Name_________________________ Date_________________

Social Studies - Hitler’s Rise to Power

Directions - Reciprocal Reading: Take turns in your group reading paragraphs out loud.
Each person must draw one card from the stack per paragraph. After you draw your
card, effectively predict, clarify or summarize. Finally, answer the questions in the next
box in detail.

Guiding Question: How was the rise of dictator Adolf Hitler a cause of World
War II?

Hitler’s Early Years - 1889-1913
Adolf Hitler was born on April 20th 1889 in
Austria. He had poor grades in school and left
before graduating. Hitler wanted to be an artist but
he could not get into art school because he did not
have his high school diploma.
In 1909 he moved to Vienna, the capital of
Austria, hoping to find work. In less than a year he
was living in homeless shelters and eating at
charity soup-kitchens. Occasionally he was able to
find small jobs or sell paintings. Hitler began to get
interested in the politics and admired the mayor of
Vienna. The mayor and many other outspoken
people in Vienna did not like Jewish people. It was
During World War I - 1914-1919
In 1914, Franz Ferdinand was killed which led
the alliances in Europe to declare war on each
other. German people had large parades and rallies
in support of World War I. They were very excited
to be at war and Hitler was proud to be a German.
He immediately signed up to be in the German
army.
1. Write a one sentence summary on the struggles
Hitler experienced in his first 24 years of life.
___________________________________________________
Stop to draw
cards before
moving to the
questions.
___________________________________________________
2. Where did Hitler’s hatred of Jews and non-Aryan
groups originate?
___________________________________________________
1. Write a two sentence summary describing the
blame forced on the Jews by Hitler and many
Germans.
___________________________________________________
Stop to draw
cards before

HitlerI.was
1914 – 1918 soldier but in 1916 he moving to the
a dedicated questions. ___________________________________________________
was injured and sent back to Munich, Germany to
recover. Many German people were no longer
excited about the war because of how long it had
gone on and all of the deaths. Hitler blamed these ___________________________________________________
anti-war feelings on the Jewish people. Others
completely blamed the Jewish people for
After World War I – 1919-1924 1. Why do you think ex-soldiers and haters of the
Hitler became interested in the German Treaty of Versailles were interested in Hitler’s
Worker’s Party, a small group of men that wanted to message?
help the working class people. The German Worker’s
Party asked Hitler to be their leader because he was an ___________________________________________________
excellent public speaker. Hitler began building the
Stop to draw ___________________________________________________
popularity of the GWP by asking ex-soldiers and people cards before
who hated the Treaty of Versailles to join. In less than moving to the ___________________________________________________
questions.
a year the membership was at 3,000 people.
Hitler made several changes. One change was
to rename the party National Socialist German Workers' 2. What two changes did Hitler bring to the National
Party or Nazis for short. He also wanted a symbol that
would allow the group to be recognized easily. Hitler
Socialist German Worker’s Party?
chose the swastika. This was a symbol that had been
around since ancient times and recently had been used Change A: ____________Change B: _________________
by other anti-Semitic groups.
In 1923 he led an attempt to overthrow the
country’s government but this spectacularly failed. He
Hitler’s rise to power – 1930-1938
The Nazi Party became officially powerful for 1. Using your prior knowledge of the Treaty of
the first time in 1930 by promising the return of Versailles, why do you think Hitler had to secretly
Germany’s power during the Great Depression. Hitler rebuild the military?
continued his mission to take over power completely
when he became Chancellor (leader) of Germany in
January 1933. Almost immediately, he began
Stop to draw
secretly building up Germany's army and weapons. cards before _________________________________________________
In 1934 he increased the size of the army, began moving to the
questions.
building warships and created a German air force. He
also introduced compulsory (forced) military service.
As Germany’s dictator, Hitler also continued to _________________________________________________
blame others for Germany’s problems. He united his
supporters by focusing their anger at Jews and other
non-Aryan peoples he considered beneath the
German people. With a stronger military, a
scapegoat to blame (Jews and other non-Aryan
groups), and total power over the country, Hitler 2. Describe how Hitler’s rise to power as a dictator is
prepared to expand Germany in any way possible. a cause of World War II.
This included a push to reclaim land lost in World
Adapted from historyontheweb.com, BSD curriculum teacher
resources
II. 1919 – 1924 (Start of Nazi – prison/Mein Kampf)
In 1919, Hitler’s hatred for the Jewish people continued to grow when the war ended and Germany
went from having a King as the leader to having a President.

III. 1925 – 1934

Hitler’s goal was to be President of Germany. He saw his chance in 1929 when the German economy
collapsed. Germany had been receiving money from the USA but the USA could no longer help
Germany out. Hitler & the Nazi party promised to make Germany a good place again. He promised
to provide jobs, fix the economy and make Germany proud again.

IV. 1933 – 1938 (pre war years)

Just before the election in 1933, the Reichstag building was set on fire. Hitler blamed the
Communists who were feared by many Germans. The Communist party was banned from Germany
which meant the Nazi Party had full control of the government. Hitler became the Chancellor
(leader) in 1933 and President in 1934. He passed a law which gave him the power to make laws
without anyone else’s approval. This was his first step to becoming a dictator by banning other
political groups, removing people who disagreed and finally withdrew Germany from the League of
Nations.

The German people supported Hitler’s actions because he promised them what they wanted to hear.
Hitler used the Jews and other groups in society as scapegoats, blaming all the problems on them.
He united the Germans by providing explanations for Germany’s problems.