Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)

German dictator

The German dictator Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) was born in Braunau, Upper Austria as son of a customs officer. Hitler studied at the Lins Realschule and at the Styer Realschule. In October 1907 Hitler took entrance exam for the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and was rejected. In October 1908 he applied for the second time, but this time he was not even admitted to test. In 1913 Hitler left Vienna and moved to Munich, Germany.

World War I

During World War I Hitler served in a Bavarian regiment. He became corporal, and was wounded in 1916 in combat. In 1918 he was awarded the Iron Cross.
After the war he joined a small political party, which he renamed in 1920 as the National Socialist German Workers' Party. Three years later he attempted to overthrow the Bavarian government (the Beer Hall Putsch). He was sentenced to five years in prison, but served only nine months. During his imprisonment he wrote with the help of his secretary Rudolf Hess, his political testament "Mein Kampf" (My Struggle).

Night of the Long Knives

In the late 1920s his party began to grow. In 1932 Hitler was unsuccessful in the presidential elections against Hindenburg, but Hitler became chancellor in 1933. He then suspended the constitution and brought his Nazi Party to power. During the "Night of the Long Knives" many opponents within his party were murdered. During the next year Führer (Leader) Hitler established the Rome-Berlin axis with Mussolini. Austria was absorbed in 1938 and later the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia became part of "Greater Germany".

Second World War

The Second World War began in 1939 when Hitler decided to declare war to Poland. The Poles were quickly defeated and in 1940 Hitler's forces overran Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands, Belgium and France in a "Blitzkrieg" (Rapid war).
Hitler hated communism and believing that the war would be brief, he ordered German troops to invade Russia in 1941.

Concentration camps

Political opponents and Jews were imprisoned in concentration camps. In a few years he managed to kill over 6 million innocent people (Holocaust/Final Solution).
Hitler increasingly ignored the advise of military experts and as a result the tide turned in 1942. Defeats at El Alamein (Africa) and Stalingrad (Russia) followed.
The Russians were the first to reach Berlin, where Hitler committed suicide in a bunker under the Chancellor building. The ashes of the bodies of Hitler and his wife Eva Braun were later found by Russian troops.

More information

Heinrich Himmler