Hannah Jackson

Prof. Wertz-Orbaugh
UWRT 1102-013
15 April 2015
Inquiry Research Review: The Rise and Leadership of Hitler
This research review is summary and conclusions I have acquired over this course
about my research of the rise and leadership of Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler is known as one
of the evil persons in history. He, single-handedly, manipulated others to help him enact
one of the most horrific genocides in world history. This is what interested me. I wanted
to know why and how this one man was able to make such a difference in the world.
Thus, in this paper, I will be discussing the following articles: The History Place: The
Rise of Adolf Hitler by Philip Gavin and The Rise of the Nazi Party, 1933 from Pema
Rapton. Gavins article is a very detailed and organized section about Hitlers life before
the Holocaust, and the article from Rapton provided more insight on what made Hitler so
powerful.
Essentials I learned from Gavins article were what traumatic events
happened to Hitler at a critical age. The most important life events that may have caused
Hitlers rage against Jews would more than likely have to deal with his fathers death, his
failed attempt at an art exam, and his mothers death. His fathers death, when Hitler was
thirteen, was the beginning of a series of unfortunate events for Hitler. After his death,
Hitler became very rebellious and even dropped out of school at the age of sixteen. He
did, however, dream of becoming an artist. So he decided to attend the Vienna Academy
of Fine Arts. At age eighteen, he withdrew his inheritance money from the bank and went

to live and study in Vienna. Hitler's mother was by now suffering from breast cancer and
had been unsuccessfully operated on in January. But Hitler's driving ambition to be a
great artist overcame his reluctance to leave her. He took the two-day entrance exam for
the academy's school of painting. He quite sure he would get in, but was struck with
failure. His test drawings were judged unsatisfactory and he was not admitted. This, in
my opinion, is where the initial anger towards the Jewish population began because the
Academy was a Jewish school.
However, when Hitler returned home to his beloved mother, was now dying from
cancer - making matters even worse. Hitler consulted Dr. Bloch, a Jewish doctor, who
recommended drastic treatment to save his mother's life. The painful, expensive
treatment involved applying dosages of iodoform directly onto the ulcerations caused by
the cancer [Gavin, 5]. She bore the pain well, but Adolf anguished over every moment
of her suffering and in the early hours of December 21st, amid the glowing lights of the
family's Christmas tree, she died quietly [Gavin, 6]. Adolf was devastated. Dr. Bloch
arrived later that day to sign the death certificate. He later said he had never seen anyone
so overcome with grief as Adolf Hitler at the loss of his mother [Gavin, 6]. His mothers
passing is what I feel made Hitler want revenge on the Jewish population because he
went back to Vienna and continued to receive rejection. While still coping with the loss
of his mother, dreams, and while eating in soup kitchen, I believe Hitlers emotions took
over his mindset and created the evil inside of him.
I learned from my second article about Hitlers leadership skills. After serving for
the German army in World War One, Hitler went back to Germany and joined small
national socialist gangs to lead. Hitler created greater structure and organization in the

gangs. He then created a circle of local party leaders that reported directly to him and
saw his leadership and charisma in action [Rapton, 3]. In 1923, the national socialist
movement was active only in Munich and Hitler made a failed attempt to take control of
this Bavarian city through the Munich Putsch. After this is was sentenced to 5 years in
prison, but only served 9 months due to sympathy. During this time Hitler dictated Mein
Kampf to Rudolph Hess. In Mein Kampf, Hitler emphasized the importance of race,
purity and subsequently Anti-Semitic views. Finally, he said that if on wanted to take
power, then they needed to have an illusion of legitimacy. The article then discussed more
about the Nazi Party and Nazification. Stating, Hitler created a leadership cult of
himself to make him seem like an extremely special individual [Rapton, 9]. It then
talked about Hitlers tactics for doing so.
For example, he used his public speaking skills to mesmerize and hypnotize
crowds. He would even wait 5 minutes for cheering crowds to quiet down and then shout
in the midst of silence. He would repeat messages over and over again and manipulate his
tone to further emphasize points[Rapton, 9]. He was extensively involved with powerful
Industrialist. It was powerful industrialist like Krupps, Steines and Thyseen that financed
Hitlers election campaign. These industrialists helped form the military industrial
complex that supported the government. Then, to add extra convincing, Propaganda
Minister Joseph Goebbels ruthlessly controlled propaganda and utilized it extensively to
further Nazi goals. He made sure that Jews were presented as parasites, therefore making
their banishment from society legitimate in the eyes of the people. All of these examples
show how Hitler was able to appeal to all. He brought in an example of every person to
convince everyone to side with him. It was quite brilliant.

I wanted to know why Hitler did what he did and I wanted to know why people
listened to him. My sources from Gavin and Rapton helped me form an opinion on these
questions. Through much research and much documentation, I felt these were the
strongest with the most useful information for myself and with the most credible sources.
I was able to learn information I had never even heard of as well as create my own ideas
on a very controversial subject in World History.

Works Cited
Gavin, Philip. "The History Place - Rise of Hitler: The Republic Collapses." The History
Place - Rise of Hitler: The Republic Collapses. n.d.Web. Mar. 2015.

Rapton, Pema D. "The Rise of the Nazi Party, 1933." Untitled

Document. Mount Holyoke College, n.d. Web. Mar. 2015.