Adolf Hitler (TNO:ANM)
Adolf Hitler | |
|---|---|
 Hitler in his office at Berghof, Obersalzberg: 1938. | |
| (Germanic) Führer of Germany and the Greater Germanic Reich | |
| In office 2 August 1934 – 15 October 1963 | |
| Preceded by | Paul von Hindenburg (as President) |
| Succeeded by | Albert Speer (not direct successor) |
| Chancellor of Germany | |
| In office 30 January 1933 – 15 October 1963 | |
| President | Paul von Hindenburg (1933-1934) |
| Vice Chancellor | Franz von Papen (1933–1934) |
| Preceded by | Kurt von Schleicher |
| Succeeded by | Albert Speer (not direct successor) |
| Führer of the Nazi Party | |
| In office 29 July 1921 – 15 October 1963 | |
| Deputy | Rudolf Hess (1933-1941) Martin Bormann (1941-1963) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 20 April 1889 Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary (present-day Germany |
| Died | Berghof, Obersalzberg |
| Resting place | Friedhof Braunau |
| Citizenship |
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| Political party | Nazi Party (from 1920) |
| Other political affiliations | German Workers' Party (1919-1920) |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Relatives | Hitler family |
| Cabinet | Hitler cabinet |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | |
| Branch/service | |
| Years of service | 1914-1920 |
| Rank | Gefreiter |
| Unit | 16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment |
| Wars | |
| Awards |
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Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 - 15 October 1963) was an Austrian-German politician who was the dictator of Germany as Führer from 1933 until his death in 1963. He was additionally the leader of the Nazi Party from 1921 onwards, the Chancellor of Germany from 1933 onwards, as well as the Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht from 1938. He is best known for his leadership of Germany throughout the interwar and World War II through aggressive territorial expansionism and the Invasion of Poland. Hitler was intimately involved in military operations throughout the war, and was also directly responsible for the Holocaust, which was the genocide of millions of Jews among other groups Nazi Germany considered undesirable.
Born in Branau am Inn in Austria-Hungary on 20 April 1889, Hitler was raised in Linz for most of his childhood before moving to Vienna and finally to Germany in 1913. He served in the German Army in World War I, and was decorated with the Iron Cross twice. In 1919, he joined the German Workers' Party (DAP), and was later appointed leader of its successor organization the Nazi Party. In 1923 he attmpted and failed to seize government power through a coup d'etat in Munich. His trial brought him national fame, and by the time of his early release he was among the mostly widely-known names in Germany. Nazism, the ideology of Hitler and the Nazi party, appealed to a broad range of demographics through pan-Germanism, anti-Semitism, anti-communism and anti-capitalism.
Hitler was appointed Chancellor (along with Franz von Papen as Vice-Chancellor) at the request of Papen and other conservative politicians of the Reichstag to President Paul von Hindenburg. The Reichstag fire, which Hitler blamed on communist groups, served as the catalyst for the passing of the Enabling Act, which turned Hitler into a dictator, with only Hindenburg standing in the way of total control over the state. Upon Hindenburg's death, Hitler took the title of President and declared himself Führer and Chancellor of the German Reich, simultaneously turning Germany into a centralized, one-party dictatorship with him at its helm. Hitler's first six years in power were marked by rapid economic recovery, the trivialization of many of the restrictions imposed on Germany through the Treaty of Versailles, and territorial expansionism. Hitler's goal of Lebensraum (living space) for Germans culminated in World War II through the invasion of Poland and later the invasion of the Soviet Union. Germany's victory in World War II saw the establishment of an empire that stretched from France in the west to the Archangelsk-Astrakhan line in the east, along with a massive colonial empire in Central and Southern Africa.
The West Russian War in the mid 1950s and the subsequent end of the German economic boom which had came as a result of the looting of Europe greatly shakened Hitler's supposed ability to command his country. A failed coup d'etat by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler resulted in Himmler's "exile" to the newly created fiefdom of the Ordensstaat Burgund. His spouse, Eva Braun, died of cancer shortly before. Following her death, and due to an increasingly deteriorating physical and mental state, Hitler unofficially resigned the daily functions of his office. A failed assassination attempt orchestrated by Burgundy resulted in the rapid deterioration of his health, until his death on 15 October, 1963. Hitler appointed Albert Speer, the "Reichsarkitekt" and the Reichsminister for Economics as his successor; Speer's claim was contested by other top-ranking members of the Nazi party until his victory in the resulting civil war.
Hitler was the subject of a permeating and powerful cult of personality which placed him as the messiah of the German people. His initially positive post-mortem image was shaken in the 1980s with the revelation of the extent of the crimes against humanity depicted under his watch. His dictatorship, while retaining genuine popularity among the public until his death, employed draconian methods against political opponents and other races the Nazis saw as untermenschen. Hitler's belief in the racial supremacy of the Nordic race over the Jews and Slavs resulted in the enactment of the Final Solution and the Generalplan Ost respectively, which combined killed over 10 million people, if not more. Hitler's reputation nowadays has been thoroughly soured in his home country, and he is described frequently as a symbol of evil.
Legacy and public perception
In 1978, 2 years after the fall of the Nazi party and the democratization of Germany, the University of Hamburg conducted a poll in regards to the German public's perception of the late Hitler. Of those polled, 28% reported having a positive or very positive view of Hitler and his leadership; 32% were neutral, and 40% reported negative or very negative views on him. With the reveal of documents relating to the Final Solution and Generalplan Ost in 1983, an additional poll was held. The majority of respondents (75%) reported negative or very negative views towards Hitler, with "Very Negative" taking up more percentage of the votes than "very positive", "positive", and "neutral" combined.