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Josh Antonucci
Mr. Conrad
ERWC/P.2
24 April 2016
Senior research
Who was the most evil person in the early to mid 20th century? Adolf Hitler would be the
most evil I believe. How did Hitler become this evil leader who had a plan to take over the
world? Well Adolf Hitler lived from April 20 1889 to April 30 1945, he was born in Braunau
Austria and died in Berlin Germany. He was a smart man with an artistic background. But
something turned him into this mad man which killed 6 million Jewish people. I am trying to
find some reason to why his life changed from his comfortable childhood to an evil leader.
Hitlers youth and after dropping out of highschool was key to his upcoming, He also felt he was
needed by the german people.
When you look at someones life and how they became who they became we often look
at their childhood or there past because the decisions you make will have an impact on your
future life. In this article by American Decades the author states Hitler grew up in comfortable
if not luxurious circumstances, he had a dad that was a hardworking man and worked his way
up the bureaucratic ladder to the Austrian Customs service. Where he had a responsible position
that provided his family with economic security and social status. Hitler was considered
intellectually above average but when in school he only excelled in subjects that interested him.
Required classes bored him and at age 16 he had dropped out. Just like in the United States we
have the Cahsee exam which is required to graduate, Austria has the Matura exam which is
required to get in a university.

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His Father died two years after adolf dropped out and his Mother died in 1907 which
makes Hitler 18, moved to Vienna so he could enter the Academy of Fine Arts where he had
hopes of becoming a painter. But soon he came to find out the academy denied him admission
twice because he didnt have the artistic talent they would like to see. Because of this Hitler was
depressed and started living on the streets, he was barely getting by from painting on postcards
of landmarks in Viennese. During this time he only had hateful ideas of prejudice. When he was
growing up in Austria, the Habsburg Family who had ruled Austria for a long time. This Family
brought over German culture, so he had grown up believing in this sense of Germany is the
superior race and that their culture was better than anyone elses, this belief is called
Nationalism, which hitler had a strong sense of. For some od reason at this time of his only
parent dying and not being accepted into the Academy he wanted to go into, he had some very
dark ideas which I think made him start thinking that Jewish people are a threat to the German
culture. He blamed this race for Germanys social uprisings and economic problems.
In 1913, was the year I think started his thinking of one day taking over the world
because here he is moving and just now settling down in Munich, Germany. Germany to him was
inspiring, he loved the culture there. But he was called back to Austria, to take a physical for
the army, but he was declared medically unfit to serve(UXL Biographies). Hitler went back to
Germany and volunteered for their army, he was then accepted in 1914 because WWI had just
started breaking out. Those four years of the war, he spent right at the front lines. Hitler had won
an award called the Distinguished Iron Cross for bravery. But all things come to an end right,
Germany in 1918 lost the war, then the Treaty of versailles came in play which forced Germany
to sign. The Treaty of Versailles put a huge crush on the Germans because is strongly limited
Germanys power. This brought back his dark memories after his mother died about how he

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blames the jews for Germanys faults. Hitler convinced himself that Germany never lost on the
battlefield but they had been brought down by the un german forces known as Jews, Liberals,
and Socialists. He then Pledged that he would return Germany back to its glory days when they
had power and respect.
Hitler became a spy after the war, he was asked to spy on a political organization
called the German Workers Party. This party shared the same ideals of extreme
nationalism with Hitler, he then joined and in 1920 he pushed everyone aside who
was a rival and became the leader in 1921, the party was renamed the National
Socialist German Workers Party, or the Nazi Party for short. Two years after he
became the leader, he turned the party into a Military organization and he ruled
this party like a dictator. After this Hitler wanted to have power so in november he decided to
march into a meeting of government officials and tried to force them to declare a revolution but
this didnt work because soon the officials escaped. This made hitler and his stormtroopers
mad, they marched the next day on the War ministry building soon they were fired on, Hitler
escaped but was found a few days later and was arrested for high treason, instead of life
imprisonment, though, Hitler was given a sentence of five years of comfortable
confinement(UXL Biographies). He only served nine months, but in those nine months, he
wrote his autobiography, Mein Kampf. This book outlined his ideas about the world and the
direction he wanted germany to take. Germans were the highest race and all other races should
be under them and serve for them. But there were some races he depicted, the jews were the
biggest problem. Hitler described all human races as if there were only three races; creators of
culture, bearers of culture, and destroyers of culture. He believed the Germans to be the creators
of culture and the next group being the Japanese because they were culture bearing but lacks

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some skills of significant achievements. He then saw the Jews as destroyers of culture because
he defined them not only incapable of creating culture but also being responsible for virtually all
of the moral, political, and economic ills of the modern world. They had to be destroyed because
they were unfit to serve the germans. He also defined in his book about his fundamental ideals
and defining nature as a relentless struggle between superior and inferior species(American
Decades). This book I have yet to read but do want to because I want to understand my question
more of why he became who he became.
After Hitler was released he tried for four years to have the Nazis elected into public
office. But they didnt have faith in Hitler until the New York stock exchange crash in 1929.
Germany was extremely poor after WWI because they had to repay all the damages done during
the war, and so when the New York Stock Exchange crashed, Germanys value of money was so
low you could barely buy a loaf of bread. So the Germans were looking for a way out of this
horrible slump and reached out to Hitler because Hitler pledge to make Germany great again. In
1930 the Nazi party won the election for parliamentary delegates, which made them the second
highest political party in the country. Soon in 1933, President Paul Von Hindenburg needed the
Nazis support because of a severe government crisis. The President then offered hitler the
Chancellor. This was not a good idea to let Hitler have the second-highest office in Germanys
government, hindenburgs closest counselors thought they could control the nazis while using
their popularity(Junior Scholastic). But no this was probably one of the most costly
miscalculation of the 20th century. This was a mistake because this gave Hitler real power. This
was a really dirty way but very smart at the same time, Hitler blamed the Communists for the fire
that burned down the Reichstag building. He then convinced Hindenburg to pass an emergency
law suspending free speech and other civil liberties(Junior Scholastic) this law rounded up all

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Nazi opponents. A year later Hitler goes into power after Hindenburg dies. Hitler is named the
head of the armed forces or the supreme commander. Finally the Nazis did good for Germany,
they cleaned up the streets and stopped crime, they put
Germany back to work. Hitler decided to gain more popularity
thought of going against the treaty of versailles, Hitler rebuilt
the army, in doing so the german people were in uproar
because they got some of their old pride.
Nazi Propaganda excelled Hitler into being the man
that brought Germany back on its feet, Hitler now had so much popularity
and a huge army, he decided again to go against the treaty of versailles
and took over Austria, then took a region of Czechoslovakia. Britain and
France were trying to avoid war but on September 1, 1939 Hitler and his
army invaded Poland, this made Britain and France to declare war on
Germany. Germans were proud again, the Nazis soon collected german
Jews and took away their freedoms but this wasnt enough they had to do
the final solution according to the Nazi leaders. They made train lines connecting concentration
camps throughout the countries that they had taken over, they then rounded up millions of jews
which soon came to die.
Adolf Hitler was a smart man for how he thought of taking over the world. His process to
get into the German government, how he thought out and made things happen. He wrote a book
while in prison, Mein Kampf or My struggle. He went through a lot as a child, losing both his
parents, wanting to pursue as an artist but when he went to college to become one they wouldnt

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accept him because they thought he wasnt worthy enough and his art sucked. That put a lot of
emotion on him, which his early life made him who he became as a powerful leader.

Works cited
"Adolf Hitler." American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Student
Resources in Context. Web. 10 May 2016.
"Adolf Hitler Becomes Chancellor of Germany: 1933." Global Events: Milestone Events
Throughout History. Ed. Jennifer Stock. Vol. 4: Europe. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale,
2014. Student Resources in Context. Web. 10 May 2016.
"Adolf Hitler Commits Suicide: April 30, 1945." Global Events: Milestone Events Throughout
History. Ed. Jennifer Stock. Vol. 4: Europe. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2014. Student
Resources in Context. Web. 10 May 2016.
"Adolf Hitler." UXL Biographies. Detroit: UXL, 2011. Student Resources in Context. Web. 10
May 2016.
Brown, Bryan. "How did Hitler happen?" Junior Scholastic/Current Events 1 Sept. 2014: 14+.
Student Resources in Context. Web. 10 May 2016.
"Nazi Germany." Gale Encyclopedia of World History: Governments. Detroit: Gale, 2009.
Student Resources in Context. Web. 10 May 2016.