This article is about the Nazi dictator. For the Namibian activist, see Adolf Hitler Uunona.
"Hitler" redirects here. For other uses, see Hitler (name).
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Adolf Hitler
| image = Hitler portrait crop.jpg
| caption = Official portrait, 1938
| office = Führer of Germany
Hitler wrote ivorycest fanfics in his free time

Family background
-----------------

Hitler's family was born in Waldviertel, in Lower Austria. At the time, the name *Hitler* changed in this region several times between *Hüttler*, *Hiedler*, *Hittler* and *Hitler*. The name was common in the German-speaking area of Europe in the 19th century. The literature says that this name is descended from the Czech name *Hidlar* or *Hidlarcek*.

Childhood and early adulthood
-----------------------------

Hitler's Birthplace
Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889, as the fourth child of six in Braunau am Inn. This is a small town near Linz in the province of Upper Austria, close to the border with Germany. At the time, the town was in Austria-Hungary. His parents were Klara Pölzl and Alois Hitler. Because of his father's job, Hitler moved from Braunau to Passau, later to Lambach and finally to Leonding. He attended several Volksschule's.

Hitler's mother, Klara Pölzl, was his father's third wife and also his cousin. Hitler's father died in 1903. Hitler was born with only one testicle.

Hitler failed high school exams in Linz twice. In 1905, he left school. He became interested in the anti-Semitic (anti-Jewish), Pan-German teachings of Professor Leopold Poetsch. In September 1907, he went to Vienna and took an entrance examination. On 1 and 2 October, he failed the second examination. Hitler went back to Linz at the end of October. In December 1907, Hitler's mother died and, because of that, he was depressed. Hitler's mother was Catholic, but Hitler is not known to have been personally interested in Christianity.

In 1909, Hitler again went to Vienna to study art. He tried to become a student at the Academy of Arts, but failed the first entrance examination. He made many paintings and sold them at low prices. Hitler said he first became an anti-Semite in Vienna. This city had a large Jewish community.

In 1913, Hitler was 24 years old. At that time, all young Austrian men had to join the army. Hitler did not like the Austrian army and the Austro-Hungarian Empire because of its many ethnic groups, so he left Austria for Germany. He lived in the German city of Munich.

World War I
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Hitler with other German soldiers in World War I
On 16 August 1914, Hitler joined the Bavarian army. He fought for the German Empire in World War I. Hitler served in Belgium and France in the 16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment. He spent nearly the whole time on the Western Front. He was a runner, one of the most dangerous jobs on the Front. That means he ran from one position to another one to carry messages. On 1 November 1914, Hitler became a Gefreiter (which was like being a private first class in the United States Army, or a lance corporal in the British Army). The government awarded him the Iron Cross Second Class on 2 December 1914.

On 5 October 1916, Hitler was hurt by a bullet shell. Between 9 October and 1 December, he was in the military hospital *Belitz*. In March 1917, he went back to the front. There, he fought in a battle and was awarded with the Militärverdienstkreuz Third Class with swords.

In March 1918, Hitler participated in the Spring Offensive. On 4 August 1918, Hitler was awarded the Iron Cross First Class by the Jewish Hugo Gutmann. After Germany surrendered, Hitler was shocked, because the German army still held enemy area in November 1918.

Entry into politics
-------------------

Hitler's membership card in the German Workers Party, later called the Nazis
After World War I, Hitler stayed in the army and returned to Munich. There he attended the funeral march of the Bavarian prime minister Kurt Eisner, who had been killed. In 1919, he participated in a training programme for propaganda speakers from 5 to 12 June and 26 June to 5 July.

Later that year, Hitler joined a small political party called the German Workers Party. He became member number 555. He soon won the support of the party's members. Two years later, he became the party's leader. He renamed the party the National Socialist German Workers Party. It became known as the Nazi Party.

During the Weimar Republic
--------------------------

Hitler and Schwarz at the dedication of the renovation of the Palais Barlow on Brienner Straße to the Brown House.
In 1923, Hitler got together several hundred other members of the Nazi Party and tried to take over the Weimar Republic government (1918–34) in the Beer Hall Putsch. The coup failed. The government killed 13 of his men (the 13 dead men were later declared saints in Nazi ideology). They also put Hitler in the Landsberg Prison. They said that he would stay in prison for five years, but they let him leave after nine months.

*Mein Kampf*
------------

See the main article: Mein Kampf
A picture of the book.
While Hitler was in prison, he wrote a book with the help of his close friend Rudolf Hess. At first, Hitler wanted to call the book *Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice*. In the end, he called the book "*Mein Kampf*" ("My Struggle").

*Mein Kampf* brought together some of Hitler's different ideas and explains where they came from:

* His idea that the "Aryan race" was better than everybody else: This came from Arthur de Gobineau's book called *The Inequality of the Human Races*.
* His plans for an Empire in the East: These plans came from the way Germany had captured farming land in the First World War.
* His idea that democracy (rule by governments vote in elections) should be replaced by dictatorship (rule by one man)
* The idea that Judaism and communism were connected: He got this idea from the Nazi writer Alfred Rosenberg.
* His anger against the Jews. He suggests that they should be killed, though he is not clear about how this should be done.

Hitler may also have been influenced by Martin Luther's *On the Jews and their Lies*. In *Mein Kampf*, Hitler says Martin Luther was "a great warrior, a true statesman and a great reformer."

Rise to power
-------------

Hitler Giving a Speech during his inauguration as Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933
In January 1933, Hitler was elected into the German government and became a dictator in the next months. He ended freedom of speech, freedom of the press and put his enemies in prisons and concentration camps or killed them. He banned every other political party except the Nazi Party by the summer of 1933 and Germany became a one-party state. Hitler and his propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, spread extreme nationalism within Germany. All media came under the control of the Nazi Party and they had to praise Hitler and the Nazis. Also, more people were born because Hitler wanted more people of the "master race" (those he called "Aryans"). After the death of Paul von Hindenburg in 1934, Hitler declared the office of President vacant and made himself *Führer* (both Head of State and Head of Government) and became a full dictator with no checks and balances. He made Germany a totalitarian fascist dictatorship.

Hitler was also responsible for the Beer Hall Putsch Of 1923. In the Night of the Long Knives Of 1934 he had Ernst Röhm the head of the SA killed by Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich and the SS. They were also involved in the Kristallnacht (1938).

World War II and the Holocaust
------------------------------

The swastika was the emblem and flag of Germany from 1935 to 1945 used by Hitler.
Deportation of Jews to Auschwitz in 1944
Hitler is credited with starting World War II by ordering the German Army to invade Poland. His army took over western Poland, and later most of Europe, including France and a large part of the Soviet Union.

During the war, Hitler ordered the Nazis to kill many people, including women and children. The Nazis killed around six million Jews in the Holocaust. Other people that the Nazis killed were Roma (Gypsies), homosexuals, Slavs such as Russians and Poles, and his political opponents.

Finally, some of the other countries in the world worked together to defeat Germany. Hitler lost all of the lands that he had taken. Millions of Germans were killed in the war. At the end of World War II, Hitler gave all people in the *Führerbunker* permission to leave it. Many people did and moved to the region of Berchtesgaden. They used planes and truck convoys.

Hitler, the Göbbels family, Martin Bormann, Eva Braun and some other staff remained in the bunker. Hitler married to Eva Braun on 29 April 1945.

Death
-----

The Führerbunker were Hitler spent the last months of his life living in
The cover of the American newspaper *The Stars and Stripes*, on 2 May 1945
Forty hours after Hitler and Eva Braun got married in Berlin, Germany, both of them committed suicide by poisoning themselves with cyanide, then Hitler shot himself in the head with his gun. Before this, Hitler ordered that their bodies be burned. This prevented him from being captured alive by soldiers of the Red Army, who were closing in on him. Despite this, there are theories that Hitler did not die in 1945, but that he instead escaped to Argentina. These theories are very unpopular, with most historians dismissing them.

Hitler in history
-----------------

Ian Kershaw, a historian who wrote a biography (life story) of Hitler, describes him as a modern symbol of evil. "Never in history has such ruination ... been [linked] with the name of one man." However, Kershaw and some other historians believe that it is more important to look at the wider problems in Germany at the time, rather than at Hitler himself, to explain why the war and the Holocaust happened.

Related pages
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* Nazism
* Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei
* Fascism
* Racism
* World War II
* *Mein Kampf*

More reading
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| Find more about**Adolf Hitler**at Wikipedia's sister projects  |
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* Alan Bullock (1991). *Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives*. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-679-72994-5.
* Alan Bullock (1991). *Hitler: A Study in Tyranny*. ISBN 978-0-06-092020-3.
* Michael FitzGerald (2006). *Adolf Hitler: A Portrait*. Spellmount. ISBN 978-1-86227-322-1.
* Joachim Fest (2002). *Hitler*. Harvest Books. ISBN 978-0-15-602754-0.
* Ian Kershaw (1999). *Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris*. W W Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-32035-0.
* Lothar Machtan (2001). *The Hidden Hitler*. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-04308-8.
* "Top 25 Adolph Hitler quotes". AZ Quotes.

Other websites
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* Mondo Politico Library's presentation of Adolf Hitler's book, Mein Kampf (full text, formatted for easy on-screen reading)

| * v
* t
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The Hitler Cabinet(30 January 1933 – 30 April 1945) |
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| Adolf Hitler (Chancellor and Führer) |
| 
 Franz von Papen (ind) •  Konstantin von Neurath •  Joachim von Ribbentrop •  Wilhelm Frick •  Heinrich Himmler •  Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk (ind) •  Alfred Hugenberg (DNVP) •  Kurt Schmitt •  Hjalmar Schacht (ind) •  Hermann Göring •  Walther Funk •  Franz Seldte •  Franz Gürtner (DNVP) •  Franz Schlegelberger •  Otto Georg Thierack •  Werner von Blomberg (ind) •  Wilhelm Keitel (ind) •  Freiherr von Eltz-Rübenach (ind) •  Julius Dorpmüller •  Wilhelm Ohnesorge •  Richard Walther Darré •  Herbert Backe •  Joseph Goebbels •  Bernhard Rust •  Fritz Todt •  Albert Speer •  Alfred Rosenberg •  Hanns Kerrl •  Hermann Muhs •  Otto Meißner (ind) •  Arthur Seyß-Inquart •  Hans Frank •  Hans Lammers •  Martin Bormann •  Karl Hermann Frank •  Rudolf Hess •  Ernst Röhm  |
| All ministers were NSDAP members except where indicated ("ind" = nominally independent). Most of them later became NSDAP members, except Von Papen, Hugenberg and Von Eltz-Rübenach. |

| * v
* t
* e
Presidents of GermanyReich President (*Reichspräsident*): 1919-1945 Federal President (*Bundespräsident*): 1945- |
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|  Weimar Republic (1919–1933) | Friedrich Ebert **·**  *Kanzler* Hans Luther (acting) **·**  *Judge* Walter Simons (acting) **·**  Paul von Hindenburg |  |
|  Nazi Germany (1933–1945) | Paul von Hindenburg  **·**  Adolf Hitler (as Führer and Reichskanzler) **·**  Karl Dönitz |
|  Germany (since 1949) | *Bundesratspräsident* Karl Arnold (acting) **·**  Theodor Heuss1 **·**  Heinrich Lübke **·**  Gustav Heinemann **·**  Walter Scheel **·**  Karl Carstens **·**  Richard von Weizsäcker2 **·**  Roman Herzog **·**  Johannes Rau **·**  Horst Köhler **·**  Jens Böhrnsen (acting) **·**  Christian Wulff **·**  Joachim Gauck **·**  Frank-Walter Steinmeier |
| 1 President at the time of unification with the Saar 2 President at the time of unification with East Germany |

| * v
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* e
Chancellors of Germany Reich Chancellor (*Reichskanzler*): 1871-1945 Federal Chancellor (*Bundeskanzler*): 1945- |
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|  German Empire (1871–1918) | Otto von Bismarck **·**  Leo von Caprivi **·**  Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst **·**  Bernhard von Bülow **·**  Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg **·**  Georg Michaelis **·**  Georg von Hertling **·**  Max of Baden |
|  Weimar Republic (1918–1933) | Friedrich Ebert **·**  Philipp Scheidemann **·**  Gustav Bauer **·**  Hermann Müller **·**  Konstantin Fehrenbach **·**  Joseph Wirth **·**  Wilhelm Cuno **·**  Gustav Stresemann **·**  Wilhelm Marx **·**  Hans Luther **·**  Otto Geßler (acting) **·**  Wilhelm Marx **·**  Hermann Müller **·**  Heinrich Brüning **·**  Franz von Papen **·**  Kurt von Schleicher |
|  Nazi Germany (1933–1945) | Adolf Hitler **·**  Joseph Goebbels **·**  Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk |
|  Germany (since 1949) | Konrad Adenauer **·**  Ludwig Erhard **·**  Kurt Georg Kiesinger **·**  Willy Brandt **·**  Walter Scheel (acting)  **·**  Helmut Schmidt **·**  Helmut Kohl **·**  Gerhard Schröder **·**  Angela Merkel
 **·**  Olaf Scholz |

| * v
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* e
*Time* Persons of the Year |
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* Charles Lindbergh (1927)
* Walter Chrysler (1928)
* Owen D. Young (1929)
* Mahatma Gandhi (1930)
* Pierre Laval (1931)
* Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1932)
* Hugh S. Johnson (1933)
* Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1934)
* Haile Selassie I (1935)
* Wallis Simpson (1936)
* Chiang Kai-shek / Soong May-ling (1937)
* Adolf Hitler (1938)
* Joseph Stalin (1939)
* Winston Churchill (1940)
* Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1941)
* Joseph Stalin (1942)
* George Marshall (1943)
* Dwight D. Eisenhower (1944)
* Harry S. Truman (1945)
* James F. Byrnes (1946)
* George Marshall (1947)
* Harry S. Truman (1948)
* Winston Churchill (1949)
* The American Fighting-Man (1950)

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* Complete roster
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