ADOLF HITLER

1. ADOLF HITLER By Augusto Diedrich

2. Hitler’s Childhood Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in Braunau-am-Inn, Austria Adolf Hitler, the human tornado that swept across the German countryside, was born on Easter Sunday, April 20, 1889, in the Austria village of Braunau. Because the town is located on the Inn River, it is called Braunau-am-Inn.Hitler’s mother Klara Polzl, was quiet, simple country girl, 23 years younger than her husband, Alois Chicklgruber, who had been married twice before. Klara was the nursemaid to Alois’s children when she became pregnant by him. A short time later, on January 27, 1885, the two were married. But the child she carried, and two more, died before Hitler was born. Her babies death were very hard on the kind Klara, and perhaps for this reason, she showered Adolf with affection.

3. The Nazis Storm To Power On Feb. 27 the Reichstag-the Berlin building that was a home to the German legislature-burned to the ground. There were rumors that the communist had set the fire; others said Hitler was responsible. While the stories swirled, the Nazis used the fire to their advantage. The next day, under pressure from Hitler, President Hindenburg issued what were called Emergency Decrees for the Defense of Nation and State. These additional decrees made Hitler a dictator and gave his police the power to control the streets and public gathering places. The elections Hitler demanded were held in March, and although nearly nine of every ten voters took part, the NSDAP received less than half the votes. Nevertheless, this slim plurality (more votes than any other party) was enough to keep the Nazis in power. Immediately Hitler made Josef Goebbels his minister of propaganda and soon named Baldur von Schirach to lead the Hitlerjugend, the Hitler youth. That same month the Nazis opened the first of their many notorious concentration camps. Dachau- named for the Bavarian town near Munich where it was located-became one of the largest and most horrible of the camps. Habitual criminals, along with anyone who posed a threat to Hitler’s goals or ideas-particularly his political enemies-could be sent here to do slave labor. Over the next 12 years, until it was liberated by American troops in 1945, thousands of people died under Dachau’s brutal, inhumane conditions. Only 2 months had passed since he became chancellor, but already Adolf Hitler held tremendous power. On April 1 he issued a boycott of all Jewish businesses, demanding that Germans not buy from shops owned or run by Jews. Anyone Who Buys From A Jew Is A Traitor! Read signs posted all around the Reich.

4. The Nazis Storm To Power (cont.) Buy Only At German Shops! The boycott lasted just one day, but it caught the attention of the world and struck fear in the heart of Germany’s Jews. The following month propaganda minister Josef Goebbels urged students across the country to burn books the government considered un-German. Naturally these included Jewish authors and others who disagreed with the Nazi ideas. IN Berlin on the night of May 11, musicians from SS and SA bands marched in a torchlight parade while twenty thousand books were burned at a huge bonfire in the center of the city. Hitler’s powerful propaganda machine was workink its magic on the country. By the end of 1933 polls showed that 95 % of the German people approved of Nazi policies. But unrest was brewing within the party. Hitler was upset By the increasing size and demands of the SA, Which threatened to become too powerful for him to control. Making clear the position he wanted the SA to hold, Hitler announced, “The Reichswehr [the German army] is the sole bearer of arms of the nation; the SA is responsible for the political education of the people.” This was not what SA leader Ernst Rohm wanted to hear. He thought his four million-member force should be the true army of Nazi Germany. Sensing Rohms dissatisfaction., and recognizing the power he held, Hitler took steps to get rid of him, along with his followers. The Night of the Long Knives, which actually took place in broad daylight and was fought with guns , began on June 30, 1934. The order from Chancellor Adolf Hitler to the SS read: “Bring in Ernst Rohm, dead or alive.”

5. Hitler Claims Total Power Hitler invaded almost all of Europe. Like the invasion of Poland was the spark of WWII. Germany invaded other countries in Europe like France, Belgium, Austria-Hungary, and Holland, etc. Germany got help from Italy and Spain to invade a lot of Europe. Then U.S. came in and ruined Germanys plans for total control over Europe. Then Hitler and his wife killed themselves no one knew how they killed themselves. After that Russian troops came marching in Berlin and Germany surrendered.