Adolph Hitler: Life, Ideology, Rise

When people hear Adolf Hitler, they think of him as a terrible and murderous man, but what provoked Hitler to be this way? Hitler believed Germans were to be the masters of the world, and he would do whatever it took to make it so (""Adolf Hitler"" UXL 1). Adolf Hitler was an extremely brilliant and persuasive man who knew how to get what he wanted. Although, in the beginning, Adolf just wanted to be an artist, he used those traits to become something much, much more. The choices Adolf made throughout his lifetime left a massive scar on the world, and they are things the world will never forget. While Hitler's adult years are when he did the most damage, his early life is what sparked Hitler to become the terrible man everyone remembers. Throughout Adolf Hitler's childhood he experienced many incredible struggles, especially with the lack of a fatherly role model; this caused him to think hate was the answer, which then lead to his prejudicial and horrific treatment of Jewish people during World War II.

Adolf's parents were not present for much of his life, but the time they were around impacted Hitler tremendously. Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, in Braunau, Austria. His parents are Alois and Klara Hitler. Hitler's father, Alois Hitler was an ""Austria Customs Service"" official; he did not make a lot of money but enough to support his family. Adolf never received many of the things he asked his parents for, due to the lack of money (""Adolf Hitler"" UXL 1). Before Alois was married to Adolf's mother, Klara, he was married to two other women all within ten years. This shows that he was not great at treating his wife, or people in general with respect and he could not stay committed, which had a negative influence on Adolf and made him immune to instability (Rosenberg 1). Alois finally found his third and final wife named Klara. She was actually his housekeeper, but they fell in love and had six children together. Out of the six kids, Adolf was the fourth; his three older siblings and Edmund died before the age of two of the same disease. Adolf and Paula, his youngest sibling, were the only two children out of the six that grew into adulthood (Rosenberg 1). Because of the loss of so many children, Hitler never received much attention from his mother. She spent most of her time grieving from the death of her three older children and Edmund. She would often pray the rosary to them and spend days alone in her room (Darby 1).

Even though Adolf was not raised in the best conditions, he was academically very smart in school, and most of the subjects came naturally to him, although he only put effort into the few classes that seemed interesting to him. He was never one to spend extra time on anything other than what he was curious about (""Adolf Hitler"" UXL 1). From a young age Adolf really liked art, it was one of the only classes in school that really caught his attention and that he was willing to put effort into. He was always a creative kid and wanted to pursue his dreams of becoming an artist when he was older. Often times he would sit in his room and paint or sketch anything that came to mind. Unfortunately, his father was never fond of Adolf doing art and did not support him (""Hitler, Adolf"" 1).

Adolf's mind was always filled with terrible and hateful things. From a young age, Adolf's father told him and convinced him that being German made them better than others and that Germany was better than anywhere else in general. This is called nationalism which is loyalty and devotion to a nation, especially in a sense of nation consciousness (""Adolf Hitler"" UXL 1). Hitler also believed the biggest threat to the Germans, and him personally, were the Jewish people and blamed them for almost everything (""Adolf Hitler"" UXL 1). Shockingly one of Hitler's closest childhood friends was Jewish, but he eventually cut off that friendship, since his father told him to hate all Jewish people (Darby 1). His father was very controlling and did not treat Adolf with respect, causing him to rebel against his father, and anyone who tried to control him (""Hitler, Adolf"" 1). Adolf's father died in 1903 and Adolf convinced his mother to allow him to drop out of school. During this time he also found a liking for operas and music (""Hitler, Adolf"" 1). A couple years later Hitler's mother, Klara became very sick and was in the hospital. While Klara was there some of her nurses were Jewish and were helping Klara stay healthy. Although these Jewish nurses were saving his mother, Adolf still did not like them (Darby 1). Klara later died in 1907, so Adolf decided to move to Vienna (""Adolf Hitler"" UXL 1).

Moving to Vienna by himself was an ambitious new start for Adolf. Hitler used his orphan money to move to Vienna in 1907. While Hitler was in Vienna, he attempted to enter the Academy of Fine Arts, wanting to pursue his dream of becoming an artist. This did not quite work out as he expected, and he was denied (""Adolf Hitler"" UXL 1). Even though he was not accepted, Hitler was still dedicated to art and wanted to try again a couple months later. He went again to the Academy of Fine Arts and decided to try again, yet once again failed. Adolf did not have anywhere to go, so he started moving from place to place in Vienna, Austria, trying to make money any way he could (""Hitler, Adolf"" 1).

Surprisingly, Hitler did not have much luck in his early years. He attempted to join the army before World War I but was not physically ready for it. Although, in August 1914, at the beginning of WWI, he ended up joining the army, not because he was ready, but because Germany needed more soldiers. Adolf was fighting in France for four years, and he said being in war was, ""the greatest and most unforgettable time"" (""Adolf Hitler"" UXL 1). WWI ended in 1918 with Germany surrendering and Adolf, as well as other people, was not happy with the way the war ended. Hitler decided to believe Germany lost because of the socialists, liberals, and Jews in the country (""Hitler, Adolf"" 1). After WWI Hitler joined a nationalist group in Munich, called the ""National Socialist German Workers' Party"". Or as we know it the Nazi Party (""Adolf Hitler"" UXL 1). Towards the beginning of the Nazi Party Hitler was supposed to talk to the German soldiers about loyalty. Hitler growing up as he did, instead used this opportunity to talk badly about liberals (""Hitler, Adolf"" 1). Hitler eventually became the leader of this party in 1921. While Hitler was leader, he turned this party into a military organization, and about two years later ruled over these people like a dictator (""Adolf Hitler"" UXL 1).

Being in the Nazi party made Hitler feel very ambitious and invisible with his upcoming actions. On November 8-9, 1923 Hitler decided to make an attempt to overthrow the Berlin government, which is known as the ""Beer Hall Putsch"" (""Nazi Germany"" 1). Hitler led his Nazi soldiers into a beer hall where government officials were attending a meeting and attempted a Putsch, which is trying to get rid of the government. This was Hitler's idea of how to pressure the conservative-nationalist Bavarian government to team up with him against ""March on Berlin"". His attempt failed and Hitler was sentenced to prison for five years, but his imprisonment only lasted nine months (""Adolf Hitler"" Encyclopedia 1). While behind bars Hitler wrote a book called ""Mein Kampf"", meaning ""My Struggle"" in English (""Nazi Germany"" 1). In his book, Hitler talked about how during the war he became blind by a poisonous gas, and he had a vision in his mind where he was a hero, everyone loved him, and he leads Germany to be great (""Hitler, Adolf"" 1).

Although Hitler was locked away in prison, after being released he became very powerful. As soon as Hitler was released from prison, he went back to the Nazi's and tried to get his Nazi party elected to the head office. People were not fond of the party at first, but after the stock market crash in 1929, people started listening to him. Everyone became so stressed out because of the deteriorating economy and high unemployment rates that they looked to Hitler for help; they began to listen and hear what he had to say (""Adolf Hitler"" UXL 1). This leads the Nazi Party to become the second most popular political party in 1930. The economy of Germany became so tremendously appalling that the president felt he was unable to control the government, and the people believed they needed a strong leader. Hitler saw this as an opportunity to take his chance at being in complete and total power (""Nazi Germany"" 1). In January 1933 Hitler was named the head minister of Germany (""Adolf Hitler"" UXL 1).

World War II in Germany was intense as they went through a series of battles with different countries. When the stock market crashed in the United States in 1929, it actually caused a depression all across the globe and not just in the United States. This resulted in 33% of the labor force in Germany unemployed and broke (""Nazi Germany"" 1). For Germany, World War II started on September 1, 1939, after Poland tried to invade Germany and did not get far with that. Hitler decided to start killing more Jewish and Polish people (""Adolf Hitler"" Encyclopedia 1). Adolf's goal of World War II would lead to him having complete control over the majority of Eurasia (""Adolf Hitler"" Encyclopedia 1). Hitler's army advanced into the war and Denmark surrendered in 1940. His next big task was Germany's Operation Barbarossa against Russia, which took place on June 22, 1941. The goal of this was to construct the new order of German racial domination (""Adolf Hitler"" Encyclopedia 1). This Operation Barbarossa failed due to the insane winter weather in Russia and caused a setback to Germany during the war.

While the fighting was going on, hundreds of people were also being tortured to death in different parts of Germany. This is known as the Holocaust, which was entirely conducted by Adolf Hitler. Hitler called Jews, homosexuals and people with physical or mental disorders ""undesirables"" and was sent to concentration camps because he did not think they had a purpose in life (""Concentration Camps"" 1). ""A concentration camp is a type of internment center often used to house political prisoners or members of ethnic minority groups, usually during times of war"" (""Concentration Camps"" 1). These camps are what Hitler called his ""Final Solution"" which was to get rid of the Jewish religion. Concentration Camps operated by the Nazis were the most appalling. The prisoners, or Jews, in this case, were taken out of their homes and sent to the camps in freight cars which were extremely overcrowded. Most of the prisoners died before they arrived at the camp due to weather exposure or hypothermia in the freight cars. As soon as the prisoners arrived at the camp they had the choice to work for the Nazis to get food, or they could starve to death. If they chose to work, they would most likely be worked to death because of the lack of proper nutrition to keep them healthy. Anyone who came into the camps and was unable to work like the elderly, babies/children and injured people would most likely be killed on the spot (""Concentration Camps"" 1).

These camps became so brutal that concentration camp, was not a proper term for them. They were later renamed ""death camps"", which were made to murder Jews. The most well-known death camp is called ""Auschwitz"" (""Concentration Camps"" 1). The death camps were strictly for Jews because of how much Hitler disliked them. Hitler thought they were, ""an evil race working to take over the world"". For 12 years Hitler was in power, taking over Germany and persecuting Jews, although Hitler decided to commit suicide on April 30, 1945. Hitler died only a little over a month before WWII ended in Germany. (Benson, Sonia 1). By the time WWII was over about 90 percent of the Jewish population in Germany had died (""Concentration Camps"" 1).

Adolf Hitler's childhood was not very happy due to the lack of parental guidance and family conflicts; he decided to choose hate and did many horrendous things because of it. From a young age, his parents were not there for him and he had to do the majority of things on his own. The one thing he did learn from his father, was how to hate; he learned to blame the Jewish people for everything. After his parents passed away he struggled to find a sense of belonging, which caused him to beg for attention. His great characteristic of insanity leads to the creation of his Nazi Party. This also leads to the sickening treatment of the Jewish people during World War II. Overall his life was depressing and is what lead him to be the awful man we remember today, Adolf Hitler.

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