Essay/Term paper: Hitler

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Biography

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." 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.