Adolf Hitler The Rise And Fall Essay, Research Paper
Adolf Hitler
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 faded.