Hitler

## Rise to power

Main article: Adolf Hitler's rise to power

### Brüning administration

The Great Depression provided a political opportunity for Hitler. Germans were ambivalent about the parliamentary republic, which faced challenges from right- and left-wing extremists. The moderate political parties were increasingly unable to stem the tide of extremism, and the German referendum of 1929 helped to elevate Nazi ideology. The elections of September 1930 resulted in the break-up of a grand coalition and its replacement with a minority cabinet. Its leader, chancellor Heinrich Brüning of the Centre Party, governed through emergency decrees from President Paul von Hindenburg. Governance by decree became the new norm and paved the way for authoritarian forms of government. The Nazi Party rose from obscurity to win 18.3 per cent of the vote and 107 parliamentary seats in the 1930 election, becoming the second-largest party in parliament.
Hitler and Nazi Party treasurer Franz Xaver Schwarz at the dedication of the renovation of the Palais Barlow on Brienner Straße in Munich into the Brown House headquarters, December 1930
Hitler made a prominent appearance at the trial of two Reichswehr officers, Lieutenants Richard Scheringer and Hanns Ludin, in late 1930. Both were charged with membership in the Nazi Party, at that time illegal for Reichswehr personnel. The prosecution argued that the Nazi Party was an extremist party, prompting defence lawyer Hans Frank to call on Hitler to testify. On 25 September 1930, Hitler testified that his party would pursue political power solely through democratic elections, which won him many supporters in the officer corps.

Brüning's austerity measures brought little economic improvement and were extremely unpopular. Hitler exploited this by targeting his political messages specifically at people who had been affected by the inflation of the 1920s and the Depression, such as farmers, war veterans, and the middle class.

Although Hitler had terminated his Austrian citizenship in 1925, he did not acquire German citizenship for almost seven years. This meant that he was stateless, legally unable to run for public office, and still faced the risk of deportation. On 25 February 1932, the interior minister of Brunswick, Dietrich Klagges, who was a member of the Nazi Party, appointed Hitler as administrator for the state's delegation to the Reichsrat in Berlin, making Hitler a citizen of Brunswick, and thus of Germany.

Hitler ran against Hindenburg in the 1932 presidential elections. A speech to the Industry Club in Düsseldorf on 27 January 1932 won him support from many of Germany's most powerful industrialists. Hindenburg had support from various nationalist, monarchist, Catholic, and republican parties, and some Social Democrats. Hitler used the campaign slogan "*Hitler über Deutschland*" ("Hitler over Germany"), a reference to his political ambitions and his campaigning by aircraft. He was one of the first politicians to use aircraft travel for political purposes, and used it effectively. Hitler came in second in both rounds of the election, garnering more than 35 per cent of the vote in the final election. Although he lost to Hindenburg, this election established Hitler as a strong force in German politics.

### Appointment as chancellor

Hitler, at the window of the Reich Chancellery, receives an ovation on the evening of his inauguration as chancellor, 30 January 1933
The absence of an effective government prompted two influential politicians, Franz von Papen and Alfred Hugenberg, along with several other industrialists and businessmen, to write a letter to Hindenburg. The signers urged Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as leader of a government "independent from parliamentary parties", which could turn into a movement that would "enrapture millions of people".

Hindenburg reluctantly agreed to appoint Hitler as chancellor after two further parliamentary elections – in July and November 1932 – had not resulted in the formation of a majority government. Hitler headed a short-lived coalition government formed by the Nazi Party (which had the most seats in the Reichstag) and Hugenberg's party, the German National People's Party (DNVP). On 30 January 1933, the new cabinet was sworn in during a brief ceremony in Hindenburg's office. The Nazi Party gained three posts: Hitler was named chancellor, Wilhelm Frick Minister of the Interior, and Hermann Göring Minister of the Interior for Prussia. Hitler had insisted on the ministerial positions as a way to gain control over the police in much of Germany.

### Reichstag fire and March elections

Main article: Reichstag fire

As chancellor, Hitler worked against attempts by the Nazi Party's opponents to build a majority government. Because of the political stalemate, he asked Hindenburg to again dissolve the Reichstag, and elections were scheduled for early March. On 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building was set on fire. Göring blamed a communist plot, because Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe was found in incriminating circumstances inside the burning building. Until the 1960s, some historians including William L. Shirer and Alan Bullock thought the Nazi Party itself was responsible; the current consensus of nearly all historians is that van der Lubbe actually set the fire alone. At Hitler's urging, Hindenburg responded by signing the Reichstag Fire Decree of 28 February, drafted by the Nazis, which suspended basic rights and allowed detention without trial. The decree was permitted under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, which gave the president the power to take emergency measures to protect public safety and order. Activities of the German Communist Party (KPD) were suppressed, and some 4,000 KPD members were arrested.

In addition to political campaigning, the Nazi Party engaged in paramilitary violence and the spread of anti-communist propaganda in the days preceding the election. On election day, 6 March 1933, the Nazi Party's share of the vote increased to 43.9 per cent, and the party acquired the largest number of seats in parliament. Hitler's party failed to secure an absolute majority, necessitating another coalition with the DNVP.

### Day of Potsdam and the Enabling Act

Main article: Enabling Act of 1933
Hitler and Paul von Hindenburg on the Day of Potsdam, 21 March 1933
On 21 March 1933, the new Reichstag was constituted with an opening ceremony at the Garrison Church in Potsdam. This "Day of Potsdam" was held to demonstrate unity between the Nazi movement and the old Prussian elite and military. Hitler appeared in a morning coat and humbly greeted Hindenburg.

To achieve full political control despite not having an absolute majority in parliament, Hitler's government brought the *Ermächtigungsgesetz* (Enabling Act) to a vote in the newly elected Reichstag. The Act – officially titled the *Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich* ("Law to Remedy the Distress of People and Reich") – gave Hitler's cabinet the power to enact laws without the consent of the Reichstag for four years. These laws could (with certain exceptions) deviate from the constitution. Since it would affect the constitution, the Enabling Act required a two-thirds majority to pass. Leaving nothing to chance, the Nazis used the provisions of the Reichstag Fire Decree to arrest all 81 Communist deputies (in spite of their virulent campaign against the party, the Nazis had allowed the KPD to contest the election) and prevent several Social Democrats from attending.

On 23 March 1933, the Reichstag assembled at the Kroll Opera House under turbulent circumstances. Ranks of SA men served as guards inside the building, while large groups outside opposing the proposed legislation shouted slogans and threats towards the arriving members of parliament. After Hitler verbally promised Centre party leader Ludwig Kaas that Hindenburg would retain his power of veto, Kaas announced the Centre Party would support the Enabling Act. The Act passed by a vote of 444–94, with all parties except the Social Democrats voting in favour. The Enabling Act, along with the Reichstag Fire Decree, transformed Hitler's government into a de facto legal dictatorship.

### Dictatorship

Having achieved full control over the legislative and executive branches of government, Hitler and his allies began to suppress the remaining opposition. The Social Democratic Party was banned and its assets seized. While many trade union delegates were in Berlin for May Day activities, SA stormtroopers occupied union offices around the country. On 2 May 1933, all trade unions were forced to dissolve and their leaders were arrested. Some were sent to concentration camps. The German Labour Front was formed as an umbrella organisation to represent all workers, administrators, and company owners, thus reflecting the concept of Nazism in the spirit of Hitler's *Volksgemeinschaft* ("people's community").
In 1934, Hitler became Germany's head of state with the title of *Führer und Reichskanzler* (leader and chancellor of the Reich).

By the end of June, the other parties had been intimidated into disbanding. This included the Nazis' nominal coalition partner, the DNVP; with the SA's help, Hitler forced its leader, Hugenberg, to resign on 29 June. On 14 July 1933, the Nazi Party was declared the only legal political party in Germany. The demands of the SA for more political and military power caused anxiety among military, industrial, and political leaders. In response, Hitler purged the entire SA leadership in the Night of the Long Knives, which took place from 30 June to 2 July 1934. Hitler targeted Ernst Röhm and other SA leaders who, along with a number of Hitler's political adversaries (such as Gregor Strasser and former chancellor Kurt von Schleicher), were rounded up, arrested, and shot. While the international community and some Germans were shocked by the murders, many in Germany believed Hitler was restoring order.

On 2 August 1934, Hindenburg died. The previous day, the cabinet had enacted the "Law Concerning the Highest State Office of the Reich". This law stated that upon Hindenburg's death, the office of president would be abolished and its powers merged with those of the chancellor. Hitler thus became head of state as well as head of government, and was formally named as *Führer und Reichskanzler* (leader and chancellor), although *Reichskanzler* was eventually quietly dropped. With this action, Hitler eliminated the last legal remedy by which he could be removed from office.

As head of state, Hitler became commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Immediately after Hindenburg's death, at the instigation of the leadership of the *Reichswehr*, the traditional loyalty oath of soldiers was altered to affirm loyalty to Hitler personally, by name, rather than to the office of commander-in-chief (which was later renamed to supreme commander) or the state. On 19 August, the merger of the presidency with the chancellorship was approved by 88 per cent of the electorate voting in a plebiscite.
Hitler's personal standard
In early 1938, Hitler used blackmail to consolidate his hold over the military by instigating the Blomberg–Fritsch affair. Hitler forced his War Minister, Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg, to resign by using a police dossier that showed that Blomberg's new wife had a record for prostitution. Army commander Colonel-General Werner von Fritsch was removed after the *Schutzstaffel* (SS) produced allegations that he had engaged in a homosexual relationship. Both men had fallen into disfavour because they objected to Hitler's demand to make the *Wehrmacht* ready for war as early as 1938. Hitler assumed Blomberg's title of Commander-in-Chief, thus taking personal command of the armed forces. He replaced the Ministry of War with the *Oberkommando der Wehrmacht* (OKW), headed by General Wilhelm Keitel. On the same day, sixteen generals were stripped of their commands and 44 more were transferred; all were suspected of not being sufficiently pro-Nazi. By early February 1938, twelve more generals had been removed.

Hitler took care to give his dictatorship the appearance of legality. Many of his decrees were explicitly based on the Reichstag Fire Decree and hence on Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution. The Reichstag renewed the Enabling Act twice, each time for a four-year period. While elections to the Reichstag were still held (in 1933, 1936, and 1938), voters were presented with a single list of Nazis and pro-Nazi "guests" which carried with well over 90 per cent of the vote. These elections were held in far-from-secret conditions; the Nazis threatened severe reprisals against anyone who did not vote or dared to vote no.

### Economy and culture

Main article: Economy of Nazi Germany
Ceremony honouring the dead (Totenehrung) on the terrace in front of the Hall of Honour (Ehrenhalle) at the Nazi party rally grounds, Nuremberg, September 1934
In August 1934, Hitler appointed *Reichsbank* President Hjalmar Schacht as Minister of Economics, and in the following year, as Plenipotentiary for War Economy in charge of preparing the economy for war. Reconstruction and rearmament were financed through Mefo bills, printing money, and seizing the assets of people arrested as enemies of the State, including Jews. Unemployment fell from six million in 1932 to one million in 1936. Hitler oversaw one of the largest infrastructure improvement campaigns in German history, leading to the construction of dams, autobahns, railroads, and other civil works. Wages were slightly lower in the mid to late 1930s compared with wages during the Weimar Republic, while the cost of living increased by 25 per cent. The average work week increased during the shift to a war economy; by 1939, the average German was working between 47 and 50 hours a week.

Hitler's government sponsored architecture on an immense scale. Albert Speer, instrumental in implementing Hitler's classicist reinterpretation of German culture, was placed in charge of the proposed architectural renovations of Berlin. Despite a threatened multi-nation boycott, Germany hosted the 1936 Olympic Games. Hitler officiated at the opening ceremonies and attended events at both the Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the Summer Games in Berlin.

### Rearmament and new alliances

Main articles: Axis powers, Tripartite Pact, and German re-armament

In a meeting with German military leaders on 3 February 1933, Hitler spoke of "conquest for *Lebensraum* in the East and its ruthless Germanisation" as his ultimate foreign policy objectives. In March, Prince Bernhard Wilhelm von Bülow, secretary at the Auswärtiges Amt (Foreign Office), issued a statement of major foreign policy aims: *Anschluss* with Austria, the restoration of Germany's national borders of 1914, rejection of military restrictions under the Treaty of Versailles, the return of the former German colonies in Africa, and a German zone of influence in Eastern Europe. Hitler found Bülow's goals to be too modest. In speeches during this period, he stressed the peaceful goals of his policies and a willingness to work within international agreements. At the first meeting of his cabinet in 1933, Hitler prioritised military spending over unemployment relief.
Benito Mussolini with Hitler on 25 October 1936, when the axis between Italy and Germany was declared.
Germany withdrew from the League of Nations and the World Disarmament Conference in October 1933. In January 1935, over 90 per cent of the people of the Saarland, then under League of Nations administration, voted to unite with Germany. That March, Hitler announced an expansion of the Wehrmacht to 600,000 members – six times the number permitted by the Versailles Treaty – including development of an air force (*Luftwaffe*) and an increase in the size of the navy (*Kriegsmarine*). Britain, France, Italy, and the League of Nations condemned these violations of the Treaty, but did nothing to stop it. The Anglo-German Naval Agreement (AGNA) of 18 June allowed German tonnage to increase to 35 per cent of that of the British navy. Hitler called the signing of the AGNA "the happiest day of his life", believing that the agreement marked the beginning of the Anglo-German alliance he had predicted in *Mein Kampf*. France and Italy were not consulted before the signing, directly undermining the League of Nations and setting the Treaty of Versailles on the path towards irrelevance.

Germany reoccupied the demilitarised zone in the Rhineland in March 1936, in violation of the Versailles Treaty. Hitler also sent troops to Spain to support General Franco during the Spanish Civil War after receiving an appeal for help in July 1936. At the same time, Hitler continued his efforts to create an Anglo-German alliance. In August 1936, in response to a growing economic crisis caused by his rearmament efforts, Hitler ordered Göring to implement a Four Year Plan to prepare Germany for war within the next four years. The plan envisaged an all-out struggle between "Judeo-Bolshevism" and German Nazism, which in Hitler's view required a committed effort of rearmament regardless of the economic costs.

In October 1936, Count Galeazzo Ciano, foreign minister of Mussolini's government, visited Germany, where he signed a Nine-Point Protocol as an expression of *rapprochement* and had a personal meeting with Hitler. On 1 November, Mussolini declared an "axis" between Germany and Italy. On 25 November, Germany signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan. Britain, China, Italy, and Poland were also invited to join the Anti-Comintern Pact, but only Italy signed in 1937. Hitler abandoned his plan of an Anglo-German alliance, blaming "inadequate" British leadership. At a meeting in the Reich Chancellery with his foreign ministers and military chiefs that November, Hitler restated his intention of acquiring *Lebensraum* for the German people. He ordered preparations for war in the East, to begin as early as 1938 and no later than 1943. In the event of his death, the conference minutes, recorded as the Hossbach Memorandum, were to be regarded as his "political testament". He felt that a severe decline in living standards in Germany as a result of the economic crisis could only be stopped by military aggression aimed at seizing Austria and Czechoslovakia. Hitler urged quick action before Britain and France gained a permanent lead in the arms race. In early 1938, in the wake of the Blomberg–Fritsch Affair, Hitler asserted control of the military-foreign policy apparatus, dismissing Neurath as foreign minister and appointing himself as War Minister. From early 1938 onwards, Hitler was carrying out a foreign policy ultimately aimed at war.

## World War II

Hitler and the Japanese foreign minister, Yōsuke Matsuoka, at a meeting in Berlin in March 1941. In the background is Joachim von Ribbentrop.

### Early diplomatic successes

#### Alliance with Japan

See also: Germany–Japan relations

In February 1938, on the advice of his newly appointed foreign minister, the strongly pro-Japanese Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hitler ended the Sino-German alliance with the Republic of China to instead enter into an alliance with the more modern and powerful Empire of Japan. Hitler announced German recognition of Manchukuo, the Japanese-occupied state in Manchuria, and renounced German claims to their former colonies in the Pacific held by Japan. Hitler ordered an end to arms shipments to China and recalled all German officers working with the Chinese Army. In retaliation, Chinese General Chiang Kai-shek cancelled all Sino-German economic agreements, depriving the Germans of many Chinese raw materials.

#### Austria and Czechoslovakia

October 1938: Hitler is driven through the crowd in Cheb (German: *Eger*), in the Sudetenland

On 12 March 1938, Hitler announced the unification of Austria with Nazi Germany in the *Anschluss*. Hitler then turned his attention to the ethnic German population of the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. On 28–29 March 1938, Hitler held a series of secret meetings in Berlin with Konrad Henlein of the Sudeten German Party, the largest of the ethnic German parties of the Sudetenland. The men agreed that Henlein would demand increased autonomy for Sudeten Germans from the Czechoslovakian government, thus providing a pretext for German military action against Czechoslovakia. In April 1938 Henlein told the foreign minister of Hungary that "whatever the Czech government might offer, he would always raise still higher demands ... he wanted to sabotage an understanding by any means because this was the only method to blow up Czechoslovakia quickly". In private, Hitler considered the Sudeten issue unimportant; his real intention was a war of conquest against Czechoslovakia.

In April Hitler ordered the OKW to prepare for *Fall Grün* (Case Green), the code name for an invasion of Czechoslovakia. As a result of intense French and British diplomatic pressure, on 5 September Czechoslovakian President Edvard Beneš unveiled the "Fourth Plan" for constitutional reorganisation of his country, which agreed to most of Henlein's demands for Sudeten autonomy. Henlein's party responded to Beneš' offer by instigating a series of violent clashes with the Czechoslovakian police that led to the declaration of martial law in certain Sudeten districts.

Germany was dependent on imported oil; a confrontation with Britain over the Czechoslovakian dispute could curtail Germany's oil supplies. This forced Hitler to call off *Fall Grün*, originally planned for 1 October 1938. On 29 September Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Édouard Daladier, and Mussolini attended a one-day conference in Munich that led to the Munich Agreement, which handed over the Sudetenland districts to Germany.

Chamberlain was satisfied with the Munich conference, calling the outcome "peace for our time", while Hitler was angered about the missed opportunity for war in 1938; he expressed his disappointment in a speech on 9 October in Saarbrücken. In Hitler's view, the British-brokered peace, although favourable to the ostensible German demands, was a diplomatic defeat which spurred his intent of limiting British power to pave the way for the eastern expansion of Germany. As a result of the summit, Hitler was selected *Time* magazine's Man of the Year for 1938.

In late 1938 and early 1939, the continuing economic crisis caused by rearmament forced Hitler to make major defence cuts. In his "Export or die" speech of 30 January 1939, he called for an economic offensive to increase German foreign exchange holdings to pay for raw materials such as high-grade iron needed for military weapons.

On 14 March 1939, under threat from Hungary, Slovakia declared independence and received protection from Germany. The next day, in violation of the Munich accord and possibly as a result of the deepening economic crisis requiring additional assets, Hitler ordered the Wehrmacht to invade the Czech rump state, and from Prague Castle he proclaimed the territory a German protectorate.

### Start of World War II

See also: Causes of World War II

In private discussions in 1939, Hitler declared Britain the main enemy to be defeated and that Poland's obliteration was a necessary prelude for that goal. The eastern flank would be secured and land would be added to Germany's *Lebensraum*. Offended by the British "guarantee" on 31 March 1939 of Polish independence, he said, "I shall brew them a devil's drink". In a speech in Wilhelmshaven for the launch of the battleship *Tirpitz* on 1 April, he threatened to denounce the Anglo-German Naval Agreement if the British continued to guarantee Polish independence, which he perceived as an "encirclement" policy. Poland was to either become a German satellite state or it would be neutralised in order to secure the Reich's eastern flank and prevent a possible British blockade. Hitler initially favoured the idea of a satellite state, but upon its rejection by the Polish government, he decided to invade and made this the main foreign policy goal of 1939. On 3 April, Hitler ordered the military to prepare for *Fall Weiss* ("Case White"), the plan for invading Poland on 25 August. In a Reichstag speech on 28 April, he renounced both the Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact. Historians such as William Carr, Gerhard Weinberg, and Ian Kershaw have argued that one reason for Hitler's rush to war was his fear of an early death. He had repeatedly claimed that he must lead Germany into war before he got too old, as his successors might lack his strength of will.

Hitler was concerned that a military attack against Poland could result in a premature war with Britain. Hitler's foreign minister and former Ambassador to London, Joachim von Ribbentrop, assured him that neither Britain nor France would honour their commitments to Poland. Accordingly, on 22 August 1939 Hitler ordered a military mobilisation against Poland.

This plan required tacit Soviet support, and the non-aggression pact (the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact) between Germany and the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, included a secret agreement to partition Poland between the two countries. Contrary to Ribbentrop's prediction that Britain would sever Anglo-Polish ties, Britain and Poland signed the Anglo-Polish alliance on 25 August 1939. This, along with news from Italy that Mussolini would not honour the Pact of Steel, prompted Hitler to postpone the attack on Poland from 25 August to 1 September. Hitler unsuccessfully tried to manoeuvre the British into neutrality by offering them a non-aggression guarantee on 25 August; he then instructed Ribbentrop to present a last-minute peace plan with an impossibly short time limit in an effort to blame the imminent war on British and Polish inaction.

On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded western Poland under the pretext of having been denied claims to the Free City of Danzig and the right to extraterritorial roads across the Polish Corridor, which Germany had ceded under the Versailles Treaty. In response, Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September, surprising Hitler and prompting him to angrily ask Ribbentrop, "Now what?" France and Britain did not act on their declarations immediately, and on 17 September, Soviet forces invaded eastern Poland.
Hitler reviews troops on the march during the campaign against Poland (September 1939).
The fall of Poland was followed by what contemporary journalists dubbed the "Phoney War" or *Sitzkrieg* ("sitting war"). Hitler instructed the two newly appointed Gauleiters of north-western Poland, Albert Forster of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia and Arthur Greiser of Reichsgau Wartheland, to Germanise their areas, with "no questions asked" about how this was accomplished. In Forster's area, ethnic Poles merely had to sign forms stating that they had German blood. In contrast, Greiser agreed with Himmler and carried out an ethnic cleansing campaign towards Poles. Greiser soon complained that Forster was allowing thousands of Poles to be accepted as "racial" Germans and thus endangered German "racial purity". Hitler refrained from getting involved. This inaction has been advanced as an example of the theory of "working towards the Führer", in which Hitler issued vague instructions and expected his subordinates to work out policies on their own.

Another dispute pitched one side represented by Heinrich Himmler and Greiser, who championed ethnic cleansing in Poland, against another represented by Göring and Hans Frank (governor-general of occupied Poland), who called for turning Poland into the "granary" of the Reich. On 12 February 1940, the dispute was initially settled in favour of the Göring–Frank view, which ended the economically disruptive mass expulsions. On 15 May 1940, Himmler issued a memo entitled "Some Thoughts on the Treatment of Alien Population in the East", calling for the expulsion of the entire Jewish population of Europe into Africa and the reduction of the Polish population to a "leaderless class of labourers". Hitler called Himmler's memo "good and correct", and, ignoring Göring and Frank, implemented the Himmler–Greiser policy in Poland.
Hitler visits Paris with architect Albert Speer (left) and sculptor Arno Breker (right), 23 June 1940
On 9 April, German forces invaded Denmark and Norway. On the same day Hitler proclaimed the birth of the Greater Germanic Reich, his vision of a united empire of Germanic nations of Europe in which the Dutch, Flemish, and Scandinavians were joined into a "racially pure" polity under German leadership. In May 1940, Germany attacked France, and conquered Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Belgium. These victories prompted Mussolini to have Italy join forces with Hitler on 10 June. France and Germany signed an armistice on 22 June. Kershaw notes that Hitler's popularity within Germany – and German support for the war – reached its peak when he returned to Berlin on 6 July from his tour of Paris. Following the unexpected swift victory, Hitler promoted twelve generals to the rank of field marshal during the 1940 Field Marshal Ceremony.

Britain, whose troops were forced to evacuate France by sea from Dunkirk, continued to fight alongside other British dominions in the Battle of the Atlantic. Hitler made peace overtures to the new British leader, Winston Churchill, and upon their rejection he ordered a series of aerial attacks on Royal Air Force airbases and radar stations in southeast England. On 7 September the systematic nightly bombing of London began. The German Luftwaffe failed to defeat the Royal Air Force in what became known as the Battle of Britain. By the end of September, Hitler realised that air superiority for the invasion of Britain (in Operation Sea Lion) could not be achieved, and ordered the operation postponed. The nightly air raids on British cities intensified and continued for months, including London, Plymouth, and Coventry.

On 27 September 1940, the Tripartite Pact was signed in Berlin by Saburō Kurusu of Imperial Japan, Hitler, and Italian foreign minister Ciano, and later expanded to include Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, thus yielding the Axis powers. Hitler's attempt to integrate the Soviet Union into the anti-British bloc failed after inconclusive talks between Hitler and Molotov in Berlin in November, and he ordered preparations for the invasion of the Soviet Union.
Boundaries of the Nazi planned Greater Germanic Reich
In early 1941, German forces were deployed to North Africa, the Balkans, and the Middle East. In February, German forces arrived in Libya to bolster the Italian presence. In April, Hitler launched the invasion of Yugoslavia, quickly followed by the invasion of Greece. In May, German forces were sent to support Iraqi forces fighting against the British and to invade Crete.

### Path to defeat

On 22 June 1941, contravening the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, over three million Axis troops attacked the Soviet Union. This offensive (codenamed Operation Barbarossa) was intended to destroy the Soviet Union and seize its natural resources for subsequent aggression against the Western powers. The invasion conquered a huge area, including the Baltic republics, Belarus, and West Ukraine. By early August, Axis troops had advanced 500 km (310 mi) and won the Battle of Smolensk. Hitler ordered Army Group Centre to temporarily halt its advance to Moscow and divert its Panzer groups to aid in the encirclement of Leningrad and Kiev. His generals disagreed with this change, having advanced within 400 km (250 mi) of Moscow, and his decision caused a crisis among the military leadership. The pause provided the Red Army with an opportunity to mobilise fresh reserves; historian Russel Stolfi considers it to be one of the major factors that caused the failure of the Moscow offensive, which was resumed in October 1941 and ended disastrously in December. During this crisis, Hitler appointed himself as head of the *Oberkommando des Heeres*.
Hitler announcing the declaration of war against the United States to the Reichstag on 11 December 1941
On 7 December 1941, Japan attacked the American fleet based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Four days later, Hitler declared war against the United States. On 18 December 1941, Himmler asked Hitler, "What to do with the Jews of Russia?", to which Hitler replied, *"als Partisanen auszurotten"* ("exterminate them as partisans"). Israeli historian Yehuda Bauer has commented that the remark is probably as close as historians will ever get to a definitive order from Hitler for the genocide carried out during the Holocaust.

In late 1942, German forces were defeated in the second battle of El Alamein, thwarting Hitler's plans to seize the Suez Canal and the Middle East. Overconfident in his own military expertise following the earlier victories in 1940, Hitler became distrustful of his Army High Command and began to interfere in military and tactical planning, with damaging consequences. In December 1942 and January 1943, Hitler's repeated refusal to allow their withdrawal at the Battle of Stalingrad led to the almost total destruction of the 6th Army. Over 200,000 Axis soldiers were killed and 235,000 were taken prisoner. Thereafter came a decisive strategic defeat at the Battle of Kursk. Hitler's military judgement became increasingly erratic, and Germany's military and economic position deteriorated, as did Hitler's health.
The destroyed map room at the Wolf's Lair, Hitler's eastern command post, after the 20 July plot
Following the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943, Mussolini was removed from power by King Victor Emmanuel III after a vote of no confidence of the Grand Council of Fascism. Marshal Pietro Badoglio, placed in charge of the government, soon surrendered to the Allies. Throughout 1943 and 1944, the Soviet Union steadily forced Hitler's armies into retreat along the Eastern Front. On 6 June 1944, the Western Allied armies landed in northern France in one of the largest amphibious operations in history, Operation Overlord. Many German officers concluded that defeat was inevitable and that continuing under Hitler's leadership would result in the complete destruction of the country.

Between 1939 and 1945, there were many plans to assassinate Hitler, some of which proceeded to significant degrees. The most well known, the 20 July plot of 1944, came from within Germany and was at least partly driven by the increasing prospect of a German defeat in the war. Part of Operation Valkyrie, the plot involved Claus von Stauffenberg planting a bomb in one of Hitler's headquarters, the Wolf's Lair at Rastenburg. Hitler narrowly survived because staff officer Heinz Brandt moved the briefcase containing the bomb behind a leg of the heavy conference table, which deflected much of the blast. Later, Hitler ordered savage reprisals resulting in the execution of more than 4,900 people.

According to British academic Dan Plesch, Hitler was put on the United Nations War Crimes Commission's first list of war criminals in December 1944, after determining that Hitler could be held criminally responsible for the acts of the Nazis in occupied countries. By March 1945 at least seven indictments had been filed against him.

### Defeat and death

Main article: Death of Adolf Hitler

By late 1944, both the Red Army and the Western Allies were advancing into Germany. Recognising the strength and determination of the Red Army, Hitler decided to use his remaining mobile reserves against the American and British troops, which he perceived as far weaker. On 16 December, he launched the Ardennes Offensive to incite disunity among the Western Allies and perhaps convince them to join his fight against the Soviets. After some temporary successes, the offensive failed. With much of Germany in ruins in January 1945, Hitler spoke on the radio: "However grave as the crisis may be at this moment, it will, despite everything, be mastered by our unalterable will." Acting on his view that Germany's military failures meant it had forfeited its right to survive as a nation, Hitler ordered the destruction of all German industrial infrastructure before it could fall into Allied hands. Minister for Armaments Albert Speer was entrusted with executing this scorched earth policy, but he secretly disobeyed the order. Hitler's hope to negotiate peace with the United States and Britain was encouraged by the death of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 12 April 1945, but contrary to his expectations, this caused no rift among the Allies.

On 20 April, his 56th birthday, Hitler made his last trip from the *Führerbunker* (Führer's shelter) to the surface. In the ruined garden of the Reich Chancellery, he awarded Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth, who were now fighting the Red Army at the front near Berlin. By 21 April, Georgy Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front had broken through the defences of General Gotthard Heinrici's Army Group Vistula during the Battle of the Seelow Heights and advanced to the outskirts of Berlin. In denial about the dire situation, Hitler placed his hopes on the undermanned and under-equipped *Armeeabteilung Steiner* (Army Detachment Steiner), commanded by Felix Steiner. Hitler ordered Steiner to attack the northern flank of the salient, while the German Ninth Army was ordered to attack northward in a pincer attack.

Hitler on 20 April 1945 in his last public appearance, in the garden of the Reich Chancellery, ten days before he and Eva Braun committed suicide.

Front page of the US Armed Forces newspaper, *Stars and Stripes*, 2 May 1945, announcing Hitler's death

During a military conference on 22 April, Hitler asked about Steiner's offensive. He was told that the attack had not been launched and that the Soviets had entered Berlin. Hitler asked everyone except Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Jodl, Hans Krebs, and Wilhelm Burgdorf to leave the room, then launched into a tirade against the treachery and incompetence of his commanders, culminating in his declaration – for the first time – that "everything was lost". He announced that he would stay in Berlin until the end and then shoot himself.

By 23 April the Red Army had surrounded Berlin, and Goebbels made a proclamation urging its citizens to defend the city. That same day, Göring sent a telegram from Berchtesgaden, arguing that since Hitler was isolated in Berlin, Göring should assume leadership of Germany. Göring set a deadline, after which he would consider Hitler incapacitated. Hitler responded by having Göring arrested, and in his last will and testament of 29 April, he removed Göring from all government positions. On 28 April Hitler discovered that Himmler, who had left Berlin on 20 April, was trying to negotiate a surrender to the Western Allies. He ordered Himmler's arrest and had Hermann Fegelein (Himmler's SS representative at Hitler's HQ in Berlin) shot.

After midnight on the night of 28–29 April, Hitler married Eva Braun in a small civil ceremony in the *Führerbunker*. Later that afternoon, Hitler was informed that Mussolini had been executed by the Italian resistance movement on the previous day; this presumably increased his determination to avoid capture.

On 30 April 1945, Soviet troops were within a block or two of the Reich Chancellery when Hitler shot himself in the head and Braun bit into a cyanide capsule. Their corpses were carried outside to the garden behind the Reich Chancellery, where they were placed in a bomb crater, doused with petrol, and set on fire as the Red Army shelling continued. Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz and Joseph Goebbels assumed Hitler's roles as head of state and chancellor respectively.

Berlin surrendered on 2 May. The remains of Joseph and Magda Goebbels, the six Goebbels children, General Hans Krebs, and Hitler's dogs were repeatedly buried and exhumed. Hitler and Braun's remains were alleged to have been moved as well, but this is most likely Soviet disinformation. There is no evidence that any actual bodily remains of Hitler or Braun – with the exception of the dental bridges – were found by the Soviets, which could be identified as their remains. In 1946, the remains of Goebbels and the others were exhumed again and moved to the SMERSH unit's then new facility in Magdeburg, where they were buried in five wooden boxes on 21 February. By 1970, the facility was under the control of the KGB and scheduled to be relinquished to East Germany. A KGB team was given detailed burial charts and on 4 April 1970 secretly exhumed the remains of ten or eleven bodies "in an advanced state of decay". The remains were thoroughly burned and crushed, and the ashes thrown into the Biederitz river, a tributary of the nearby Elbe.

## The Holocaust

Main articles: The Holocaust and Final Solution
A wagon piled high with corpses outside the crematorium in the liberated Buchenwald concentration camp (April 1945)
The Holocaust and Germany's war in the East were based on Hitler's long-standing view that the Jews were the enemy of the German people and that *Lebensraum* was needed for Germany's expansion. He focused on Eastern Europe for this expansion, aiming to defeat Poland and the Soviet Union and then removing or killing the Jews and Slavs. The *Generalplan Ost* (General Plan East) called for deporting the population of occupied Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to West Siberia, for use as slave labour or to be murdered; the conquered territories were to be colonised by German or "Germanised" settlers. The goal was to implement this plan after the conquest of the Soviet Union, but when this failed, Hitler moved the plans forward. By January 1942, he had decided that the Jews, Slavs, and other deportees considered undesirable should be killed.
Hitler's order for *Aktion T4*, dated 1 September 1939

The genocide was organised and executed by Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich. The records of the Wannsee Conference, held on 20 January 1942 and led by Heydrich, with fifteen senior Nazi officials participating, provide the clearest evidence of systematic planning for the Holocaust. On 22 February, Hitler was recorded saying, "we shall regain our health only by eliminating the Jews". Similarly, at a meeting in July 1941 with leading functionaries of the Eastern territories, Hitler said that the easiest way to quickly pacify the areas would be best achieved by "shooting everyone who even looks odd". Although no direct order from Hitler authorising the mass killings has surfaced, his public speeches, orders to his generals, and the diaries of Nazi officials demonstrate that he conceived and authorised the extermination of European Jewry. During the war, Hitler repeatedly stated his prophecy of 1939 was being fulfilled, namely, that a world war would bring about the annihilation of the Jewish race. Hitler approved the *Einsatzgruppen* – killing squads that followed the German army through Poland, the Baltic, and the Soviet Union – and was well informed about their activities. By summer 1942, Auschwitz concentration camp was expanded to accommodate large numbers of deportees for murder or enslavement. Scores of other concentration camps and satellite camps were set up throughout Europe, with several camps devoted exclusively to extermination.

Between 1939 and 1945, the *Schutzstaffel* (SS), assisted by collaborationist governments and recruits from occupied countries, were responsible for the deaths of at least eleven million non-combatants, including the murders of about 6 million Jews (representing two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe), and between 200,000 and 1,500,000 Romani people. The victims were killed in concentration and extermination camps, ghettos, and through mass executions. Many victims of the Holocaust were murdered in gas chambers, while others died of starvation or disease or while working as slave labourers. In addition to eliminating Jews, the Nazis planned to reduce the population of the conquered territories by 30 million people through starvation in an action called the Hunger Plan. Food supplies would be diverted to the German army and German civilians. Cities would be razed and the land allowed to return to forest or resettled by German colonists. Together, the Hunger Plan and *Generalplan Ost* would have led to the starvation of 80 million people in the Soviet Union. These partially fulfilled plans resulted in additional deaths, bringing the total number of civilians and prisoners of war who died in the democide to an estimated 19.3 million people.

Hitler's policies resulted in the killing of nearly two million non-Jewish Polish civilians, over three million Soviet prisoners of war, communists and other political opponents, homosexuals, the physically and mentally disabled, Jehovah's Witnesses, Adventists, and trade unionists. Hitler did not speak publicly about the killings, and seems never to have visited the concentration camps.

The Nazis embraced the concept of racial hygiene. On 15 September 1935, Hitler presented two laws – known as the Nuremberg Laws – to the Reichstag. The laws banned sexual relations and marriages between Aryans and Jews and were later extended to include "Gypsies, Negroes or their bastard offspring". The laws stripped all non-Aryans of their German citizenship and forbade the employment of non-Jewish women under the age of 45 in Jewish households. Hitler's early eugenic policies targeted children with physical and developmental disabilities in a programme dubbed Action Brandt, and he later authorised a euthanasia programme for adults with serious mental and physical disabilities, now referred to as *Aktion T4*.

## Leadership style

Hitler during a meeting at the headquarters of Army Group South in June 1942
Hitler ruled the Nazi Party autocratically by asserting the *Führerprinzip* (leader principle). The principle relied on absolute obedience of all subordinates to their superiors; thus he viewed the government structure as a pyramid, with himself – the infallible leader – at the apex. Rank in the party was not determined by elections – positions were filled through appointment by those of higher rank, who demanded unquestioning obedience to the will of the leader. Hitler's leadership style was to give contradictory orders to his subordinates and to place them into positions where their duties and responsibilities overlapped with those of others, to have "the stronger one [do] the job". In this way, Hitler fostered distrust, competition, and infighting among his subordinates to consolidate and maximise his own power. His cabinet never met after 1938, and he discouraged his ministers from meeting independently. Hitler typically did not give written orders; instead he communicated verbally, or had them conveyed through his close associate, Martin Bormann. He entrusted Bormann with his paperwork, appointments, and personal finances; Bormann used his position to control the flow of information and access to Hitler.

Hitler dominated his country's war effort during World War II to a greater extent than any other national leader. He strengthened his control of the armed forces in 1938, and subsequently made all major decisions regarding Germany's military strategy. His decision to mount a risky series of offensives against Norway, France, and the Low Countries in 1940 against the advice of the military proved successful, though the diplomatic and military strategies he employed in attempts to force the United Kingdom out of the war ended in failure. Hitler deepened his involvement in the war effort by appointing himself commander-in-chief of the Army in December 1941; from this point forward he personally directed the war against the Soviet Union, while his military commanders facing the Western Allies retained a degree of autonomy. Hitler's leadership became increasingly disconnected from reality as the war turned against Germany, with the military's defensive strategies often hindered by his slow decision making and frequent directives to hold untenable positions. Nevertheless, he continued to believe that only his leadership could deliver victory. In the final months of the war Hitler refused to consider peace negotiations, regarding the destruction of Germany as preferable to surrender. The military did not challenge Hitler's dominance of the war effort, and senior officers generally supported and enacted his decisions.

## Personal life

### Family

Main articles: Hitler family and Sexuality of Adolf Hitler
Hitler in 1942 with his long-time lover Eva Braun.
Hitler created a public image as a celibate man without a domestic life, dedicated entirely to his political mission and the nation. He met his lover, Eva Braun, in 1929, and married her on 29 April 1945, one day before they both committed suicide. In September 1931, his half-niece, Geli Raubal, took her own life with Hitler's gun in his Munich apartment. It was rumoured among contemporaries that Geli was in a romantic relationship with him, and her death was a source of deep, lasting pain. Paula Hitler, the younger sister of Hitler and the last living member of his immediate family, died in June 1960.

### Views on religion

Main article: Religious views of Adolf Hitler

Hitler was born to a practising Catholic mother and an anticlerical father; after leaving home Hitler never again attended Mass or received the sacraments. Speer states that Hitler railed against the church to his political associates and though he never officially left it, he had no attachment to it. He adds that Hitler felt that in the absence of organised religion, people would turn to mysticism, which he considered regressive. According to Speer, Hitler believed that Japanese religious beliefs or Islam would have been a more suitable religion for Germans than Christianity, with its "meekness and flabbiness".

Historian John S. Conway states that Hitler was fundamentally opposed to the Christian churches. According to Bullock, Hitler did not believe in God, was anticlerical, and held Christian ethics in contempt because they contravened his preferred view of "survival of the fittest". He favoured aspects of Protestantism that suited his own views, and adopted some elements of the Catholic Church's hierarchical organisation, liturgy, and phraseology. In a 1932 speech, Hitler stated that he was not a Catholic, and declared himself a German Christian. In a conversation with Albert Speer, Hitler said, "Through me the Evangelical Church could become the established church, as in England."
Hitler shaking hands with Bishop Ludwig Müller in Germany in the 1930s
Hitler viewed the church as an important politically conservative influence on society, and he adopted a strategic relationship with it that "suited his immediate political purposes". In public, Hitler often praised Christian heritage and German Christian culture, though professing a belief in an "Aryan Jesus" who fought against the Jews. Any pro-Christian public rhetoric contradicted his private statements, which described Christianity as "absurdity" and nonsense founded on lies.

According to a US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) report, "The Nazi Master Plan", Hitler planned to destroy the influence of Christian churches within the Reich. His eventual goal was the total elimination of Christianity. This goal informed Hitler's movement early on, but he saw it as inexpedient to publicly express this extreme position. According to Bullock, Hitler wanted to wait until after the war before executing this plan.

Speer wrote that Hitler had a negative view of Himmler's and Alfred Rosenberg's mystical notions and Himmler's attempt to mythologise the SS. Hitler was more pragmatic, and his ambitions centred on more practical concerns.

### Health

See also: Health of Adolf Hitler and Psychopathography of Adolf Hitler

Researchers have variously suggested that Hitler suffered from irritable bowel syndrome, skin lesions, irregular heartbeat, coronary sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, syphilis, giant-cell arteritis, and tinnitus.

In a report prepared for the OSS in 1943, Walter C. Langer of Harvard University described Hitler as a "neurotic psychopath". In his 1977 book *The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler*, historian Robert G. L. Waite proposes that he suffered from borderline personality disorder. Historians Henrik Eberle and Hans-Joachim Neumann consider that while he suffered from a number of illnesses including Parkinson's disease, Hitler did not experience pathological delusions and was always fully aware of, and therefore responsible for, his decisions.

Sometime in the 1930s Hitler adopted a mainly vegetarian diet, avoiding all meat and fish from 1942 onwards. At social events he sometimes gave graphic accounts of the slaughter of animals in an effort to make his guests shun meat. Bormann had a greenhouse constructed near the Berghof (near Berchtesgaden) to ensure a steady supply of fresh fruit and vegetables for Hitler.

Hitler stopped drinking alcohol around the time he became vegetarian and thereafter only very occasionally drank beer or wine on social occasions. He was a non-smoker for most of his adult life, but smoked heavily in his youth (25 to 40 cigarettes a day); he eventually quit, calling the habit "a waste of money". He encouraged his close associates to quit by offering a gold watch to anyone able to break the habit. Hitler began using amphetamine occasionally after 1937 and became addicted to it in late 1942. Speer linked this use of amphetamine to Hitler's increasingly erratic behaviour and inflexible decision making (for example, rarely allowing military retreats).

Prescribed 90 medications during the war years by his personal physician, Theodor Morell, Hitler took many pills each day for chronic stomach problems and other ailments. He regularly consumed amphetamine, barbiturates, opiates, and cocaine, as well as potassium bromide and atropa belladonna (the latter in the form of Doktor Koster's Antigaspills). He suffered ruptured eardrums as a result of the 20 July plot bomb blast in 1944, and 200 wood splinters had to be removed from his legs. Newsreel footage of Hitler shows tremors in his left hand and a shuffling walk, which began before the war and worsened towards the end of his life. Ernst-Günther Schenck and several other doctors who met Hitler in the last weeks of his life also formed a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.

## Legacy

Further information: Historiography of Adolf Hitler, Consequences of Nazism, and Neo-Nazism
Outside the building in Braunau am Inn, Austria, where Hitler was born, is a memorial stone placed as a reminder of the horrors of World War II. The inscription translates as:
For peace, freedom

and democracy

never again fascism

millions of dead warn [us]

Hitler's suicide was likened by contemporaries to a "spell" being broken. Public support for Hitler had collapsed by the time of his death and few Germans mourned his passing; Kershaw argues that most civilians and military personnel were too busy adjusting to the collapse of the country or fleeing from the fighting to take any interest. According to historian John Toland, Nazism "burst like a bubble" without its leader.

Kershaw describes Hitler as "the embodiment of modern political evil". "Never in history has such ruination – physical and moral – been associated with the name of one man", he adds. Hitler's political programme brought about a world war, leaving behind a devastated and impoverished Eastern and Central Europe. Germany suffered wholesale destruction, characterised as *Stunde Null* (Zero Hour). Hitler's policies inflicted human suffering on an unprecedented scale; according to R. J. Rummel, the Nazi regime was responsible for the democidal killing of an estimated 19.3 million civilians and prisoners of war. In addition, 28.7 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of military action in the European Theatre of World War II. The number of civilians killed during the Second World War was unprecedented in the history of warfare. Historians, philosophers, and politicians often use the word "evil" to describe the Nazi regime. Many European countries have criminalised both the promotion of Nazism and Holocaust denial.

Historian Friedrich Meinecke described Hitler as "one of the great examples of the singular and incalculable power of personality in historical life". English historian Hugh Trevor-Roper saw him as "among the 'terrible simplifiers' of history, the most systematic, the most historical, the most philosophical, and yet the coarsest, cruelest, least magnanimous conqueror the world has ever known". For the historian John M. Roberts, Hitler's defeat marked the end of a phase of European history dominated by Germany. In its place emerged the Cold War, a global confrontation between the Western Bloc, dominated by the United States and other NATO nations, and the Eastern Bloc, dominated by the Soviet Union. Historian Sebastian Haffner asserts that without Hitler and the displacement of the Jews, the modern nation state of Israel would not exist. He contends that without Hitler, the de-colonisation of former European spheres of influence would have been postponed. Further, Haffner claims that other than Alexander the Great, Hitler had a more significant impact than any other comparable historical figure, in that he too caused a wide range of worldwide changes in a relatively short time span.

### In propaganda

See also: Adolf Hitler in popular culture and List of speeches given by Adolf Hitler
Film of Hitler at Berchtesgaden (c. 1941)
Hitler exploited documentary films and newsreels to inspire a cult of personality. He was involved and appeared in a series of propaganda films throughout his political career, many made by Leni Riefenstahl, regarded as a pioneer of modern filmmaking. Hitler's propaganda film appearances include:

* *Der Sieg des Glaubens* (*Victory of Faith*, 1933)
* *Triumph des Willens* (*Triumph of the Will*, 1935)
* *Tag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht* (*Day of Freedom: Our Armed Forces*, 1935)
* *Olympia* (1938)

## See also

* Bibliography of Adolf Hitler
* Führermuseum
* Hitler and Mannerheim recording
* Julius Schaub – chief aide
* Karl Mayr – Hitler's superior in army Intelligence 1919–1920
* Karl Wilhelm Krause – personal valet
* List of Adolf Hitler's personal staff
* List of streets named after Adolf Hitler
* Paintings by Adolf Hitler
* Toothbrush moustache – also known as a "Hitler moustache", a style of facial hair

## Notes

1. **^** Officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP).
2. **^** The position of *Führer und Reichskanzler* ("Leader and Chancellor") replaced the position of President, which was the head of state for the Weimar Republic. Hitler took this title after the death of Paul von Hindenburg, who had been serving as President. He was afterwards both head of state and head of government, with the full official title of *Führer und Reichskanzler des Deutschen Reiches und Volkes* ("Führer and Reich Chancellor of the German Reich and People").
3. **^** The successor institution to the *Realschule* in Linz is Bundesrealgymnasium Linz Fadingerstraße.
4. **^** Hitler also won settlement from a libel suit against the socialist paper the *Münchener Post*, which had questioned his lifestyle and income. Kershaw 2008, p. 99.
5. **^** MI5, *Hitler's Last Days*: "Hitler's will and marriage" on the website of MI5, using the sources available to Trevor-Roper (a World War II MI5 agent and historian/author of *The Last Days of Hitler*), records the marriage as taking place after Hitler had dictated his last will and testament.
6. **^** For a summary of recent scholarship on Hitler's central role in the Holocaust, see McMillan 2012.
7. **^** Sir Richard Evans states, "it has become clear that the probable total is around 6 million."

## Citations

1. **^** Evans 2003, p. 180.
2. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Shirer 1960, pp. 226–227.
3. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Overy 2005, p. 63.
4. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Kershaw 2000b, p. xvii.
5. **^** Bullock 1999, p. 24.
6. **^** Maser 1973, p. 4.
7. **^** Maser 1973, p. 15.
8. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Kershaw 1999, p. 5.
9. **^** Jetzinger 1976, p. 32.
10. **^** Rosenbaum 1999, p. 21.
11. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Hamann 2010, p. 50.
12. **^** McKale 2011, p. 147.
13. **^** Toland 1992, pp. 246–247.
14. **^** Kershaw 1999, pp. 8–9.
15. **^** House of Responsibility.
16. **^** Bullock 1999, p. 23.
17. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Kershaw 2008, p. 4.
18. **^** Toland 1976, p. 6.
19. **^** Rosmus 2004, p. 33.
20. **^** Keller 2010, p. 15.
21. **^** Hamann 2010, pp. 7–8.
22. **^** Kubizek 2006, p. 37.
23. **^** Kubizek 2006, p. 92.
24. **^** Hitler 1999, p. 6.
25. **^** Fromm 1977, pp. 493–498.
26. **^** Diver 2005.
27. **^** Shirer 1960, pp. 10–11.
28. **^** Payne 1990, p. 22.
29. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 9.
30. **^** Hitler 1999, p. 8.
31. **^** Keller 2010, pp. 33–34.
32. **^** Fest 1977, p. 32.
33. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 8.
34. **^** Hitler 1999, p. 10.
35. **^** Evans 2003, pp. 163–164.
36. **^** Bendersky 2000, p. 26.
37. **^** Ryschka 2008, p. 35.
38. **^** Hamann 2010, p. 13.
39. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 10.
40. **^** Kershaw 1999, p. 19.
41. **^** Kershaw 1999, p. 20.
42. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Hitler 1999, p. 20.
43. **^** Bullock 1962, pp. 30–31.
44. **^** Bullock 1962, p. 31.
45. **^** Bullock 1999, pp. 30–33.
46. **^** Hamann 2010, p. 157.
47. **^** Kershaw 1999, pp. 41, 42.
48. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 26.
49. **^** Hamann 2010, pp. 243–246.
50. **^** Nicholls 2000, pp. 236, 237, 274.
51. **^** Hamann 2010, p. 250.
52. **^** Hamann 2010, pp. 341–345.
53. **^** Hamann 2010, p. 233.
54. **^** Kershaw 1999, pp. 60–67.
55. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 25.
56. **^** Hamann 2010, p. 58.
57. **^** Hitler 1999, p. 52.
58. **^** Toland 1992, p. 45.
59. **^** Kershaw 1999, pp. 55, 63.
60. **^** Hamann 2010, p. 174.
61. **^** Evans 2011.
62. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 27.
63. **^** Weber 2010, p. 13.
64. **^** Kershaw 1999, p. 86.
65. **^** Kershaw 1999, p. 49.
66. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** ***c*** Kershaw 1999, p. 90.
67. **^** Weber 2010, pp. 12–13.
68. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 53.
69. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 54.
70. **^** Weber 2010, p. 100.
71. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Shirer 1960, p. 30.
72. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 59.
73. **^** Weber 2010a.
74. **^** Steiner 1976, p. 392.
75. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 57.
76. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 58.
77. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 59, 60.
78. **^** Kershaw 1999, pp. 97, 102.
79. **^** Keegan 1987, pp. 238–240.
80. **^** Bullock 1962, p. 60.
81. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 61, 62.
82. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 61–63.
83. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 96.
84. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 80, 90, 92.
85. **^** Bullock 1999, p. 61.
86. **^** Kershaw 1999, p. 109.
87. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 82.
88. **^** Evans 2003, p. 170.
89. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 75, 76.
90. **^** Mitcham 1996, p. 67.
91. **^** Kershaw 1999, pp. 125–126.
92. **^** Fest 1970, p. 21.
93. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 94, 95, 100.
94. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 87.
95. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 88.
96. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 93.
97. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 81.
98. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 89.
99. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 89–92.
100. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 100, 101.
101. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 102.
102. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Kershaw 2008, p. 103.
103. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 83, 103.
104. **^** Kershaw 2000b, p. xv.
105. **^** Bullock 1999, p. 376.
106. **^** Frauenfeld 1937.
107. **^** Goebbels 1936.
108. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 105–106.
109. **^** Bullock 1999, p. 377.
110. **^** Kressel 2002, p. 121.
111. **^** Heck 2001, p. 23.
112. **^** Kellogg 2005, p. 275.
113. **^** Kellogg 2005, p. 203.
114. **^** Bracher 1970, pp. 115–116.
115. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 126.
116. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Kershaw 2008, p. 128.
117. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 129.
118. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 130–131.
119. **^** Shirer 1960, pp. 73–74.
120. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 132.
121. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 131.
122. **^** Munich Court, 1924.
123. **^** Fulda 2009, pp. 68–69.
124. **^** Kershaw 1999, p. 239.
125. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Bullock 1962, p. 121.
126. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 147.
127. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 148–150.
128. **^** Shirer 1960, pp. 80–81.
129. **^** Kershaw 1999, p. 237.
130. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Kershaw 1999, p. 238.
131. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 158, 161, 162.
132. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 162, 166.
133. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 129.
134. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 166, 167.
135. **^** Shirer 1960, pp. 136–137.
136. **^** Kolb 2005, pp. 224–225.
137. **^** Kolb 1988, p. 105.
138. **^** Halperin 1965, p. 403 *et. seq*.
139. **^** Halperin 1965, pp. 434–446 *et. seq*.
140. **^** Wheeler-Bennett 1967, p. 218.
141. **^** Wheeler-Bennett 1967, p. 216.
142. **^** Wheeler-Bennett 1967, pp. 218–219.
143. **^** Wheeler-Bennett 1967, p. 222.
144. **^** Halperin 1965, p. 449 *et. seq*.
145. **^** Halperin 1965, pp. 434–436, 471.
146. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Shirer 1960, p. 130.
147. **^** Hinrichs 2007.
148. **^** Halperin 1965, p. 476.
149. **^** Halperin 1965, pp. 468–471.
150. **^** Bullock 1962, p. 201.
151. **^** Hoffman 1989.
152. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 227.
153. **^** Halperin 1965, pp. 477–479.
154. **^** Letter to Hindenburg, 1932.
155. **^** Fox News, 2003.
156. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 184.
157. **^** Evans 2003, p. 307.
158. **^** Bullock 1962, p. 262.
159. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 192.
160. **^** Bullock 1999, p. 262.
161. **^** Kershaw 1999, pp. 456–458, 731–732.
162. **^** Shirer 1960, pp. 194, 274.
163. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 194.
164. **^** Bullock 1962, p. 265.
165. **^** City of Potsdam.
166. **^** Shirer 1960, pp. 196–197.
167. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 198.
168. **^** Evans 2003, p. 335.
169. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 196.
170. **^** Bullock 1999, p. 269.
171. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 199.
172. **^** *Time*, 1934.
173. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Shirer 1960, p. 201.
174. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 202.
175. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Evans 2003, pp. 350–374.
176. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 309–314.
177. **^** Tames 2008, pp. 4–5.
178. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 313–315.
179. **^** Evans 2005, p. 44.
180. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 229.
181. **^** Bullock 1962, p. 309.
182. **^** Evans 2005, p. 110.
183. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 392, 393.
184. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 312.
185. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 393–397.
186. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 308.
187. **^** Shirer 1960, pp. 318–319.
188. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 397–398.
189. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 274.
190. **^** Read 2004, p. 344.
191. **^** Evans 2005, pp. 109–111.
192. **^** McNab 2009, p. 54.
193. **^** Shirer 1960, pp. 259–260.
194. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 258.
195. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 262.
196. **^** McNab 2009, pp. 54–57.
197. **^** Speer 1971, pp. 118–119.
198. **^** Evans 2005, pp. 570–572.
199. **^** Weinberg 1970, pp. 26–27.
200. **^** Kershaw 1999, pp. 490–491.
201. **^** Kershaw 1999, pp. 492, 555–556, 586–587.
202. **^** Carr 1972, p. 23.
203. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 297.
204. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 283.
205. **^** Messerschmidt 1990, pp. 601–602.
206. **^** Martin 2008.
207. **^** Hildebrand 1973, p. 39.
208. **^** Roberts 1975.
209. **^** Messerschmidt 1990, pp. 630–631.
210. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Overy, *Origins of WWII Reconsidered* 1999.
211. **^** Carr 1972, pp. 56–57.
212. **^** Goeschel 2018, pp. 69–70.
213. **^** Messerschmidt 1990, p. 642.
214. **^** Aigner 1985, p. 264.
215. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Messerschmidt 1990, pp. 636–637.
216. **^** Carr 1972, pp. 73–78.
217. **^** Messerschmidt 1990, p. 638.
218. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Bloch 1992, pp. 178–179.
219. **^** Plating 2011, p. 21.
220. **^** Butler & Young 1989, p. 159.
221. **^** Bullock 1962, p. 434.
222. **^** Overy 2005, p. 425.
223. **^** Weinberg 1980, pp. 334–335.
224. **^** Weinberg 1980, pp. 338–340.
225. **^** Weinberg 1980, p. 366.
226. **^** Weinberg 1980, pp. 418–419.
227. **^** Kee 1988, pp. 149–150.
228. **^** Weinberg 1980, p. 419.
229. **^** Murray 1984, pp. 256–260.
230. **^** Bullock 1962, p. 469.
231. **^** Overy, *The Munich Crisis* 1999, p. 207.
232. **^** Kee 1988, pp. 202–203.
233. **^** Weinberg 1980, pp. 462–463.
234. **^** Messerschmidt 1990, p. 672.
235. **^** Messerschmidt 1990, pp. 671, 682–683.
236. **^** Rothwell 2001, pp. 90–91.
237. **^** *Time*, January 1939.
238. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Murray 1984, p. 268.
239. **^** Evans 2005, p. 682.
240. **^** Murray 1984, pp. 268–269.
241. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 448.
242. **^** Weinberg 1980, p. 562.
243. **^** Weinberg 1980, pp. 579–581.
244. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Maiolo 1998, p. 178.
245. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Messerschmidt 1990, pp. 688–690.
246. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Weinberg 1980, pp. 537–539, 557–560.
247. **^** Weinberg 1980, p. 558.
248. **^** Carr 1972, pp. 76–77.
249. **^** Kershaw 2000b, pp. 36–37, 92.
250. **^** Weinberg 2010, p. 792.
251. **^** Robertson 1985, p. 212.
252. **^** Bloch 1992, p. 228.
253. **^** Overy & Wheatcroft 1989, p. 56.
254. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 497.
255. **^** Robertson 1963, pp. 181–187.
256. **^** Evans 2005, p. 693.
257. **^** Bloch 1992, pp. 252–253.
258. **^** Weinberg 1995, pp. 85–94.
259. **^** Bloch 1992, pp. 255–257.
260. **^** Weinberg 1980, pp. 561–562, 583–584.
261. **^** Bloch 1992, p. 260.
262. **^** Hakim 1995.
263. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** ***c*** Rees 1997, pp. 141–145.
264. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 527.
265. **^** Welch 2001, pp. 88–89.
266. **^** Rees 1997, pp. 148–149.
267. **^** Winkler 2007, p. 74.
268. **^** Shirer 1960, pp. 696–730.
269. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 562.
270. **^** Deighton 2008, pp. 7–9.
271. **^** Ellis 1993, p. 94.
272. **^** Shirer 1960, pp. 731–737.
273. **^** Shirer 1960, pp. 774–782.
274. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 563, 569, 570.
275. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 580.
276. **^** Roberts 2006, pp. 58–60.
277. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 604–605.
278. **^** Kurowski 2005, pp. 141–142.
279. **^** Mineau 2004, p. 1.
280. **^** Glantz 2001, p. 9.
281. **^** Koch 1988.
282. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Stolfi 1982.
283. **^** Wilt 1981.
284. **^** Evans 2008, p. 202.
285. **^** Evans 2008, p. 210.
286. **^** Shirer 1960, pp. 900–901.
287. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Bauer 2000, p. 5.
288. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 921.
289. **^** Kershaw 2000b, p. 417.
290. **^** Evans 2008, pp. 419–420.
291. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 1006.
292. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** BBC News, 1999.
293. **^** Shirer 1960, pp. 996–1000.
294. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 1036.
295. **^** Speer 1971, pp. 513–514.
296. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 544–547, 821–822, 827–828.
297. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 816–818.
298. **^** Shirer 1960, pp. 1048–1072.
299. **^** Plesch 2017, p. 158.
300. **^** Weinberg 1964.
301. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Crandell 1987.
302. **^** Bullock 1962, p. 778.
303. **^** Rees & Kershaw 2012.
304. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Bullock 1962, pp. 774–775.
305. **^** Sereny 1996, pp. 497–498.
306. **^** Bullock 1962, pp. 753, 763, 780–781.
307. **^** Beevor 2002, p. 251.
308. **^** Beevor 2002, pp. 255–256.
309. **^** Le Tissier 2010, p. 45.
310. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Dollinger 1995, p. 231.
311. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Jones 1989.
312. **^** Beevor 2002, p. 275.
313. **^** Ziemke 1969, p. 92.
314. **^** Bullock 1962, p. 787.
315. **^** Bullock 1962, pp. 787, 795.
316. **^** Butler & Young 1989, pp. 227–228.
317. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 923–925, 943.
318. **^** Bullock 1962, p. 791.
319. **^** Bullock 1962, pp. 792, 795.
320. **^** Beevor 2002, p. 343.
321. **^** Bullock 1962, p. 798.
322. **^** Linge 2009, p. 199.
323. **^** Joachimsthaler 1999, pp. 160–182.
324. **^** Linge 2009, p. 200.
325. **^** Bullock 1962, pp. 799–800.
326. **^** Joachimsthaler 1999, pp. 217–220, 224–225.
327. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 949–950.
328. **^** Vinogradov 2005, pp. 111, 333.
329. **^** Joachimsthaler 1999, pp. 215–225.
330. **^** Fest 2004, pp. 163–164.
331. **^** Kershaw 2000b, p. 1110.
332. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 958.
333. **^** Vinogradov 2005, pp. 111–116.
334. **^** Vinogradov 2005, pp. 335–336.
335. **^** Marrus 2000, p. 37.
336. **^** Gellately 1996.
337. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** ***c*** Snyder 2010, p. 416.
338. **^** Steinberg 1995.
339. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 683.
340. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 965.
341. **^** Naimark 2002, p. 81.
342. **^** Longerich 2005, p. 116.
343. **^** Megargee 2007, p. 146.
344. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Longerich, Chapter 15 2003.
345. **^** Longerich, Chapter 17 2003.
346. **^** Kershaw 2000b, pp. 459–462.
347. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 670–675.
348. **^** Megargee 2007, p. 144.
349. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 687.
350. **^** Evans 2008, map, p. 366.
351. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** ***c*** Rummel 1994, p. 112.
352. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Holocaust Memorial Museum.
353. **^** Evans 2008, p. 318.
354. **^** Hancock 2004, pp. 383–396.
355. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 946.
356. **^** Snyder 2010, pp. 162–163, 416.
357. **^** Dorland 2009, p. 6.
358. **^** Rummel 1994, table, p. 112.
359. **^** US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
360. **^** Snyder 2010, p. 184.
361. **^** Niewyk & Nicosia 2000, p. 45.
362. **^** Goldhagen 1996, p. 290.
363. **^** Downing 2005, p. 33.
364. **^** Gellately 2001, p. 216.
365. **^** Kershaw 1999, pp. 567–568.
366. **^** Overy 2005, p. 252.
367. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 170, 172, 181.
368. **^** Speer 1971, p. 281.
369. **^** Manvell & Fraenkel 2007, p. 29.
370. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 323.
371. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 377.
372. **^** Speer 1971, p. 333.
373. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Overy 2005a, pp. 421–425.
374. **^** Kershaw 2012, pp. 169–170.
375. **^** Kershaw 2012, pp. 396–397.
376. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 171–395.
377. **^** Bullock 1999, p. 563.
378. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 378.
379. **^** Kershaw 2008, pp. 947–948.
380. **^** Bullock 1962, pp. 393–394.
381. **^** Kershaw 2008, p. 5.
382. **^** Rißmann 2001, pp. 94–96.
383. **^** Toland 1992, pp. 9–10.
384. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Speer 1971, pp. 141–142.
385. **^** Speer 1971, p. 143.
386. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Conway 1968, p. 3.
387. **^** Bullock 1999, pp. 385, 389.
388. **^** Rißmann 2001, p. 96.
389. **^** Weir & Greenberg 2022, p. 694.
390. **^** Speer 1971, p. 142.
391. **^** Speer 1971, p. 141.
392. **^** Steigmann-Gall 2003, pp. 27, 108.
393. **^** Hitler 2000, p. 59.
394. **^** Hitler 2000, p. 342.
395. **^** Sharkey 2002.
396. **^** Bonney 2001, pp. 2–3.
397. **^** Phayer 2000.
398. **^** Bonney 2001, p. 2.
399. **^** Bullock 1962, pp. 219, 389.
400. **^** Speer 1971, pp. 141, 171, 174.
401. **^** Bullock 1999, p. 729.
402. **^** Evans 2008, p. 508.
403. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Bullock 1962, p. 717.
404. **^** Redlich 1993.
405. **^** Redlich 2000, pp. 129–190.
406. **^** Langer 1972, p. 126.
407. **^** Waite 1993, p. 356.
408. **^** Gunkel 2010.
409. **^** Bullock 1999, p. 388.
410. **^** Toland 1992, p. 256.
411. **^** Wilson 1998.
412. **^** McGovern 1968, pp. 32–33.
413. **^** Linge 2009, p. 38.
414. **^** Hitler & Trevor-Roper 1988, p. 176, 22 January 1942.
415. **^** Proctor 1999, p. 219.
416. **^** Toland 1992, p. 741.
417. **^** Heston & Heston 1980, pp. 125–142.
418. **^** Heston & Heston 1980, pp. 11–20.
419. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b*** Kershaw 2008, p. 782.
420. **^** Ghaemi 2011, pp. 190–191.
421. **^** Porter 2013.
422. **^** Doyle 2005, p. 8.
423. **^** Linge 2009, p. 156.
424. **^** O'Donnell 2001, p. 37.
425. **^** Zialcita 2019.
426. **^** Fest 1974, p. 753.
427. **^** Speer 1971, p. 617.
428. **^** Kershaw 2012, pp. 348–350.
429. **^** Toland 1992, p. 892.
430. **^** Kershaw 2000b, p. 841.
431. **^** Fischer 1995, p. 569.
432. **^** Del Testa, Lemoine & Strickland 2003, p. 83.
433. **^** Murray & Millett 2001, p. 554.
434. **^** Welch 2001, p. 2.
435. **^** Bazyler 2006, p. 1.
436. **^** Shirer 1960, p. 6.
437. **^** Hitler & Trevor-Roper 1988, p. xxxv.
438. **^** Roberts 1996, p. 501.
439. **^** Lichtheim 1974, p. 366.
440. **^** Haffner 1979, pp. 100–101.
441. **^** Haffner 1979, p. 100.
442. **^** *The Daily Telegraph*, 2003.