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- ADOLF 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.
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