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World War II was a period in history when the German government tried to conquer all of

Europe and the era in which they initiated the devastating Holocaust. The Holocaust was the

event of millions of Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, and other races being dehumanized, deported,

and slaughtered. The cruel yet charismatic mastermind behind this period of history was

Adolf Hitler. Hitler dominated the German government from 1933-1945 and pursued to rid

the world of “inferior” races and expand the empire of Germany. From birth until death,

Hitler’s main motivations to rule the world and transform it into his vision of perfection were

control and superiority. His racist view of life, his position in society before he became

powerful, the position of other races during Germany’s economical crisis, and the effects of

Germany’s defeat in World War I all contributed to his cause.

From the very beginning of his life, Adolf Hitler was a bitter and self-willed boy, raised

in an air of discontent, so that anger and resentment dominated his early life. Adolf Hitler was

born April 20th, 1889 in Austria in the small town of Braunau-am-Inn. He was the son of his

mother, Klara Hitler, and his father, Alois Hitler. While he was very affectionate of his mother,

a “mama’s boy” for lack of a better term, he was very hateful and bitter toward his father. His

father was a customs official who had a dream for his son to hold a government position.

Adolf, however, did not hold the same interests as his father, thus creating the bitter

disagreement between them until his father died in 1903. Hitler was a hot-tempered youth

who was constantly failing classes and day-dreamed of becoming an artist. Of all his

teachers, there was just one who made the biggest impact on his future, Dr. Leonard

Poetsch. Poetsch was an avid nationalist, who would glorify Germany in its role throughout

history and often make a point of how, “The great issues of the day will be decided not by

means of speeches and majority resolution, but by iron and blood.” These teachings would

entrance young Hitler and influence his career and choices for the rest of his life. Hitler’s

mother died in 1907, leaving his more angry and resentful than ever before. He used up the

rest of the money his mother and father left him, and left for Vienna at the age of 19. He was

rejected twice from the Academy of Arts there, leaving him feeling dejected and, above all
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else, homeless. He would make little money painting postcards or as a laborer, often getting

into political disagreements with anyone he met. This floundering lifestyle enraged Hitler

even more; he would become jealous of those wealthier, particularly Jews. Jews in Vienna at

the time were a more privileged class. This hatred of Jews, poverty, and even Vienna itself

fueled the flame burning within Hitler’s mind. He abandoned Vienna, Austria in favor of

Munich, Germany. Though his lifestyle improved slightly, he felt as if his first goal in life was

complete by moving to Germany. At the start of World War I, he rejoiced and quickly enlisted

in the 16th Bavarian infantry regiment in honor of Germany. He became a corporal and won

the prestigious decoration of the Iron Cross for his bravery. Later on in 1917, he was injured

due to mustard gas, and was recovering in a hospital when he realized tragic news.

Germany had lost World War I. This bitter defeat tore him apart and left a bitter scar of regret

and anger within him. The rest of his actions in his life would be directed toward the people

he blamed for letting Germany loose the war, namely, the “November criminals”: Jews,

communists, and social democrats among many. The Treaty of Versailles was issued which

seized 13% of Germanys land and much of its natural resources and citizens. The Treaty’s

harsh terms affected Germany is the very worst way, causing the once thriving country to be

a clumsy and defeat stricken hell-hole. He remained within the German army despite the

conditions. Officers of the army sent “informers”, such as Hitler, to spy on other political

parties in the midst of Munich, a defeated, economical and political hazard zone. Little known

by the German people, political spying was the hallmark moment of Hitler’s life, where he

finally got the incentive and opportunity to become the seventh member of the small, soon to

be Nationalsozialistische Duetsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party)

or Nazi Party for short. It was at one night in 1919, where the dark seed of his political beliefs

were put into the soil of the small, virtually powerless little party, which was soon to grow.

In September, 1919, he attended a meeting the party had as a spy for the German

army, he found that the party’s view were very much identical to his own. He listened to their

speeches and when one member said something he found distasteful to his own views, he
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made a wonderfully powerful speech and quickly became orator for the group. His army

associate, Ernst Roehm joined, proving useful to Hitler when he became leader, as he would

transfer army political money into his own party. Hitler made the group more powerful with

every speech and conveyed every piece of Nazi propaganda extremely well. His unique style

of speaking became characteristic of him, as he would use his hands in a very firm and

demanding way, punching or jabbing the air to make a point. His voice would grow louder

and more passionate as his hatred, anger, and envy of all those who he believed betrayed

Germany. At the end of his speeches, his audience would grow hysterical and vicious, willing

to do anything Hitler commanded. As Hitler bred more and more Nazi members, Ernst

Roehm organized a private army of thugs called the Brownshirts. The Brown shirts, also

called Storm Troopers or the Storm Detachment (or simply the SA) were hired to do Hitler’s

bidding. They would often terrorize anyone Hitler did not deem “fit” for life as a German and

would prowl the streets for Jews as well as spy on rival political parties. His major goal at the

time was to control the German government and put his beliefs in pursuit in order to make a

real difference in Germany. With an ever growing number of Nazi members due to his

eloquent speeches and his own private army growing stronger thanks to Roehm’s

contribution, Hitler made a massive rally where he formulated his plans to overthrow the

German government. On November 8th, 1923, many high-ranking government officials had

been at a meeting in a Munich beer hall when the swastika clad Nazi Army began marching

through the streets and invaded the building. Hitler jumped upon a table and fired his pistol

into the air and exclaimed, “The Munich Putsch is now taking place, gentlemen, and the

National Revolution has begun!” He kidnapped three government officials, offering a position

in the government, to which they agreed only by the threat of a gun. The Nazis occupied a

radio tower letting all of Germany know that the “Beer Hall Putsch”, as it came to be known,

was in momentum, even though Hitler didn’t command them to do so. The army in Berlin

caught wind of this and sent troops to obliterate the Nazi army. Hitler fled the scene quickly

when his army became crippled and went into hiding before he was arrested and put to trial
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for the offense of high treason. When Adolf Hitler was in trial he quickly pled not-guilty and

proceeded to give a long passionate speech as to who he felt were “the real criminals”. In his

speech he captivated the minds of every person in the room by accusing the “November

Criminals” (Jews, communists, social democrats, and the German government) for the loss

of the World War I and thus the loss of German economical flourish. He discussed how these

aforementioned people were the cause of German distress due to their attempts to

overthrow the government in favor of a more equal one. The judge, who was greatly moved

by Hitler’s influential speech, sentenced him to the most minimal term- five years- at the

Landsberg Castle in Munich. There he was treated very well and was allowed visitors and

many gifts were sent to him. Among these gifts, a typewriter was sent, allowing Hitler to write

his notorious book, “Mien Kampf” or “My Struggle”. This rambling, lengthy book combines an

autobiography, Hitler’s political ideals, and an explanation of his beliefs into one massive

punch of propaganda. He first introduced the philosophy behind his “Master Race” that

influenced the Holocaust in this his book. He carried on about how Aryans of the Nordic type

were superior to any other group, and that those of “lower class” were to be eliminated as to

not “taint” the superior genes of an Aryan. He associated Aryans of the Nordic type- blonde

hair and blue eyes- with that of the sun and sky- a blue sky and a yellow (blonde) sun. Hitler

served only nine months in prison due to “good behavior” and emerged only to find that his

once powerful Nazi party was now a drowning little group as it had once been. Hitler eked

out what little determination and motivation he had left and took leadership of the party once

more. The government had banned the Nazi party and prevented Hitler from giving

speeches publicly which stunted his shot at power greatly, for words were Hitler’s

ammunition. He told the members of the little group, “I shall need seven years before the

movement is on top again.” He planned to take the German government by means of legal

political competition. Unfortunately for Hitler, in the years of 1924- 1928 Germany had begun

growing wealthy again, and wealth and prosperity are the worst poisons for a revolution to

grow. During this time he lived in the Bavarian Alps, spending his time reading or walking
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and looking for a soul mate. Many of Hitler’s girlfriends had been young and tried to commit

suicide. His half sister’s daughter, Geli Raubal was the abject of his affection, and

possession, which drove Geli to kill herself. Hitler not only had failure throughout his career

but also with his relationships, Hitler entered a depressive suicidal state and had become

even more crazed and bitter than ever before. Even things in his political take over plans

seemed doomed due to the flourishing economical state. Luckily for Hitler and his band of

Nazis, a world wide depression gripped the nation and plunged Germany into economical

distress. Despite the bleak situations in his wallet, the sky looked clearer for Hitler as he

began winning support from desperate Germans. The German people needed a savior, and

Adolf Hitler promised a better life for all and by 1930, Hitler had acquired the second most

popular vote for his political party in the Reichstag. Soon his popularity began to fall, and

Hitler spread panic and rumors about a Bolshevik Revolution, and that the Nazis were the

only ones who could stop it. A group of agitated industrialists sent a petition to the German

President, Paul von Hindenburg requesting Hitler become chancellor to prevent this from

happening. Hindenburg reluctantly agreed and in 1933, Hitler became the chancellor of

Germany, even though the Nazis only held a third of the seats in the Reichstag. Finally Hitler

was so very close to the prospect of ruling Germany, he could almost taste it, and success

was a flavor Hitler was not familiar with yet very eager to feast upon it.

Hitler began his ruthless domination by replacing police officials with people from his

former SA army officials, who would later be known as the Gestapo. Police auxiliaries were

then replaced by SA recruits. On February 27th, 1933, it was believed that a prominent

communist leader set fire to the Reichstag building. Hitler’s predictions of communists

invading the government proved true, and President Hindenburg gained more faith in Hitler

and suggested that he take “dictatorial powers” and exterminate all German communists.

Thousands of Communist and Social Democrat supporters were arrested and sent to a

recently established concentration camp. Hitler then eliminated all other participating parties

in the 1933 election so that the Nazis had complete control. He had created a fascist
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government. He proposed an Enabling Bill that would give Hitler complete and total control; it

would make him dictator of Germany. The bill passed and Hitler quickly put his beliefs into

effect. He had any opposing political party deported to concentration camps as well as

anyone who was “unfit” to work such as alcoholics, homosexuals, beggars, or even the

physically and mentally disabled or ill. After Hitler won over the hearts of people from his

generation, he set to work cultivate the minds of the younger generation. Just as he was

influenced deeply by his grade school teacher, Dr. Leonard Poetsch, he set out to breed a

new generation of teachers that kept up with his fascist views and would inspire the German

youth to hold up to his beliefs in order to extend his “Fatherland” after he had died. His Nazi

officers took in typical school textbooks and rewrote them so they were practically a rendition

of “Mien Kampf” concerning political descriptions. Hitler had turned Germany into a society

that revolved around his ideals; people fawned over him, or at least, were forced to. He was

finally the king, and his kingdom was the Third Reich. In 1937 Hitler tightened the noose on

Jews in Germany. He had required them to wear a yellow “Star of David” on their clothing to

identify themselves, they had their citizenship seized from them and were not allowed to

marry or have children with Aryan people, they had restricted times that they were allowed to

leave their houses or shop for goods, and had banned Jewish business from Germany. This

was the beginning of the grim and despicable years in history known as The Holocaust.

Kristallnacht or “The Night of Broken Glass” occurred on November 9th through 10th, 1938.

Kristallnacht was the day Adolf Hitler unleashed his initial wrath on Jews were he sent Nazi

soldiers to destroy and ransack Jewish homes and businesses and to arrest Jews and

deport them to concentration camps. This was only the beginning of the bloody era. Every

day after Kristallnacht, Nazis would dehumanize, deport, and slaughter Jews by the millions

by first stripping them of their basic right, forcing them into ghettos, deporting them to

concentration camps, and worked as slave until they were ultimately were killed. Auschwitz-

Birkenau was the largest camp of all, located in Poland, this was essentially a death factory

where millions of Jews were herded into gas chambers immediately after arrival, one group
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after another and each group was then burned immediately in a mass production line of

death. This process was known as Adolf Hitler’s “Final Solution” where he intended for the

purposeful killing of every Jew in Europe in order to free the world from “those ever present

fungal growths- Jews.” Hitler’s dream of a pure Aryan race and of a world that praised him

was coming to be a very real circumstance. While his first goal was in progress, Hitler turned

his attention to the German borders. He obviously and prominently ignored the Treaty of

Versailles but still lied to bordering countries that he strived for peace. He betrayed his

promise by invading Czechoslovakia and adding it into his German domain. He then invaded

Poland on September 1st, 1939 which marked the start of World War II. Hitler had been

cocky and foolish and thought the power of the world would crawl on its knees to him, just as

the German people had. Later on in September, 1939, Britain, France, New Zealand,

Canada, United States of America, and Australia declared war on Germany. These would be

known as the Allied Powers. Japan, Germany, and Italy would become known as the

opposing Axis Powers. Hitler, within a matter of months, invaded and expanded Germany by

overtaking the countries of Poland, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium,

France, Yugoslavia, Greece, Austria, among many others in Europe. By 1941, Germany’s

borders extended across nearly all of Europe under the tyrannical and violent fist of Adolf

Hitler. Hitler made a poor military decision by postponing an attack on Britain and ultimately

canceling the attack all together and instead invaded the Soviet Union. This was a fatal

decision. Germany had instigated the war in the first place, giving them the initial advantage,

but Hitler took that for granted and by postponing the attack on Britain, threw that advantage

away. The Soviets demolished The Nazi army after heavy fighting in 1944 at the Battle of

Berlin. Once again, Hitler had failed after coming so close to his dream.

In 1945, it became extremely apparent that Germany would loose the war. Adolf

Hitler was already loosing his empire and his health. Many people sought to crumble his

empire. He had already endured an attempted bombing of his office and an assassination.

He was only fifty-five years old but he had a stooped back, poor eyesight, tremors in the left
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half of his body, he lost the booming voice he once had and instead developed a feeble,

unconfident voice, he could not walk for more than fifty yards without taking a rest, and when

would often drool from the sides of his mouth, creating a sad and pitiful image of the once

powerful dictator. The Nazi army retreated as concentration camps became liberated by the

Soviet and American army and the Soviet army invaded Germany with Western Allies aiding

the attack. Hitler urged his soldiers to fight until the death in a vain attempt to keep the

German empire standing or have it fall trying. The world came crashing down for Hitler. He

quickly married his longtime girlfriend Eva Braun and developed a cyanide pill. He made a

will that left his possessions to the Nazi Army. On April 30th, 1945, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun

entered a private room in their underground bunker and committed suicide by ingesting the

cyanide tablets, Hitler also shot him self in the head while The Soviet army was just 300

yards away. Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich and his Nazi army had fallen with him riding on the

coattails of defeat.

Throughout his life, Adolf Hitler acted largely on his want for superiority and control.

He had seen nothing except failure and defeat despite all of his hard work. He blamed others

wrongly for the fall of Germany and idolized those whom he did not fully understand. His

disagreeable nature fed his anger and hate, which eventually blinded him from logic that led

to his untimely demise.