Name: Adolf Hitler
Age: 56 years
Place of Birth: Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary
A place of death: Berlin
Activity: Fuhrer and Reich Chancellor of Germany
Relationship Status: Was married to
Adolf Hitler - biography
This name and surname is very hateful to many people around the world for the atrocities that this person committed. How did the biography of the one who unleashed the war with many countries develop, how did he become like that?
Childhood, Hitler's family, how he appeared
Adolf's father was an illegitimate child, his mother remarried a man with the surname Gidler, and when Alois wanted to change his mother's surname, the priest made a mistake, and all descendants began to bear the surname Hitler, and six of them were born, and Adolf was the third child. Hitler's ancestors were engaged in the peasantry, his father achieved a career as an official. Adolf, like all Germans, was very sentimental and often visited the places of his childhood and the graves of his parents.
Before Adolf was born, three children died. He was the only and beloved son, then brother Edmund was born, and they began to devote less time to Adolf, then Adolf's sister appeared in the family, he always had the most tender feelings for Paula. After all, this is the biography of the most ordinary child who loves his mother and sister, when and what went wrong?
Hitler's studies
In the first grade, Hitler studied only "excellent". In the old Catholic monastery, he went to second grade, learned to sing in the church choir, and helped during the mass. First noticed the sign of the swastika at the Abbot Hagen on his coat of arms. Adolf changed schools several times due to parental problems. One of the brothers left home, the other died, Adolf remained the only son. At school, he began to like not all subjects, he stayed for the second year.
Growing up of Adolf
As soon as the teenager was 13 years old, the father died, the son refused to fulfill the parent's request. He did not want to become an official, he was attracted by painting and music. One of Hitler's teachers later recalled that the student was one-sidedly gifted, hot-tempered and wayward. Already in these years, one could notice the features of a mentally unbalanced person. After the fourth grade in the document on education there were marks "5" only in physical culture and drawing. He knew languages, exact sciences and shorthand.
At the insistence of his mother, Adolf Hitler had to retake the exams, but he was diagnosed with a lung disease, he had to forget about school. When Hitler turned 18, he left for the Austrian capital, wants to enter an art school, but failed to pass the exams. The young man's mother underwent surgery, did not live long, and she took care of her until her death as the oldest and only man in the Adolf family.
Adolf Hitler - artist
Not enrolling in the school of his dreams the second time, Hitler hides and evades military service, he managed to get a job as an artist and writer. Hitler's paintings began to sell successfully. They mainly depicted the buildings of old Vienna copied from postcards.
Adolf began to earn decent money on this, takes up reading, is interested in politics. Leaves for Munich and works as an artist again. Finally, the Austrian police found out where Hitler was hiding, sent him for a medical examination, where he was given a "white" ticket.
The beginning of the combat biography of Adolf Hitler
This war was accepted with joy by Hitler, he himself asked to serve in the Bavarian army, participated in many battles, received the rank of corporal, was wounded, and had many military awards. They were considered a brave and brave soldier. He was wounded again, even lost his sight. After the war, the authorities considered it necessary for Hitler's fate to be among the agitators, where he proved himself to be a skillful master of words, he knew how to control the attention of people listening to him. During this entire period of his life, Hitler's favorite reading material was anti-Semitic literature, which basically shaped his further political views.
Soon, everyone became familiar with his program for the new Nazi party. He later receives the post of chairman with unlimited power. Allowing himself too much, Hitler took advantage of his post to incite the overthrow of the existing government, was convicted and sent to prison. There he finally came to believe that the Communists and Jews must be exterminated.
He declares that the nation of Germany must rule the world. Hitler finds many supporters who unconditionally appoint him to lead the armed forces, founded a personal guard in the ranks of the SS, created torture and death camps.
He dreamed of getting even for the fact that once, in the First World War, Germany surrendered. He was sick, in a hurry to carry out his plans. The occupation of many territories began: Austria, Czechoslovakia, part of Lithuania, Poland, France, Greece and Yugoslavia were threatened. In August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed on peaceful coexistence, but, distraught with power and victories, Hitler violated this agreement. Fortunately, at the helm of power was who did not surrender his power to the crazy, brutal egoist in the person of Hitler.
Adolf Hitler - biography of personal life
Hitler did not have an official wife, nor children. He had a repulsive appearance, he practically could not attract women. But do not forget the gift of eloquence and the position created by it. He had no end to his mistresses, mostly, among them there were married women. Since 1929, Adolf Hitler has been living with his common-law wife Eva Braun. The husband was not at all shy about flirting with everyone, and Eve, out of jealousy, tried many times to commit suicide.
Dreaming of being Frau Hitler, living with him and enduring bullying and quirks, she patiently waited for a miracle to happen. This happened 36 hours before death. Adolf Hitler and got married. But the biography of a man who swung to sovereignty ended ingloriously Soviet Union.
A documentary about Adolf Hitler
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Book "My Struggle" by Adolf Hitler.
The prison, or fortress, in Landsberg on Lech, where Hitler served before and after his trial in total 13 months (under the sentence for "high treason" only nine months!), Nazi historians are often called a Nazi "sanatorium". At all ready, walking in the garden and receiving numerous guests and business visitors, answering letters and telegrams.
Hitler dictated the first volume of the book containing his political program, calling it "Four and a half years of struggle against lies, stupidity and cowardice." Later it was published under the name "My Struggle" (Mein Kampf), sold in millions of copies and made Hitler a rich man.
Hitler offered the Germans one tried and true culprit, an enemy in satanic guise - a Jew. After "liberation" from the Jews, Hitler promised the German people a great future. Moreover, immediately. Paradise life will begin on German soil. All shopkeepers will receive shops. Poor tenants will become homeowners. Unsuccessful intellectuals are professors. Poor peasants - rich farmers. Women are beautiful, their children are healthy, "the breed will improve." It was not Hitler who "invented" anti-Semitism, but it was he who planted it in Germany.
And he was far from the last one who used it for his own purposes.
The main ideas of Hitler that had taken shape by this time were reflected in the NSDAP program (25 points), the core of which was the following requirements: 1) restoration of the power of Germany by uniting all Germans under a single state roof; 2) the establishment of the domination of the German Empire in Europe, mainly in the east of the continent in the Slavic lands; 3) cleansing German territory of "foreigners" that litter it, primarily Jews; 4) the elimination of the rotten parliamentary regime, its replacement by a vertical hierarchy corresponding to the German spirit, in which the will of the people is personified in a leader endowed with absolute power; 5) the liberation of the people from the dictatorship of world finance capital and all-round support for small-scale and handicraft production, the creativity of persons in the free professions.
Adodf Hitler outlined these ideas in his autobiographical book My Struggle.
Hitler's path to power.
Hitler left the Landsberg fortress on December 20, 1924. He had a plan of action. At first - to cleanse the NSDAP of "factionalists", to introduce iron discipline and the principle of "Fuehrerism", that is, autocracy, then to strengthen its army - the SA, to destroy the rebellious spirit there.
Already on February 27, Hitler made a speech in Bürgerbräukeller (all Western historians refer to it), where he bluntly stated: “I alone lead the Movement and personally bear responsibility for it. And again, I alone bear responsibility for everything that happens in the Movement. .. Either the enemy will pass over our corpses, or we will pass over him ... "
Accordingly, at the same time, Hitler carried out another "rotation" of personnel. However, at first, Hitler could not get rid of his most powerful rivals - Gregor Strasser and Rem. Although he began to push them into the background immediately.
The "purge" of the party ended with the fact that in 1926 Hitler created his own "party court" USHLA - an investigation and arbitration committee. Until 1945, its chairman, Walter Buch, fought against "sedition" in the ranks of the NSDAP.
However, at that time, Hitler's party could not count on success at all. The situation in Germany gradually stabilized. Inflation has started to decline. Unemployment has decreased. Industrialists succeeded in modernizing the German economy. French troops withdrew from the Ruhr. Stresemann's government was able to conclude some agreements with the West.
The pinnacle of Hitler's success during this period was the first party convention in August 1927 in Nuremberg. In 1927-1928, that is, five to six years before coming to power, heading a still relatively weak party, Hitler created a "shadow government" in the NSDAP - Political Department II.
Since 1928, Goebbels was the head of the propaganda department. An equally important "invention" of Hitler was the local Gauleiters, that is, the Nazi bonzes on the ground in separate lands. The huge headquarters of the Gauleiters replaced, after 1933, the administrative bodies created in Weimar Germany.
In 1930-1933 in Germany there was a fierce struggle for votes. Some elections were followed by others. Inflated with the money of German reaction, the Nazis struggled to gain power with all their might. In 1933, they wanted to get it out of the hands of President Hindenburg. But for this they had to create the appearance of support for the NSDAP party by wide layers of the population. Otherwise, Hitler would not have seen the post of chancellor. For Hindenburg had his favorites - von Papen, Schleicher: it was with their help that it was "most convenient" for him to rule the 70 million German people.
Hitler never received an absolute majority in an election. And an important obstacle in his path was the extremely strong parties of the working class - the Social Democratic and the Communist. In 1930, the Social Democrats won 8,577,000 votes in the elections, the Communists - 4,592,000, and the Nazis - 6,409,000. In June 1932, the Social Democrats lost a few votes, but still received 795,000 votes, but the Communists gained new votes, gaining 5,283,000 votes. The Nazis in these elections reached their "peak": they received 13,745,000 ballots. But already in December of the same year, 2,000 voters were lost. In December, there was such a situation: the Social Democrats received 7,248,000 votes, the communists again strengthened their positions - 5,980,000 votes, the Nazis - 11,737,000 votes. In other words, the preponderance has always been on the side of the workers' parties. The number of ballots cast for Hitler and his party, even at the height of their career, did not exceed 37.3 percent.
Adolf Hitler - Reich Chancellor of Germany.
On January 30, 1933, 86-year-old President Hindenburg appointed the head of the NSDAP, Adolf Hitler, as Reich Chancellor of Germany. On the same day, superbly organized stormtroopers concentrated on their rallying points. In the evening, with lighted torches, they walked past the presidential palace, in one window of which was Hindenburg, and in the other - Hitler.
According to official figures, the torchlight procession was attended by 25,000 people. It lasted for several hours.
Already at the first meeting on January 30, a discussion of measures directed against the Communist Party of Germany took place. The next day Hitler spoke on the radio. "Give us four years. Our task is to fight against communism."
Hitler fully took into account the effect of surprise. He not only did not allow the anti-Nazi forces to unite and consolidate, he literally stunned them, took them by surprise and very soon completely defeated them. This was the first Nazi blitzkrieg on their own territory.
February 1 - Dissolution of the Reichstag. New elections are scheduled for March 5th. Banning all communist rallies under open air(Of course, they were not given halls).
On February 2, the President issued an order "On the Protection of the German People", a de facto ban on gatherings and newspapers criticizing Nazism. Tacit resolution of "preventive arrests" without appropriate legal sanctions. Dissolution of city and communal parliaments in Prussia.
February 7 - "Decree on shooting" Goering. Police permission to use weapons. SA, SS and "Steel Helmet" are brought in to help the police. Two weeks later, armed detachments of the SA, SS, "Steel Helmet" come into the disposal of Goering as auxiliary police.
February 27 - Reichstag fire. On the night of February 28, about ten thousand communists, social democrats and people of progressive views are arrested. The Communist Party and part of the Social Democratic organizations are prohibited.
February 28 - the President's order "On the protection of the people and the state." In fact, the declaration of a "state of emergency" with all the ensuing consequences.
Order to arrest the leaders of the KKE.
At the beginning of March, Thälmann was arrested, the Reichsbanner (Iron Front) militant organization of the Social Democrats was banned, first in Thuringia, and by the end of the month in all German states.
On March 21, a presidential decree "On Betrayal" is issued, directed against statements that harm "the well-being of the Reich and the reputation of the government", "emergency courts" are created. The name of the concentration camps is mentioned for the first time. More than 100 of them will be created by the end of the year.
At the end of March, a law on the death penalty is issued. Introduced the death penalty by hanging.
March 31 - the first law on the deprivation of the rights of individual lands. Dissolution of Land Parliaments. (Except the Prussian Parliament.)
April 1 - "boycott" of Jewish citizens.
April 4 - the ban on free leaving the country. Introduction of special "visas".
April 7 - the second law on the deprivation of land rights. Return of all titles and orders canceled in 1919. The law on the status of "bureaucracy", the return of its former rights. Persons of "unreliable" and "non-Aryan origin" were excluded from the corps of "officials".
April 14 - expulsion of 15 percent of professors from universities and other educational institutions.
April 26 - Creation of the Gestapo.
May 2 - the appointment in certain lands of "imperial governors" subordinate to Hitler (in most cases, former Gauleiters).
May 7 - "purge" among writers and artists.
Publishing "blacklists" of "not (truly) German writers". Confiscation of their books in shops and libraries. The number of banned books - 12409, banned authors - 141.
May 10 - Public burning of prohibited books in Berlin and other university cities.
June 21 - the inclusion of the "Steel Helmet" in the SA.
June 22 - the ban of the Social Democratic Party, arrests of the functionaries of this party still at large.
June 25 - The introduction of Goering's control over theatrical plans in Prussia.
From June 27 to July 14 - the self-dissolution of all parties that have not yet been banned. Prohibition of the creation of new parties. The actual establishment of a one-party system. Law on the deprivation of all emigrants of German citizenship. Hitler's greetings are becoming mandatory for civil servants.
August 1 - waiver of the right of pardon in Prussia. Immediate enforcement of sentences. Introduction of the guillotine.
August 25 - A list of persons deprived of citizenship is published, among them - communists, socialists, liberals, representatives of the intelligentsia.
September 1 - the opening in Nuremberg of the "Congress of Winners", the next congress of the NSDAP.
September 22 - Law on "Imperial Cultural Guilds" - states of writers, artists, musicians. A de facto ban on the publication, performance, exhibitions of all those who are not members of the chamber.
November 12 - elections to the Reichstag on the one-party system. Referendum on Germany's withdrawal from the League of Nations.
November 24 - the law "On the detention of repeat offenders after they have served their sentence."
Political prisoners are meant "recidivists".
December 1 - the law "on ensuring the unity of the party and the state." Personal union between party fuehrer and major state functionaries.
December 16 - the mandatory permission of the authorities for parties and trade unions (extremely powerful during the Weimar Republic), democratic institutions and rights are completely forgotten: freedom of the press, freedom of conscience, freedom of movement, freedom of strikes, meetings, demonstrations. Finally, creative freedom. From the rule of law Germany has turned into a country of total lawlessness. Any citizen, for any libel, without any legal sanctions, could be imprisoned in a concentration camp and kept there forever. For a year, the "lands" (regions) in Germany, which had great rights, were completely deprived of them.
But what about the economy? Even before 1933, Hitler said: "Do you really think I am so insane that I want to destroy German large-scale industry? Entrepreneurs have won a leading position due to their business qualities. And on the basis of selection that proves their pure race (!), They have the right to primacy ". During the same 1933 year, Hitler gradually prepared to subjugate both industry and finance, to make them an appendage of his military-political authoritarian state.
The military plans, which he at the first stage, the stage of the "national revolution", concealed even from his inner circle, dictated his own laws - it was necessary to arm Germany to the teeth as soon as possible. And this required super-intense and purposeful work, investment in certain industries. Creation of a complete economic "autarchy" (that is, a system of economy that produces everything that is necessary for itself and consumes it itself).
As early as the first third of the 20th century, capitalist economy was striving to establish widely ramified world ties, to the division of labor, etc.
The fact remains: Hitler wanted to control the economy, and thus gradually curtailed the rights of owners, introduced something like state capitalism.
On March 16, 1933, that is, a month and a half after coming to power, Schacht was appointed chairman of the Reich Bank of Germany. "Own" man will now be in charge of finances, seek gigantic sums to finance the war economy. It was not for nothing that in 1945 Schacht sat down in the dock in Nuremberg, although the department had left before the war.
On July 15, the General Council of the German Economy is convened: 17 large industrialists, agrarians, bankers, representatives of trade firms and the NSDAP apparatchiks - issue a law on the "compulsory association of enterprises" in cartels. Some of the enterprises "join", in other words, are absorbed by larger concerns. This was followed by: Goering's "four-year plan", the creation of a super-powerful state concern "Hermann Goering-werke", the transfer of the entire economy to a war footing, and at the end of Hitler's reign and the transfer of large military orders to Himmler's department, which had millions of prisoners, and therefore , free labor. Of course, we must not forget that large monopolies profited immensely under Hitler - in the early years at the expense of "arized" enterprises (expropriated firms in which Jewish capital participated), and later at the expense of factories, banks, raw materials and other valuables seized from other countries. ...
Yet the economy was controlled and regulated by the state. And immediately there were failures, imbalances, lag light industry etc.
By the summer of 1934, Hitler was facing serious opposition within the ranks of his party. "Old fighters" assault squads The SA, led by E. Rem, demanded more radical social reforms, called for a "second revolution" and insisted on the need to strengthen their role in the army. German generals opposed such radicalism and the SA's claims to the leadership of the army. Hitler, who needed the support of the army and himself feared the uncontrollability of the attack aircraft, opposed his former comrades-in-arms. Accusing Rem of preparing the assassination of the Fuhrer, he staged a bloody massacre on June 30, 1934 ("Night of the Long Knives"), during which several hundred SA leaders were killed, including Rem. Strasser, von Kar, former Reich Chancellor General Schleicher and other figures were physically destroyed. Hitler acquired absolute power over Germany.
Soon, army officers swore allegiance not to the constitution or to the country, but to Hitler personally. The Chief Justice of Germany declared that "the law and the constitution are the will of our Fuehrer." Hitler sought not only legal, political and social dictatorship. "Our revolution," he once emphasized, "will not end until we dehumanize people."
It is known that the Nazi leader wanted to start a world war already in 1938. Prior to that, he was able to "peacefully" annex large territories to Germany. In particular, in 1935 the Saar region with the help of a plebiscite. The plebiscite turned out to be a brilliant trick of Hitler's diplomacy and propaganda. 91 percent of the population voted to "join." It is possible that the voting results were falsified.
Western politicians, contrary to elementary common sense, began to give up one position after another. Already in 1935, Hitler concluded with England the notorious "agreement on the fleet", which gave the Nazis the opportunity to openly create warships... In the same year, general conscription was introduced in Germany. On March 7, 1936, Hitler ordered the occupation of the demilitarized Rhineland. The West was silent, although it could not help but see that the dictator's appetites were growing.
The second World War.
In 1936, the Nazis intervened in the Spanish Civil War - Franco was their protégé. The West admired order in Germany, sending its athletes and fans to the Olympics.
And this after the "night of long knives" - the murders of Rem and his stormtroopers, after the Leipzig trial of Dimitrov and after the adoption of the notorious Nuremberg Laws, which turned the Jewish population of Germany into pariahs!
Finally, in 1938, as part of intensive preparations for war, Hitler carried out another "rotation" - he expelled the Minister of War Blomberg and the Supreme Commander of the Army Fritsch, and also replaced the professional diplomat von Neurath with the Nazi Ribbentrop.
On March 11, 1938, Nazi troops entered Austria with a victorious march. The Austrian government was intimidated and demoralized. The operation to seize Austria was called "Anschluss", which means "annexation". And finally, the culminating point of 1938 was the capture of Czechoslovakia as a result of the Munich Agreement, that is, in fact, with the consent and approval of the then British Prime Minister Chamberlain and French Daladier, as well as Germany's ally, fascist Italy.
In all these actions, Hitler acted not as a strategist, not as a tactician, not even as a politician, but as a player who knew that his partners in the West were ready for all kinds of concessions. He studied the weaknesses of the strong, constantly spoke to them about the world, flattered, cunning, and intimidated and suppressed those who were unsure of himself.
On March 15, 1939, the Nazis captured Czechoslovakia and announced the creation of a so-called protectorate in Bohemia and Moravia.
On August 23, 1939, Hitler signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, thereby securing a free hand in Poland.
On September 1, 1939, the German army invaded Poland, which was the start of World War II. Hitler assumed command of the armed forces and imposed his own plan of warfare, despite strong resistance from the army leadership, in particular, the chief of the general staff of the army, General L. Beck, who insisted that Germany did not have enough forces to defeat the allies (England and France), who declared war on Hitler. After Hitler's attack on Poland, England and France declared war on Germany. The outbreak of World War II dates back to September 1, 1939.
After the declaration of war by France and England, Hitler captured half of Poland in 18 days, utterly defeating its army. The Polish state was unable to fight one on one with the powerful German Wehrmacht. The first stage of the war in Germany was called a "sit-down" war, and in other countries - "strange" or even "funny". All this time, Hitler remained master of the situation. The "funny" war ended on April 9, 1940, when Nazi troops invaded Denmark and Norway. On May 10, Hitler began a campaign to the West: the Netherlands and Belgium were his first victims. In six weeks, the Nazi Wehrmacht defeated France, defeated and pinned the British expeditionary corps to the sea. The armistice was signed by Hitler in the saloon carriage of Marshal Foch, in the forest near Compiegne, that is, in the very place where Germany surrendered in 1918. Blitzkrieg - Hitler's dream - came true.
Western historians now admit that in the first stage of the war, the Nazis won political rather than military victories.
But no army was even remotely as motorized as the German army. The gambler Hitler felt, as they wrote then, "the greatest commanders of all times and peoples", as well as "an amazing visionary in technical and tactical terms" ... "the creator of modern armed forces" (Jodl).
Let us remember that it was impossible to object to Hitler, that he was only allowed to glorify and deify. The High Command of the Wehrmacht became, as one researcher aptly put it, into "the Fuehrer's office." The results were not slow to show themselves: an atmosphere of super-euphoria reigned in the army.
Were there generals who openly contradicted Hitler? Of course not. Nevertheless, it is known that during the war, three high commanders of the armies, four chiefs of the general staff (the fifth - Krebs - died in Berlin along with Hitler), 14 out of 18 field marshals of the ground forces, were retired, falling out of favor, or were removed, 21 of 37 colonel generals.
Of course, not a single normal generals, that is, generals not in a totalitarian state, would not allow such a terrible defeat as Germany suffered.
Hitler's main task was to conquer the "living space" in the East, crush "Bolshevism" and enslave the "world Slavs".
The English historian Trevor-Roper convincingly showed that from 1925 until his death, Hitler never for a second doubted that the great peoples of the Soviet Union could be turned into silent slaves, ruled by the German overseers, the "Aryans" from the ranks of the SS. Here is what Trevor-Roper writes about this: “After the war, you often hear the words that the Russian campaign was a big“ mistake ”of Hitler. And England could never have expelled the Germans from there.This point of view I cannot share, it proceeds from the fact that Hitler would not have been Hitler!
For Hitler, the Russian campaign was never a collateral military scam, a private foray for important sources of raw materials, or an impulsive move in a chess game that looks almost drawn. The Russian campaign decided whether or not to be National Socialism. And this campaign has become not only mandatory, but also urgent. "
Hitler's program was translated into the military language - "Plan Barbarossa" and into the language of the occupation policy - "Plan Ost".
The German people, according to Hitler's theory, were humiliated by the victors in the First World War and in the conditions that arose after the war could not successfully develop and fulfill the mission prescribed by history.
To develop the national culture and increase the sources of power, he needed to acquire additional permanent space. And since there were no free lands, they should have been taken where the population density is low and the land is used irrationally. Such an opportunity for the German nation was available only in the East, at the expense of territories inhabited by peoples less racially valuable than the Germans, primarily the Slavs. The seizure of a new living space in the East and the enslavement of the peoples living there were considered by Hitler as a prerequisite and starting point for the struggle for world domination.
The first major defeat of the Wehrmacht in the winter of 1941/1942 near Moscow had a strong impact on Hitler. The chain of his successive victorious campaigns of conquest was interrupted. According to the testimony of Colonel-General Jodl, who during the war years communicated with Hitler more than anyone else, in December 1941, the Fuhrer lost his inner confidence in a German victory, and the catastrophe at Stalingrad convinced him even more of the inevitability of defeat. But this could only be guessed by some peculiarities in his behavior and actions. He himself never told anyone about this. Ambition did not allow him to admit to the collapse of his own plans. He continued to convince everyone who surrounded him, the entire German people of the inevitable victory and demanded that they make as much effort as possible to achieve it. On his instructions, measures were taken to total mobilization of the economy and human resources. Disregarding reality, he ignored all the advice of experts that went against his instructions.
The stop of the Wehrmacht in front of Moscow in December 1941 and the subsequent counteroffensive caused confusion among many German generals. Hitler ordered to stubbornly defend each line and not to withdraw from their positions without orders from above. This decision saved the German army from collapse, but it also had its own reverse side... It assured Hitler of its own military leadership genius, of its superiority over the generals. Now he believed that by assuming direct leadership of military operations on the Eastern Front instead of the retired Brauchitsch, he would be able to achieve victory over Russia as early as 1942. But the crushing defeat at Stalingrad, which became the most sensitive for the Germans in World War II, stunned the Fuhrer.
Since 1943, all of Hitler's activities were virtually limited to current military problems. He no longer made far-reaching political decisions.
Almost all the time he was at his headquarters, surrounded only by the closest military advisers. Hitler nevertheless spoke to the people, although he showed less interest in their situation and moods.
Unlike other tyrants and conquerors, Hitler committed crimes not only for political and military reasons, but for personal reasons. Hitler's victims numbered in the millions. On his instructions, a whole system of extermination was created, a kind of conveyor for killing people, eliminating and disposing of their remains. He was guilty of the mass extermination of people on ethnic, racial, social and other grounds, which is qualified by lawyers as crimes against humanity.
Many of Hitler's crimes were not connected with the protection of the national interests of Germany and the German people, were not caused by military necessity. On the contrary, they even undermined the military power of Germany to some extent. For example, to carry out massacres in the Nazi death camps, Hitler kept tens of thousands of SS men in the rear. Of these, it was possible to create more than one division and thereby strengthen the troops of the army in the field. The delivery of millions of prisoners to death camps required an enormous amount of railroad and other transport, and it could be used for military purposes.
In the summer of 1944, he considered it possible, staunchly holding positions on the Soviet-German front, to thwart the invasion of Europe, which was being prepared by the Western allies, and then use the situation favorable for Germany to reach an agreement with them. But this plan was not destined to come true. The Germans did not succeed in throwing the Anglo-American troops that had landed in Normandy at sea. They managed to hold the captured bridgehead, concentrate huge forces there and, after careful preparation, break through the front of the German defense. The Wehrmacht did not keep its positions in the east either. Especially major disaster occurred in the central sector of the Eastern Front, where the German Army Group Center was completely defeated, and Soviet troops began to advance alarmingly towards the German borders.
Hitler's last year.
The failed attempt on Hitler's life on July 20, 1944, committed by a group of opposition-minded German officers, was used by the Fuhrer as a pretext for the all-encompassing mobilization of human and material resources to continue the war. By the fall of 1944, Hitler managed to stabilize the front that had begun to fall apart in the east and west, restore many of the defeated formations and form a number of new ones. He again thinks about how to cause a crisis in his opponents. In the West, he believed, it would be easier to do this. The idea that appeared to him was embodied in a plan for a German performance in the Ardennes.
From a military point of view, this offensive was a gamble. It could not cause significant damage to the military power of the Western allies, much less cause a turning point in the war. But Hitler was primarily interested in political results.
He wanted to show the leaders of the United States and England that he still had enough strength to continue the war, and now he decided to shift the main efforts from east to west, which meant weakening resistance in the east and the emergence of the danger of occupation of Germany by Soviet troops. With an unexpected demonstration of German military power on the Western Front, while simultaneously displaying a readiness to accept defeat in the East, Hitler hoped to arouse fear among the Western powers about the possible transformation of all of Germany into a Bolshevik bastion in the center of Europe. Hitler also hoped to force them to start separate negotiations with the existing regime in Germany, to make a certain compromise with it. He believed that Western democracies would prefer Nazi Germany over communist.
However, all these calculations did not come true. The Western Allies, although they experienced some shocks from the unexpected German offensive, did not want to have anything in common with Hitler and the regime he led. They continued to work closely with the Soviet Union, which helped them out of the crisis caused by the Wehrmacht's Ardennes operation by launching an offensive from the Vistula line ahead of schedule.
By the middle of the spring of 1945, Hitler no longer had any hope of a miracle. On April 22, 1945, he decided not to leave the capital, stay in his bunker and commit suicide. He was no longer interested in the fate of the German people.
The Germans, Hitler believed, were unworthy of such a "genius leader" as he was, therefore they had to perish and give way to stronger and more viable nations. In the last days of April, Hitler was concerned only with the question of his own destiny. He was afraid of the judgment of the peoples for the crimes committed. He received with horror the news of the shooting of Mussolini along with his mistress and the mockery of their corpses in Milan. Such an end terrified him. Hitler was in an underground bunker in Berlin, refusing to leave it: he did not go either to the front or to inspect the cities of Germany destroyed by Allied aircraft. On April 15, Hitler was joined by Eva Braun, his mistress for over 12 years. At the time when he was on his way to power, this connection was not advertised, but as the end approached, he allowed Eva Braun to appear with him in public. In the early morning of April 29, they were married.
Having dictated a political testament, in which the future leaders of Germany called for a merciless struggle against the "poisoners of all nations - international Jewry", Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945, and their corpses were burned by Hitler's order in the garden of the Reich Chancellery, next to the bunker where the Fuhrer spent the last months of my life.
In 1923 Hitler decided that he could fulfill his promise to go "march on Berlin" and overthrow the "Jewish-Marxist traitors." While preparing for him, he met the war hero General E. Ludendorff. On the night of November 8, 1923, in the Munich beer hall "Bürgerbreukeller", Hitler proclaimed the beginning of a "national revolution." The next day, Hitler, Ludendorff and other party leaders led a Nazi column towards the city center. They were blocked by a police cordon who opened fire on the demonstrators; Hitler escaped. The Beer Hall Putsch failed.
Brought to trial for high treason, Hitler turned the dock into a propaganda rostrum; he accused the President of the Republic of treason and vowed that the day would come when he would bring his accusers to justice. Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released from Landsberg Prison less than a year later. In prison, he ate breakfast in bed, walked in the garden, lectured prisoners, drew cartoons for the prison newspaper. Hitler dictated the first volume of the book containing his political program, calling it Four and a half years of struggle against lies, stupidity and cowardice. Later it was published under the name Mein Kampf, sold in millions of copies and made Hitler a rich man.
In December 1924, after his release from prison, Hitler went to Obersalzberg, a mountain range above the village of Berchtesgaden, where he lived in hotels for several years, and in 1928 rented a villa, which he later bought and named "Berghof".
Hitler reconsidered his plans and decided to come to power in a legal way. He reorganized the party and began an intense campaign to collect votes. In his speeches, Hitler repeated the same themes: to avenge the Treaty of Versailles, crush the "traitors to the Weimar Republic", destroy the Jews and communists, and revive the great fatherland.
In a situation of economic crisis and political instability of 1930-1933, Hitler's promises attracted members of all social strata of Germany. He enjoyed particular success with World War I veterans and representatives of small business, as these groups were especially acutely affected by the humiliation of defeat, the threat of communism, fear of unemployment and felt the need for a strong leader. With the assistance of W. Funk, the former publisher of the Berliner Börsenzeitung, Hitler began to meet with major German industrialists. Senior army officials also received assurances that the army would have a very prominent place in his model of German imperialism. A third important source of support was the Landbund, which united landowners and fiercely opposed the Weimar government's proposal for land redistribution.
The 1932 presidential election was seen by Hitler as a test of the party's strength. His rival was Field Marshal P. von Hindenburg, supported by the Social Democrats, the Catholic Center Party and trade unions. Two more parties took part in the struggle - the nationalists, led by the army officer T. Düsterberg, and the communists, led by E. Thälmann. Hitler waged a vigorous mass campaign and collected more than 30% of the vote, which robbed Hindenburg of the necessary absolute majority.
The actual "seizure of power" by Hitler became possible as a result of a political conspiracy with the former chancellor F. von Papen. Meeting in secrecy on January 4, 1933, they agreed to work together in the government, in which Hitler was to become chancellor, and von Papen's supporters received key ministerial posts. In addition, they agreed to remove the Social Democrats, Communists and Jews from the leading positions. Von Papen's support brought the Nazi Party and substantial financial assistance from the German business community. On January 30, 1933, the "Bavarian corporal" became chancellor, swearing an oath to defend the constitution of the Weimar Republic. V next year Hitler assumed the title of Fuehrer (leader) and Chancellor of Germany.
Hitler sought to quickly consolidate his power and establish a "millennial Reich". In the first months of his reign, all political parties except the Nazi were banned, trade unions were disbanded, the entire population was embraced by Nazi-controlled unions, societies and groups. Hitler tried to convince the country of the danger of the "Red Terror". On the night of February 27, 1933, the Reichstag building caught fire. The Nazis blamed the communists and took full advantage of the trumped-up accusation in the elections, increasing their presence in the Reichstag.
By the summer of 1934, Hitler faced serious opposition within the ranks of his party. The "old fighters" of the SA assault detachments led by E. Rem demanded more radical social reforms, called for a "second revolution" and insisted on the need to strengthen their role in the army. German generals opposed such radicalism and the SA's claims to the leadership of the army. Hitler, who needed the support of the army and himself feared the uncontrollability of the attack aircraft, opposed his former comrades-in-arms. Accusing Rem of preparing the assassination of the Fuhrer, he staged a bloody massacre on June 30, 1934 ("night of the long knives"), during which several hundred SA leaders were killed, including Rem. Soon, army officers swore allegiance not to the constitution or to the country, but to Hitler personally. The Chief Justice of Germany declared that "the law and the constitution are the will of our Fuehrer."
Hitler sought not only legal, political and social dictatorship. "Our revolution," he once emphasized, "will not end until we dehumanize people." For this purpose, he established a secret police (Gestapo), created concentration camps, a ministry of public education and propaganda. The Jews, declared the worst enemies of humanity, were disenfranchised and publicly humiliated.
Having received dictatorial powers from the Reichstag, Hitler began preparations for war. Trampling on the Versailles Treaty, he restored universal military service, created powerful air Force... In 1936, he brought troops into the demilitarized Rhineland and refused to recognize the Locarno Treaties. Together with Mussolini, Hitler supported Franco in civil war in Spain and laid the foundations for the creation of the Rome - Berlin axis. He has undertaken aggressive diplomatic action against potential adversaries in both the west and east, whipping up international tensions. In 1938, as a result of the so-called. Anschluss, Austria was annexed to the Third Reich.
On September 29, 1938, Hitler, together with Mussolini, met in Munich with the Prime Minister of England Chamberlain and the Prime Minister of France Daladier; the parties agreed with the rejection of the Sudetenland (with the German-speaking population) from Czechoslovakia. In mid-October, German troops occupied the area, and Hitler began preparations for the next "crisis." On March 15, 1939, German troops occupied Prague, completing the absorption of Czechoslovakia.
In August 1939, Germany and the USSR, with rare cynicism on both sides, signed a non-aggression pact, which freed Hitler's hands in the east and gave him the opportunity to focus his efforts on the destruction of Europe.
On September 1, 1939, the German army invaded Poland, which marked the start of World War II. Hitler assumed command of the armed forces and imposed his own plan of warfare, despite strong resistance from the army leadership, in particular, the chief of the general staff of the army, General L. Beck, who insisted that Germany did not have enough forces to defeat the allies (England and France), who declared war on Hitler. After the capture of Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium and finally France, Hitler - not without hesitation - decided to invade England. In October 1940, he issued a directive for Operation Sea Lion, the codename for the invasion.
Hitler's plans included the conquest of the Soviet Union. Believing that the time had come, Hitler took steps to secure Japan's support in its conflict with the United States. He hoped that in this way he would keep America from interfering in the European conflict. Yet Hitler failed to convince the Japanese that the war with the USSR would be successful, and later he had to face the discouraging fact of the Soviet-Japanese neutrality pact.
On July 20, 1944, the last attempt to eliminate Hitler took place: a time bomb was detonated at his headquarters "Wolfsschanze" near Rastenburg. Salvation from imminent death strengthened him in the consciousness of his chosenness, he decided that the German nation would not perish as long as he remained in Berlin. British and American troops from the west and the Soviet army from the east were pulling together an encirclement around the German capital. Hitler was in an underground bunker in Berlin, refusing to leave it: he did not go either to the front or to inspect the cities of Germany destroyed by Allied aircraft. On April 15, Hitler was joined by Eva Braun, his mistress for over 12 years. At the time when he was on his way to power, this connection was not advertised, but as the end approached, he allowed Eva Braun to appear with him in public. In the early morning of April 29, they were married.
Having dictated a political testament, in which the future leaders of Germany called for a merciless struggle against the "poisoners of all nations - international Jewry", Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945.
Sergey Piskunov
hrono.info
Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in Braunau am Inn, located on the German-Austrian border, into a shoemaker's family. Hitler's family moved frequently, so he had to change four schools.
In 1905, the young man graduated from school in Linz, receiving an incomplete secondary education. With an outstanding artistic talent, he twice tried to enter the Vienna Academy of Arts. However, in both cases, Adolf Hitler, whose biography could have developed differently, was refused. In 1908, the young man's mother died. He moved to Vienna, where he lived very poorly, worked as an artist and writer, and was actively engaged in self-education.
World War I. NSDAP
With the outbreak of the First World War, Adolf voluntarily went to the front. In early 1914, he swore allegiance to Emperor Franz Joseph and King Ludwig III of Bavaria. During the war, Adolf received the rank of corporal and several awards.
In 1919, the founder of the German Workers' Party (DAP) A. Drexler invited Hitler to join them. After leaving the army, Adolf joined the party, taking responsibility for political propaganda. Soon, Hitler managed to transform the party into the National Socialist, renaming it the NSDAP. In 1921, a turning point occurred in Hitler's short biography - he led the workers' party. After the organization of the Bavarian putsch ("Beer putsch") in 1923, Hitler was arrested and sentenced to 5 years.
Political career
Having revived the NSDAP, in 1929 Hitler created the Hitlerjungen organization. In 1932, Adolf met his future wife, Eva Braun.
In the same year, Adolf put forward his candidacy in the elections, they began to reckon with him as an iconic political figure. In 1933, President Hydenburg appointed Hitler as Reich Chancellor (Prime Minister of Germany). Having received power in his hands, Adolf banned the activities of all parties except the Nazis, passed a law according to which he became a dictator with unlimited power for 4 years.
In 1934, Hitler took on the title of leader of the Third Reich. Assuming even more power for himself, he brought in SS guard units, established concentration camps, and modernized and armed the army.
The Second World War
In 1938, Hitler's troops captured Austria, and the western part of Czechoslovakia was annexed to Germany. In 1939, the capture of Poland began, marking the beginning of World War II. In June 1941, Germany attacked the USSR, headed by I. Stalin. In the first year, German troops occupied the Baltic states, Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova. In 1944 Soviet army managed to change the course of the war and take the offensive.
In early 1945, when German troops were defeated, the remnants of the army were managed from Hitler's bunker (underground shelter). Soon, Soviet troops surrounded Berlin.
Hitler's real surname was a subject of controversy among historians for several decades after the end of World War II. Many versions of the origin of the German bloody tyrant were considered. Disputes over the name of Hitler is a natural matter, because any scandalous fact related to famous person... In order to understand the nature of the various versions, it is necessary to recall the genealogy of Adolf Hitler.
The reasons for the disputes over the name of the German Fuhrer
The father of the Fuhrer of the Third Reich Hitler, Alois, was born in 1837. It was from this time that the "surname problem" of the future German dictator began. His mother was Maria-Anna Schicklgruber. If we talk modern language, this woman had the status of a single mother. At the time of the birth of her son, she was not married, so Alois, Adolf's father, was recorded in the mother's surname. Following this logic, Hitler's real name is Schicklgruber. Knowing that the Fuehrer, at least in his years of active political life, bore the name Hitler, we understand that the situation was not so simple.
Who was Adolf Hitler's grandfather?
Question about dear grandfather Hitler is also controversial. To understand the legitimacy of Hitler's having this particular surname, it is necessary to establish exactly who was the father of Alois. Here, the versions are different, because Maria-Anna in her youth led a rather dissolute lifestyle, so it is impossible to be 100% sure who is considered Adolf's grandfather. The most likely option is that poor miller Johann Georg Gidler should be recognized as the father of Alois (by the way, this is the most correct spelling of this surname). This man did not have his own home, he lived all his life in poverty. According to the testimony of some people, in the same period, Maria-Anna could meet with Johann Georg's brother, Nepomuk Güttler, who was 15 years younger. But this option is unlikely, because even Gidler himself recognized his paternity. If Alois's father is still not Gidler, but Nepomuk, then Hitler's real name could be Güttler.
Jewish version of the origin of Adolf Hitler
We all remember very well one of the fundamental points of the ideology of the Nazi party of the UDASP, which consisted in total hatred and the need to exterminate the Jewish people. The version that Hitler's father was Jewish appeared in the 1950s. It was expressed by the Governor-General of Poland in the period from 1939 to 1945. Hans France. He said in his memoirs that Hitler's mother worked for some time before his birth on the estate of the Jewish merchant Frankenberg. Of course, there is no evidence of a mother's love affair with this Jew, but still, according to Hans France, Hitler's real name must be Frankenberg.
Considering the likelihood of this version through the prism of the ideology of fascism and National Socialism, historians almost immediately rejected the possibility of the likelihood of such paternity in principle.
Schicklgruber becomes Hitler
In 1876, the Fuhrer's father, Alois, decided to change his surname. As we have already emphasized, at birth he was recorded by his mother's maiden name. He wore this surname until the age of 39. According to some reports, in 1876 Johann Gidler was still alive and officially recognized paternity. Other sources claim that Gidler had already died at that time.
How was the procedure for changing the name? Under the German law in force at that time, to confirm paternity, testimony of at least three persons who knew the father and mother of the person who changed the data in the information about the parents was required. Alois Schicklgruber found three such witnesses. The notary formalized the change of surname. We will not analyze the meaning of changing personal data, because this was a purely personal decision of Alois Hitler.
Adolf Hitler: real name and surname
The bloody German dictator was born on April 20, 1889. 13 years have passed since the introduction of changes to the records about the birth of his father. Undoubtedly, he could not bear the surname Schicklgruber in any way, although in the first editions of the great Soviet encyclopedia this man appears precisely as Adolf Schicklgruber. By the way, version Soviet historians about Hitler's surname was based on the fact that he put his grandmother's maiden name as a signature on his first drawings.
Today there is no dispute, because all historians are sure that Hitler's real name and surname correspond to the data that have forever remained in the history of the 20th century.
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