Hitler full name surname patronymic. Hitler's "real" surname


Name: Adolf Hitler

Age: 56 years old

Place of Birth: Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary

A place of death: Berlin

Activity: Fuhrer and Reich Chancellor of Germany

Marital status: Was married to

Adolf Hitler - biography

This name and surname are very hated by many people around the world for the atrocities that this man committed. How did the biography of the one who started a war with many countries develop, how did he become like this?

Childhood, Hitler's family, how he appeared

Adolf's father was an illegitimate child, his mother remarried a man with the last name Gidler, and when Alois wanted to change his mother's last name, the priest made a mistake, and all the descendants began to bear the last name Hitler, and six of them were born, and Adolf was the third child. Hitler's ancestors were peasants; his father achieved a career as an official. Adolf, like all Germans, was very sentimental and often visited the places of his childhood and the graves of his parents.


Before Adolf's birth, three children died. He was the only and beloved son, then his brother Edmund was born, and they began to devote less time to Adolf, then Adolf’s sister appeared in the family, he always had the most tender feelings for Paula. After all, this is the biography of an ordinary child who loves his mother and sister, when and what went wrong?

Hitler's studies

In first grade, Hitler only got "excellent" grades. In the old Catholic monastery, he went to second grade, learned to sing in the church choir and helped during mass. I first noticed the swastika sign on Abbot Hagen's coat of arms. Adolf changed schools several times due to parental problems. One of the brothers left home, the other died, Adolf remained the only son. At school he began to like not all subjects, so he stayed for the second year.

Adolf's Growing Up

As soon as the teenager turned 13 years old, his father died, and the son refused to fulfill his parent’s request. He did not want to become an official; he was attracted to painting and music. One of Hitler's teachers later recalled that the student was one-sidedly gifted, was quick-tempered and wayward. Already in these years one could notice the traits of a mentally unbalanced person. After the fourth grade, the education document showed “5” grades only in physical education and drawing. He knew languages, exact sciences and shorthand perfectly well.


At the insistence of his mother, Adolf Hitler had to retake the exams, but he was diagnosed with lung disease and had to forget about school. When Hitler turned 18, he left for the capital of Austria, wanted to enter an art school, but failed to pass the exams. The young man's mother underwent surgery, did not live long, and Adolf, as the eldest and only man in the family, took care of her until her death.

Adolf Hitler - artist


Having failed to enroll in the school of his dreams the second time, Hitler went into hiding and evaded military service; he managed to get a job as an artist and writer. Hitler's paintings began to sell successfully. They mainly depicted buildings of old Vienna copied from postcards.


Adolf began to earn decent money from this, took up reading, and became interested in politics. He leaves for Munich and works as an artist again. Finally, the Austrian police found out where Hitler was hiding, sent him for a medical examination, where he was given a “white” ticket.

The beginning of the combat biography of Adolf Hitler

This war was accepted by Hitler with joy, he himself asked to serve in the Bavarian army, participated in many battles, received the rank of corporal, was wounded, and had many military awards. He was considered a brave and courageous soldier. He was wounded again and even lost his sight. After the war, the authorities considered it necessary for Hitler to participate as part of the agitators, where he showed himself to be a skilled master of words, he knew how to command the attention of the people listening to him. Throughout this period of his life, Hitler’s favorite reading became anti-Semitic literature, which basically shaped his further political views.


Soon everyone became acquainted with his program for the new Nazi party. He later receives the post of chairman with unlimited power. Allowing himself too much, Hitler began to take advantage of his post to incite the overthrow of the existing government, was convicted and sent to prison. There he finally believed that communists and Jews must be destroyed.


He declares that the nation of Germany should dominate the entire world. Hitler finds many supporters who unconditionally appoint him to lead the armed forces, founded personal guards in the ranks of the SS, and created torture and death camps.

He dreamed of getting even for the fact that once upon a time, during the First World War, Germany capitulated. He was ill and was in a hurry to carry out his plans. The occupation of many territories began: Austria, Czechoslovakia, part of Lithuania, threatened Poland, France, Greece and Yugoslavia. In August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to peaceful coexistence, but, maddened by power and victories, Hitler violated this agreement. Fortunately, at the helm of power was a man who did not give up his power to a crazy, brutal egoist in the person of Hitler.

Adolf Hitler - biography of personal life

Hitler did not have an official wife, nor did he have children. He had a repulsive appearance; he could do practically nothing to attract women. But do not forget the gift of eloquence and the position it created. He never stopped seeing his mistresses; mostly, they included married women. Since 1929, Adolf Hitler has lived with his common-law wife, Eva Braun. The husband was not at all shy about flirting with everyone, and Eva, out of jealousy, tried many times to commit suicide.


Dreaming of being Frau Hitler, living with him and enduring bullying and quirks, she patiently waited for a miracle to happen. This happened 36 hours before death. Adolf Hitler and got married. But the biography of a man who aimed at the sovereignty of the Soviet Union ended ingloriously.

Documentary film about Adolf Hitler

(1889-1945) Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, Chairman (Führer) of the National Socialist Party of Germany (NSDAP) from 1921 to 1945

Adolf Schicklgruber (this is Hitler's real name) was born on April 20, 1889 in the small Austrian city of Braunau. His father, a minor customs official, died when his son was 14 years old. Adolf somehow finished school and in 1903 attempted to enter the Vienna Academy of Arts, but failed and began to earn his living by drawing advertisements and greeting cards. Having buried his mother in 1907, the young artist moved to Vienna and, after a second failure to enter the Academy, began to lead the life of a free artist.

At the same time, he developed an interest in politics and began attending various meetings of right-wing parties. Here he becomes acquainted with the then fashionable concept of pan-Germanism, which proclaimed the dominance of the German nation, and becomes its staunch supporter.

After the outbreak of World War I, Adolf Hitler receives a summons to join the Austrian army, but is declared unfit. Then he leaves for Germany and joins the army as a volunteer. At the front, he receives the rank of corporal and the Iron Cross, first class.

In 1919, Adolf Hitler was demobilized. In the fall of 1919, he joined the NSDAP, and from that time his political career began. He certainly possessed many of the qualities of an outstanding leader. Fanatically devoted to his ideas, he knew how to find contact with the audience and “ignite” them with emotional speeches.

Adolf Hitler had a unique ability to arouse unhealthy instincts among the masses and skillfully directed people's discontent against those whom he considered “enemies of the German nation.” This is how he declared communists, social democrats, and even entire countries, in particular the victorious powers - England, France and Bolshevik Russia.

In June 1921, Adolf Hitler became the leader (Führer) of the NSDAP, and from that time on, a cult of the “great leader” began to be created around him. On November 8-9, 1923, Hitler and his supporters attempted a coup. It ended in failure, and Adolf Hitler ended up in prison. Although he received a sentence of five years, he spent only nine months in prison. In conclusion, he wrote the first volume of the book Mein Kampf (My Struggle).

In December 1924, Adolf Hitler was released from prison and immediately became involved in active political activities. By 1932, his party received a parliamentary majority. On January 30, 1933, German President Hindenburg appointed Hitler Reich Chancellor. After Hindenburg's death in 1934, Adolf Hitler became President, Chancellor and Supreme Commander, combining all positions. Thus began the darkest chapter in German history - the fascist dictatorship.

Adolf Hitler's program consisted of two parts - the defeat of internal enemies and the conquest of world domination. He began with the extermination of political opponents - communists, social democrats and everyone who opposed his party. All parties except the NSDAP were banned,

Adolf Hitler's first major act was the persecution of Jews. On November 9-10, 1938, a wave of Jewish pogroms swept across Germany. Following this, Jews lost all their civil rights. This is how Hitler declared the “racial cleansing” of Germany.

At the same time, preparations for war began. Adolf Hitler repeatedly stated that he wanted not just war, but the extermination of other peoples, which he considered “inferior.” First, he annexed Austria and the Czech Republic to Germany, and in August 1939 he began World War II by capturing Poland. By the summer of 1940, Germany had conquered most of Western Europe.

On June 22, 1941, Germany and its allies attacked the USSR. This was Adolf Hitler's biggest miscalculation and ultimately caused the collapse of the entire Nazi state. Just four years later it collapsed under the blows of the Red Army and its allies.

Adolf Hitler preferred death to surrender: he bit through an ampoule of poison and at the same time shot himself in the temple with a pistol. His body was burned, and only from the remains it was determined that they belonged to Hitler.

In his way of thinking and the nature of his actions, he was a product of his era. Historians can explain how and why a free artist became the “leader of the nation.” But there is and cannot be an excuse for the troubles and suffering that this leader brought to humanity.

Date of birth: April 20, 1889
Date of death: April 30, 1945
Place of birth: Ranshofen village, Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary

Adolf Gitler- a significant figure in the history of the 20th century. Adolf Gitler created and led the National Socialist movement in Germany. Later the Reich Chancellor of Germany, the Fuhrer.

Biography:

Adolf Hitler was born in Austria in the small, unremarkable town of Braunau am Inn, on April 20, 1889. Hitler's father, Alois, was an official. Mother, Clara, was a simple housewife. It is worth noting such an interesting fact from the biography of the parents that they were relatives of each other (Clara is Alois’s cousin).
There is an opinion that Hitler's real name is Schicklgruber, but this opinion is erroneous, since his father changed it back in 1876.

In 1892, Hitler's family, due to their father's promotion, was forced to move from their native Braunau am Inn to Passau. However, they did not stay there for long and, already in 1895, hastened to move to the city of Linz. It was there that young Adolf first went to school. Six months later, Hitler’s father’s condition deteriorates sharply and Hitler’s family again has to move to the city of Gafeld, where they bought a house and finally settled.
During his school years, Adolf showed himself to be a student with extraordinary abilities; teachers characterized him as a very diligent and diligent student. Hitler's parents had hopes that Adolf would become a priest, however, even then young Adolf had a negative attitude towards religion and, therefore, from 1900 to 1904 he studied at a real school in the city of Linz.

At the age of sixteen, Adolf left school and became interested in painting for almost 2 years. His mother did not quite like this fact and, having heeded her requests, Hitler, with grief and half, finishes the fourth grade.
1907 Adolf's mother undergoes surgery. Hitler, waiting for her to recover, decides to enter the Vienna Academy of Art. In his opinion, he had remarkable abilities and exorbitant talent for painting, however, his teachers dispelled his dreams, advising him to try to become an architect, since Adolf did not show himself in any way in the portrait genre.

1908 Clara Pölzl dies. Hitler, having buried her, again went to Vienna to make another attempt to enter the academy, but, alas, without passing the 1st round of exams, he set off on his wanderings. As it later turned out, his constant moves were due to his reluctance to serve in the army. He justified this by saying that he did not want to serve alongside the Jews. At the age of 24, Adolf moved to Munich.

It was in Munich that the First World War overtook him. Delighted by this fact, he volunteered. During the war he was awarded the rank of corporal; won several awards. In one of the battles he received a shrapnel wound, due to which he spent a year in a hospital bed, however, upon recovery, he again decided to return to the front. At the end of the war, he blamed politicians for the defeat and spoke very negatively about this.

In 1919 he returned to Munich, which at that time was gripped by revolutionary sentiments. The people were divided into 2 camps. Some were for the government, others for the communists. Hitler himself decided not to get involved in all this. At this time, Adolf discovered his oratorical talents. In September 1919, thanks to his enchanting speech at the congress of the German Workers' Party, he received an invitation from the head of the DAP Anton Drexler to join the movement. Adolf receives the position of responsible for party propaganda.
In 1920, Hitler announced 25 points for the development of the party, renamed it the NSDAP and became its head. It is then that his dreams of nationalism begin to come true.

During the first party congress in 1923, Hitler holds a parade, thereby showing his serious intentions and strength. At the same time, after an unsuccessful coup attempt, he went to jail. While serving his prison term, Hitler wrote the first volume of his memoirs, Mein Kampf. The NSDAP, created by him, disintegrates due to the absence of a leader. After prison, Adolf revives the party and appoints Ernst Rehm as his assistant.

During these years, the Hitlerite movement began to take off. So, in 1926, an association of young nationalist adherents, the so-called “Hitler Youth,” was created. Further, in the period from 1930-1932, the NSDAP received an absolute majority in parliament, thereby contributing to an even greater increase in Hitler's popularity. In 1932, thanks to his position, he received the position of attaché to the German Minister of the Interior, which gave him the right to be elected to the post of Reich President. Having carried out an incredible, by those standards, campaigning, he still failed to win; I had to settle for second place.

In 1933, under pressure from the National Socialists, Hindenburg appointed Hitler to the post of Reich Chancellor. In February of this year, a fire occurs that was planned by the Nazis. Hitler, taking advantage of the situation, asks Hindenburg to grant emergency powers to the government, which consisted, for the most part, of members of the NSDAP.
And now Hitler’s machine begins its action. Adolf begins with the liquidation of trade unions. Gypsies and Jews are being arrested. Later, when Hindenburg died, in 1934, Hitler became the rightful leader of the country. In 1935, Jews, by order of the Fuhrer, were deprived of their civil rights. The National Socialists begin to increase their influence.

Despite racial discrimination and the harsh policies pursued by Hitler, the country was emerging from decline. There was almost no unemployment, industry was developing at an incredible pace, and the distribution of humanitarian aid to the population was organized. Special attention should be paid to the growth of Germany's military potential: an increase in the size of the army, the production of military equipment, which contradicted the Treaty of Versailles, concluded after Germany's defeat in the First World War, which prohibited the creation of an army and the development of the military industry. Gradually, Germany begins to regain territory. In 1939, Hitler begins to express claims to Poland, disputing its territories. In the same year, Germany signs a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. On September 1, 1939, Hitler sends troops into Poland, then occupies Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Norway, Luxembourg, and Belgium.

In 1941, ignoring the non-aggression pact, Germany invaded the USSR on June 22. The rapid advance of Germany in 1941 gave way to defeats on all fronts in 1942. Hitler, who did not expect such a rebuff, was not prepared for such a development of events, since he intended to capture the USSR in a few months, according to the Barbarossa plan developed for him. In 1943, a massive offensive by the Soviet army began. In 1944, the pressure intensified, the Nazis had to retreat further and further. In 1945, the war finally moved to German territory. Despite the fact that the united troops were already approaching Berlin, Hitler sent disabled people and children to defend the city.

On April 30, 1945, Hitler and his mistress Eva Braun poisoned themselves with potassium cyanide in their bunker.
Attempts were made on Hitler's life several times. The first attempt took place in 1939, a bomb was planted under the podium; however, Adolf left the hall just minutes before the explosion. The second attempt was made by the conspirators on July 20, 1944, but it also failed; Hitler received significant injuries, but survived. All participants in the conspiracy, on his orders, were executed.

Main achievements of Adolf Hitler:

During his reign, despite the harshness of his policies and all kinds of racial oppression caused by Nazi beliefs, he was able to unite the German people, eliminated unemployment, stimulated industrial growth, brought the country out of crisis, and brought Germany to a leading position in the world in economic indicators . However, having started the war, famine reigned within the country, since almost all the food went to the army, food was issued on ration cards.

Chronology of important events from the biography of Adolf Hitler:

April 20, 1889 – Adolf Hitler was born.
1895 – enrolled in the first grade of school in the town of Fischlham.
1897 – studies at a school at a monastery in the town of Lambaha. Later expelled from it for smoking.
1900-1904 – studying at school in Linz.
1904-1905 – studying at the school in Steyr.
1907 - failed exams at the Vienna Academy of Art.
1908 - mother died.
1908-1913 - constant moving. Avoids the army.
1913 - moves to Munich.
1914 – Went to the front as volunteers. Receives the first award.
1919 - carries out agitation activities, becomes a member of the German Workers' Party.
1920 - completely devoted to the activities of the party.
1921 - becomes head of the German Workers' Party.
1923 – failed coup attempt, prison.
1927 - the first congress of the NSDAP.
1933 - Receives the powers of the Reich Chancellor.
1934 - “Night of the Long Knives”, massacre of Jews and Gypsies in Berlin.
1935 - Germany begins to build up its military power.
1939 - Hitler starts World War II by attacking Poland. Survives the first attempt on his life.
1941 – entry of troops into the USSR.
1943 - a massive offensive by Soviet troops and attacks by coalition troops in the West.
1944 - second attempt, as a result of which he is seriously injured.
April 29, 1945 – wedding with Eva Braun.
April 30, 1945 - Poisoned with potassium cyanide along with his wife in his Berlin bunker.

Interesting facts about Adolf Hitler:

He was a supporter of a healthy lifestyle and did not eat meat.
He considered excessive ease in communication and behavior unacceptable, so he demanded that manners be observed.
He suffered from so-called verminophobia. He protected sick people from himself and fanatically loved cleanliness.
Hitler read one book every day
Adolf Hitler's speeches were so fast that 2 stenographers could hardly keep up with him.
He was meticulous in composing his speeches and sometimes spent several hours improving them until he brought them to perfection.
In 2012, one of Adolf Hitler’s creations, the painting “Night Sea,” was auctioned for 32 thousand euros.

Adolf Gitler(German: Adolf Hitler [ˈaːdɔlf ˈhɪtlɐ]; April 20, 1889, the village of Ranshofen (now part of the city of Braunau am Inn), Austria-Hungary - April 30, 1945, Berlin, Germany) - the founder and central figure of National Socialism, founder totalitarian dictatorship of the Third Reich, leader ( Fuhrer) National Socialist German Workers' Party (1921-1945), Reich Chancellor (1933-1945) and Fuhrer (1934-1945) of Germany, Supreme Commander of the German Armed Forces (from December 19, 1941) in World War II.

Hitler's expansionist policy became one of the main reasons for the outbreak of World War II. His name is associated with numerous crimes against humanity committed by the Nazi regime both in Germany itself and in the territories it occupied, including the Holocaust. The International Military Tribunal found the organizations created by Hitler (SS, Security Service (SD) and Gestapo) and the leadership of the Nazi Party itself criminal.

Etymology of the surname

According to the famous German philologist and onomastics specialist Max Gottschald (1882-1952), the surname “Hitler” ( Hitlaer, Hiedler) was identical to the surname Hütler(“keeper”, probably “forest ranger”, Waldhütler).

Pedigree

Father - Alois Hitler (1837-1903). Mother - Clara Hitler (1860-1907), née Pölzl.

Alois, being illegitimate, until 1876 bore the surname of his mother Maria Anna Schicklgruber (German: Schicklgruber). Five years after the birth of Alois, Maria Schicklgruber married miller Johann Georg Hiedler, who spent his entire life in poverty and did not have his own home. In 1876, three witnesses certified that Gidler, who died in 1857, was the father of Alois, which allowed the latter to change his surname. The change in the spelling of the surname to “Hitler” was allegedly caused by a mistake by the priest when recording in the “Birth Registration Book”. Modern researchers consider the probable father of Alois not Gidler, but his brother Johann Nepomuk Güttler, who took Alois into his house and raised him.

Adolf Hitler himself, contrary to the statement widespread since the 1920s and included at the suggestion of the candidate of historical sciences, associate professor and senior researcher at the Institute of General History of the USSR Academy of Sciences V.D. Kulbakin, even in the 3rd edition of the TSB, never bore the surname Schicklgruber.

On January 7, 1885, Alois married his relative (great-niece of Johann Nepomuk Güttler) Clara Pölzl. This was his third marriage. By this time he had a son, Alois, and a daughter, Angela, who later became the mother of Geli Raubal, Hitler's alleged mistress. Due to family ties, Alois had to obtain permission from the Vatican to marry Clara.

Hitler knew about the incest in his family and therefore always spoke very briefly and vaguely about his parents, although he demanded from others documentary evidence of their ancestors. Since the end of 1921, he began to constantly reassess and obscure his origins. He wrote only a few sentences about his father and maternal grandfather. On the contrary, he mentioned his mother very often in conversations. Because of this, he did not tell anyone that he was related (in a direct line from Johann Nepomuk) to the Austrian historian Rudolf Koppensteiner and the Austrian poet Robert Hamerling.

Adolf's direct ancestors, both through the Schicklgruber and Hitler lines, were peasants. Only the father made a career and became a government official.

Hitler had an attachment to the places of his childhood only to Leonding, where his parents were buried, Spital, where his maternal relatives lived, and Linz. He visited them even after coming to power.

Childhood

Adolf Hitler was born in Austria, in the city of Braunau am Inn near the border with Germany on April 20, 1889 at 18:30 at the Pomeranz Hotel. Two days later he was baptized with the name Adolf. Hitler was very similar to his mother. The eyes, shape of the eyebrows, mouth and ears were exactly like hers. His mother, who gave birth to him at the age of 29, loved him very much. Before that, she lost three children.

Until 1892, the family lived in Braunau in the Hotel U Pomeranz, the most representative house in the suburb. In addition to Adolf, his half-brother Alois and sister Angela lived in the family. In August 1892, the father received a promotion and the family moved to Passau.

On March 24, brother Edmund (1894-1900) was born, and Adolf ceased to be the center of attention of the family for some time. On April 1, my father received a new appointment in Linz. But the family remained in Passau for another year so as not to move with the newborn baby.

In April 1895, the family gathers in Linz. On May 1, Adolf, at the age of six, entered a one-year public school in Fischlgam near Lambach. And on June 25, my father unexpectedly retired early due to health reasons. In July 1895, the family moved to Gafeld near Lambach am Traun, where the father bought a house with a plot of land of 38 thousand square meters. m.

At primary school in Fischlgam, Adolf studied well and received only excellent marks. In 1939, he visited this school and bought it, and then ordered the construction of a new school building nearby.

On January 21, 1896, Adolf's sister Paula was born. He was especially attached to her all his life and always took care of her.

In 1896, Hitler entered the second grade of the Lambach school of the old Catholic Benedictine monastery, which he attended until the spring of 1898. Here he also received only good grades. He sang in the boys' choir and was an assistant priest during mass. Here he first saw a swastika on the coat of arms of Abbot Hagen. Later he ordered the same one to be carved out of wood in his office.

In the same year, due to his father’s constant nagging, his half-brother Alois left home. After this, Adolf became the central figure of his father's worries and constant pressure, since his father was afraid that Adolf would grow up to be the same slacker as his brother.

In November 1897, the father purchased a house in the village of Leonding near Linz, where the whole family moved in February 1898. The house was located near the cemetery.

Adolf changed schools for the third time and went to fourth grade here. He attended the public school in Leonding until September 1900.

After the death of his brother Edmund on February 2, 1900, Adolf remained the only son of Klara Hitler.

Hitler (in the center) with classmates. 1900

It was in Leonding that he developed a critical attitude towards the church under the influence of his father's statements.

In September 1900, Adolf entered the first grade of the state real school in Linz. Adolf did not like the change from a rural school to a large and alien real school in the city. He only liked to walk the 6 km distance from home to school.

From that time on, Adolf began to learn only what he liked - history, geography and especially drawing; I didn't notice everything else. As a result of this attitude towards his studies, he stayed for the second year in the first grade of a real school.

Youth

When 13-year-old Adolf was in the second grade of a real school in Linz, his father unexpectedly died on January 3, 1903. Despite the continuous disputes and strained relationships, Adolf still loved his father and sobbed uncontrollably at the grave.

At his mother’s request, he continued to go to school, but finally decided for himself that he would be an artist, and not an official, as his father wanted. In the spring of 1903 he moved to a school dormitory in Linz. I began to attend classes at school irregularly.

On September 14, 1903, Angela got married, and now only Adolf, his sister Paula and his mother’s sister Johanna Pölzl remained in the house with her mother.

When Adolf was 15 years old and finishing the third grade of a real school, his confirmation took place on May 22, 1904 in Linz. During this period, he composed a play, wrote poetry and short stories, and also composed a libretto for Wagner's opera based on Wieland's legend and an overture.

He still went to school with disgust, and most of all he disliked the French language. In the fall of 1904, he passed the exam in this subject the second time, but they made him promise that he would go to another school in the fourth grade. Gemer, who at that time taught Adolf French and other subjects, said at Hitler’s trial in 1924: “Hitler was undoubtedly gifted, albeit one-sidedly. He almost did not know how to control himself, he was stubborn, self-willed, wayward and hot-tempered. Wasn't diligent." Based on numerous evidence, we can conclude that already in his youth Hitler showed pronounced psychopathic traits.

In September 1904, Hitler, fulfilling this promise, entered the state real school in Steyr in the fourth grade and studied there until September 1905. In Steyr he lived in the house of the merchant Ignaz Kammerhofer at Grünmarket 19. Subsequently, this place was renamed Adolf Hitlerplatz.

On February 11, 1905, Adolf received a certificate of completion of the fourth grade of a real school. The “excellent” grade was given only in drawing and physical education; in German, French, mathematics, shorthand - unsatisfactory; in other subjects - satisfactory.

On June 21, 1905, the mother sold the house in Leonding and moved with the children to Linz at 31 Humboldt Street.

In the autumn of 1905, Hitler, at the request of his mother, reluctantly began to attend school in Steyr again and retake the exams to obtain a certificate for the fourth grade.

At this time, he was diagnosed with a serious lung disease - the doctor advised his mother to postpone his schooling for at least a year and recommended that he never work in an office in the future. Adolf's mother picked him up from school and took him to Spital to see his relatives.

On January 18, 1907, the mother underwent a complex operation (breast cancer). In September, when his mother's health improved, 18-year-old Hitler went to Vienna to take the entrance exam to a general art school, but failed the second round of exams. After the exams, Hitler managed to get a meeting with the rector, from whom he received advice to take up architecture: Hitler’s drawings testified to his abilities in this art.

In November 1907, Hitler returned to Linz and took over the care of his hopelessly ill mother. On December 21, 1907, Klara Hitler died, and on December 23, Adolf buried her next to her father.

In February 1908, after settling matters related to the inheritance and obtaining pensions for himself and his sister Paula as orphans, Hitler left for Vienna.

A friend of his youth, Kubizek, and other comrades of Hitler testify that he was constantly at odds with everyone and felt hatred for everything that surrounded him. Therefore, his biographer Joachim Fest admits that Hitler's anti-Semitism was a focused form of hatred that had previously raged in the dark and finally found its object in the Jew.

In September 1908, Hitler made a second attempt to enter the Vienna Academy of Art, but failed in the first round. After the failure, Hitler changed his place of residence several times, without telling anyone new addresses. He avoided serving in the Austrian army. He did not want to serve in the same army with the Czechs and Jews, to fight “for the Habsburg state,” but at the same time he was ready to die for the German Reich. He got a job as an “academic artist”, and from 1909 as a writer.

In 1909, Hitler met Reinhold Hanisch, who began to successfully sell his paintings. Until mid-1910, Hitler painted a lot of small-format paintings in Vienna. These were mostly copies of postcards and old engravings, depicting all sorts of historical buildings in Vienna. In addition, he drew all kinds of advertisements. In August 1910, Hitler told the Vienna police station that Hanisch had hidden part of the proceeds from him and stolen one painting. Ganish was sent to prison for seven days. From that time on, Hitler himself sold his paintings. His work brought him such a large income that in May 1911 he refused the monthly pension due to him as an orphan in favor of his sister Paula. In addition, in the same year he received most of the inheritance of his aunt Johanna Pölzl.

During this period, Hitler began to intensively educate himself. Subsequently, he was free to communicate and read literature and newspapers in the original French and English. During the war, he liked to watch French and English films without translation. He was very well versed in the armaments of the armies of the world, history, etc. At the same time, he developed an interest in politics.

In May 1913, Hitler, at the age of 24, moved from Vienna to Munich and settled in the apartment of tailor and shop owner Joseph Popp on Schleißheimer Straße. Here he lived until the outbreak of the First World War, working as an artist.

On December 29, 1913, the Austrian police asked the Munich police to establish the address of the hiding Hitler. On January 19, 1914, the Munich criminal police brought Hitler to the Austrian consulate. On February 5, 1914, Hitler went to Salzburg for an examination, where he was declared unfit for military service.

Participation in the First World War

On August 1, 1914, the First World War began. Hitler was delighted by the news of the war. He immediately applied to King Ludwig III of Bavaria to receive permission to serve in the Bavarian Army. The very next day he was asked to report to any Bavarian regiment. He chose the 16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment ("List's Regiment", after the commander's surname).

On 16 August he was enlisted in the 6th Reserve Battalion of the 2nd Bavarian Infantry Regiment No. 16 (Königlich Bayerisches 16. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment), consisting of volunteers. On September 1, he was transferred to the 1st company of the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 16. On October 8, he swore allegiance to King Ludwig III of Bavaria and Emperor Franz Joseph.

In October 1914 he was sent to the Western Front and on October 29 participated in the Battle of Ysère, and from October 30 to November 24 at Ypres.

On November 1, 1914, he was awarded the rank of corporal. On November 9, he was transferred as a liaison officer to regiment headquarters. From November 25 to December 13, he took part in trench warfare in Flanders. On December 2, 1914 he was awarded the Iron Cross, second degree. From December 14 to 24 he took part in the battle in French Flanders, and from December 25, 1914 to March 9, 1915 - in positional battles in French Flanders.

In 1915 he took part in the battles of Nave Chapelle, La Bassé and Arras. In 1916, he participated in reconnaissance and demonstration battles of the 6th Army in connection with the Battle of the Somme, as well as in the battle of Fromelles and the Battle of the Somme itself. In April 1916 he met Charlotte Lobjoie. Wounded in the left thigh by a grenade fragment near Le Bargur in the first Battle of the Somme. I ended up in the Red Cross hospital in Belitz near Potsdam. Upon leaving the hospital (March 1917), he returned to the regiment in the 2nd company of the 1st reserve battalion.

In 1917 - the spring battle of Arras. Participated in battles in Artois, Flanders, and Upper Alsace. On September 17, 1917 he was awarded the Cross with Swords for military merit, III degree.

In 1918 he took part in the spring offensive in France, in the battles of Evreux and Montdidier. On May 9, 1918, he was awarded a regimental diploma for outstanding bravery at Fontane. On May 18, he received the wounded insignia (black). From May 27 to June 13 - battles near Soissons and Reims. From June 14 to July 14 - positional battles between Oise, Marne and Aisne. In the period from July 15 to 17 - participation in offensive battles on the Marne and in Champagne, and from July 18 to 29 - participation in defensive battles on Soissonne, Reims and Marne. He was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class, for delivering reports to artillery positions in particularly difficult conditions, which saved the German infantry from being shelled by their own artillery.

On August 25, 1918, Hitler received a service award, III class. According to numerous testimonies, he was careful, very brave and an excellent soldier. Hitler's colleague in the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment, Adolf Meyer, cites in his memoirs the testimony of another colleague, Michael Schleehuber, who characterized Hitler as “a good soldier and an impeccable comrade.” According to Schleehuber, he “never saw” Hitler “in any way feel discomfort from service or shy away from danger,” nor did he hear “anything negative” about him during his time in the division.

October 15, 1918 - gas poisoning near La Montaigne as a result of the explosion of a chemical shell near it. Eye damage causes temporary loss of vision. Treatment in the Bavarian field hospital in Udenard, then in the psychiatric department of the Prussian rear hospital in Pasewalk. While being treated in the hospital, he learned about the surrender of Germany and the overthrow of the Kaiser, which became a great shock for him.

Creation of the NSDAP

Hitler considered the defeat in the war of the German Empire and the November Revolution of 1918 to be the product of traitors who “stabbed in the back” the victorious German army.

In early February 1919, Hitler volunteered to serve as a guard at a prisoner of war camp located near Traunstein, not far from the Austrian border. About a month later, the prisoners of war - several hundred French and Russian soldiers - were released, and the camp and its guards were disbanded.

On March 7, 1919, Hitler returned to Munich, to the 7th Company of the 1st Reserve Battalion of the 2nd Bavarian Infantry Regiment.

At this time, he had not yet decided whether he would be an architect or a politician. In Munich, during the stormy days, he did not bind himself to any obligations, he simply observed and took care of his own safety. He remained in Max Barracks in Munich-Oberwiesenfeld until the day the troops of von Epp and Noske drove the communist Soviets out of Munich. At the same time, he gave his works to the prominent artist Max Zeper for evaluation. He handed over the paintings to Ferdinand Steger for imprisonment. Steger wrote: “...an absolutely extraordinary talent.”

On April 27, 1919, as stated in Hitler’s official biography, he encountered a detachment of Red Guards on a Munich street who intended to arrest him for “anti-Soviet” activities, but “using his carbine,” Hitler avoided arrest.

From June 5 to June 12, 1919, his superiors sent him to an agitator course (Vertrauensmann). The courses were intended to train agitators who would conduct explanatory conversations against the Bolsheviks among soldiers returning from the front. Far-right views prevailed among the lecturers; among others, lectures were given by Gottfried Feder, the future economic theorist of the NSDAP.

During one of the discussions, Hitler made a very strong impression with his anti-Semitic monologue on the head of the propaganda department of the 4th Bavarian Reichswehr Command, and he invited him to take on political functions throughout the army. A few days later he was appointed education officer (confidant). Hitler turned out to be a bright and temperamental speaker and attracted the attention of listeners.

The decisive moment in Hitler's life was the moment of his unshakable recognition by supporters of anti-Semitism. Between 1919 and 1921, Hitler intensively read books from Friedrich Kohn's library. This library was clearly anti-Semitic, which left a deep mark on Hitler's beliefs.

On September 12, 1919, Adolf Hitler, on instructions from the military, came to the Sterneckerbräu beer hall for a meeting of the German Workers' Party (DAP) - founded in early 1919 by mechanic Anton Drexler and numbering about 40 people. During the debate, Hitler, speaking from a pan-German position, won a landslide victory over the supporter of Bavarian independence. The performance made a great impression on Drexler and he invited Hitler to join the party. After some reflection, Hitler decided to accept the offer and at the end of September 1919, after leaving the army, he became a member of the DAP. Hitler immediately made himself responsible for party propaganda and soon began to determine the activities of the entire party.

On February 24, 1920, Hitler organized the first of many large public events for the party in the Hofbräuhaus beer hall. During his speech, he proclaimed the twenty-five points drawn up by him, Drexler and Feder, which became the party program. The “Twenty-Five Points” combined pan-Germanism, demands for the abolition of the Treaty of Versailles, anti-Semitism, demands for socialist reforms and a strong central government. On the same day, at the suggestion of Hitler, the party was renamed NSDAP (German: Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei - German National Socialist Workers' Party).

In July, a conflict arose in the leadership of the NSDAP: Hitler, who wanted dictatorial powers in the party, was outraged by the negotiations with other groups that took place while Hitler was in Berlin, without his participation. On July 11, he announced his withdrawal from the NSDAP. Since Hitler was at that time the most active public politician and the most successful speaker of the party, other leaders were forced to ask him to return. Hitler returned to the party and on July 29 was elected its chairman with unlimited power. Drexler was left the post of honorary chairman without real powers, but his role in the NSDAP from that moment sharply declined.

For disrupting the speech of the Bavarian separatist politician Otto Ballerstedt) Hitler was sentenced to three months in prison, but he served only a month in Munich's Stadelheim prison - from June 26 to July 27, 1922. On January 27, 1923, Hitler held the first NSDAP congress; 5,000 stormtroopers marched through Munich.

"Beer putsch"

By the early 1920s, the NSDAP had become one of the most prominent organizations in Bavaria. Ernst Röhm stood at the head of the assault troops (German abbreviation SA). Hitler quickly became a force to be reckoned with, at least within Bavaria.

In January 1923, a crisis broke out in Germany, caused by the French occupation of the Ruhr. The government, led by the non-party Reich Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno, called on the Germans to passive resistance, which led to great economic damage. The new government, led by Reich Chancellor Gustav Stresemann, was forced to accept all French demands on September 26, 1923, and as a result was attacked by both the right and the communists. Anticipating this, Stresemann ensured that President Ebert declared a state of emergency in the country on September 26, 1923.

On September 26, the conservative Bavarian cabinet declared a state of emergency in the state and appointed right-wing monarchist Gustav von Kara as commissioner of the state of Bavaria, giving him dictatorial powers. Power was concentrated in the hands of a triumvirate: Kara, the commander of the Reichswehr forces in Bavaria, General Otto von Lossow, and the chief of the Bavarian police, Hans von Seißer. Kahr refused to admit that the state of emergency introduced in Germany by the President was valid in relation to Bavaria and did not carry out a number of orders from Berlin, in particular, to arrest three popular leaders of armed groups and close the NSDAP organ Völkischer Beobachter.

Hitler was inspired by the example of Mussolini's march on Rome; he hoped to repeat something similar by organizing a march on Berlin and turned to Kahr and Lossow with a proposal to undertake a march on Berlin. Kahr, Lossow and Seiser were not interested in carrying out a senseless action and on November 6 informed the German Struggle Union, in which Hitler was the leading political figure, that they did not intend to be drawn into hasty actions and would decide on their own actions. Hitler took this as a signal that he should take the initiative into his own hands. He decided to take von Kara hostage and force him to support the campaign.

On November 8, 1923, at about 9 o'clock in the evening, Hitler and Erich Ludendorff, at the head of armed stormtroopers, appeared at the Munich beer hall "Bürgerbräukeller", where a meeting was taking place with the participation of Kahr, Lossow and Seiser. Upon entering, Hitler announced the “overthrow of the government of traitors in Berlin.” However, the Bavarian leaders soon managed to leave the beer hall, after which Kahr issued a proclamation dissolving the NSDAP and the storm troopers. For their part, the stormtroopers under the command of Röhm occupied the ground forces headquarters building at the War Ministry; there they, in turn, were surrounded by Reichswehr soldiers.

On the morning of November 9, Hitler and Ludendorff, at the head of a 3,000-strong column of stormtroopers, moved towards the Ministry of Defense, but on Residenzstrasse their path was blocked by a police detachment that opened fire. Carrying away the dead and wounded, the Nazis and their supporters fled the streets. This episode went down in German history under the name “Beer Hall Putsch.”

In February - March 1924, the trial of the leaders of the coup took place. Only Hitler and several of his associates were in the dock. The court sentenced Hitler for high treason to 5 years in prison and a fine of 200 gold marks. Hitler served his sentence in Landsberg prison. However, after 9 months, on December 20, 1924, he was released.

On the way to power

Hitler - speaker, early 1930s

During the absence of the leader, the party disintegrated. Hitler had to practically start everything from scratch. Rem provided him with great help, beginning the restoration of the assault troops. However, a decisive role in the revival of the NSDAP was played by Gregor Strasser, the leader of right-wing extremist movements in North and North-West Germany. By bringing them into the ranks of the NSDAP, he helped transform the party from a regional (Bavarian) into a national political force.

In April 1925, Hitler renounced his Austrian citizenship and was stateless until February 1932.

In 1926, the Hitler Youth was founded, the top leadership of the SA was established, and the conquest of “red Berlin” by Goebbels began. Meanwhile, Hitler was looking for support at the all-German level. He managed to win the trust of some of the generals, as well as establish contacts with industrial magnates. At the same time, Hitler wrote his work Mein Kampf.

In 1930-1945 he was Supreme Fuhrer of the SA.

When parliamentary elections in 1930 and 1932 brought the Nazis a significant increase in parliamentary mandates, the ruling circles of the country began to seriously consider the NSDAP as a possible participant in government combinations. An attempt was made to remove Hitler from the leadership of the party and rely on Strasser. However, Hitler managed to quickly isolate his associate and deprive him of all influence in the party. In the end, the German leadership decided to give Hitler the main administrative and political post, surrounding him (just in case) with guardians from traditional conservative parties.

In February 1932, Hitler decided to put forward his candidacy for the election of Reich President of Germany. On February 25, the Minister of the Interior of Braunschweig appointed him to the post of attaché at the Braunschweig representative office in Berlin. This did not impose any official duties on Hitler, but automatically gave him German citizenship and allowed him to participate in elections. Hitler took public speaking and acting lessons from opera singer Paul Devrient, and the Nazis organized a massive propaganda campaign, including Hitler becoming the first German politician to travel by plane for election campaigning. In the first round on March 13, Paul von Hindenburg received 49.6% of the votes, and Hitler came in second with 30.1%. On April 10, in a repeat vote, Hindenburg won 53%, and Hitler - 36.8%. Third place was taken both times by the communist Thälmann.

On June 4, 1932, the Reichstag was dissolved. In the elections held on July 7, the NSDAP won a landslide victory, gaining 37.8% of the vote and receiving 230 seats in the Reichstag instead of the previous 143. The Social Democrats received second place - 21.9% and 133 seats in the Reichstag.

On November 6, 1932, early elections to the Reichstag were held again. This time the NSDAP lost two million votes, gaining 33.1% and winning only 196 seats instead of the previous 230.

However, 2 months later, on January 30, 1933, President Hindenburg relieved von Schleicher of this post and appointed Hitler Reich Chancellor.

Reich Chancellor and Head of State

Power grab

"Potsdam Day" - a solemn ceremony on March 21, 1933 on the occasion of the convening of the new Reichstag

With his appointment to the post of Reich Chancellor, Hitler had not yet received power over the country. Firstly, only the Reichstag could pass any laws in Germany, and Hitler’s party did not have the required number of votes in it. Secondly, within the party itself there was opposition to Hitler in the person of the stormtroopers and their leader Ernst Röhm. And finally, thirdly, the head of state was the president, and the Reich Chancellor was just the head of the cabinet, which Hitler had yet to form. However, in just a year and a half, Hitler removed all these obstacles and became an unlimited dictator.

On February 27 (less than a month after Hitler was appointed chancellor), a fire occurred in the parliament building - the Reichstag. The official version of what happened was that the Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe, who was captured while putting out the fire, was to blame. It is now considered proven that the arson was planned by the Nazis and directly carried out by stormtroopers under the command of Karl Ernst.

Hitler announced a plot by the Communist Party to seize power and the very next day after the fire presented Hindenburg with two decrees: “On the defense of the people and the state” and “Against the betrayal of the German people and the machinations of traitors to the motherland,” which he signed. The decree “On the Protection of the People and the State” abolished seven articles of the constitution, limited freedom of speech, press, meetings and rallies; allowed viewing of correspondence and wiretapping of telephones. But the main result of this decree was a system of uncontrolled detention in concentration camps called “protective arrest.”

Taking advantage of these decrees, the Nazis immediately arrested 4 thousand prominent members of the Communist Party - their main enemy. After this, new elections to the Reichstag were announced. They took place on March 5 and the Nazi Party received 43.9% of the votes and 288 seats in the Reichstag. The decapitated Communist Party lost 19 seats. However, even this composition of the Reichstag could not satisfy the Nazis. Then, by a special resolution, the Communist Party of Germany was banned, and the mandates that were supposed to go to communist deputies (81 mandates) based on the election results were annulled. In addition, some SPD deputies who opposed the Nazis were arrested or expelled.

And already on March 24, 1933, the new Reichstag adopted the Law on Emergency Powers. According to this law, the government, headed by the Reich Chancellor, was given the power to issue state laws (previously only the Reichstag could do this), and Article 2 stated that laws issued in this way may contain deviations from the constitution.

On June 30, 1934, the Gestapo staged a massive pogrom against SA stormtroopers. More than a thousand people were killed, among them the stormtrooper leader Ernst Röhm. Many people who had nothing to do with the SA were also killed, in particular Hitler's predecessor as Reich Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and his wife. This pogrom went down in history as the Night of the Long Knives.

On August 2, 1934, at nine o'clock in the morning, German President Hindenburg died at the age of 86. Three hours later it was announced that, in accordance with a law passed by the cabinet the day before the death of the president, the functions of chancellor and president were combined in one person and that Adolf Hitler had assumed the powers of head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The title of president was abolished; From now on, Hitler was to be called Fuhrer and Reich Chancellor. Hitler demanded that all personnel of the armed forces swear allegiance not to Germany, not to the constitution, which he violated by refusing to call an election for Hindenburg's successor, but to him personally.

On August 19, a referendum was held in which these actions were approved by 84.6% of the electorate.

Domestic policy

Under Hitler's leadership, unemployment was sharply reduced and then eliminated. Large-scale humanitarian aid campaigns have been launched for people in need. Mass cultural and sports celebrations were encouraged. The basis of the policy of the Hitler regime was preparation for revenge for the lost First World War. For this purpose, industry was reconstructed, large-scale construction began, and strategic reserves were created. In the spirit of revanchism, propaganda indoctrination of the population was carried out.

First the communist and then the social democratic parties were banned. A number of parties were forced to declare self-dissolution. Trade unions were liquidated, the property of which was transferred to the Nazi labor front. Opponents of the new government were sent to concentration camps without trial or investigation.

Anti-Semitism was an important part of Hitler's domestic policy. Mass persecution of Jews and Gypsies began. On September 15, 1935, the Nuremberg Racial Laws were adopted, depriving Jews of civil rights; In the fall of 1938, a pan-German Jewish pogrom (Kristallnacht) was organized. The development of this policy a few years later was Operation Endlözung (final solution to the Jewish question), aimed at the physical destruction of the entire Jewish population. This policy, which Hitler first declared back in 1919, culminated in the genocide of the Jewish population, a decision about which was made already during the war.

The beginning of territorial expansion

Shortly after coming to power, Hitler announced Germany's withdrawal from the military clauses of the Treaty of Versailles, which limited Germany's war effort. The hundred-thousand-strong Reichswehr was transformed into a million-strong Wehrmacht, tank troops were created and military aviation was restored. The status of the demilitarized Rhine Zone was abolished.

In 1936-1939, Germany, under the leadership of Hitler, provided significant assistance to the Francoists during the Spanish Civil War.

At this time, Hitler believed that he was seriously ill and would soon die, and began to rush to implement his plans. On November 5, 1937, he wrote a political will, and on May 2, 1938, a personal will.

In March 1938, Austria was annexed.

In the fall of 1938, in accordance with the Munich Agreement, part of the territory of Czechoslovakia - the Sudetenland - was annexed.

Time magazine, in its January 2, 1939 issue, called Hitler "the man of 1938." The article dedicated to the “Man of the Year” began with Hitler’s title, which, according to the magazine, reads as follows: “Führer of the German people, Commander-in-Chief of the German Army, Navy & Air Force, Chancellor of the Third Reich , Herr Hitler". The final sentence of the rather lengthy article proclaimed:

To those following the final events of the year, it seemed more than likely that the Man of 1938 could make 1939 an unforgettable year.

Original text(English)
To those who watched the closing events of the year it seemed more than probable that the Man of 1938 may make 1939 a year to be remembered.

Third Reich in 1939. The so-called blue color indicates "Old Reich"; blue - lands annexed in 1938; light blue - Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

In March 1939, the remaining part of the Czech Republic was occupied, turned into a satellite state of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (Slovakia remained formally independent), and part of the territory of Lithuania, including Klaipeda (Memel region), was annexed. After this, Hitler made territorial claims to Poland (first - about the provision of an extraterritorial road to East Prussia, and then - about holding a referendum on the ownership of the “Polish Corridor”, in which people living in this territory as of 1918 would have to take part ). The latter demand was clearly unacceptable for Poland's allies - Great Britain and France - which could serve as the basis for the brewing of a conflict.

The Second World War

These claims met with sharp rebuff. On April 3, 1939, Hitler approved a plan for an armed attack on Poland (Operation Weiss).

On August 23, 1939, Hitler concluded a Non-Aggression Pact with the Soviet Union, a secret annex to which contained a plan for dividing spheres of influence in Europe. On August 31, an incident was staged in Gleiwitz, which served as a pretext for the attack on Poland on September 1. It marked the beginning of World War II. Having defeated Poland during September, Germany occupied Norway, Denmark, Holland, Luxembourg and Belgium in April-May 1940 and invaded France. In June, Wehrmacht forces occupied Paris and France capitulated. In the spring of 1941, Germany, under the leadership of Hitler, captured Greece and Yugoslavia, and on June 22 attacked the USSR. The defeats of the Soviet troops at the first stage of the Great Patriotic War led to the occupation of the Baltic republics, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and the western part of the RSFSR by German and allied troops. A brutal occupation regime was established in the occupied territories, which killed many millions of people.

However, from the end of 1942, the German armies began to suffer major defeats both in the USSR (Stalingrad) and in Egypt (El Alamein). The following year, the Red Army launched a broad offensive, while Anglo-American troops landed in Italy and took it out of the war. In 1944, Soviet territory was liberated from occupation and the Red Army advanced into Poland and the Balkans; at the same time, Anglo-American troops landed in Normandy and liberated most of France. With the beginning of 1945, hostilities were transferred to the territory of the Reich.

Attempts on Hitler

The first unsuccessful attempt on Adolf Hitler's life took place in 1930 at the Kaiserhof Hotel. When Hitler came down from the podium after speaking to his supporters, an unknown person ran up to him and tried to spray poison in his face from a homemade shooting pen, but Hitler’s guards noticed the attacker in time and neutralized him.

  • On March 1, 1932, a group of four unknown people in the vicinity of Munich fired at the train in which Hitler was traveling to give a speech to his supporters. Hitler was not injured.
  • On June 2, 1932, a group of unknown people fired from a road ambush at a car with Hitler in the vicinity of the city of Stralsund. Hitler was again unharmed.
  • On July 4, 1932, unknown assailants fired at a car carrying Hitler in Nuremberg. Hitler received a tangential wound to his hand.

Throughout 1933 - 1938, 16 more attempts were made on Hitler's life, which ended in failure, including on December 20, 1936, the German Jew and former member of the Black Front Helmut Hirsch was going to plant two homemade bombs at the headquarters of the NSDAP in Nuremberg, where Hitler was supposed to arrive on a visit. However, the plan failed because Hirsch was unable to bypass the guards. On December 21, 1936, he was arrested by the Gestapo, and on April 22, 1937, he was sentenced to death. Hirsch was executed on June 4, 1937

  • On November 9, 1938, 22-year-old Maurice Bavo was going to shoot Hitler from a distance of 10 meters with a 6.5 mm Schmeisser semi-automatic pistol during a festive parade dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch. However, Hitler at the last moment changed the plan and walked along the opposite side of the street, as a result of which Bavo was unable to carry out his plan. Later, he also tried to obtain a personal meeting with Hitler using a false letter of recommendation. However, he spent all the money and at the beginning of January 1939, he decided to leave for Paris without a ticket. On the train he was detained by Gestapo officers. On December 18, 1939, the court sentenced Bovo to death by guillotine, and on May 14, 1941, the sentence was carried out.
  • On October 5, 1939, along the route of Hitler's motorcade in Warsaw, members of the SPP planted 500 kilograms of explosives, but for an unknown reason the bomb did not go off.
  • On November 8, 1939, in the Munich beer hall "Bürgerbräu", where Hitler spoke every year to NSDAP veterans, Johann Georg Elser, a former member of the Union of Red Front Soldiers, the militant organization of the KPD, mounted an improvised explosive device with a clock mechanism in a column in front of which a podium was usually installed for leader. As a result of the explosion, 8 people were killed and 63 were injured, but Hitler was not among the victims. Limiting himself to a brief greeting to those gathered, he left the hall seven minutes before the explosion, as he had to return to Berlin. That same evening, Elser was captured at the Swiss border and, after several interrogations, confessed to everything. As a “special prisoner” he was placed in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, then transferred to Dachau. On April 9, 1945, when the Allies were already close to the concentration camp, Elser was shot by order of Himmler.
  • On May 15, 1942, a group of people attacked Hitler's train in Poland. Several of the Fuhrer's guards were killed, as were all the attackers. Hitler was not injured.
  • On March 13, 1943, during Hitler's visit to Smolensk, Colonel Henning von Treskow and his adjutant, Lieutenant von Schlabrendorff, planted a bomb in a gift box with brandy on Hitler's plane, in which the explosive device did not go off.
  • On March 21, 1943, during Hitler's visit to an exhibition of captured Soviet military equipment in Berlin, Colonel Rudolf von Gersdorff was supposed to blow himself up along with Hitler. However, the Fuhrer left the exhibition ahead of schedule, and Gersdorff barely had time to disarm the fuse.
  • On July 14, 1944, British intelligence agencies were planning to carry out Operation Foxley. According to the plan, the best British snipers were supposed to shoot Hitler during his visit to the Berghof mountain residence in the Bavarian Alps. The plan was not finally approved and its implementation did not take place.
  • On July 20, 1944, a conspiracy was organized against Hitler, the purpose of which was his physical elimination and the conclusion of peace with the advancing Allied forces. The bomb killed 4 people, but Hitler survived. After the assassination attempt, he was unable to stand on his feet all day, as more than 100 fragments were removed from them. In addition, his right arm was dislocated, the hair on the back of his head was singed and his eardrums were damaged. He became temporarily deaf in his right ear.

Death of Hitler

There is no doubt that Hitler shot himself.

Dr. Matthias Uhl

With the arrival of the Russians in Berlin, Hitler was afraid that the Reich Chancellery would be bombarded with sleeping gas shells, and then they would put him on display in Moscow, in a cage.

Traudl Junge

According to the testimony of witnesses interrogated by both Soviet counterintelligence agencies and the relevant Allied services, on April 30, 1945, in Berlin surrounded by Soviet troops, Hitler and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide, having previously killed their beloved dog Blondie. In Soviet historiography, the point of view has been established that Hitler took poison (potassium cyanide, like most Nazis who committed suicide). However, according to eyewitnesses, he shot himself. There is also a version according to which Hitler, having taken an ampoule of poison into his mouth and bit into it, simultaneously shot himself with a pistol (thus using both instruments of death).

According to witnesses from among the service personnel, even the day before, Hitler gave the order to deliver cans of gasoline from the garage (to destroy the bodies). On April 30, after lunch, Hitler said goodbye to people from his inner circle and, shaking their hands, together with Eva Braun, retired to his apartment, from where a shot was soon heard. Shortly after 15:15 (according to other sources 15:30), Hitler's servant Heinz Linge, accompanied by the Fuhrer's adjutant Otto Günsche, Goebbels, Bormann and Axmann, entered the Fuhrer's apartment. Dead Hitler sat on the sofa; a blood stain was spreading on his temple. Eva Braun lay nearby, with no visible external injuries. Günsche and Linge wrapped Hitler's body in a soldier's blanket and carried it out into the garden of the Reich Chancellery; after him they carried out Eve’s body. The corpses were placed near the entrance to the bunker, doused with gasoline and set on fire.

On May 5, 1945, the corpses were found on a piece of blanket sticking out of the ground by a group of guards of Senior Lieutenant A. A. Panasov and fell into the hands of SMERSH. General K.F. Telegin headed the government commission to identify the remains. Colonel of the Medical Service F.I. Shkaravsky headed the expert commission for examining the remains. Hitler's body was identified with the help of Käthe Heusermann (Ketty Goiserman), Hitler's dental assistant, who confirmed the similarity of the dentures presented to her at the identification with Hitler's dentures. However, after returning from the Soviet camps, she retracted her testimony. In February 1946, the remains, identified by the investigation as the bodies of Hitler, Eva Braun, the Goebbels couple - Joseph, Magda and their six children, as well as two dogs, were buried at one of the NKVD bases in Magdeburg. In 1970, when the territory of this base was to be transferred to the GDR, at the proposal of Yu. V. Andropov, approved by the Politburo, the remains were dug up, cremated to ashes and then thrown into the Elbe (according to other sources, the remains were burned in a vacant lot near the city Schönebeck 11 km from Magdeburg and thrown into the Biederitz River). Only dentures and part of Hitler's skull with a bullet entry hole (discovered separately from the corpse) were preserved. They are kept in Russian archives, as are the side arms of the sofa on which Hitler shot himself, with traces of blood. In an interview, the head of the FSB archive said that the authenticity of the jaw was proven by a number of international examinations. Hitler's biographer Werner Maser expresses doubts that the discovered corpse and part of the skull actually belonged to Hitler. In September 2009, researchers from the University of Connecticut, based on the results of their DNA analysis, stated that the skull belonged to a woman less than 40 years old. Representatives of the FSB issued a refutation of this statement.

However, there is also a popular urban legend that the corpses of Hitler and his wife’s doubles were found in the bunker, and the Fuhrer himself and his wife allegedly fled to Argentina, where they lived peacefully until the end of their days. Similar versions are put forward and proven even by some historians, including the British Gerard Williams and Simon Dunstan. However, the scientific community rejects such theories.

Beliefs and habits

According to most biographers, Hitler was a vegetarian from 1931 (from the suicide of Geli Raubal) until his death in 1945. Some authors argue that Hitler only limited himself in eating meat.

He also had a negative attitude towards smoking; in Nazi Germany, a fight against this habit was launched. One day, when Hitler went on vacation, those who remained began to play cards and smoke. Suddenly Hitler returned. Eva Braun's sister threw a burning cigarette into an ashtray and sat on it, since Hitler forbade smoking in his presence. Hitler noticed this and decided to joke. I approached her and asked her to explain the rules of the game in detail. In the morning, Eva, having learned everything from Hitler, asked her sister “how are you doing with the blisters from burns on your butt.”

Hitler was morbidly meticulous about cleanliness. He was terrified of people with runny noses. Didn't tolerate familiarity.

He was an uncommunicative person. He considered others only when he needed them and did what he considered right. In letters I was never interested in the opinions of others. He liked to use foreign words. I read a lot, even during the war. According to von Hasselbach's personal physician, he made sure to work through at least one book every day. In Linz, for example, he signed up for three libraries at once. First, I leafed through the book from the end. If he decided that a book was worth reading, he read it in parts, only what he needed.

  • Hitler dictated his speeches “in one breath,” directly to the typist. According to eyewitnesses, he delayed the dictation until the last minute; Before dictation I walked back and forth for a long time. Then Hitler began to dictate - actually give a speech - with outbursts of anger, gesticulation, etc. The two secretaries barely had time to take notes. Later he worked for several hours, correcting the printed text.
  • The last filming of Hitler during his lifetime was made on March 20, 1945 and published in the film magazine “Die deutsche Wochenschau” dated March 22, 1945. In it, in the garden of the Reich Chancellery, Hitler walks around the line of distinguished members of the Hitler Youth. The last known photograph taken during his lifetime was apparently taken shortly before his birthday on April 20, 1945. In it, Hitler, accompanied by his adjutant chief Julius Schaub, inspects the ruins of the Reich Chancellery.
  • Anophthalmus hitleri- a beetle named after Hitler and made rare due to its popularity among neo-Nazis.
  • Hitler's personal weapon was the Walther PPK pistol.
  • As the supreme commander of the German armed forces, Hitler remained in the military rank of corporal until the end.
  • A store named after Hitler has opened in the Gaza Strip. Customers say they also like the store because it is named after the man who “hated Jews more than anyone else.”

The image of Adolf Hitler in cinema

Artistic

The image of Hitler is reflected in numerous feature films. In some of them he plays a key role, in particular: “Hitler: The Last Ten Days”, “Bunker”, “Hitler: The Devil Rising”, “My Struggle” and others.

Documentary

  • “Hitler and Stalin: Twin Tyrants” (English Time watch. Hitler and Stalin: Twin Tyrants) is a documentary film filmed in 1999.
  • “Time scale. The Making of Adolf Hitler" (English Time watch. Те Making of Adolf Hitler) is a documentary film made by the BBC in 2002.
  • "Adolf Gitler. The Path to Power" is a 3-part documentary film by Edward Radzinsky, filmed in 2011.

Historian and TV presenter Leonid Mlechin took on the challenge of solving Adolf Hitler's biggest mysteries


On the shelves of even a small bookstore there will probably be several books telling about Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler. Another one was added to them - “The Fuhrer’s Biggest Secret,” written by the famous historian, writer and TV presenter Leonid MLECHIN. Why is interest in this historical figure (by the way, tomorrow is the birthday of Nazi boss number one) so persistent? “Isn’t everything known about Hitler yet?” - we asked the author.

There are individuals in world history whose scale of crimes are so incredible that they will always attract attention. I tried to give answers to many questions, but there are things that still cannot be fully understood. To some extent, this fascinates the researcher, although it often pushes him to a false perception of the scale of the individual.

Actually, as a person, Adolf Hitler was a complete nonentity, but the scope of his atrocities is such that they, like a powerful lens, turned his figure into a gigantic one. Under this optical effect, qualities were often attributed to Hitler that in fact he did not have.

- So, the final understanding of Hitler has not yet taken place?

All German archives relating to the 13-year period of Hitlerism were immediately opened after 1945. A huge number of books have been written, but imagine, to this day, more and more new works are being published in Germany. I just read a thick scientific work about the German economy during the Nazi era. For the first time in 60 years, it provides detailed explanations of how the Third Reich, with rather meager resources, managed to create a powerful military machine and threaten almost the entire world. This is an inexhaustible topic.

- And what is “Hitler’s biggest secret”? Have you opened it?

The Fuhrer has a lot of secrets. Starting with the mystery of his origin: who his grandfather was is still completely unclear. Most likely, incest occurred in his family: his father married his own niece. All his life he strenuously hid it and was terrified that the truth would come out. Another secret is Hitler's relationships with men and women, his repressed homosexuality, fear of intimacy with the opposite sex. As a result, there was a complete breakdown with myself and resentment towards the whole world around me. It seems that the only person for whom Hitler had feelings, including sexual ones, was his own niece Geli Raubal, who committed suicide in 1931.

All these particulars would not have had much significance if they had not formed into the character, into the fate of himself and his country. But the biggest mystery is how this man was able to completely subjugate an entire state, to master the mass consciousness of the people so much that these people themselves threw themselves into the furnace.


- Until recently, we were taught history differently: historical materialism, class struggle, movement from system to system. And now, it turns out, individuals and their intimate lives can radically affect world history?


Yes, I think the role of personality in history has turned out to be much more significant than we once imagined. She is simply colossal! I dare to say that if, for example, Adolf Hitler had died at the front in 17 or 18, there would be no National Socialism. There would have been far-right parties and something else, but 50 million people would have remained alive! If he had been born ten years earlier or later, everything would have turned out differently. Hitler coincided with the mood of the people at that very historical point and caught the wave.

- You portrayed young Hitler as an ordinary person, weak and complex. At what point did the metamorphosis happen and the Fuhrer appear?

A whole chain of accidents leads him to this. There is a version that the turning point was an episode at the front of the First World War, when after a gas attack Hitler ended up in the hospital. The doctor who treated him for blindness discovered that the damage to his eyes was not organic, but rather neurotic. And then, with the help of hypnosis, the front-line doctor instilled in Hitler a special faith in himself.

The second moment occurred when Hitler, finding himself at a meeting of a small Bavarian party - and such rallies took place in beer halls - began to speak. Surrounded by completely insignificant outcasts, he suddenly felt the gift of a demagogue in himself. They started clapping for him, and he became filled with self-confidence.

In a word, a mass of random circumstances formed a fatal sequence. He should not have come to power. If the Weimar Republic had held out for at least an extra couple of months, the Nazi wave would have died down. But it turned out that a number of politicians who played their own games, trying to drown each other, opened the way to the top for Hitler.

- Was it really all that accidental? After all, by that time fascism was already in Italy, and similar regimes had taken over in other European countries.

But in Germany there was a special situation. After the First World War, the Germans harbored a huge grudge against the whole world. And false grievances and the search for external enemies are extremely dangerous things for any country.

- By the way, in Russia, which suffered the most in the war against fascism, skinheads are walking around today, beating people of other nationalities. Where do we get this infection from?

There is no paradox in this. It took two decades and enormous strain on society, especially on the West German intelligentsia, to heal. She wrote new textbooks and created a new spiritual climate. The country has learned its lessons. Even the current German Chancellor Merkel, who was born after the war and seemingly free from responsibility for the crimes of Hitlerism, speaks of the historical guilt of the German people. It costs a lot.

For Russia, no matter how strange it may sound, the Great Patriotic War was not anti-fascist, it was a war for the Motherland against the occupiers. Fascism and its ideological roots were not exposed: after all, Stalin’s regime was in many ways similar to it. This is clearly seen in the example of the GDR, where, like in the USSR, these “vaccinations” were not done. It is no coincidence that the ultra-right in today's Germany almost all come from its eastern lands. I hope that solving Hitler's biggest secrets will bring us all at least one step closer to learning historical lessons.