Hitler's Early Life
Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, in the Upper Austrian border town Braunau am Inn. His father, Alois Hitler (1837–1903), was a mid-level customs official. Born out of wedlock to Maria Anna Schickelgruber in 1837, Alois Schickelgruber changed his name in 1876 to Hitler, the Christian name of the man who married his mother five years after his birth. Alois Hitler's illegitimacy would cause speculation as early as the 1920s.
Hitler moved to Munich, Germany in May 1913. He did so seeking to avoid arrest for evasion of his military service obligation to Habsburg Austria and financed by the last installment of his inheritance from his father. In Munich, he continued to drift, supporting himself on his watercolors and sketches until World War I gave his life direction and a cause to which he could commit himself totally. By all surviving accounts, Hitler was a brave soldier.
Hitler & WW1
Under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or Nazi Party, grew into a movement and ruled Germany through totalitarian means. As the German Workers Party, the group promoted German pride and anti-Semitism, and expressed dissatisfaction with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the 1919 peace settlement that ended World War I in 1914 to 1918, and required Germany to make numerous concessions and reparations.
Hitler's Nazi Party
Hitler joined the party the year it was founded and became its leader in 1921. In 1933, he became chancellor of Germany and his Nazi government soon assumed dictatorial powers. After Germany’s defeat in World War II , the Nazi Party was outlawed and many of its top officials were convicted of war crimes related to the murder of some 6 million European Jews during the Nazis’ reign. Hitler soon emerged as a charismatic public speaker and began attracting new members with speeches blaming Jews and Marxistis for Germanys problems and espousing extreme nationalism and the concept of an Aryan "master race." In July 1921, he assumed leadership of the organization, which by then had been renamed the Nationalist Socialist German Workers' (Nazi) Party.
Munich Putsch
The Munich Putsch in November 1923, was Hitler’s attempt to overthrow the Weimar government of Ebert and establish a right wing nationalistic one in its place.In September 1923, the Chancellor Gustav Stresemann and President Ebert had decided that the only way Germany could proceed after hyperinflation was to agree to work with the French as opposed to against them. Both called for passive resistance to be called off in the Ruhr Valley. In this sense, Stresemann agreed that the only way forward was for Germany to pay reparations as demanded by the Treaty of Versailles.To the nationalists in Germany, this was an admittance of guilt for starting the First World War. This admittance of guilt brought with it the punishment of reparations. Therefore, the logic of the nationalists was that Ebert and Stresemann were agreeing that Germany was guilty of starting the war – something they could not tolerate.By 1923, many right wing parties had gravitated to southern Germany and primarily Bavaria. Here there were geographically as far away from Berlin without totally isolating themselves from the German people. Their headquarters was essentially Munich.
Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf, "My Fight" in German, is a book Hitler had written himself. which he outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany. Hitler began dictating the book to his deputy Rudolf Hess while imprisoned for what he considered to be "political crimes" following his failed Putsch in Munich in November 1923. Hitler originally wanted to call his forthcoming book Viereinhalb Jahre gegen Lüge, Dummheit und Feigheit, or Four and a Half Years of Struggle Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice.
Brownshirts
The Brown shirts got their nickname from the colour of the shirts they wore. From 1921 to 1933 the Brown shirts disrupted the meetings of Adolf Hitler’s political opponents as well as defended the halls where Hitler was making a speech in public. According to the Nuremberg Military Tribunal, the Brown shirts was made up of “ruffians” and “bullies”. However, it played a very important role in the first years of the Nazi Party. Matters came to a head when Rőhm suggested that the Brown shirts and the army could be combined with him at the head of this new force. Senior officers in the Reichswehr were horrified by the mere thought of this. Their traditions, philosophy and attitudes were totally at odds with what they believed the Brown shirts to be – street thugs who lacked discipline led by a man who lacked class. Hitler was also becoming more concerned about the power being acquired by his Brown shirts Chief of Staff, especially as the Brown shirts had grown to 2 million by 1934. Rőhm also made statements that almost certainly got back to Hitler: “Adolf is rotten. He’s betraying all of us. He only goes round with reactionaries. His old comrades aren’t good enough for him. So he brings in these East Prussian generals. They’re the ones he pals around with now. Adolf knows perfectly well what I want. Are we a revolution or aren’t we? Something new has to be brought in, understand? The generals are old fogies. They’ll never have a new idea.” Rőhm in June 1933.]
Hitler As Fuhrer
Hitler planned to use President Hindenburg's death as an opportunity to seize total power in Germany by elevating himself to the position of Führer, or absolute leader, of the German nation and its people. On August 2, 1934, at 9 a.m., the long awaited death of 87 year old Hindenburg finally occurred. Within hours, Hitler and the Nazis announced the following law, dated as of August 1. Meanwhile, Hindenburg's last will and testament surfaced. Contrary to Hitler's intentions, Hindenburg's last wishes included a desire for a return to a constitutional (Hohenzollern) monarchy. These last wishes were contained in the form of a personal letter from Hindenburg to Hitler. Hitler simply ignored this and likely destroyed the letter, as it was not published and has never been found. However, the Nazis did publish Hindenburg's alleged political testament giving an account of his years of service with complimentary references to Hitler. Although it was likely a forgery, it was used as part of the Nazi campaign to get a large "Yes" vote for Hitler in the coming plebiscite.
Night Of Long Knives
The Night of the Long Knives, in June 1934, saw the wiping out of the SA's leadership and others who had angered Hitler in the recent past in Nazi Germany. After this date, the SS lead by Heinrich Himmler was to become far more powerful in Nazi Germany. For all the power the Enabling Act gave Hitler, he still felt threatened by some in the Nazi Party. He was also worried that the regular army had not given an oath of allegiance. Hitler knew that the army hierarchy held him in disdain as he was 'only ' a corporal in their eyes. The Night of the Long Knives not only removed the SA leaders but also got Hitler the army's oath that he so needed. By the summer of 1934, the SA's numbers had swollen to 2 million men. They were under the control of Ernst Röhm, a loyal follower of Hitler since the early days of the Nazi Party. The SA had given the Nazi's an iron fist with which to disrupt other political parties meetings before January 1933. The SA was also used to enforce law after Hitler became Chancellor in January 1933. To all intents, they were the enforcers of the Nazi Party and there is no evidence that Röhm was ever planning anything against Hitler.
Domestic Policy
When Hitler took gained power in 1933, he disliked, among other things, capitalism, unearned incomes, war profits, land speculations, and unfair taxes. All of this influenced the National Socialist Party’s policies for Germany, which turned out to be a good thing for the non-Jewish Germans, yet Jewish Germans suffered. All the policies Hitler enacted on the German people were of a totalitarian government. The secret police force, called the Gestapo, enforced everything. One of the first things he did was to remove other political policies from the running, leaving only his National Socialist Party in existence. All aspects of the country had to have agreements with Hitler’s Reich, including the church. Nazi ideology stated that having ties to an international religion was bad, and it was strongly suggested that children were removed from religious schools. The anti-church stance even went as far to encourage German Teutonic (pagan) gods as an appropriate religion for Germans. One of the most integral parts of Hitler’s domestic policy was his hand in the labor world. All labor unions were disbanded, and laborers were now organized into the National Labor Front, and strikes were now forbidden. Employers still had control and owned land privately, but were under close watch by the government to run their factories a certain way. All Germans had to be put to work, and many public works programs began, including reforestation and swamp drainage projects, housing and superhighways were built. This actually created a stable work environment for the German people, as there was no longer any unemployment. Overall, the labor’s share in the German national income was reduced, but everyone worked and earned a living.
