi Party , was one of
the most powerful and notorious dictators of the 20th century.
Hitler capitalized on economic woes, popular discontent and
political infighting to take absolute power in Germany
beginning in 1933. Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939 led to
the outbreak of World War II , and by 1941 Nazi forces had
occupied much of Europe. Hitler’s virulent anti-Semitism and
obsessive pursuit of Aryan supremacy fueled the murder of
some 6 million Jews, along with other victims of the Holocaust .
After the tide of war turned against him, Hitler committed
suicide in a Berlin bunker in April 1945.
Early Life
Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, in Braunau am Inn, a
small Austrian town near the Austro-German frontier. After his
father, Alois, retired as a state customs official, young Adolf
spent most of his childhood in Linz, the capital of Upper
Austria.
Not wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps as a civil servant,

he began struggling in secondary school and eventually
dropped out. Alois died in 1903, and Adolf pursued his dream
of being an artist, though he was rejected from Vienna’s
Academy of Fine Arts.
After his mother, Klara, died in 1908, Hitler moved to Vienna,

where he pieced together a living painting scenery and
monuments and selling the images. Lonely, isolated and a
voracious reader, Hitler became interested in politics during his
years in Vienna, and developed many of the ideas that would
shape Nazi ideology.
Military Career of Adolf Hitler

In 1913, Hitler moved to Munich, in the German state of
Bavaria. When World War I broke out the following summer, he
successfully petitioned the Bavarian king to be allowed to
volunteer in a reserve infantry regiment.
Deployed in October 1914 to Belgium, Hitler served throughout

the Great War and won two decorations for bravery, including
the rare Iron Cross First Class, which he wore to the end of his
life.
Hitler was wounded twice during the conflict: He was hit in the
leg during the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and temporarily
blinded by a British gas attack near Ypres in 1918. A month
later, he was recuperating in a hospital at Pasewalk, northeast
of Berlin, when news arrived of the armistice and Germany’s
defeat in World War I .
Like many Germans, Hitler came to believe the country’s

devastating defeat could be attributed not to the Allies, but to
insufficiently patriotic “traitors” at home—a myth that would
undermine the post-war Weimar Republic and set the stage for
Hitler’s rise.
Nazi Party
After Hitler returned to Munich in late 1918, he joined the small
German Workers’ Party, which aimed to unite the interests of
the working class with a strong German nationalism. His skilled
oratory and charismatic energy helped propel him in the party’s
ranks, and in 1920 he left the army and took charge of its
propaganda efforts.
In one of Hitler’s strokes of propaganda genius, the newly

renamed National Socialist German Workers Party, or Nazi
Party , adopted a version of the ancient symbol of the
hakenkreuz, or hooked cross, as its emblem. Printed in a white
circle on a red background, Hitler’s swastika would take on
terrifying symbolic power in the years to come.
By the end of 1921, Hitler led the growing Nazi Party,

capitalizing on widespread discontent with the Weimar
Republic and the punishing terms of the Versailles Treaty .
Many dissatisfied former army officers in Munich would join the
Nazis, notably Ernst Röhm, who recruited the “strong arm”
squads—known as the Sturmabteilung (SA)—which Hitler used
to protect party meetings and attack opponents.
Beer Hall Putsch

On the evening of November 8, 1923, members of the SA and
others forced their way into a large beer hall where another
right-wing leader was addressing the crowd. Wielding a
revolver, Hitler proclaimed the beginning of a national
revolution and led marchers to the center of Munich, where
they got into a gun battle with police.
Hitler fled quickly, but he and other rebel leaders were later
arrested. Even though it failed spectacularly, the Beer Hall
Putsch established Hitler as a national figure, and (in the eyes
of many) a hero of right-wing nationalism.
'Mein Kampf'
Tried for treason, Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison,
but would serve only nine months in the relative comfort of
Landsberg Castle. During this period, he began to dictate the
book that would become "Mein Kampf " (“My Struggle”), the first
volume of which was published in 1925.
In it, Hitler expanded on the nationalistic, anti-Semitic views he

had begun to develop in Vienna in his early twenties, and laid
out plans for the Germany—and the world—he sought to create
when he came to power.
Hitler would finish the second volume of "Mein Kampf" after his
release, while relaxing in the mountain village of
Berchtesgaden. It sold modestly at first, but with Hitler’s rise it
became Germany’s best-selling book after the Bible. By 1940,
it had sold some 6 million copies there.
Hitler’s second book, “The Zweites Buch,” was written in 1928

and contained his thoughts on foreign policy. It was not
published in his lifetime due to the poor initial sales of “Mein
Kampf.” The first English translations of “The Zweites Buch”
did not appear until 1962 and was published under the title
“Hitler's Secret Book.”
Aryan Race
Obsessed with race and the idea of ethnic “purity,” Hitler saw a
natural order that placed the so-called “Aryan race” at the top.
For him, the unity of the Volk (the German people) would find
its truest incarnation not in democratic or parliamentary
government, but in one supreme leader, or Führer.
"Mein Kampf" also addressed the need for Lebensraum (or
living space): In order to fulfill its destiny, Germany should take
over lands to the east that were now occupied by “inferior”
Slavic peoples—including Austria, the Sudetenland
(Czechoslovakia), Poland and Russia.
The Schutzstaffel (SS)

By the time Hitler left prison, economic recovery had restored
some popular support for the Weimar Republic, and support for
right-wing causes like Nazism appeared to be waning.
Over the next few years, Hitler laid low and worked on
reorganizing and reshaping the Nazi Party. He
established the Hitler Youth to organize youngsters, and
created the Schutzstaffel (SS) as a more reliable alternative to
the SA.
Members of the SS wore black uniforms and swore a personal

oath of loyalty to Hitler. (After 1929, under the leadership
of Heinrich Himmler , the SS would develop from a group of
some 200 men into a force that would dominate Germany and
terrorize the rest of occupied Europe during World War II .)
Eva Braun
Hitler spent much of his time at Berchtesgaden during these
years, and his half-sister, Angela Raubal, and her two
daughters often joined him. After Hitler became infatuated with
his beautiful blonde niece, Geli Raubal, his possessive
jealousy apparently led her to commit suicide in 1931.
Devastated by the loss, Hitler would consider Geli the only true
love affair of his life. He soon began a long relationship
with Eva Braun , a shop assistant from Munich, but refused to
marry her.
The worldwide Great Depression that began in 1929 again

threatened the stability of the Weimar Republic. Determined to
achieve political power in order to affect his revolution, Hitler
built up Nazi support among German conservatives, including
army, business and industrial leaders.
The Third Reich

In 1932, Hitler ran against the war hero Paul von
Hindenburg for president, and received 36.8 percent of the
vote. With the government in chaos, three successive
chancellors failed to maintain control, and in late January 1933
Hindenburg named the 43-year-old Hitler as chancellor,
capping the stunning rise of an unlikely leader.
January 30, 1933 marked the birth of the Third Reich, or as the
Nazis called it, the “Thousand-Year Reich” (after Hitler’s boast
that it would endure for a millennium).
Reichstag Fire
Though the Nazis never attained more than 37 percent of the
vote at the height of their popularity in 1932, Hitler was able to
grab absolute power in Germany largely due to divisions and
inaction among the majority who opposed Nazism.
After a devastating fire at Germany’s parliament building, the

Reichstag, in February 1933—possibly the work of a Dutch
communist, though later evidence suggested Nazis set
the Reichstag fire themselves—Hitler had an excuse to step up
the political oppression and violence against his opponents.
On March 23, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, giving

full powers to Hitler and celebrating the union of National
Socialism with the old German establishment
(i.e., Hindenburg ).
That July, the government passed a law stating that the Nazi
Party “constitutes the only political party in Germany,” and
within months all non-Nazi parties, trade unions and other
organizations had ceased to exist.
His autocratic power now secure within Germany, Hitler turned
his eyes toward the rest of Europe.
Hitler's Foreign Policy

In 1933, Germany was diplomatically isolated, with a weak
military and hostile neighbors (France and Poland). In a
famous speech in May 1933, Hitler struck a surprisingly
conciliatory tone, claiming Germany supported disarmament
and peace.
But behind this appeasement strategy, the domination and

expansion of the Volk remained Hitler’s overriding aim.
By early the following year, he had withdrawn Germany from

the League of Nations and begun to militarize the nation in
anticipation of his plans for territorial conquest.
Night of the Long Knives

On June 29, 1934, the infamous Night of the Long Knives ,
Hitler had Röhm, former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and
hundreds of other problematic members of his own party
murdered, in particular troublesome members of the SA.
When the 86-year-old Hindenburg died on August 2, military

leaders agreed to combine the presidency and chancellorship
into one position, meaning Hitler would command all the armed
forces of the Reich.
Persecution of Jews
On September 15, 1935, passage of the Nuremberg
Laws deprived Jews of German citizenship, and barred them
from marrying or having relations with persons of “German or
related blood.”
Though the Nazis attempted to downplay its persecution of
Jews in order to placate the international community during the
1936 Berlin Olympics (in which German-Jewish athletes were
not allowed to compete), additional decrees over the next few
years disenfranchised Jews and took away their political and
civil rights.
In addition to its pervasive anti-Semitism, Hitler’s government

also sought to establish the cultural dominance of Nazism by
burning books, forcing newspapers out of business, using radio
and movies for propaganda purposes and forcing teachers
throughout Germany’s educational system to join the party.
Much of the Nazi persecution of Jews and other targets

occurred at the hands of the Geheime Staatspolizei
(GESTAPO), or Secret State Police, an arm of the SS that
expanded during this period.
Outbreak of World War II

In March 1936, against the advice of his generals, Hitler
ordered German troops to reoccupy the demilitarized left bank
of the Rhine.
Over the next two years, Germany concluded alliances with

Italy and Japan, annexed Austria and moved against
Czechoslovakia—all essentially without resistance from Great
Britain, France or the rest of the international community.
Once he confirmed the alliance with Italy in the so-called “Pact

of Steel” in May 1939, Hitler then signed a non-aggression pact
with the Soviet Union . On September 1, 1939, Nazi troops
invaded Poland, finally prompting Britain and France to declare
war on Germany.
Blitzkrieg
After ordering the occupation of Norway and Denmark in April
1940, Hitler adopted a plan proposed by one of his generals to
attack France through the Ardennes Forest. The blitzkrieg
(“lightning war”) attack began on May 10; Holland quickly
surrendered, followed by Belgium.
German troops made it all the way to the English Channel,

forcing British and French forces to evacuate en masse
from Dunkirk in late May. On June 22, France was forced to
sign an armistice with Germany.
Hitler had hoped to force Britain to seek peace as well, but

when that failed he went ahead with his attacks on that
country, followed by an invasion of the Soviet Union in June
1941.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor that December, the United

States declared war on Japan, and Germany’s alliance with
Japan demanded that Hitler declare war on the United States
as well.
At that point in the conflict, Hitler shifted his central strategy to

focus on breaking the alliance of his main opponents (Britain,
the United States and the Soviet Union) by forcing one of them
to make peace with him.
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Concentration Camps
Beginning in 1933, the SS had operated a network of
concentration camps, including a notorious camp at Dachau ,
near Munich, to hold Jews and other targets of the Nazi
regime.
After war broke out, the Nazis shifted from expelling Jews from
German-controlled territories to exterminating them.
Einsatzgruppen, or mobile death squads, executed entire
Jewish communities during the Soviet invasion, while the
existing concentration-camp network expanded to include
death camps like Auschwitz -Birkenau in occupied Poland.
In addition to forced labor and mass execution, certain Jews at

Auschwitz were targeted as the subjects of horrific medical
experiments carried out by eugenicist Josef Mengele, known
as the “Angel of Death.” Mengele’s experiments focused on
twins and exposed 3,000 child prisoners to disease,
disfigurement and torture under the guise of medical research.
Though the Nazis also imprisoned and killed Catholics,

homosexuals, political dissidents, Roma (gypsies) and the
disabled, above all they targeted Jews—some 6 million of
whom were killed in German-occupied Europe by war’s end.
End of World War II

With defeats at El-Alamein and Stalingrad, as well as the
landing of U.S. troops in North Africa by the end of 1942, the
tide of the war turned against Germany.
As the conflict continued, Hitler became increasingly unwell,

isolated and dependent on medications administered by his
personal physician.
Several attempts were made on his life, including one that

came close to succeeding in July 1944, when Col. Claus von
Stauffenberg planted a bomb that exploded during a
conference at Hitler’s headquarters in East Prussia.
Within a few months of the successful Allied invasion of

Normandy in June 1944, the Allies had begun liberating cities
across Europe. That December, Hitler attempted to direct
another offensive through the Ardennes, trying to split British
and American forces.
But after January 1945, he holed up in a bunker beneath the

Chancellery in Berlin. With Soviet forces closing in, Hitler made
plans for a last-ditch resistance before finally abandoning that
plan.
How Did Adolf Hitler Die?

At midnight on the night of April 28-29, Hitler married Eva
Braun in the Berlin bunker. After dictating his political
testament, Hitler shot himself in his suite on April 30; Braun
took poison. Their bodies were burned according to Hitler’s
instructions.
With Soviet troops occupying Berlin, Germany surrendered

unconditionally on all fronts on May 7, 1945, bringing the war
in Europe to a close.
In the end, Hitler’s planned “Thousand-Year Reich” lasted just

over 12 years, but wreaked unfathomable destruction and
devastation during that time, forever transforming the history of
Germany, Europe and the world.

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1.

Not wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps as a civil servant,

After his mother, Klara, died in 1908, Hitler moved to Vienna,

Military Career of Adolf Hitler

Deployed in October 1914 to Belgium, Hitler served throughout

Like many Germans, Hitler came to believe the country’s

In one of Hitler’s strokes of propaganda genius, the newly

By the end of 1921, Hitler led the growing Nazi Party,

Beer Hall Putsch

In it, Hitler expanded on the nationalistic, anti-Semitic views he

Hitler’s second book, “The Zweites Buch,” was written in 1928

The Schutzstaffel (SS)

Members of the SS wore black uniforms and swore a personal

The worldwide Great Depression that began in 1929 again

The Third Reich

After a devastating fire at Germany’s parliament building, the

On March 23, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, giving

Hitler's Foreign Policy

But behind this appeasement strategy, the domination and

By early the following year, he had withdrawn Germany from

Night of the Long Knives

When the 86-year-old Hindenburg died on August 2, military

In addition to its pervasive anti-Semitism, Hitler’s government

Much of the Nazi persecution of Jews and other targets

Outbreak of World War II

Over the next two years, Germany concluded alliances with

Once he confirmed the alliance with Italy in the so-called “Pact

German troops made it all the way to the English Channel,

Hitler had hoped to force Britain to seek peace as well, but

After the attack on Pearl Harbor that December, the United

At that point in the conflict, Hitler shifted his central strategy to

In addition to forced labor and mass execution, certain Jews at

Though the Nazis also imprisoned and killed Catholics,

End of World War II

As the conflict continued, Hitler became increasingly unwell,

Several attempts were made on his life, including one that

Within a few months of the successful Allied invasion of

But after January 1945, he holed up in a bunker beneath the

How Did Adolf Hitler Die?

With Soviet troops occupying Berlin, Germany surrendered

In the end, Hitler’s planned “Thousand-Year Reich” lasted just

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