Adolf Hitler (Hitler: The Rise of Evil)

We follow **Adolf Hitler** through his early life, the deaths of his parents and his failure as an art student. In August 1914, at the outbreak of World War I, Hitler was living in Munich and voluntarily enlisted in the Bavarian Army. He was posted to the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 16, where he served as a dispatch runner on the Western Front in France and Belgium. On 15 October 1918, he was temporarily blinded in a mustard gas attack and was hospitalised in Pasewalk. While there, Hitler learned of Germany's defeat.

After World War I, Hitler returned to Munich and remained in the army. In July 1919 he was appointed Verbindungsmann (intelligence agent) of an Aufklärungskommando (reconnaissance unit) of the Reichswehr, assigned to influence other soldiers and to infiltrate the German Workers' Party (DAP). Party Chairman Anton Drexler was impressed with Hitler and asked him to join the party. Hitler was unsure whether to join or not but when he told his superior, he was told to join them.

To increase its appeal, the DAP changed its name to the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), known colloquially as the "Nazi Party"). Hitler designed the party's banner of a swastika in a white circle on a red background.

In June 1921, while Hitler was on a fundraising trip to Berlin, a mutiny broke out within the Nazi Party in Munich. Members of its executive committee wanted to merge with the Nuremberg-based German Socialist Party (DSP). Hitler returned to Munich on 11 July and angrily tendered his resignation. The committee members realised that the resignation of their leading public figure and speaker would mean the end of the party. Hitler announced he would rejoin on the condition that he would replace Drexler as party chairman, and that the party headquarters would remain in Munich. The committee agreed, and he rejoined the party. By the end of the month he was granted absolute powers as party chairman, replacing Drexler.

In 1922 Ernst Hanfstaengl attended one of Hitler's rallies. Hanfstaengl introduced himself to Hitler after the speech and began a close friendship and political association. Hanfstaengl introduced Hitler to Munich high society, including Hermann Göring, and helped polish his image.

In 1923, the Minister of Bavaria, Gustav Ritter von Kahr, urged on by his speechwriter, the journalist Fritz Gerlich, tries to outfox Hitler by convincing him that he is preparing to stage a military coup against the national government in Berlin and that Hitler must remain silent, or his party can play no part in it. Upon learning that the proposed putsch is merely a ruse, Hitler confronts Kahr at gunpoint and coerces him and his associates into supporting his own plan for a putsch. Ernst Röhm and the SA plan to take over the military barracks in preparation for a march on Berlin, but the attempted coup is quickly crushed. Hitler takes refuge at the Hanfstaengl home, almost resorting to suicide before Ernst's wife takes the gun from his hand.

Arrested by the authorities and tried for treason, Hitler manages to use the trial to his advantage, winning over the audience and the judge with his courtroom theatrics. Consequently, he is awarded a lenient sentence in Landsberg Prison, where he writes his memoirs (later published as Mein Kampf). In 1925, Hitler goes to the countryside to escape from politics and is joined by his older half-sister, Angela, and her daughter, Geli Raubal. When he returns to Munich, Hitler takes Geli with him but, distraught by his overbearing control of her life, she commits suicide.

Eschewing revolution, Hitler now demands that the party follow a democratic course to power. That declaration puts him into conflict with Röhm, but Hitler's demand for complete subordination of the party to himself as Führer wins the approval of most others, including an impressionable young agitator named Joseph Goebbels. During the late 1920s, the party's political fortunes improve, with the National Socialists gaining more and more seats in the Reichstag with each election. Alarmed by the party's growing popularity, Gerlich continues to write articles in opposition to Hitler and, when the paper's editor fires him, forms his own newspaper.

In 1932, Hitler becomes a German citizen and runs for president against the incumbent, Paul von Hindenburg. Although he is unsuccessful, the party has become the largest in the Reichstag, which emboldens Hitler to demand that he be made Chancellor of Germany. Though Hindenburg despises Hitler, the former Chancellor Franz von Papen helps bring that about in 1933. Later, the Reichstag building is set on fire, allegedly by a communist, and Hitler uses the incident to have parliament award him dictatorial powers, which include suspension of civil liberties and suppression of the press. As a consequence, Gerlich's newspaper is shut down and he is arrested by the SA and sent to a concentration camp.

Germany now becomes a police state, and Hitler crushes all his opponents, both inside and outside the party, which sees Röhm being shot and the SA greatly reduced. After Hindenburg's death in August 1934, Hitler combines the office of president and chancellor into one, finally making him the ultimate ruler of Germany.

## Awards

* Golden Party Badge
* Iron Cross 1st Class (WW1)
* Iron Cross 2nd Class (WW1)
* Wound Badge (Black) (WW1)

## Notes

* He is a fictional portrayal of the real Adolf Hitler.[1]
* In some WW1 scenes he is seen carrying a Karabiner 98k, this is anachronistic as this rifle did not become active until June 1935.