Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in the city of Braunau am Inn, located on the border of Germany and Austria, in the family of a shoemaker. Hitler's family moved often, so he had to change four schools.
In 1905, the young man graduated from school in Linz, receiving an incomplete secondary education. Having extraordinary artistic talent, he twice tried to enter the Vienna Academy of Arts. However, in both cases, Adolf Hitler, whose biography could have turned out differently, was refused. In 1908, the young man’s mother died. He moved to Vienna, where he lived very poorly, worked part-time as an artist and writer, and was actively engaged in self-education.
World War I. NSDAP
With the outbreak of the First World War, Adolf voluntarily went to the front. At the beginning of 1914, he swore allegiance to Emperor Franz Joseph and King Ludwig III of Bavaria. During the war, Adolf received the rank of corporal and several awards.
In 1919, the founder of the German Workers' Party (DAP) A. Drexler invited Hitler to join them. After leaving the army, Adolf joined the party, taking responsibility for political propaganda. Soon Hitler managed to transform the party into a National Socialist one, renaming it the NSDAP. In 1921, a turning point occurred in Hitler’s short biography - he led the workers’ party. After organizing the Bavarian Putsch (“Beer Hall Putsch”) in 1923, Hitler was arrested and sentenced to 5 years.
Political career
Having revived the NSDAP, in 1929 Hitler created the Hitlerjungen organization. In 1932, Adolf met his future wife, Eva Braun.
In the same year, Adolf put forward his candidacy for the elections, and they began to reckon with him as an iconic political figure. In 1933, President Hidenburg appointed Hitler Reich Chancellor (Prime Minister of Germany). Having gained power, Adolf banned the activities of all parties except the Nazis and passed a law according to which he became a dictator with unlimited power for 4 years.
In 1934, Hitler took the title of leader of the Third Reich. Assuming even more power, he introduced SS security units, founded concentration camps, and modernized and equipped the army with weapons.
The Second World War
In 1938, Hitler's troops captured Austria, and the western part of Czechoslovakia was annexed to Germany. In 1939, the conquest of Poland began, marking the beginning of World War II. In June 1941, Germany attacked the USSR, led by I. Stalin. During the first year, German troops occupied the Baltic states, Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova. In 1944, the Soviet army managed to change the course of the war and go on the offensive.
At the beginning of 1945, when the German troops were defeated, the remnants of the army were controlled from Hitler's bunker (an underground shelter). Soon Soviet troops surrounded Berlin.
23.09.2007 19:32
Adolf's childhood and youth. World War I.
Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 (since 1933, this day became a national holiday in Nazi Germany).
The father of the future Fuhrer, Alois Hitler, was first a shoemaker, then a customs officer, who until 1876 bore the surname Schicklgruber (hence the widespread belief that this was Hitler’s real surname).
He received the not very high bureaucratic rank of chief official. Mother - Clara, née Pelzl, came from a peasant family. Hitler was born in Austria, in Braunau am Inn, a village in the mountainous part of the country. The family often moved from place to place and finally settled in Leonding, a suburb of Linz, where they acquired their own home. On the tombstone of Hitler's parents are carved the words: "Alois Hitler, Chief Customs Official, Landlord. His wife is Klara Hitler."
Hitler was born from his father's third marriage. All of Hitler's numerous older relatives were apparently illiterate. The priests wrote down the names of these persons in the parish registers by ear, so there was an obvious discrepancy: some were called Güttler, others Gidler, etc., etc.
The Fuhrer's grandfather remained unknown. Alois Hitler, Adolf's father, was adopted by a certain Hitler at the request of his uncle, also Hitler, apparently his actual parent.
The adoption occurred after both the adopter and his wife Maria Anna Schicklgruber, the grandmother of the Nazi dictator, had long since passed away. According to some sources, the illegitimate himself was already 39 years old, according to others - 40 years old! It was probably about inheritance.
Hitler did not study well in high school, therefore he did not graduate from a real school and did not receive a matriculation certificate. His father died relatively early - in 1903. Mother sold the house in Leonding and settled in Linz. From the age of 16, the future Fuhrer lived quite freely at the expense of his mother. At one time I even studied music. In his youth, among musical and literary works, he preferred Wagner's operas, German mythology and the adventure novels of Karl May; The adult Hitler's favorite composer was Wagner, his favorite film was King Kong. As a boy, Hitler loved cakes and picnics, long conversations past midnight, and loved looking at beautiful girls; in adulthood these addictions intensified.
He slept until noon, went to the theater, especially the opera, and sat for hours in coffee shops. He spent his time visiting theaters and the opera, copying paintings by Romantic artists, reading adventure books and walking in the forests around Linz. His mother spoiled him, and Adolf behaved like a dandy, wearing black leather gloves, a bowler hat, and walking with a mahogany cane with an ivory head. He rejected all offers to find a job with contempt.
At the age of 18 he went to Vienna to enter the Academy of Fine Arts there in the hope of becoming a great artist. He entered twice - once he failed the exam, the second time he was not even admitted to it, and he had to earn a living by drawing postcards and advertisements. He was advised to enter the architectural institute, but for this he had to have a matriculation certificate. Hitler would regard his years in Vienna (1907-1913) as the most instructive of his life.
In the future, he said, he only needed to add some details to the “great ideas” he acquired there (hatred of Jews, liberal democrats and “philistine” society). He was particularly influenced by the writings of L. von Liebenfels, who argued that the future dictator should protect the Aryan race by enslaving or killing subhumans. In Vienna he also became interested in the idea of a “living space” (Lebensraum) for Germany.
Hitler read everything he could get his hands on. Subsequently, fragmentary knowledge gleaned from popular philosophical, sociological, historical works, and most importantly, from brochures of that distant time, constituted Hitler’s “philosophy”.
When the money left by his mother (she died of breast cancer in 1909) and the inheritance of a wealthy aunt ran out, he spent the night on park benches, then in a rooming house in Meidling. And finally, he settled on Meldemannstrasse in the Mennerheim charity institution, which literally means “Men’s House”.
All this time, Hitler did odd jobs, took on some temporary work (for example, helping at construction sites, clearing snow or carrying suitcases), then he began to draw (or rather, sketch) pictures, which were sold first by his companion, and later by himself. He mainly copied architectural monuments from photographs in Vienna and Munich, where he moved in 1913. At the age of 25, the future Fuhrer had no family, no beloved woman, no friends, no permanent job, no life goal - there was something to despair about. The Vienna period of Hitler's life ended quite suddenly: he moved to Munich to escape military service. But the Austrian military authorities tracked down the fugitive. Hitler had to go to Salzburg, where he underwent a military commission. However, he was declared unfit for military service due to health reasons.
How he managed this is unknown.
In Munich, Hitler continued to live poorly: on money from the sale of watercolors and advertising.
The declassed stratum of society to which Hitler belonged, dissatisfied with its existence, enthusiastically welcomed the First World War, believing that every loser would have a chance to become a “hero.”
Having become a volunteer, Hitler spent four years in the war. He served at the regimental headquarters as a liaison officer with the rank of corporal and did not even become an officer. But he received not only a medal for being wounded, but also orders. Order of the Iron Cross 2nd class, possibly 1st. Some historians believe that Hitler wore the Iron Cross, 1st class, without having the right to do so. Others claim that he was awarded this order on the recommendation of a certain Hugo Gutmann, the adjutant of the regiment commander... a Jew, and that therefore this fact was omitted from the official biography of the Fuhrer.
Creation of the Nazi Party.
Germany lost this war. The country was engulfed in the fire of revolution. Hitler, and with him hundreds of thousands of other German losers returned home. He participated in the so-called Investigative Commission, which was involved in the “cleansing” of the 2nd Infantry Regiment, identifying “troublemakers” and “revolutionaries.” And on June 12, 1919, he was sent to short-term “political education” courses, which again functioned in Munich. After completing the course, he became an agent in the service of a certain group of reactionary officers who fought leftist elements among the soldiers and non-commissioned officers.
He compiled lists of soldiers and officers involved in the April uprising of workers and soldiers in Munich. He collected information about all kinds of dwarf organizations and parties regarding their worldview, programs and goals. And he reported all this to management.
The ruling circles of Germany were scared to death by the revolutionary movement. The people, exhausted by the war, lived an incredibly difficult life: inflation, unemployment, devastation...
In Germany, dozens of militaristic, revanchist unions, gangs, gangs appeared - strictly secret, armed, with their own charters and mutual responsibility. On September 12, 1919, Hitler was sent to a meeting at the Sterneckerbräu beer hall - a gathering of another dwarf group that loudly called itself the German Workers' Party. At the meeting, engineer Feder's brochure was discussed. Feder’s ideas about “productive” and “unproductive” capital, about the need to fight “interest slavery,” against loan offices and “department stores,” flavored with chauvinism, hatred of the Treaty of Versailles, and most importantly, anti-Semitism, seemed to Hitler a completely suitable platform. He performed and was a success. And party leader Anton Drexler invited him to join the DAP. After consulting with his superiors, Hitler accepted this proposal. Hitler became member of this party as number 55, and later as number 7 he became a member of its executive committee.
Hitler, with all his oratorical ardor, rushed to gain popularity for Drexler's party, at least within Munich. In the fall of 1919, he spoke three times at crowded meetings. In February 1920, he rented the so-called main hall in the Hofbräuhaus beer hall and gathered 2,000 listeners. Convinced of his success as a party functionary, in April 1920 Hitler gave up his job as a spy.
Hitler's successes attracted workers, artisans and people who did not have a permanent job to him, in a word, all those who made up the backbone of the party. At the end of 1920, there were already 3,000 people in the party.
Using the money borrowed from the writer Eckart from General Epp, the party bought a bankrupt newspaper called "Völkischer Beobachter", which translated means "People's Observer".
In January 1921, Hitler had already rented the Krone Circus, where he performed in front of an audience of 6,500 people. Gradually, Hitler got rid of the party founders. Apparently, at the same time he renamed it the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, abbreviated NSDAP (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei).
Hitler received the post of first chairman with dictatorial powers, expelling Drexler and Scharer.
Instead of collegial leadership, the principle of the Fuhrer was officially introduced in the party. In place of Schüssler, who dealt with financial and organizational issues, Hitler put his own man, a former sergeant major in his unit, Aman. Naturally, Haman reported only to the Fuhrer himself.
Already in 1921, assault troops - SA - were created to help the party. Hermann Goering became their leader after Emil Mauris and Ulrich Clinch. Perhaps Goering was Hitler's only surviving ally. In creating the SA, Hitler relied on the experience of paramilitary organizations that arose in Germany immediately after the end of the war. In January 1923, the Reich Party Congress was convened, although the party existed only in Bavaria, more precisely in Munich. Western historians unanimously claim that Hitler’s first sponsors were ladies, the wives of wealthy Bavarian industrialists. The Fuhrer seemed to add a “zest” to their well-fed, but insipid life.
Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch.
Since the autumn of 1923, power in Bavaria was actually concentrated in the hands of a triumvirate: Karr, General Lossow and Colonel Seisser, the police president. The triumvirate was initially hostile to the central government in Berlin. On September 26, Carr, the Bavarian Prime Minister, declared a state of emergency and banned 14 (!) Nazi demonstrations.
However, knowing the reactionary nature of the then masters of Bavaria and their dissatisfaction with the imperial government, Hitler continued to call on his supporters to “march on Berlin.”
Hitler was a clear opponent of Bavarian separatism; not without reason, he saw his allies in the triumvirate, who could subsequently be deceived and outwitted, preventing the secession of Bavaria.
Ernst Rehm stood at the head of the assault troops (German abbreviation SA). The leaders of the militaristic unions came up with all sorts of plans to coincide with the “campaign” or, as they called it, the “revolution”. And how to force the Bavarian triumvirate to lead this “national revolution”... And suddenly it turned out that on November 8 there would be a big meeting in the Bürgerbräukeller, where Carr would give a speech and where other prominent Bavarian politicians would be present, including General Lossow and Seisser .
The hall where the meeting was taking place was surrounded by stormtroopers, and Hitler burst into it, guarded by armed thugs. Jumping onto the podium, he shouted: “The national revolution has begun. The hall is captured by six hundred military men armed with machine guns. No one dares leave it. I declare the Bavarian government and the imperial government in Berlin overthrown. A provisional national government has already been formed. The barracks of the Reichswehr and the Land Police have been captured by my people "The Reichswehr and the police will henceforth march under banners with swastikas!" Hitler, leaving Goering in the hall in his place, behind the scenes began to “process” Carr, Lossow... At the same time, another associate of Hitler, Scheibner-Richter, went after Ludendorff. Finally, Hitler again ascended the podium and declared that a “national revolution” would be carried out together with the Bavarian triumvirate.
As for the government in Berlin, it will be headed by him, Hitler, and the Reichswehr will be commanded by General Ludendorff. The participants of the meeting in the Bürgerbräukeller dispersed, including the energetic Lossow, who immediately gave a telegram to Seeckt. Regular units and police were mobilized to disperse the riots. In a word, we prepared to repel the Nazis. But Hitler, to whom his fellows flocked from everywhere, still had to move at the head of the column to the city center at 11 o’clock in the morning.
The column sang and shouted its misanthropic slogans for cheerfulness. But on the narrow Residenzstrasse she was met by a chain of policemen. It is still unknown who shot first. After this, the firefight continued for about two minutes. Scheibner-Richter fell - he was killed. Behind him is Hitler, who broke his collarbone. In total, 4 people were killed by the police, and 16 by the Nazis. The “rebels” fled, Hitler was pushed into a yellow car and taken away.
This is how Hitler gained fame. All German newspapers wrote about him. His portraits were published in weekly newspapers. And at that time, Hitler needed any kind of “glory,” even the most scandalous one.
Two days after the unsuccessful “March on Berlin,” Hitler was arrested by the police. On April 1, 1924, he and two accomplices were sentenced to five years in prison with credit for the time they had already spent in prison. Ludendorff and other participants in the bloody events were generally acquitted.
The book "My Struggle" by Adolf Hitler.
The prison, or fortress, in Landsberg am Lech, where Hitler served a total of 13 months before and after his trial (the sentence for “high treason” was only nine months!), is often called a Nazi “sanatorium” by Nazi historians. With everything ready, walking around the garden and receiving numerous guests and business visitors, answering letters and telegrams.
Hitler dictated the first volume of a book containing his political program, calling it "Four and a half years of struggle against lies, stupidity and cowardice." Later it was published under the title “My Struggle” (Mein Kampf), sold millions of copies and made Hitler a rich man.
Hitler offered the Germans one proven culprit, an enemy in satanic guise - a Jew. After the "liberation" from the Jews, Hitler promised the German people a great future. And immediately. A heavenly life will come on German soil. All shopkeepers will get shops. Poor tenants will become homeowners. Loser intellectuals become professors. Poor peasants become rich farmers. Women are beautiful, their children are healthy, “the breed will improve.” It was not Hitler who “invented” anti-Semitism, but it was he who planted it in Germany.
And he was far from the last who used it for his own purposes.
The basic ideas of Hitler that had emerged by this time were reflected in the NSDAP program (25 points), the core of which was the following demands: 1) restoration of the power of Germany by uniting all Germans under a single state roof; 2) assertion of the dominance of the German Empire in Europe, mainly in the east of the continent in the Slavic lands; 3) cleansing German territory from the “foreigners” littering it, especially Jews; 4) liquidation of the rotten parliamentary regime, replacing it with a vertical hierarchy corresponding to the German spirit, in which the will of the people is personified in a leader endowed with absolute power; 5) liberation of the people from the dictates of global financial capital and full support for small and handicraft production, creativity of people of liberal professions.
Adof Hitler outlined these ideas in his autobiographical book “My Struggle”.
Hitler's path to power.
Hitler left the Landsberg fortress on December 20, 1924. He had a plan of action. At first - to cleanse the NSDAP of "factionalists", introduce iron discipline and the principle of "Fuhrerism", that is, autocracy, then strengthen its army - the SA, and destroy the rebellious spirit there.
Already on February 27, Hitler gave a speech in the Bürgerbräukeller (all Western historians refer to it), where he directly stated: “I alone lead the Movement and am personally responsible for it. And I alone, again, am responsible for everything that happens in the Movement. .. Either the enemy will walk over our corpses, or we will walk over his..."
Accordingly, at the same time, Hitler carried out another “rotation” of personnel. However, at first Hitler could not get rid of his strongest rivals - Gregor Strasser and Rehm. Although he began to push them into the background immediately.
The “cleansing” of the party ended with Hitler creating his own “party court” in 1926 - the Investigative and Arbitration Committee. Its chairman, Walter Buch, fought against “sedition” in the ranks of the NSDAP until 1945.
However, at that time, Hitler’s party could not count on success at all. The situation in Germany gradually stabilized. Inflation has declined. Unemployment has decreased. Industrialists managed to modernize the German economy. French troops left the Ruhr. Stresemann's government managed to conclude some agreements with the West.
The pinnacle of Hitler's success during this period was the first party congress in August 1927 in Nuremberg. In 1927-1928, that is, five or six years before coming to power, heading a still relatively weak party, Hitler created a “shadow government” in the NSDAP - Political Department II.
Goebbels was the head of the propaganda department from 1928. An equally important “invention” of Hitler were local Gauleiters, that is, local Nazi bosses in individual lands. Huge Gauleiter headquarters replaced after 1933 the administrative bodies created in Weimar Germany.
In 1930-1933, there was a fierce struggle for votes in Germany. One election followed another. Pumped up with money from the German reaction, the Nazis were striving for power with all their might. In 1933 they wanted to get it from President Hindenburg. But to do this, they had to create the appearance of support for the NSDAP party among broad sections of the population. Otherwise, Hitler would not have seen the post of chancellor. For Hindenburg had his favorites - von Papen, Schleicher: it was with their help that it was “most convenient” for him to rule the 70 million German people.
Hitler never received an absolute majority of votes in an election. And an important obstacle on his way were the extremely strong parties of the working class - the Social Democratic and Communist. In 1930, the Social Democrats won 8,577,000 votes in the elections, the Communists - 4,592,000, and the Nazis - 6,409,000. In June 1932, the Social Democrats lost a few votes, but still received 795,000 votes, but the Communists gained new votes, gaining 5,283,000 votes. The Nazis reached their “peak” in this election: they received 13,745,000 ballots. But already in December of the same year, they lost 2,000 voters. In December the situation was this: the Social Democrats received 7,248,000 votes, the Communists again strengthened their position - 5,980,000 votes, the Nazis - 11,737,000 votes. In other words, the advantage was always on the side of the workers' parties. The number of ballots cast for Hitler and his party, even at the apogee of their career, did not exceed 37.3 percent.
Adolf Hitler - Reich Chancellor of Germany.
On January 30, 1933, 86-year-old President Hindenburg appointed the head of the NSDAP, Adolf Hitler, Reich Chancellor of Germany. That same day, the superbly organized stormtroopers concentrated on their assembly points. In the evening, with lighted torches, they walked past the presidential palace, in one window of which stood Hindenburg, and in the other, Hitler.
According to official data, 25,000 people took part in the torchlight procession. It lasted for several hours.
Already at the first meeting on January 30, a discussion took place of measures directed against the Communist Party of Germany. The next day, Hitler spoke on the radio. "Give us a four-year sentence. Our task is to fight against communism."
Hitler fully took into account the effect of surprise. He not only did not allow the anti-Nazi forces to unite and consolidate, he literally stunned them, took them by surprise and very soon completely defeated them. This was the Nazis' first blitzkrieg on their own territory.
February 1 - dissolution of the Reichstag. New elections are scheduled for March 5. A ban on all open-air communist rallies (they were, of course, not given halls).
On February 2, the presidential order “On the Protection of the German People” was issued, effectively banning meetings and newspapers criticizing Nazism. Unofficial permission for “preventive arrests”, without appropriate legal sanctions. Dissolution of city and municipal parliaments in Prussia.
February 7 - Goering's "Shooting Decree". Authorization for the police to use weapons. The SA, SS and Steel Helmet are brought in to help the police. Two weeks later, armed detachments of the SA, SS, and “Steel Helmet” came to Goering’s disposal as auxiliary police.
February 27 - Reichstag fire. On the night of February 28, approximately ten thousand communists, social democrats, and people of progressive views were arrested. The Communist Party and some Social Democratic organizations are prohibited.
February 28 - presidential order “On the protection of the people and the state.” In fact, a declaration of a “state of emergency” with all the ensuing consequences.
Order for the arrest of the leaders of the KKE.
At the beginning of March, Thälmann was arrested, the militant organization of the Social Democrats, the Reichsbanner (Iron Front), was banned, first in Thuringia, and by the end of the month in all German states.
On March 21, a presidential decree “On Betrayal” was issued, directed against statements that harm “the well-being of the Reich and the reputation of the government,” and “extraordinary courts” were created. This is the first time the name of the concentration camps is mentioned. By the end of the year, over 100 of them will be created.
At the end of March, the law on the death penalty is published. The death penalty by hanging was introduced.
March 31 - the first law on the deprivation of rights to individual lands. Dissolution of state parliaments. (Except the Prussian Parliament.)
April 1 - "boycott" of Jewish citizens.
April 4 - ban on free exit from the country. Introduction of special "visas".
April 7 - second law on deprivation of land rights. Return of all titles and orders abolished in 1919. The law on the status of “officials”, the return of their former rights. Persons of “unreliable” and “non-Aryan origin” were excluded from the corps of “officials”.
April 14 - expulsion of 15 percent of professors from universities and other educational institutions.
April 26 - creation of the Gestapo.
May 2 - appointment of “imperial governors” subordinate to Hitler (in most cases former Gauleiters) in certain lands.
May 7 - “purge” among writers and artists.
Publication of "blacklists" of "not (truly) German writers." Confiscation of their books in stores and libraries. The number of banned books is 12,409, and the number of banned authors is 141.
May 10 - public burning of banned books in Berlin and other university cities.
June 21 - inclusion of the "Steel Helmet" in the SA.
June 22 - ban on the Social Democratic Party, arrests of the remaining functionaries of this party.
June 25 - Goering's control over theater plans in Prussia is introduced.
From June 27 to July 14 - self-dissolution of all parties that have not yet been banned. Prohibition of creating new parties. The actual establishment of a one-party system. Law depriving all emigrants of German citizenship. The Hitler salute becomes mandatory for civil servants.
August 1 - renunciation of the right to pardon in Prussia. Immediate execution of sentences. Introduction of the guillotine.
August 25 - a list of persons deprived of citizenship is published, among them are communists, socialists, liberals, and representatives of the intelligentsia.
September 1 - opening in Nuremberg of the “Congress of Winners”, the next congress of the NSDAP.
September 22 - Law on “imperial cultural guilds” - staff of writers, artists, musicians. An actual ban on publication, performance, exhibitions of all those who are not members of the chamber.
November 12 - elections to the Reichstag under a one-party system. Referendum on Germany's withdrawal from the League of Nations.
November 24 - the law “On the detention of repeat offenders after they have served their sentence.”
By “recidivists” we mean political prisoners.
December 1 - the law “on ensuring the unity of the party and the state.” Personal union between party Fuhrers and major government functionaries.
December 16 - mandatory permission from the authorities for parties and trade unions (extremely powerful during the Weimar Republic), democratic institutions and rights are completely forgotten: freedom of the press, freedom of conscience, freedom of movement, freedom of strikes, meetings, demonstrations. Finally, creative freedom. From a rule-of-law state, Germany has turned into a country of total lawlessness. Any citizen, for any slander, without any legal sanctions, could be put in a concentration camp and kept there forever. Within a year, the “lands” (regions) in Germany that had great rights were completely deprived of them.
Well, how was the economy? Even before 1933, Hitler said: “Do you really think I’m so crazy that I want to destroy large-scale German industry? Entrepreneurs have won a leading position through business qualities. And on the basis of selection, which proves their pure race (!), they have the right to supremacy." During the same 1933, Hitler gradually prepared to subjugate both industry and finance and make them an appendage of his military-political authoritarian state.
The military plans, which at the first stage, the stage of the “national revolution,” he hid even from his close circle, dictated their own laws - it was necessary to arm Germany to the teeth in the shortest possible time. And this required extremely intense and focused work, investment of capital in certain industries. Creation of complete economic “autarky” (that is, an economic system that produces everything it needs for itself and consumes it itself).
The capitalist economy, already in the first third of the 20th century, was striving to establish widely ramified world connections, to divide labor, etc.
The fact remains: Hitler wanted to control the economy, and thereby gradually curtailed the rights of owners and introduced something like state capitalism.
On March 16, 1933, that is, a month and a half after coming to power, Schacht was appointed chairman of the Reichsbank of Germany. “Inside” people will now be in charge of finances, finding gigantic sums to finance the war economy. It was not for nothing that Schacht sat in the dock in Nuremberg in 1945, although the department had left before the war.
On July 15, the General Council of the German Economy convenes: 17 large industrialists, farmers, bankers, representatives of trading firms and NSDAP apparatchiks issue a law on the “mandatory merger of enterprises” in cartels. Some enterprises are “joined,” in other words, absorbed by larger concerns. This was followed by: Goering's "four-year plan", the creation of the super-powerful state concern "Hermann Goering-Werke", the transfer of the entire economy to a military footing, and at the end of Hitler's reign, the transfer of large military orders to Himmler's department, which had millions of prisoners, and therefore , free labor. Of course, we must not forget that large monopolies profited immensely under Hitler - in the early years at the expense of “arized” enterprises (expropriated firms in which Jewish capital participated), and later at the expense of factories, banks, raw materials and other valuables seized from other countries .
Yet the economy was controlled and regulated by the state. And immediately failures, imbalances, lagging behind light industry, etc. were revealed.
By the summer of 1934, Hitler faced serious opposition within his party. The “old fighters” of the SA assault troops, led by E. Rehm, demanded more radical social reforms, called for a “second revolution” and insisted on the need to strengthen their role in the army. German generals spoke out against such radicalism and the SA's claims to leadership of the army. Hitler, who needed the support of the army and himself feared the uncontrollability of the stormtroopers, opposed his former comrades. Having accused Rehm of preparing to assassinate the Fuhrer, he carried out a bloody massacre on June 30, 1934 (“the night of the long knives”), during which several hundred SA leaders, including Rehm, were killed. Strasser, von Kahr, former Reich Chancellor General Schleicher and other figures were physically destroyed. Hitler acquired absolute power over Germany.
Soon, army officers swore allegiance not to the constitution or the country, but to Hitler personally. Germany's chief judge declared that "the law and the constitution are the will of our Fuhrer." Hitler sought not only legal, political and social dictatorship. “Our revolution,” he once emphasized, “will not be completed until we dehumanize people.”
It is known that the Nazi leader wanted to start a world war already in 1938. Before this, he managed to “peacefully” annex large territories to Germany. In particular, in 1935, the Saar region through a plebiscite. The plebiscite turned out to be a brilliant trick of Hitler's diplomacy and propaganda. 91 percent of the population voted for “annexation.” The voting results may have been falsified.
Western politicians, contrary to basic common sense, began to give up one position after another. Already in 1935, Hitler concluded the notorious “fleet agreement” with England, which gave the Nazis the opportunity to openly create warships. That same year, universal conscription was introduced in Germany. On March 7, 1936, Hitler gave the order to occupy the demilitarized Rhineland. The West was silent, although it could not help but see that the dictator’s appetites were growing.
The Second World War.
In 1936, the Nazis intervened in the Spanish Civil War - Franco was their protege. The West admired the order in Germany, sending its athletes and fans to the Olympics.
And this is after the “night of long knives” - the murders of Rehm and his stormtroopers, after the Leipzig trial of Dimitrov and after the adoption of the notorious Nuremberg laws, which turned the Jewish population of Germany into pariahs!
Finally, in 1938, as part of intensive preparations for war, Hitler carried out another “rotation” - he expelled the Minister of War Blomberg and the Supreme Commander of the Army Fritsch, and also replaced the professional diplomat von Neurath with the Nazi Ribbentrop.
On March 11, 1938, Nazi troops marched victoriously into Austria. The Austrian government was intimidated and demoralized. The operation to capture Austria was called "Anschluss", which means "annexation". And finally, the culmination of 1938 was the seizure of Czechoslovakia as a result of the Munich Agreement, that is, in fact, with the consent and approval of the then British Prime Minister Chamberlain and the French Daladier, as well as Germany’s ally - fascist Italy.
In all these actions, Hitler acted not as a strategist, not as a tactician, not even as a politician, but as a player who knew that his partners in the West were ready for all kinds of concessions. He studied the weaknesses of the strong, constantly spoke to them about the world, flattered, cunning, and intimidated and suppressed those who were unsure of themselves.
On March 15, 1939, the Nazis captured Czechoslovakia and announced the creation of a so-called protectorate on the territory of Bohemia and Moravia.
On August 23, 1939, Hitler concluded a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union and thereby ensured a free hand in Poland.
On September 1, 1939, the German army invaded Poland, which marked the beginning of World War II. Hitler took command of the armed forces and imposed his own plan for waging war, despite strong opposition from the army leadership, in particular, the Chief of the General Staff of the Army, General L. Beck, who insisted that Germany did not have enough forces to defeat the Allies (England and France) who declared war on Hitler. After Hitler attacked Poland, England and France declared war on Germany. The beginning of World War II dates back to September 1, 1939.
After France and England declared war, Hitler captured half of Poland in 18 days, completely defeating its army. The Polish state was unable to fight one-on-one with the powerful German Wehrmacht. The first stage of the war in Germany was called a “sitting” war, and in other countries it was called “strange” or even “funny.” All this time, Hitler remained master of the situation. The "funny" war ended on April 9, 1940, when Nazi troops invaded Denmark and Norway. On May 10, Hitler began his campaign to the West: the Netherlands and Belgium became his first victims. In six weeks, the Nazi Wehrmacht defeated France, defeated and pinned the English Expeditionary Force to the sea. Hitler signed the armistice in the saloon car of Marshal Foch, in the forest near Compiegne, that is, in the very place where Germany surrendered in 1918. Blitzkrieg - Hitler's dream - came true.
Western historians now recognize that in the first stage of the war the Nazis won political rather than military victories.
But no army was even remotely as motorized as the German one. A gambler, Hitler felt, as they wrote then, “the greatest commander of all times,” as well as “an amazing visionary in technical and tactical terms” ... “the creator of modern armed forces” (Jodl).
Let us remember that it was impossible to object to Hitler, that he was only allowed to be glorified and deified. The Wehrmacht High Command became, as one researcher aptly put it, the “Fuhrer's office.” The results were immediate: an atmosphere of super-euphoria reigned in the army.
Were there any generals who openly contradicted Hitler? Of course not. Nevertheless, it is known that during the war, three supreme army commanders, 4 chiefs of the general staff (the fifth, Krebs, died in Berlin along with Hitler), 14 of 18 field marshals of the ground forces, 21 out of 37 colonel generals.
Of course, not a single normal general, that is, a general not in a totalitarian state, would have allowed such a terrible defeat as Germany suffered.
Hitler's main task was to conquer "living space" in the East, crush "Bolshevism" and enslave the "world Slavs."
The English historian Trevor-Roper convincingly showed that from 1925 until his death, Hitler did not doubt for a second that the great peoples of the Soviet Union could be turned into silent slaves who would be controlled by German overseers, “Aryans” from the ranks of the SS. Here is what Trevor-Roper writes about this: “After the war, you often hear words that the Russian campaign was Hitler’s big “mistake.” If he had behaved neutrally towards Russia, he would have been able to subjugate all of Europe, organize it and strengthen. And England would never have been able to expel the Germans from there. I cannot share this point of view, it comes from the fact that Hitler would not be Hitler!
For Hitler, the Russian campaign was never a side military scam, a private foray for important sources of raw materials, or an impulsive move in a chess game that looked almost drawn. The Russian campaign decided whether or not to exist National Socialism. And this campaign became not only mandatory, but also urgent.”
Hitler's program was translated into military language - "Plan Barbarossa" and into the language of occupation policy - "Plan Ost".
The German people, according to Hitler's theory, were humiliated by the victors in the First World War and, in the conditions that arose after the war, could not successfully develop and fulfill the mission prescribed for them by history.
To develop national culture and increase sources of power, he needed to acquire additional permanent space. And since there were no more free lands, they should have been taken where the population density was low and the land was used irrationally. Such an opportunity for the German nation existed only in the East, due to the territories inhabited by peoples less valuable in racial terms than the Germans, primarily the Slavs. The seizure of new living space in the East and the enslavement of the peoples living there were considered by Hitler as a prerequisite and starting point for the struggle for world domination.
The first major defeat of the Wehrmacht in the winter of 1941/1942 near Moscow had a strong impact on Hitler. The chain of his successive victorious campaigns of conquest was interrupted. According to Colonel General Jodl, who communicated with Hitler more than anyone else during the war, in December 1941 the Fuhrer lost his inner confidence in the German victory, and the disaster at Stalingrad convinced him even more of the inevitability of defeat. But this could only be assumed based on some features in his behavior and actions. He himself never told anyone about this. Ambition did not allow him to admit the collapse of his own plans. He continued to convince everyone who surrounded him, the entire German people, of inevitable victory and demanded that they make as much effort as possible to achieve it. According to his instructions, measures were taken for the total mobilization of the economy and human resources. Ignoring reality, he ignored all the advice of specialists that went against his instructions.
The Wehrmacht's halt in front of Moscow in December 1941 and the counteroffensive that followed caused confusion among many German generals. Hitler ordered to stubbornly defend each line and not retreat from occupied positions without orders from above. This decision saved the German army from collapse, but it also had its downside. It assured Hitler of its own military genius, of its superiority over the generals. Now he believed that by taking direct command of military operations on the Eastern Front instead of the retired Brauchitsch, he would be able to achieve victory over Russia already in 1942. But the crushing defeat at Stalingrad, which became the most sensitive for the Germans in World War II, stunned the Fuhrer.
Since 1943, all of Hitler's activities were virtually limited to current military problems. He no longer made far-reaching political decisions.
Almost all the time he was at his headquarters, surrounded only by his closest military advisers. Hitler still spoke to the people, although he showed less interest in their position and mood.
Unlike other tyrants and conquerors, Hitler committed crimes not only for political and military reasons, but for personal reasons. Hitler's victims numbered in the millions. On his instructions, an entire extermination system was created, a kind of conveyor belt for killing people, eliminating and disposing of their remains. He was guilty of mass extermination of people on ethnic, racial, social and other grounds, which is classified by lawyers as crimes against humanity.
Many of Hitler's crimes were not related to the defense of the national interests of Germany and the German people, and were not caused by military necessity. On the contrary, to some extent they even undermined the military power of Germany. For example, to carry out mass murders in the death camps created by the Nazis, Hitler kept tens of thousands of SS men in the rear. From them it was possible to create more than one division and thereby strengthen the troops of the active army. To transport millions of prisoners to the death camps, a large amount of railway and other transport was required, and this could be used for military purposes.
In the summer of 1944, he considered it possible, by staunchly holding positions on the Soviet-German front, to thwart the invasion of Europe being prepared by the Western Allies, and then use the created situation favorable to Germany to reach an agreement with them. But this plan was not destined to come true. The Germans failed to throw the Anglo-American troops that had landed in Normandy into the sea. They managed to hold the captured bridgehead, concentrate huge forces there and, after careful preparation, break through the front of the German defense. The Wehrmacht did not hold its positions in the east either. A particularly major disaster occurred in the central sector of the Eastern Front, where the German Army Group Center was completely defeated, and Soviet troops began to advance alarmingly quickly towards the German borders.
Hitler's last year.
The failed assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944, committed by a group of opposition-minded German officers, was used by the Fuhrer as a pretext for an all-encompassing mobilization of human and material resources to continue the war. By the fall of 1944, Hitler managed to stabilize the front that had begun to fall apart in the east and west, restore many destroyed formations and form a number of new ones. He again thinks about how to cause a crisis among his opponents. In the West, he believed, this would be easier to do. The idea he came up with was embodied in the plan for the German action in the Ardennes.
From a military point of view, this offensive was a gamble. It could not cause significant damage to the military power of the Western allies, much less cause a turning point in the war. But Hitler was primarily interested in political results.
He wanted to show the leaders of the United States and England that he still had enough strength to continue the war, and now he decided to transfer the main efforts from the east to the west, which meant a weakening of resistance in the east and the emergence of the danger of the occupation of Germany by Soviet troops. With a sudden demonstration of German military power on the Western Front and a simultaneous display of readiness to accept defeat in the East, Hitler hoped to arouse fear among the Western powers of the possible transformation of all of Germany into a Bolshevik bastion in the center of Europe. Hitler also hoped to force them to begin separate negotiations with the existing regime in Germany and to reach a certain compromise with it. He believed that Western democracies would prefer Nazi Germany to Communist Germany.
However, all these calculations did not come true. The Western Allies, although they experienced some shock from the unexpected German offensive, did not want to have anything to do with Hitler and the regime he led. They continued to work closely with the Soviet Union, which helped them overcome the crisis caused by the Wehrmacht's Ardennes operation by launching an offensive from the Vistula line ahead of schedule.
By mid-spring 1945, Hitler no longer had any hope for a miracle. On April 22, 1945, he decided not to leave the capital, stay in his bunker and commit suicide. The fate of the German people no longer interested him.
The Germans, Hitler believed, turned out to be unworthy of such a “brilliant leader” like him, so they had to die and give way to stronger and more viable peoples. In the last days of April, Hitler was concerned only with the question of his own fate. He feared the judgment of nations for his crimes. He received with horror the news about the execution of Mussolini along with his mistress and the mockery of their corpses in Milan. This ending scared him. Hitler was in an underground bunker in Berlin, refusing to leave it: he did not go either to the front or to inspect German cities destroyed by Allied aircraft. On April 15, Hitler was joined by Eva Braun, his mistress for more than 12 years. During his rise to power, this relationship was not advertised, but as the end approached, he allowed Eva Braun to appear with him in public. In the early morning of April 29, they got married.
Having dictated a political testament in which the future leaders of Germany were called upon to mercilessly fight against the “poisoners of all nations - international Jewry,” Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945, and their corpses, on Hitler’s orders, were burned in the garden of the Reich Chancellery, next to the bunker where the Fuhrer spent the last months of my life. :: Multimedia
:: Military theme
:: Personalities
After the armistice, Hitler returned to Munich and was enlisted in an army reconnaissance regiment. He was assigned to monitor political parties, and on September 12, 1919, he joined the German Workers' Party, one of the many nationalist and racist groups that mushroomed after the war in Munich. Hitler became member of this party as number 55, and later as number 7 he became a member of its executive committee. Over the next two years, Hitler changed the party's name to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, NSDAP). The party preached militant racism, anti-Semitism, rejection of liberal democracy, and the principle of “leadership.”In 1923, Hitler decided that he could fulfill his promise to march on Berlin and overthrow the “Jewish-Marxist traitors.” While preparing for it, he met the war hero General E. Ludendorff. On the night of November 8, 1923, in the Munich beer hall "Bürgerbräukeller" Hitler proclaimed the beginning of the "national revolution". The next day, Hitler, Ludendorff and other party leaders led a column of Nazis towards the city center. Their path was blocked by a police cordon, which opened fire on the demonstrators; Hitler managed to escape. The Beer Hall Putsch failed.
Put on trial for treason, Hitler turned the dock into a propaganda platform; he accused the President of the Republic of treason and vowed that the day would come when he would bring his accusers to justice. Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released from Landsberg prison less than a year later. In prison, he ate breakfast in bed, walked in the garden, taught prisoners, and drew cartoons for the prison newspaper. Hitler dictated the first volume of a book containing his political program, calling it Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice. Later it was published under the title My Struggle (Mein Kampf), sold millions of copies and made Hitler a rich man.
In December 1924, after being released from prison, Hitler went to Obersalzberg, a mountain range above the village of Berchtesgaden, where he lived in hotels for several years, and in 1928 rented a villa, which he later bought and named “Berghof”.
Hitler reconsidered his plans and decided to come to power through legal means. He reorganized the party and began an intensive campaign to collect votes. In his speeches, Hitler repeated the same themes: avenge the Treaty of Versailles, crush the “traitors of the Weimar Republic,” destroy Jews and communists, revive the great fatherland.
In the situation of economic crisis and political instability of 1930-1933, Hitler's promises attracted members of all social classes in Germany. He enjoyed particular success with veterans of the First World War and representatives of small businesses, since these groups were especially acutely aware of the humiliation of defeat, the threat of communism, the fear of unemployment, and felt the need for a strong leader. With the assistance of W. Funk, the former publisher of the Berliner Börsenzeitung newspaper, Hitler began meeting with major German industrialists. Senior army officials also received assurances that the army would have a very prominent place in his model of German imperialism. A third important source of support was the Landbund, which united landowners and fiercely opposed the Weimar government's proposal for land redistribution.
Hitler viewed the 1932 presidential election as a test of the party's strength. His rival was Field Marshal P. von Hindenburg, supported by the Social Democrats, the Catholic Center Party and trade unions. Two more parties took part in the struggle - nationalists led by army officer T. Duesterberg and communists led by E. Thälmann. Hitler waged a vigorous grassroots campaign and collected over 30% of the vote, depriving Hindenburg of the required absolute majority.
Hitler's actual "seizure of power" became possible as a result of a political conspiracy with former Chancellor F. von Papen. Meeting in secrecy on January 4, 1933, they agreed to work together in a government in which Hitler would become chancellor and von Papen's supporters would receive key ministerial posts. In addition, they agreed to remove Social Democrats, Communists and Jews from leading positions. Von Papen's support brought the Nazi Party significant financial assistance from the German business community. On January 30, 1933, the “Bavarian corporal” became chancellor, taking an oath to defend the constitution of the Weimar Republic. The following year, Hitler assumed the title of Führer (leader) and Chancellor of Germany.
Hitler sought to quickly consolidate his power and establish a “thousand-year Reich.” In the first months of his reign, all political parties except the Nazi one were banned, trade unions were dissolved, and the entire population was covered by Nazi-controlled unions, societies and groups. Hitler tried to convince the country of the danger of the “Red Terror”. On the night of February 27, 1933, the Reichstag building caught fire. The Nazis blamed the communists and took full advantage of the trumped-up charges in the elections, increasing their presence in the Reichstag.
By the summer of 1934, Hitler faced serious opposition within his party. The “old fighters” of the SA assault troops, led by E. Rehm, demanded more radical social reforms, called for a “second revolution” and insisted on the need to strengthen their role in the army. German generals spoke out against such radicalism and the SA's claims to leadership of the army. Hitler, who needed the support of the army and himself feared the uncontrollability of the stormtroopers, opposed his former comrades. Having accused Rehm of preparing to assassinate the Fuhrer, he carried out a bloody massacre on June 30, 1934 (“the night of the long knives”), during which several hundred SA leaders, including Rehm, were killed. Soon, army officers swore allegiance not to the constitution or the country, but to Hitler personally. Germany's Chief Justice declared that "the law and the constitution are the will of our Fuhrer."
Hitler sought not only legal, political and social dictatorship. “Our revolution,” he once emphasized, “will not be completed until we dehumanize people.” For this purpose, he established the secret police (Gestapo), created concentration camps, and the Ministry of Public Education and Propaganda. Jews, declared the worst enemies of humanity, were deprived of their rights and subjected to public humiliation.
Having received dictatorial powers from the Reichstag, Hitler began preparations for war. Violating the Treaty of Versailles, he restored universal conscription and created a powerful air force. In 1936 he sent troops into the demilitarized Rhineland and refused to recognize the Locarno Treaties. Together with Mussolini, Hitler supported Franco in the Spanish Civil War and laid the foundations for the creation of the Rome-Berlin axis. He took aggressive diplomatic actions against potential opponents in both the west and the east, heightening international tensions. In 1938, as a result of the so-called Austria was annexed by the Anschluss to the Third Reich.
On September 29, 1938, Hitler, together with Mussolini, met in Munich with Prime Minister of England Chamberlain and Prime Minister of France Daladier; The parties agreed to the separation of the Sudetenland (with a German-speaking population) from Czechoslovakia. In mid-October, German troops occupied the area and Hitler began preparations for the next “crisis.” On March 15, 1939, German troops occupied Prague, completing the absorption of Czechoslovakia.
In August 1939, Germany and the USSR, with rare cynicism on both sides, signed a non-aggression pact, which freed Hitler's hands in the east and gave him the opportunity to concentrate his efforts on the destruction of Europe.
On September 1, 1939, the German army invaded Poland, which marked the beginning of World War II. Hitler took command of the armed forces and imposed his own plan for waging war, despite strong opposition from the army leadership, in particular, the Chief of the General Staff of the Army, General L. Beck, who insisted that Germany did not have enough forces to defeat the Allies (England and France) who declared war on Hitler. After capturing Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium and, finally, France, Hitler - not without hesitation - decided to invade England. In October 1940, he issued a directive for Operation Sea Lion, the code name for the invasion.
Hitler's plans also included the conquest of the Soviet Union. Believing that the time had come, Hitler took steps to secure Japanese support in its conflict with the United States. He hoped that in this way he would keep America from interfering in the European conflict. Still, Hitler failed to convince the Japanese that the war with the USSR would be successful, and later he had to face the discouraging fact of the Soviet-Japanese neutrality pact.
On July 20, 1944, the last attempt to eliminate Hitler took place: a time bomb was detonated at his Wolfschanze headquarters near Rastenburg. Salvation from imminent death strengthened him in the consciousness of his chosenness; he decided that the German nation would not perish as long as he remained in Berlin. British and American troops from the west and the Soviet army from the east tightened the encirclement ring around the German capital. Hitler was in an underground bunker in Berlin, refusing to leave it: he did not go either to the front or to inspect German cities destroyed by Allied aircraft. On April 15, Hitler was joined by Eva Braun, his mistress for more than 12 years. During his rise to power, this relationship was not advertised, but as the end approached, he allowed Eva Braun to appear with him in public. In the early morning of April 29, they got married.
Having dictated a political testament in which the future leaders of Germany called on the merciless fight against “the poisoners of all nations - international Jewry,” Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945.
Sergey Piskunov
chrono.info
Adolf Hitler is a famous political leader of Germany, whose activities are associated with heinous crimes against humanity, including the Holocaust. The founder of the Nazi party and the dictatorship of the Third Reich, the immorality of whose philosophy and political views are still widely discussed in society today.
After Hitler managed to become the head of the German fascist state in 1934, he launched a large-scale operation to seize Europe and initiated the Second World War, which made him a “monster and a sadist” for Soviet citizens, and for many Germans a brilliant leader who changed people's lives for the better.
Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in the Austrian city of Braunau am Inn, located near the border with Germany. His parents, Alois and Klara Hitler, were peasants, but his father managed to break into the people and become a government official-customs officer, which allowed the family to live in decent conditions. “Nazi No. 1” was the third child in the family and dearly loved by his mother, whom he closely resembled in appearance. Later he had younger brothers Edmund and sister Paula, to whom the future German Fuhrer became very attached and looked after him all his life.
Adolf's childhood years were spent in constant moving, caused by the peculiarities of his father's work, and changes in schools, where he did not show any special talents, but was still able to complete four classes of a real school in Steyr and received a certificate of education, in which good grades were only in drawing and physical education. During this period, his mother Clara Hitler died of cancer, which dealt a serious blow to the young man’s psyche, but he did not break down, and, having drawn up the necessary documents to receive a pension for himself and his sister Paula, moved to Vienna and set out on the path to adulthood.
At first he tried to enter the Art Academy, as he had extraordinary talent and a craving for fine art, but failed the entrance exams. The next few years, Adolf Hitler's biography was filled with poverty, vagrancy, odd jobs, constant moving from place to place, and sleeping under city bridges. All this time, he did not inform either his family or friends about his location, because he was afraid of being drafted into the army, where he would have to serve together with the Jews, for whom he felt deep hatred.
Adolf Hitler (right) in World War I At the age of 24, Hitler moved to Munich, where he encountered the First World War, which made him very happy. He immediately volunteered for the Bavarian Army, in whose ranks he took part in many battles. He took the defeat of Germany in the First World War very painfully and categorically blamed politicians for it. Against this background, he engaged in large-scale propaganda work, which allowed him to get into the political movement of the People's Workers' Party, which he skillfully turned into a Nazi one.
Path to power
Having become the head of the NSDAP, Adolf Hitler gradually began to make his way deeper and deeper to the political heights and in 1923 he organized the Beer Hall Putsch. Enlisting the support of 5 thousand stormtroopers, he burst into a beer bar where a meeting of the leaders of the General Staff was taking place and announced the overthrow of traitors in the Berlin government. On November 9, 1923, the Nazi putsch headed towards the ministry to seize power, but was intercepted by police units who used firearms to disperse the Nazis.
In March 1924, Adolf Hitler, as the organizer of the putsch, was convicted of high treason and sentenced to 5 years in prison. But the Nazi dictator spent only 9 months in prison - on December 20, 1924, for unknown reasons, he was released. Immediately after his liberation, Hitler revived the Nazi party NSDAP and transformed it, with the help of Gregor Strasser, into a national political force. During that period, he managed to establish close ties with the German generals, as well as establish contact with large industrial magnates.
At the same time, Adolf Hitler wrote his work “My Struggle” (“Mein Kampf”), in which he outlined his autobiography and the idea of National Socialism. In 1930, the political leader of the Nazis became the Supreme Commander of the Storm Troops (SA), and in 1932 he tried to gain the post of Reich Chancellor. To do this, he had to renounce his Austrian citizenship and become a German citizen, and also enlist the support of the Allies.
The first time, Hitler failed to win the elections, in which Kurt von Schleicher was ahead of him. A year later, German President Paul von Hindenburg, under Nazi pressure, dismissed the victorious von Schleicher and appointed Hitler in his place.
This appointment did not cover all the hopes of the Nazi leader, since power over Germany continued to remain in the hands of the Reichstag, and its powers included only the leadership of the Cabinet of Ministers, which had yet to be created.
In just 1.5 years, Adolf Hitler managed to remove all obstacles in the form of the President of Germany and the Reichstag from his path and become an unlimited dictator. From that moment on, oppression of Jews and Gypsies began in the country, trade unions were closed and the “Hitler era” began, which during the 10 years of his rule was completely saturated with human blood.
Nazism and war
In 1934, Hitler gained power over Germany, where the total Nazi regime immediately began, the ideology of which was the only true one. Having become the ruler of Germany, the Nazi leader immediately revealed his true face and began major foreign policy actions. He is rapidly creating the Wehrmacht and restoring aviation and tank forces, as well as long-range artillery. Contrary to the Treaty of Versailles, Germany seizes the Rhineland, and then Czechoslovakia and Austria.
At the same time, he carried out a purge in his ranks - the dictator organized the so-called “Night of the Long Knives,” when all prominent Nazis who posed a threat to Hitler’s absolute power were destroyed. Having given himself the title of supreme leader of the Third Reich, the Fuhrer created the Gestapo police and a system of concentration camps where he imprisoned all “undesirable elements,” namely Jews, gypsies, political opponents, and later prisoners of war.
The basis of Adolf Hitler's domestic policy was the ideology of racial discrimination and the superiority of indigenous Aryans over other peoples. His goal was to become the only leader of the whole world, in which the Slavs were to become “elite” slaves, and the lower races, to which he included Jews and Gypsies, were completely destroyed. Along with massive crimes against humanity, the ruler of Germany developed a similar foreign policy, deciding to take over the entire world.
In April 1939, Hitler approved a plan to attack Poland, which was defeated in September of the same year. Next, the Germans occupied Norway, Holland, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg and broke through the French front. In the spring of 1941, Hitler captured Greece and Yugoslavia, and on June 22 attacked the USSR, then led by.
In 1943, the Red Army launched a large-scale offensive against the Germans, thanks to which in 1945 World War II entered the territory of the Reich, which completely drove the Fuhrer crazy. He sent pensioners, teenagers and disabled people to fight the Red Army soldiers, ordering the soldiers to stand to death, while he himself hid in the “bunker” and watched what was happening from the side.
Holocaust and death camps
With the coming to power of Adolf Hitler, a whole complex of death camps and concentration camps was created in Germany, Poland and Austria, the first of which was created in 1933 near Munich. It is known that there were more than 42 thousand such camps, in which millions of people died under torture. These specially equipped centers were intended for genocide and terror both against prisoners of war and over the local population, which included the disabled, women and children.
Victims of Auschwitz The largest Hitler “death factories” were “Auschwitz”, “Majdanek”, “Buchenwald”, “Treblinka”, in which people who dissented from Hitler were subjected to inhuman torture and “experiments” with poisons, incendiary mixtures, gas, which in 80% of cases resulted in to the painful death of people. All death camps were created with the aim of “cleansing” the entire world population of anti-fascists, inferior races, which for Hitler were Jews and Gypsies, ordinary criminals and simply undesirable “elements” for the German leader.
The symbol of Hitler’s ruthlessness and fascism was the Polish city of Auschwitz, where the most terrible death conveyors were built, where more than 20 thousand people were exterminated every day. This is one of the most terrible places on Earth, which became the center of the extermination of Jews - they died there in “gas” chambers immediately after arrival, even without registration and identification. The Auschwitz camp (Auschwitz) became a tragic symbol of the Holocaust - the mass destruction of the Jewish nation, which is recognized as the largest genocide of the 20th century.
Why did Hitler hate Jews?
There are several versions of why Adolf Hitler hated the Jews so much, whom he tried to “wipe off the face of the earth.” Historians who have studied the personality of the “bloody” dictator put forward several theories, each of which could be true.
The first and most plausible version is considered to be the “racial policy” of the German dictator, who considered only native Germans as people. In this regard, he divided all nations into three parts - the Aryans, who were supposed to rule the world, the Slavs, who in his ideology were assigned the role of slaves, and the Jews, whom Hitler planned to completely destroy.
Economic motives for the Holocaust cannot be ruled out either, since at that time Germany was in a critical state economically, and the Jews had profitable enterprises and banking institutions, which Hitler took from them after being sent to concentration camps.
There is also a version that Hitler exterminated the Jewish nation in order to maintain the morale of his army. He assigned Jews and Gypsies the role of victims, whom he handed over to be torn to pieces so that the Nazis could enjoy human blood, which, in the opinion of the leader of the Third Reich, should have set them up for victory.
Death
On April 30, 1945, when Hitler's house in Berlin was surrounded by the Soviet army, "Nazi No. 1" admitted defeat and decided to commit suicide. There are several versions of how Adolf Hitler died: some historians claim that the German dictator drank potassium cyanide, while others do not rule out that he shot himself. Along with the head of Germany, his common-law wife Eva Braun, with whom he lived for more than 15 years, also died.
Report of the death of Adolf Hitler It is reported that the bodies of the couple were burned in front of the bunker, which was the dictator's requirement before his death. Later, the remains of Hitler's body were found by a group of the Red Army Guard - to this day, only dentures and part of the Nazi leader's skull with a bullet entry hole have survived, which are still stored in Russian archives.
Personal life
The personal life of Adolf Hitler in modern history has no confirmed facts and is filled with a lot of speculation. It is known that the German Fuhrer was never officially married and had no recognized children. Moreover, despite his rather unattractive appearance, he was the favorite of the entire female population of the country, who played an important role in his life. Historians claim that “Nazi No. 1” knew how to influence people hypnotically.
With his speeches and cultured manners, he charmed the opposite sex, whose representatives began to recklessly love the leader, which forced the ladies to do the impossible for him. Hitler's mistresses were mostly married ladies who idolized him and considered him an outstanding person.
In 1929, the dictator met, who conquered Hitler with her appearance and cheerful disposition. During the years of living with the Fuhrer, the girl twice tried to commit suicide because of the loving nature of her common-law husband, who openly flirted with the women he liked.
In 2012, US citizen Werner Schmedt declared that he was the legitimate son of Hitler and his young niece Geli Ruabal, who, according to historians, was killed by the dictator in a fit of jealousy. He provided family photos in which the Fuhrer of the Third Reich and Geli Ruabal stand in an embrace. Also, Hitler’s possible son presented his birth certificate, in which in the data column about the parents there are only the initials “G” and “R”, which was done allegedly for the purpose of conspiracy.
According to the Fuhrer's son, after the death of Geli Ruabal, nannies from Austria and Germany were involved in his upbringing, but his father constantly visited him. In 1940, Schmedt last saw Hitler, who promised him if he won the Second World War he would give him the whole world. But since events did not unfold according to Hitler’s plan, Werner had to hide his origin and place of residence from everyone for a long time.
The surname Hitler comes from the affectionate form of Gitl or the Gitleyidish feminine name Gita, which means “good, kind.” The Yiddish ending "-er" denotes belonging. Thus, Hitler means "son of Gitli".
Until the age of thirty-nine, Hitler's father Alois bore the surname Schicklgruber, his mother's surname. In the thirties, this fact was discovered by Viennese journalists, and to this day it is discussed on the pages of monographs about Nazi Germany and Hitler. The talented American historian and publicist William Shirer, who wrote the book “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” semi-ironically assures that if Alois had not changed his surname Schicklgruber to Hitler, his son Adolf would not have had to become the Fuhrer, because unlike the surname Hitler, which in its sound reminiscent of “ancient Germanic sagas and Wagner”, the surname Schicklgruber is difficult to pronounce and even sounds somewhat humorous to the German ear.
“It is known,” writes Shirer, “that the words “Heil Hitler!” became an official greeting in Germany. Moreover, the Germans said “Heil Hitler!” literally at every step. It is impossible to believe that they would endlessly shout “Heil Schicklgruber!”, “Heil Schicklgruber!”
Alois Schicklgruber, father of Adolf Hitler, was adopted by Georg Hiedler, husband of his mother Maria Anna Schicklgruber. However, between the marriage of Maria Anna and the adoption of Alois, no less than thirty-four years passed. When forty-seven-year-old Maria Anna married Georg, she already had a five-year-old illegitimate son, Alois, the father of the future Nazi dictator. And neither George nor his wife thought of legitimizing the child at that time. Four years later, Maria Anna died, and Georg Hiedler left his native place.
Everything further is known to us in two versions. According to one, Georg Gidler returned to his hometown and, in the presence of a notary and three witnesses, declared that Alois Schicklgruber, the son of his late wife Anna Maria, was in fact his, Gidler’s, son. According to another, three relatives of Georg Gidler went to the notary for the same purpose. According to this version, Georg Hiedler himself had long been dead by that time. It is believed that the over-aged Alois wished to become “legal” because he expected to receive a small inheritance.
The surname “Hidler” was mistakenly distorted when recording, and thus the surname “Hitler” was born, which in Russian pronunciation was fixed as “Hitler”.
Alois Schicklgruber, aka Hitler, was married three times: the first time to a woman who was fourteen years older than him. The marriage was unsuccessful. Alois left for another woman, whom he married after the death of his first wife. But soon she died of tuberculosis. For the third time he married a certain Clara Pelzl, who was twenty-three years younger than her husband. In order to formalize this marriage, it was necessary to seek permission from the church authorities, since Clara Pelzl was obviously closely related to Alois. Be that as it may, Clara Pelzl became the mother of Adolf Hitler.
Adolf's father, Alois, died in 1903, aged 65. In 2012, at the request of one of his descendants, the grave of Adolf’s parents in the suburbs of Linz was liquidated and given over to other burials, under the pretext that it served as a place of pilgrimage for right-wing extremist circles.
Thus, Adolf Hitler was born 13 years after his father changed his surname, and from birth bore his real surname. This is the origin story of the name Hitler, which belonged to one of the most terrible fiends of hell, Amalek of the twentieth century.
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