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Adolf Hitler 1

Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler

Hitler in 1937

Führer of Germany
In office
2 August 1934 – 30 April 1945

Chancellor Himself

Preceded by Paul von Hindenburg


(as President)

Succeeded by Karl Dönitz


(as President)

Chancellor of Germany
In office
30 January 1933 – 30 April 1945

President Paul von Hindenburg


Himself (Führer)

Deputy Franz von Papen


Vacant

Preceded by Kurt von Schleicher

Succeeded by Joseph Goebbels

Born 20 April 1889


Braunau am Inn, Austria–Hungary

Died 30 April 1945 (aged 56)


Berlin, Germany

Nationality [1]
Austrian citizen until 7 April 1925 German citizen after 1932

Political party National Socialist German Workers' Party (1921–1945)

Other political German Workers' Party (1920–1921)


affiliations

Spouse(s) Eva Braun


(29–30 April 1945)

Occupation Politician, soldier, artist, writer


Adolf Hitler 2

Religion See Adolf Hitler's religious views

Signature

Military service

Allegiance  German Empire

Service/branch Reichsheer

Years of service 1914–1918

Rank Gefreiter

Unit 16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment

Battles/wars World War I

Awards Iron Cross First and Second Class


Wound Badge

Adolf Hitler (German pronunciation: [ˈadɔlf ˈhɪtlɐ]; 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German
politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche
Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated NSDAP), commonly known as the Nazi Party. He was Chancellor of Germany from
1933 to 1945, and served as head of state as Führer und Reichskanzler from 1934 to 1945.
A decorated veteran of World War I, Hitler joined the precursor of the Nazi Party (DAP) in 1919, and became leader
of NSDAP in 1921. He attempted a failed coup d'etat known as the Beer Hall Putsch, which occurred at the
Bürgerbräukeller beer hall in Munich on November 8-9, 1923. Hitler was imprisoned for one year due to the failed
coup, and wrote his memoir, Mein Kampf, while imprisoned. After his release on December 20, 1924, he gained
support by promoting Pan-Germanism, anti-semitism, anti-capitalism, and anti-communism with charismatic oratory
and propaganda. He was appointed chancellor on January 30, 1933, and transformed the Weimar Republic into the
Third Reich, a single-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideals of Nazism.
Hitler ultimately wanted to establish a New Order of absolute Nazi German hegemony in continental Europe. To
achieve this, he pursued a foreign policy with the declared goal of seizing Lebensraum ("living space") for the Aryan
people; directing the resources of the state towards this goal. This included the rearmament of Germany, which
culminated in 1939 when the Wehrmacht invaded Poland. In response, the United Kingdom and France declared war
against Germany, leading to the outbreak of World War II in Europe.[2]
Within three years, Germany and the Axis powers had occupied most of Europe, and most of Northern Africa, East
and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. However, with the reversal of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, the
Allies gained the upper hand from 1942 onwards. By 1944, Allied armies had invaded German-held Europe from all
sides. Nazi forces engaged in numerous violent acts during the war, including the systematic murder of as many as
17 million civilians,[3] including an estimated six million Jews targeted in the Holocaust and between 500,000 and
1,500,000 Roma,[4] Poles, Soviet civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, people with disabilities, homosexuals, Jehovah's
Witnesses, and other political and religious opponents.
In the final days of the war, during the Battle of Berlin in 1945, Hitler married his long-time mistress Eva Braun and,
to avoid capture by Soviet forces less than two days later, the two committed suicide[5] on 30 April 1945.
Adolf Hitler 3

Early years

Ancestry
Hitler's father, Alois Hitler, was an illegitimate child of Maria Anna Schicklgruber, so his paternity was not listed on
his birth certificate; he bore his mother's surname.[6] [7] In 1842, Johann Georg Hiedler married Maria and in 1876
Alois testified before a notary and three witnesses that Johann was his father.[8] Despite this testimony, Alois'
paternity has been the subject of controversy. After receiving a "blackmail letter" from Hitler's nephew William
Patrick Hitler threatening to reveal embarrassing information about Hitler's family tree, Nazi Party lawyer Hans
Frank investigated, and, in his memoirs, claimed to have uncovered letters revealing that Alois' mother was
employed as a housekeeper for a Jewish family in Graz and that the family's 19-year-old son, Leopold
Frankenberger, fathered Alois.[7] No evidence had, at that time, ever been produced to support Frank's claim, and
Frank himself said Hitler's full Aryan blood was obvious.[9] Frank's claims were widely believed in the 1950s, but by
the 1990s, were generally doubted by historians.[10] [11] Ian Kershaw dismissed the Frankenberger story as a "smear"
by Hitler's enemies, noting that all Jews had been expelled from Graz in the 15th century and were not allowed to
return until well after Alois was born.[11]
At age 39, Alois took the surname Hitler. This surname was variously spelled Hiedler, Hüttler, Huettler and Hitler,
and was probably regularized to Hitler by a clerk. The origin of the name is either "one who lives in a hut" (Standard
German Hütte), "shepherd" (Standard German hüten "to guard", English heed), or is from the Slavic word Hidlar
and Hidlarcek.

Childhood
Adolf Hitler was born at around 6:30 p.m. on 20 April 1889 at the Gasthof zum Pommer, an inn in Braunau am Inn,
Austria–Hungary, the fourth of six children to Alois Hitler and Klara Polzl.
When he was three years old, his family relocated to Kapuzinerstrasse 5[12] in
Passau, Germany, where Hitler would acquire Lower Bavarian rather than
Austrian as his lifelong native dialect.[13] In 1894, the family relocated to
Leonding near Linz, then in June 1895, Alois retired to a small landholding at
Hafeld near Lambach, where he tried his hand at farming and beekeeping.
During this time, the young Hitler attended school in nearby Fischlham. As a
child, he played "Cowboys and Indians" and, by his own account, became fixated
on war after finding a picture book about the Franco-Prussian War among his
father's belongings.[14]

His father's efforts at Hafeld ended in failure, and the family relocated to
Lambach in 1897. Hitler attended a Catholic school located in an 11th-century
Benedictine cloister, where the walls were engraved in a number of places with
crests containing the symbol of the swastika.[15] It was in Lambach that the
Adolf Hitler as an infant
eight-year-old Hitler sang in the church choir, took singing lessons, and even
entertained the fantasy of one day becoming a priest.[16] In 1898, the family
returned permanently to Leonding.

His younger brother Edmund died of measles on 2 February 1900, causing permanent changes in Hitler. He went
from a confident, outgoing boy who excelled in school, to a morose, detached, sullen boy who constantly battled his
father and his teachers.[17]
Hitler was attached to his mother, however had a troubled relationship with his father, who frequently beat him,
especially in the years after Alois' retirement and disappointing farming efforts.[18] Alois wanted his son to follow in
his footsteps as an Austrian customs official, and this became a huge source of conflict between them.[14] Despite his
Adolf Hitler 4

son's pleas to go to classical high school and become an artist, his father sent him to the Realschule in Linz, a
technical high school of about 300 students, in September 1900. Hitler rebelled, and in Mein Kampf confessed to
failing his first year in hopes that once his father saw "what little progress I was making at the technical school he
would let me devote myself to the happiness I dreamed of." Alois never relented, however, and Hitler became even
more bitter and rebellious.
German Nationalism quickly became an obsession for Hitler, and a way to rebel against his father, who proudly
served the Austrian government. Most people who lived along the German-Austrian border considered themselves
German-Austrians, but Hitler expressed loyalty only to Germany. In defiance of the Austrian monarchy, and his
father who continually expressed loyalty to it, Hitler and his young friends liked to use the German greeting "Heil",
and sing the German anthem "Deutschland Über Alles" instead of the Austrian Imperial anthem.[14]
After Alois' sudden death on 3 January 1903, Hitler's behaviour at the technical school became even more disruptive,
and he was asked to leave. He enrolled at the Realschule in Steyr in 1904, but upon completing his second year, he
and his friends went out for a night of celebration and drinking, and an intoxicated Hitler tore his school certificate
into four pieces and used it as toilet paper. When someone turned the stained certificate in to the school's director, he
"... gave him such a dressing-down that the boy was reduced to shivering jelly. It was probably the most painful and
humiliating experience of his life."[19] Hitler was expelled, never to return to school again.
At age 15, Hitler took part in his First Holy Communion on Whitsunday, 22 May 1904, at the Linz Cathedral.[20] His
sponsor was Emanuel Lugert, a friend of his late father.[21]

Early adulthood in Vienna and Munich


From 1905 on, Hitler lived a bohemian life in Vienna on an orphan's pension and support from his mother. He was
rejected twice by the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (1907–1908), citing "unfitness for painting", and was told his
abilities lay instead in the field of architecture.[22] Following the school rector's recommendation, he too became
convinced this was his path to pursue, yet he lacked the proper academic preparation for architecture school:
In a few days I myself knew that I should some day become an architect. To be sure, it was an incredibly
hard road; for the studies I had neglected out of spite at the Realschule were sorely needed. One could
not attend the Academy's architectural school without having attended the building school at the
Technic, and the latter required a high-school degree. I had none of all this. The fulfillment of my
artistic dream seemed physically impossible.[23]
On 21 December 1907, Hitler's mother died of breast cancer at age 47.
Ordered by a court in Linz, Hitler gave his share of the orphans'
benefits to his sister Paula. When he was 21, he inherited money from
an aunt. He struggled as a painter in Vienna, copying scenes from
postcards and selling his paintings to merchants and tourists. After
being rejected a second time by the Academy of Arts, Hitler ran out of
money. In 1909, he lived in a shelter for the homeless. By 1910, he had
settled into a house for poor working men on Meldemannstraße.
Another resident of the house, Reinhold Hanisch, sold Hitler's
The Courtyard of the Old Residency in Munich,
paintings until the two men had a bitter falling-out.[24]
by Adolf Hitler, 1914

Hitler said he first became an anti-Semite in Vienna,[23] which had a


large Jewish community, including Orthodox Jews who had fled the pogroms in Russia. According to childhood
friend August Kubizek, however, Hitler was a "confirmed anti-Semite" before he left Linz.[23] Vienna at that time
was a hotbed of traditional religious prejudice and 19th century racism. Hitler may have been influenced by the
writings of the ideologist and anti-Semite Lanz von Liebenfels and polemics from politicians such as Karl Lueger,
Adolf Hitler 5

founder of the Christian Social Party and Mayor of Vienna; the composer Richard Wagner; and Georg Ritter von
Schönerer, leader of the pan-Germanic Away from Rome! movement. Hitler claims in Mein Kampf that his transition
from opposing antisemitism on religious grounds to supporting it on racial grounds came from having seen an
Orthodox Jew.
There were very few Jews in Linz. In the course of centuries the Jews who lived there had become
Europeanised in external appearance and were so much like other human beings that I even looked upon them
as Germans. The reason why I did not then perceive the absurdity of such an illusion was that the only external
mark which I recognized as distinguishing them from us was the practice of their strange religion. As I thought
that they were persecuted on account of their faith my aversion to hearing remarks against them grew almost
into a feeling of abhorrence. I did not in the least suspect that there could be such a thing as a systematic
antisemitism.
Once, when passing through the inner City, I suddenly encountered a phenomenon in a long caftan and
wearing black side-locks. My first thought was: Is this a Jew? They certainly did not have this appearance in
Linz. I carefully watched the man stealthily and cautiously but the longer I gazed at the strange countenance
and examined it feature by feature, the more the question shaped itself in my brain: Is this a German?[23]
If this account is true, Hitler apparently did not act on his new belief. He often was a guest for dinner in a noble
Jewish house, and he interacted well with Jewish merchants who tried to sell his paintings.[25]
Hitler may also have been influenced by Martin Luther's On the Jews and their Lies. In Mein Kampf, Hitler refers to
Martin Luther as a great warrior, a true statesman, and a great reformer, alongside Richard Wagner and Frederick the
Great.[26] Wilhelm Röpke, writing after the Holocaust, concluded that "without any question, Lutheranism
influenced the political, spiritual and social history of Germany in a way that, after careful consideration of
everything, can be described only as fateful."[27] [28]
Hitler claimed that Jews were enemies of the Aryan race. He held them responsible for Austria's crisis. He also
identified certain forms of socialism and Bolshevism, which had many Jewish leaders, as Jewish movements,
merging his antisemitism with anti-Marxism. Later, blaming Germany's military defeat in World War I on the 1918
revolutions, he considered Jews the culprits of Imperial Germany's downfall and subsequent economic problems as
well.
Hitler received the final part of his father's estate in May 1913 and moved to Munich. He wrote in Mein Kampf that
he had always longed to live in a "real" German city. In Munich, he became more interested in architecture and, he
says, the writings of Houston Stewart Chamberlain. Moving to Munich also helped him escape military service in
Austria for a time, but the Munich police (acting in cooperation with the Austrian authorities) eventually arrested
him. After a physical exam and a contrite plea, he was deemed unfit for service and allowed to return to Munich.
However, when Germany entered World War I in August 1914, he petitioned King Ludwig III of Bavaria for
permission to serve in a Bavarian regiment. This request was granted, and Adolf Hitler enlisted in the Bavarian
army.[29]
Adolf Hitler 6

World War I
Hitler served in France and Belgium in the 16th Bavarian Reserve
Regiment, on the Western Front as a regimental runner. He was present
at a number of major battles on the Western Front, including the First
Battle of Ypres, the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of Arras and the
Battle of Passchendaele.[30]

A young Hitler (left) posing with other German


soldiers

Hitler was twice decorated for bravery. He received the relatively


common Iron Cross, Second Class, in 1914 and Iron Cross, First Class,
in 1918, an honour rarely given to a Gefreiter.[31] Yet because the
regimental staff thought Hitler lacked leadership skills, he was never
promoted to Unteroffizier (equivalent to a British corporal). According
to Weber, Hitler's First Class Iron Cross was recommended by Hugo
Gutmann, a Jewish List adjutant, and this rarer award was commonly
awarded to those posted to regimental headquarters, such as Hitler,
who had more contact with more senior officers than combat
soldiers.[32] Hitler in the German Army, 1914, sitting at right

Hitler's duties at regimental headquarters gave him time to pursue his


artwork. He drew cartoons and instructional drawings for an army newspaper. In 1916, he was wounded in either the
groin area[33] or the left thigh[34] during the Battle of the Somme, but returned to the front in March 1917. He
received the Wound Badge later that year. German historian and author, Sebastian Haffner, referring to Hitler's
experience at the front, suggests that he had at least some understanding of the military.
On 15 October 1918, Hitler was admitted to a field hospital, temporarily blinded by a mustard gas attack. The
English psychologist David Lewis and Bernhard Horstmann suggest the blindness may have been the result of a
conversion disorder (then known as "hysteria").[35] In fact, Hitler said it was during this experience that he became
convinced the purpose of his life was to "save Germany." Some scholars, notably Lucy Dawidowicz,[36] argue that
an intention to exterminate Europe's Jews was fully formed in Hitler's mind at this time, though he probably had not
thought through how it could be done. Most historians think the decision was made in 1941, and some think it came
as late as 1942.
Hitler had long admired Germany, and during the war he had become a passionate German patriot, although he did
not become a German citizen until 1932. Hitler found the war to be "the greatest of all experiences" and afterwards
he was praised by a number of his commanding officers for his bravery.[37] He was shocked by Germany's
capitulation in November 1918 even while the German army still held enemy territory.[38] Like many other German
nationalists, Hitler believed in the Dolchstoßlegende ("dagger-stab legend") which claimed that the army,
"undefeated in the field," had been "stabbed in the back" by civilian leaders and Marxists back on the home front.
These politicians were later dubbed the November Criminals.
The Treaty of Versailles deprived Germany of various territories, demilitarised the Rhineland and imposed other
economically damaging sanctions. The treaty re-created Poland, which even moderate Germans regarded as an
outrage. The treaty also blamed Germany for all the horrors of the war, something which major historians such as
John Keegan now consider at least in part to be victor's justice; most European nations in the run-up to World War I
had become increasingly militarised and were eager to fight. The culpability of Germany was used as a basis to
Adolf Hitler 7

impose reparations on Germany (the amount was repeatedly revised under the Dawes Plan, the Young Plan, and the
Hoover Moratorium). Germany in turn perceived the treaty, especially Article 231 on the German responsibility for
the war, as a humiliation. For example, there was a nearly total demilitarisation of the armed forces, allowing
Germany only six battleships, no submarines, no air force, an army of 100,000 without conscription and no armoured
vehicles. The treaty was an important factor in both the social and political conditions encountered by Hitler and his
Nazis as they sought power. Hitler and his party used the signing of the treaty by the "November Criminals" as a
reason to build up Germany so that it could never happen again. He also used the "November Criminals" as
scapegoats, although at the Paris peace conference, these politicians had had very little choice in the matter.

Entry into politics


After World War I, Hitler remained in the army and returned to
Munich, where he – in contrast to his later declarations – attended the
funeral march for the murdered Bavarian prime minister Kurt
Eisner.[39] After the suppression of the Bavarian Soviet Republic, he
took part in "national thinking" courses organized by the Education
and Propaganda Department (Dept Ib/P) of the Bavarian Reichswehr
Group, Headquarters 4 under Captain Karl Mayr. Scapegoats were
found in "international Jewry", communists, and politicians across the
A copy of Adolf Hitler's German Workers' Party
party spectrum, especially the parties of the Weimar Coalition.
(DAP) membership card.
In July 1919, Hitler was appointed a Verbindungsmann (police spy) of
an Aufklärungskommando (Intelligence Commando) of the Reichswehr, both to influence other soldiers and to
infiltrate a small party, the German Workers' Party (DAP). During his inspection of the party, Hitler was impressed
with founder Anton Drexler's anti-semitic, nationalist, anti-capitalist and anti-Marxist ideas, which favoured a strong
active government, a "non-Jewish" version of socialism and mutual solidarity of all members of society. Drexler was
impressed with Hitler's oratory skills and invited him to join the party. Hitler joined DAP on 12 September 1919[40]
and became the party's 55th member.[41] His actual membership number was 555 (the 500 was added to make the
group appear larger) but later the number was reduced to create the impression that Hitler was one of the founding
members.[42] He was also made the seventh member of the executive committee.[43] Years later, he claimed to be the
party's seventh overall member, but it has been established that this claim is false.[44]

Here Hitler met Dietrich Eckart, one of the early founders of the party and member of the occult Thule Society.[45]
Eckart became Hitler's mentor, exchanging ideas with him, teaching him how to dress and speak, and introducing
him to a wide range of people. Hitler thanked Eckart by paying tribute to him in the second volume of Mein Kampf.
To increase the party's appeal, the party changed its name to the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or
National Socialist German Workers Party (abbreviated NSDAP).
Hitler was discharged from the army in March 1920 and with his former superiors' continued encouragement began
participating full time in the party's activities. By early 1921, Hitler was becoming highly effective at speaking in
front of large crowds. In February, Hitler spoke before a crowd of nearly six thousand in Munich. To publicize the
meeting, he sent out two truckloads of party supporters to drive around with swastikas, cause a commotion and
throw out leaflets, their first use of this tactic. Hitler gained notoriety outside of the party for his rowdy, polemic
speeches against the Treaty of Versailles, rival politicians (including monarchists, nationalists and other
non-internationalist socialists) and especially against Marxists and Jews.
The NSDAP[46] was centred in Munich, a hotbed of German nationalists who included Army officers determined to
crush Marxism and undermine the Weimar Republic. Gradually they noticed Hitler and his growing movement as a
suitable vehicle for their goals. Hitler traveled to Berlin to visit nationalist groups during the summer of 1921, and in
his absence there was a revolt among the DAP leadership in Munich.
Adolf Hitler 8

The party was run by an executive committee whose original members considered Hitler to be overbearing. They
formed an alliance with a group of socialists from Augsburg. Hitler rushed back to Munich and countered them by
tendering his resignation from the party on 11 July 1921. When they realized the loss of Hitler would effectively
mean the end of the party, he seized the moment and announced he would return on the condition that he replace
Drexler as party chairman, with unlimited powers. Infuriated committee members (including Drexler) held out at
first. Meanwhile an anonymous pamphlet appeared entitled Adolf Hitler: Is he a traitor?, attacking Hitler's lust for
power and criticizing the violent men around him. Hitler responded to its publication in a Munich newspaper by
suing for libel and later won a small settlement.
The executive committee of the NSDAP eventually backed down and Hitler's demands were put to a vote of party
members. Hitler received 543 votes for and only one against. At the next gathering on 29 July 1921, Adolf Hitler
was introduced as Führer of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, marking the first time this title was
publicly used.
Hitler's beer hall oratory, attacking Jews, social democrats, liberals, reactionary monarchists, capitalists and
communists, began attracting adherents. Early followers included Rudolf Hess, the former air force pilot Hermann
Göring, and the army captain Ernst Röhm, who eventually became head of the Nazis' paramilitary organization the
SA (Sturmabteilung, or "Storm Division"), which protected meetings and attacked political opponents. As well,
Hitler assimilated independent groups, such as the Nuremberg-based Deutsche Werkgemeinschaft, led by Julius
Streicher, who became Gauleiter of Franconia. Hitler attracted the attention of local business interests, was accepted
into influential circles of Munich society, and became associated with wartime General Erich Ludendorff during this
time.

Beer Hall Putsch


Encouraged by this early support, Hitler decided to use Ludendorff as a front in
an attempted coup later known as the "Beer Hall Putsch" (sometimes as the
"Hitler Putsch" or "Munich Putsch"). The Nazi Party had copied Italy's fascists
in appearance and had adopted some of their policies, and in 1923, Hitler wanted
to emulate Benito Mussolini's "March on Rome" by staging his own "Campaign
in Berlin". Hitler and Ludendorff obtained the clandestine support of Gustav von
Kahr, Bavaria's de facto ruler, along with leading figures in the Reichswehr and
the police. As political posters show, Ludendorff, Hitler and the heads of the
Bavarian police and military planned on forming a new government.

On 8 November 1923, Hitler and the SA stormed a public meeting headed by


Kahr in the Bürgerbräukeller, a large beer hall in Munich. He declared that he
had set up a new government with Ludendorff and demanded, at gunpoint, the
Drawing of Hitler, 1923 support of Kahr and the local military establishment for the destruction of the
Berlin government.[47] Kahr withdrew his support and fled to join the opposition
to Hitler at the first opportunity.[48] The next day, when Hitler and his followers marched from the beer hall to the
Bavarian War Ministry to overthrow the Bavarian government as a start to their "March on Berlin", the police
dispersed them. Sixteen NSDAP members were killed.[49]

Hitler fled to the home of Ernst Hanfstaengl and contemplated suicide; Hanfstaengl's wife Helene talked him out of
it. He was soon arrested for high treason. Alfred Rosenberg became temporary leader of the party. During Hitler's
trial, he was given almost unlimited time to speak, and his popularity soared as he voiced nationalistic sentiments in
his defence speech. [50] A Munich personality thus became a nationally known figure. On 1 April 1924, Hitler was
sentenced to five years' imprisonment at Landsberg Prison. Hitler received favoured treatment from the guards and
had much fan mail from admirers. He was pardoned and released from jail on 20 December 1924, by order of the
Bavarian Supreme Court on 19 December, which issued its final rejection of the state prosecutor's objections to
Adolf Hitler 9

Hitler's early release.[51] Including time on remand, he had served little more than one year of his sentence.[52]
On 28 June 1925, Hitler wrote a letter from Uffing to the editor of The Nation in New York City complaining of the
length of his sentence at "Sandberg a. S." [sic], where he claimed his privileges had been extensively revoked.[53]

Mein Kampf
While at Landsberg, he dictated most of the first volume of Mein
Kampf (My Struggle, originally entitled Four and a Half Years of
Struggle against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice) to his deputy Rudolf
Hess.[52] The book, dedicated to Thule Society member Dietrich
Eckart, was an autobiography and an exposition of his ideology. Mein
Kampf was influenced by The Passing of the Great Race by Madison
Grant, which Hitler called "my Bible."[54] It was published in two
volumes in 1925 and 1926, selling about 240,000 copies between 1925
and 1934. By the end of the war, about 10 million copies had been sold
or distributed (newlyweds and soldiers received free copies). The
copyright of Mein Kampf in Europe is claimed by the Free State of
Dust jacket of Mein Kampf
Bavaria and scheduled to end on 31 December 2015. Reproductions in
Germany are authorized only for scholarly purposes and in heavily
commented form.

Rebuilding of the party


At the time of Hitler's release, the political situation in Germany had calmed and
the economy had improved, which hampered Hitler's opportunities for agitation.
Though the "Hitler Putsch" had given Hitler some national prominence, Munich
remained his party's mainstay.
The NSDAP and its organs were banned in Bavaria after the collapse of the
putsch. Hitler convinced Heinrich Held, Prime Minister of Bavaria, to lift the
ban, based on representations that the party would now only seek political power
through legal means. Even though the ban on the NSDAP was removed effective
16 February 1925,[55] Hitler incurred a new ban on public speaking as a result of
an inflammatory speech. Since Hitler was banned from public speeches, he
appointed Gregor Strasser, who in 1924 had been elected to the Reichstag, as
Reichsorganisationsleiter, authorizing him to organize the party in northern
Germany. Strasser, joined by his younger brother Otto and Joseph Goebbels,
steered an increasingly independent course, emphasizing the socialist element in Adolf Hitler (left), standing up
the party's programme. The Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Gauleiter Nord-West behind Hermann Göring at a Nazi
rally in Nuremberg, 1928
became an internal opposition, threatening Hitler's authority, but this faction was
defeated at the Bamberg Conference in 1926, during which Goebbels joined
Hitler.

After this encounter, Hitler centralized the party even more and asserted the Führerprinzip ("Leader principle") as
the basic principle of party organization. Leaders were not elected by their group, but were rather appointed by their
superior, answering to them while demanding unquestioning obedience from their inferiors. Consistent with Hitler's
disdain for democracy, all power and authority devolved from the top down.
A key element of Hitler's appeal was his ability to evoke a sense of offended national pride caused by the Treaty of
Versailles imposed on the defeated German Empire by the Western Allies. Germany had lost economically
Adolf Hitler 10

important territory in Europe along with its colonies and in admitting to sole responsibility for the war had agreed to
pay a huge reparations bill totaling 132 billion marks. Most Germans bitterly resented these terms, but early Nazi
attempts to gain support by blaming these humiliations on "international Jewry" were not particularly successful with
the electorate. The party learned quickly, and soon a more subtle propaganda emerged, combining antisemitism with
an attack on the failures of the "Weimar system" and the parties supporting it.
Having failed in overthrowing the Republic by a coup, Hitler pursued a "strategy of legality": this meant formally
adhering to the rules of the Weimar Republic until he had legally gained power. He would then use the institutions of
the Weimar Republic to destroy it and establish himself as dictator. Some party members, especially in the
paramilitary SA, opposed this strategy; Röhm and others ridiculed Hitler as "Adolphe Legalité".

Rise to power
Date Votes Percentage Seats in Reichstag Background

May 1924 1918300 6.5 32 Hitler in prison

December 1924 907300 3.0 14 Hitler is released from prison

May 1928 810100 2.6 12

September 1930 6409600 18.3 107 After the financial crisis

July 1932 13745800 37.4 230 After Hitler was candidate for presidency

November 1932 11737000 33.1 196

March 1933 17277000 43.9 288 During Hitler's term as Chancellor of Germany

|+ Nazi Party Election Results

Brüning Administration
The political turning point for Hitler came when the Great Depression
hit Germany in 1930. The Weimar Republic had never been firmly
rooted and was openly opposed by right-wing conservatives (including
monarchists), communists and the Nazis. As the parties loyal to the
democratic, parliamentary republic found themselves unable to agree
on counter-measures, their grand coalition broke up and was replaced
by a minority cabinet. The new Chancellor, Heinrich Brüning of the
Roman Catholic Centre Party, lacking a majority in parliament, had to
implement his measures through the president's emergency decrees.
An NSDAP meeting in December 1930, with
Tolerated by the majority of parties, this rule by decree would become
Hitler in the centre
the norm over a series of unworkable parliaments and paved the way
for authoritarian forms of government.[56]

The Reichstag's initial opposition to Brüning's measures led to premature elections in September 1930. The
republican parties lost their majority and their ability to resume the grand coalition, while the Nazis suddenly rose
from relative obscurity to win 18.3% of the vote along with 107 seats. In the process, they jumped from the
ninth-smallest party in the chamber to the second largest.[57]
In September–October 1930, Hitler appeared as a major defence witness at the trial in Leipzig of two junior
Reichswehr officers charged with membership of the Nazi Party, which at that time was forbidden to Reichswehr
personnel.[58] The two officers, Leutnants Richard Scheringer and Hans Ludin, admitted quite openly to Nazi Party
membership, and used as their defence that the Nazi Party membership should not be forbidden to those serving in
the Reichswehr.[59] When the Prosecution argued that the Nazi Party was a dangerous revolutionary force, one of the
Adolf Hitler 11

defence lawyers, Hans Frank had Hitler brought to the stand to prove that the Nazi Party was a law-abiding party.[59]
During his testimony, Hitler insisted that his party was determined to come to power legally, that the phrase
"National Revolution" was only to be interpreted "politically", and that his Party was a friend, not an enemy of the
Reichswehr.[60] Hitler's testimony of 25 September 1930 won him many admirers within the ranks of the officer
corps.[61]
Brüning's measures of budget consolidation and financial austerity brought little economic improvement and were
extremely unpopular.[62] Under these circumstances, Hitler appealed to the bulk of German farmers, war veterans
and the middle class, who had been hard-hit by both the inflation of the 1920s and the unemployment of the
Depression.[63] In September 1931, Hitler's niece Geli Raubal was found dead in her bedroom in his Munich
apartment (his half-sister Angela and her daughter Geli had been with him in Munich since 1929), an apparent
suicide. Geli, who was believed to be in some sort of romantic relationship with Hitler, was 19 years younger than he
was and had used his gun. His niece's death is viewed as a source of deep, lasting pain for him.[64]
In 1932, Hitler intended to run against the aging President Paul von Hindenburg in the scheduled presidential
elections. His 27 January 1932 speech to the Industry Club in Düsseldorf won him, for the first time, support from a
broad swath of Germany's most powerful industrialists.[65] Though Hitler had left Austria in 1913 and had formally
renounced his Austrian citizenship on 7 April 1925, he still had not acquired German citizenship and hence could not
run for public office. For almost seven years Hitler was stateless and faced the risk of deportation from Germany.[66]
On 25 February, however, the interior minister of the Brunswick, a Nazi (the Nazis were part of a right-wing
coalition governing the state) appointed Hitler as administrator for the state's delegation to the Reichsrat in Berlin.
This appointment made Hitler a citizen of Brunswick.[67] In those days, the states conferred citizenship, so this
automatically made Hitler a citizen of Germany as well and thus eligible to run for president.[68]
The new German citizen ran against Hindenburg, who was supported by a broad range of nationalist, monarchist,
Catholic, republican and even social democratic parties. Another candidate was a Communist and member of a
fringe right-wing party. Hitler's campaign was called "Hitler über Deutschland" (Hitler over Germany).[69] The
name had a double meaning; besides a reference to his dictatorial ambitions, it referred to the fact that he
campaigned by aircraft.[69] Hitler came in second on both rounds, attaining more than 35% of the vote during the
second one in April. Although he lost to Hindenburg, the election established Hitler as a realistic alternative in
German politics.[70]

Appointment as Chancellor
Meanwhile, Papen tried to get his revenge on Schleicher by working toward the General's downfall, through forming
an intrigue with the camarilla and Alfred Hugenberg, media mogul and chairman of the DNVP. Also involved were
Hjalmar Schacht, Fritz Thyssen and other leading German businessmen and international bankers.[71] They
financially supported the Nazi Party, which had been brought to the brink of bankruptcy by the cost of heavy
campaigning. The businessmen wrote letters to Hindenburg, urging him to appoint Hitler as leader of a government
"independent from parliamentary parties" which could turn into a movement that would "enrapture millions of
people."[72]
Adolf Hitler 12

Finally, the president reluctantly agreed to appoint Hitler Chancellor of


a coalition government formed by the NSDAP and DNVP. However,
the Nazis were to be contained by a framework of conservative cabinet
ministers, most notably by Papen as Vice-Chancellor and by
Hugenberg as Minister of the Economy. The only other Nazi besides
Hitler to get a portfolio was Wilhelm Frick, who was given the
relatively powerless interior ministry (in Germany at the time, most
powers wielded by the interior minister in other countries were held by
the interior ministers of the states). As a concession to the Nazis, Hitler from a window of the Chancellory
Göring was named minister without portfolio. While Papen intended to receiving an ovation at his inauguration as
use Hitler as a figurehead, the Nazis gained key positions. Chancellor, 30 January 1933

On the morning of 30 January 1933, in Hindenburg's office, Adolf


Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor during what some observers later described as a brief and simple ceremony. His
first speech as Chancellor [73] took place on 10 February. The Nazis' seizure of power subsequently became known
as the Machtergreifung or Machtübernahme.

Reichstag fire and the March elections


Having become Chancellor, Hitler foiled all attempts by his opponents to gain a majority in parliament. Because no
single party could gain a majority, Hitler persuaded President Hindenburg to dissolve the Reichstag again. Elections
were scheduled for early March, but on 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building was set on fire.[74] Since a Dutch
independent communist was found in the building, the fire was blamed on a communist plot. The government
reacted with the Reichstag Fire Decree of 28 February which suspended basic rights, including habeas corpus.
Under the provisions of this decree, the German Communist Party (KPD) and other groups were suppressed, and
Communist functionaries and deputies were arrested, forced to flee, or murdered.
Campaigning continued, with the Nazis making use of paramilitary violence, anti-communist hysteria, and the
government's resources for propaganda. On election day, 6 March, the NSDAP increased its result to 43.9% of the
vote, remaining the largest party, but its victory was marred by its failure to secure an absolute majority,
necessitating maintaining a coalition with the DNVP.[75]

"Day of Potsdam" and the Enabling Act


On 21 March, the new Reichstag was constituted with an opening
ceremony held at Potsdam's garrison church. This "Day of Potsdam"
was staged to demonstrate reconciliation and unity between the
revolutionary Nazi movement and "Old Prussia" with its elites and
virtues. Hitler appeared in a tail coat and humbly greeted the aged
President Hindenburg.

Because of the Nazis' failure to obtain a majority on their own, Hitler's


government confronted the newly elected Reichstag with the Enabling
Act that would have vested the cabinet with legislative powers for a
period of four years. Though such a bill was not unprecedented, this
act was different since it allowed for deviations from the constitution.
Since the bill required a ⅔ majority in order to pass, the government Parade of SA troops past Hitler – Nuremberg,
needed the support of other parties. The position of the Centre Party, November 1935
Adolf Hitler 13

the third largest party in the Reichstag, turned out to be decisive: under the leadership of Ludwig Kaas, the party
decided to vote for the Enabling Act. It did so in return for the government's oral guarantees regarding the Church's
liberty, the concordats signed by German states and the continued existence of the Centre Party.
On 23 March, the Reichstag assembled in a replacement building under extremely turbulent circumstances. Some SA
men served as guards within while large groups outside the building shouted slogans and threats toward the arriving
deputies. Kaas announced that the Centre Party would support the bill with "concerns put aside," while Social
Democrat Otto Wels denounced the act in his speech. At the end of the day, all parties except the Social Democrats
voted in favour of the bill. The Communists, as well as some Social Democrats, were barred from attending. The
Enabling Act, combined with the Reichstag Fire Decree, transformed Hitler's government into a legal dictatorship.

Removal of remaining limits


At the risk of appearing to talk nonsense I tell you that the Nazi movement will go on for 1,000 years! ... Don't forget how people laughed at
me 15 years ago when I declared that one day I would govern Germany. They laugh now, just as foolishly, when I declare that I shall remain
in power! ”
[76]
—Adolf Hitler to a British correspondent in Berlin, June 1934

With this combination of legislative and executive power, Hitler's government further suppressed the remaining
political opposition. After the rapid dissolution of the Communist Party the Social Democratic Party (SPD) were
banned, leading to a 10 May court order that all property and assets be seized. The Steel Helmets (World War One
veterans) on 26 April were placed under Hitler's leadership with guarantee they would exist as an autonomous
organization to be called upon as an auxiliary police force. On 2 May, stormtroopers ransacked and destroyed every
trade union office in the country and 4 May the Christian Trade Unions and all other unions vowed allegiance to
Hitler. The State Party dissolved on June 28. The 60 year old People's Party officially dissolved on 4 July. The
Catholic Church was given no choice but to support Hitler after dissolution of their Centre Party on 5 July. The right
wing German Nationalist Front was forced to incorporate its small paramilitaries into the Nazi SA and dissolved per
the "Friendship Agreement". Finally, on 14 July, the Nazi Party was declared the only legal party in Germany as big
business and the army stood on the sidelines.[77]
Hitler used the SA paramilitary to push Hugenberg into resigning, and proceeded to politically isolate
Vice-Chancellor Papen. Because the SA's demands for political and military power caused much anxiety among
military and political leaders, Hitler used allegations of a plot by the SA leader Ernst Röhm to purge the SA's
leadership during the Night of the Long Knives. As well, opponents unconnected with the SA were murdered,
notably Gregor Strasser and former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher.[78]
Adolf Hitler 14

President Paul von Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934. Rather than


call new elections as required by the constitution, Hitler's cabinet
passed a law proclaiming the presidency vacant and transferred the role
and powers of the head of state to Hitler as Führer und Reichskanzler
(leader and chancellor). This action effectively removed the last legal
remedy by which Hitler could be dismissed – and with it, nearly all
institutional checks and balances on his power.

On 19 August a plebiscite approved the merger of the presidency with


the chancellorship winning 84.6% of the electorate.[79] [80] This action
technically violated both the constitution and the Enabling Act. The
constitution had been amended in 1932 to make the president of the
High Court of Justice, not the chancellor, acting president until new
elections could be held. The Enabling Act specifically barred Hitler
from taking any action that tampered with the presidency. However, no
one dared object.

As head of state, Hitler now became Supreme Commander of the In 1934, Hitler became Germany's president
armed forces. When it came time for the soldiers and sailors to swear under the title Führer und Reichskanzler (Leader
the traditional loyalty oath, it had been altered into an oath of personal and Chancellor of the Reich).

loyalty to Hitler. Normally, soldiers and sailors swear loyalty to the


holder of the office of supreme commander/commander-in-chief, not a specific person.[81]
In 1938, two scandals resulted in Hitler bringing the Armed Forces under his control. Hitler forced the resignation of
his War Minister (formerly Defense Minister), Werner von Blomberg, after evidence surfaced that Blomberg's new
wife had a criminal past. Prior to removing Blomberg, Hitler and his clique removed army commander Werner von
Fritsch on suspicion of homosexuality.[82] Hitler replaced the Ministry of War with the Oberkommando der
Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces, or OKW), headed by the pliant General Wilhelm Keitel. More
importantly, Hitler announced he was assuming personal command of the armed forces. He took over Blomberg's
other old post, that of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, for himself. He was already Supreme Commander
by virtue of holding the powers of the president. The next day, the newspapers announced, "Strongest concentration
of powers in Führer's hands!"

Third Reich
Having secured supreme political power, Hitler went on to gain public support by convincing most Germans he was
their saviour from the economic Depression, the Versailles treaty, communism, the "Judeo-Bolsheviks", and other
"undesirable" minorities. The Nazis eliminated opposition through a process known as Gleichschaltung ("bringing
into line").

Economy and culture


Hitler oversaw one of the greatest expansions of industrial production and civil improvement Germany had ever
seen, mostly based on debt flotation and expansion of the military. Nazi policies toward women strongly encouraged
them to stay at home to bear children and keep house. In a September 1934 speech to the National Socialist Women's
Organization, Adolf Hitler argued that for the German woman her "world is her husband, her family, her children,
and her home." This policy was reinforced by bestowing the Cross of Honor of the German Mother on women
bearing four or more babies. The unemployment rate was cut substantially, mostly through arms production and
sending women home so that men could take their jobs. Given this, claims that the German economy achieved near
full employment are at least partly artefacts of propaganda from the era. Much of the financing for Hitler's
Adolf Hitler 15

reconstruction and rearmament came from currency manipulation by Hjalmar Schacht, including the clouded credits
through the Mefo bills.
Hitler oversaw one of the largest infrastructure-improvement
campaigns in German history, with the construction of dozens of dams,
autobahns, railroads, and other civil works. This revitalising of
industry and infrastructure came at the expense of the overall standard
of living, at least for those not affected by the chronic unemployment
of the later Weimar Republic, since wages were slightly reduced in
pre-World War II years, despite a 25% increase in the cost of living.[83]
Laborers and farmers, the traditional voters of the NSDAP, however,
saw an increase in their standard of living.

Hitler's government sponsored architecture on an immense scale, with


Albert Speer becoming famous as the first architect of the Reich.
While important as an architect in implementing Hitler's classicist
reinterpretation of German culture, Speer proved much more effective
as armaments minister during the last years of World War II. In 1936,
Berlin hosted the summer Olympic games, which were opened by
Hitler and choreographed to demonstrate Aryan superiority over all 1934 Nuremberg rally
other races, achieving mixed results.

Although Hitler made plans for a Breitspurbahn ("broad gauge railroad network"), they were preempted by World
War II. Had the railroad been built, its gauge would have been three metres, even wider than the old Great Western
Railway of Britain.
Hitler contributed slightly to the design of the car that later became the Volkswagen Beetle and charged Ferdinand
Porsche with its design and construction.[84] Production was deferred because of the war.
On 20 April 1939, a lavish celebration was held in honour of Hitler's 50th birthday, featuring military parades, visits
from foreign dignitaries, thousands of flaming torches and Nazi banners.[85]
An important historical debate about Hitler's economic policies concerns the "modernization" issue. Historians such
as David Schoenbaum and Henry Ashby Turner have argued that social and economic polices under Hitler were
modernization carried out in pursuit of anti-modern goals.[86] Other groups of historians centred around Rainer
Zitelmann have contended that Hitler had a deliberate strategy of pursuing a revolutionary modernization of German
society.[87]

Rearmament and new alliances


In a meeting with his leading generals and admirals on 3 February
1933, Hitler spoke of "conquest of Lebensraum in the East and its
ruthless Germanisation" as his ultimate foreign policy objectives.[88] In
March 1933, the first major statement of German foreign policy aims
appeared with the memo submitted to the German Cabinet by the State
Secretary at the Auswärtiges Amt (Foreign Office), Prince Bernhard
Wilhelm von Bülow (not to be confused with his more famous uncle,
the former Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow), which advocated
Anschluss with Austria, the restoration of the frontiers of 1914, the
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini during Hitler's
rejection of the Part V of Versailles, the return of the former German visit to Venice from 14 to 16 June 1934
Adolf Hitler 16

colonies in Africa, and a German zone of influence in Eastern Europe as goals for the future. Hitler found the goals
in Bülow's memo to be too modest.[89] In March 1933, to resolve the deadlock between the French demand for
sécurité ("security") and the German demand for gleichberechtigung ("equality of armaments") at the World
Disarmament Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald presented the
compromise "MacDonald Plan". Hitler endorsed the "MacDonald Plan", correctly guessing that nothing would come
of it, and that in the interval he could win some goodwill in London by making his government appear moderate, and
the French obstinate.[90]
In May 1933, Hitler met with Herbert von Dirksen, the German Ambassador in Moscow. Dirksen advised the Führer
that he was allowing relations with the Soviet Union to deteriorate to an unacceptable extent, and advised to take
immediate steps to repair relations with the Soviets.[91] Much to Dirksen's intense disappointment, Hitler informed
that he wished for an anti-Soviet understanding with Poland, which Dirksen protested implied recognition of the
German-Polish border, leading Hitler to state he was after much greater things than merely overturning the Treaty of
Versailles.[92]
In June 1933, Hitler was forced to disavow Alfred Hugenberg of the German National People's Party, who while
attending the London World Economic Conference put forth a programme of colonial expansion in both Africa and
Eastern Europe, which created a major storm abroad.[93] Speaking to the Burgermeister of Hamburg in 1933, Hitler
commented that Germany required several years of peace before it could be sufficiently rearmed enough to risk a
war, and until then a policy of caution was called for.[94] In his "peace speeches" of 17 May 1933, 21 May 1935, and
7 March 1936, Hitler stressed his supposed pacific goals and a willingness to work within the international
system.[95] In private, Hitler's plans were something less than pacific. At the first meeting of his Cabinet in 1933,
Hitler placed military spending ahead of unemployment relief, and indeed was only prepared to spend money on the
latter if the former was satisfied first.[96] When the president of the Reichsbank, the former Chancellor Dr. Hans
Luther, offered the new government the legal limit of 100 million Reichmarks to finance rearmament, Hitler found
the sum too low, and sacked Luther in March 1933 to replace him with Hjalmar Schacht, who during the next five
years was to advance 12 billion Reichmarks worth of "Mefo-bills" to pay for rearmament.[97]
A major initiative in Hitler's foreign policy in his early years was to create an alliance with Britain. In the 1920s,
Hitler wrote that a future National Socialist foreign policy goal was "the destruction of Russia with the help of
England."[98] In May 1933, Alfred Rosenberg in his capacity as head of the Nazi Party's Aussenpolitisches Amt
(Foreign Political Office) visited London as part of a disastrous effort to win an alliance with Britain.[99] In October
1933, Hitler pulled Germany out of both the League of Nations and World Disarmament Conference after his
Foreign Minister Baron Konstantin von Neurath made it appear to world public opinion that the French demand for
sécurité was the principal stumbling block.[11]
In line with the views he advocated in Mein Kampf and Zweites Buch about the necessity of building an
Anglo-German alliance, Hitler, in a meeting in November 1933 with the British Ambassador, Sir Eric Phipps,
offered a scheme in which Britain would support a 300,000-strong German Army in exchange for a German
"guarantee" of the British Empire.[100] In response, the British stated a 10-year waiting period would be necessary
before Britain would support an increase in the size of the German Army.[100] A more successful initiative in foreign
policy occurred with relations with Poland. In spite of intense opposition from the military and the Auswärtiges Amt
who preferred closer ties with the Soviet Union, Hitler, in the fall of 1933 opened secret talks with Poland that were
to lead to the German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact of January 1934.[11]
In February 1934, Hitler met with the British Lord Privy Seal, Sir Anthony Eden, and hinted strongly that Germany
already possessed an Air Force, which had been forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles.[101] In the fall of 1934, Hitler
was seriously concerned over the dangers of inflation damaging his popularity.[102] In a secret speech given before
his Cabinet on 5 November 1934, Hitler stated he had "given the working class his word that he would allow no
price increases. Wage-earners would accuse him of breaking his word if he did not act against the rising prices.
Revolutionary conditions among the people would be the further consequence."[102]
Adolf Hitler 17

Although a secret German armaments programme had been on-going since 1919, in March 1935, Hitler rejected Part
V of the Versailles treaty by publicly announcing that the German army would be expanded to 600,000 men (six
times the number stipulated in the Treaty of Versailles), introducing an Air Force (Luftwaffe) and increasing the size
of the Navy (Kriegsmarine). Britain, France, Italy and the League of Nations quickly condemned these actions.
However, after re-assurances from Hitler that Germany was only interested in peace, no country took any action to
stop this development and German re-armament continued. Later in March 1935, Hitler held a series of meetings in
Berlin with the British Foreign Secretary Sir John Simon and Eden, during which he successfully evaded British
offers for German participation in a regional security pact meant to serve as an Eastern European equivalent of the
Locarno pact while the two British ministers avoided taking up Hitler's offers of alliance.[103] During his talks with
Simon and Eden, Hitler first used what he regarded as the brilliant colonial negotiating tactic, when Hitler parlayed
an offer from Simon to return to the League of Nations by demanding the return of the former German colonies in
Africa.[104]
Starting in April 1935, disenchantment with how the Third Reich had developed in practice as opposed to what been
promised led many in the Nazi Party, especially the Alte Kämpfer (Old Fighters; i.e., those who joined the Party
before 1930, and who tended to be the most ardent anti-Semitics in the Party), and the SA into lashing out against
Germany's Jewish minority as a way of expressing their frustrations against a group that the authorities would not
generally protect.[105] The rank and file of the Party were most unhappy that two years into the Third Reich, and
despite countless promises by Hitler prior to 1933, no law had been passed banning marriage or sex between those
Germans belonging to the "Aryan" and Jewish "races". A Gestapo report from the spring of 1935 stated that the rank
and file of the Nazi Party would "set in motion by us from below," a solution to the "Jewish problem," "that the
government would then have to follow."[106] As a result, Nazi Party activists and the SA started a major wave of
assaults, vandalism and boycotts against German Jews.[107]
On 18 June 1935, the Anglo-German Naval Agreement (AGNA) was signed in London which allowed for increasing
the allowed German tonnage up to 35% of that of the British navy. Hitler called the signing of the AGNA "the
happiest day of his life" as he believed the agreement marked the beginning of the Anglo-German alliance he had
predicted in Mein Kampf.[108] This agreement was made without consulting either France or Italy, directly
undermining the League of Nations and put the Treaty of Versailles on the path towards irrelevance.[109] After the
signing of the A.G.N.A., in June 1935 Hitler ordered the next step in the creation of an Anglo-German alliance:
taking all the societies demanding the restoration of the former German African colonies and coordinating
(Gleichschaltung) them into a new Reich Colonial League (Reichskolonialbund) which over the next few years
waged an extremely aggressive propaganda campaign for colonial restoration.[110] Hitler had no real interest in the
former German African colonies. In Mein Kampf, Hitler had excoriated the Imperial German government for
pursuing colonial expansion in Africa prior to 1914 on the grounds that the natural area for Lebensraum was Eastern
Europe, not Africa.[111] It was Hitler's intention to use colonial demands as a negotiating tactic that would see a
German "renunciation" of colonial claims in exchange for Britain making an alliance with the Reich on German
terms.[112]
In the summer of 1935, Hitler was informed that, between inflation and the need to use foreign exchange to buy raw
materials Germany lacked for rearmament, there were only 5 million Reichmarks available for military expenditure,
and a pressing need for some 300,000 Reichmarks/day to prevent food shortages.[11] In August 1935, Dr. Hjalmar
Schacht advised Hitler that the wave of anti-Semitic violence was interfering with the workings of the economy, and
hence rearmament.[11] Following Dr. Schacht's complaints, plus reports that the German public did not approve of
the wave of anti-Semitic violence, and that continuing police toleration of the violence was hurting the regime's
popularity with the wider public, Hitler ordered a stop to "individual actions" against German Jews on 8 August
1935.[11] From Hitler's perspective, it was imperative to bring in harsh new anti-Semitic laws as a consolation prize
for those Party members who were disappointed with Hitler's halt order of 8 August, especially because Hitler had
only reluctantly given the halt order for pragmatic reasons, and his sympathies were with the Party radicals.[11] The
annual Nazi Party Rally held at Nuremberg in September 1935 was to feature the first session of the Reichstag held
Adolf Hitler 18

at that city since 1543. Hitler had planned to have the Reichstag pass a law making the Nazi Swastika flag the flag of
the German Reich, and a major speech in support of the impending Italian aggression against Ethiopia.[11] Hitler felt
that the Italian aggression opened great opportunities for Germany. In August 1935, Hitler told Goebbels his foreign
policy vision as: "With England eternal alliance. Good relationship with Poland . . . Expansion to the East. The
Baltic belongs to us . . . Conflicts Italy-Abyssinia-England, then Japan-Russia imminent."[11]
At the last minute before the Nuremberg Party Rally was due to begin, the German Foreign Minister Baron
Konstantin von Neurath persuaded Hitler to cancel his speech praising Italy for her willingness to commit
aggression. Neurath convinced Hitler that his speech was too provocative to public opinion abroad as it contradicted
the message of Hitler's "peace speeches", thus leaving Hitler with the sudden need to have something else to address
the first meeting of the Reichstag in Nuremberg since 1543, other than the Reich Flag Law.[113] On 13 September
1935, Hitler hurriedly ordered two civil servants, Dr. Bernhard Lösener and Franz Albrecht Medicus of the Interior
Ministry to fly to Nuremberg to start drafting anti-Semitic laws for Hitler to present to the Reichstag for 15
September.[11] On the evening of 15 September, Hitler presented two laws before the Reichstag banning sex and
marriage between Aryan and Jewish Germans, the employment of Aryan woman under the age of 45 in Jewish
households, and deprived "non-Aryans" of the benefits of German citizenship.[114] The laws of September 1935 are
generally known as the Nuremberg Laws.
In October 1935, in order to prevent further food shortages and the introduction of rationing, Hitler reluctantly
ordered cuts in military spending.[11] In the spring of 1936 in response to requests from Richard Walther Darré,
Hitler ordered 60 million Reichmarks of foreign exchange to be used to buy seed oil for German farmers, a decision
that led to bitter complaints from Dr. Schacht and the War Minister Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg that it
would be impossible to achieve rearmament as long as foreign exchange was diverted to preventing food
shortages.[11] Given the economic problems which was affecting his popularity by early 1936, Hitler felt the pressing
need for a foreign policy triumph as a way of distracting public attention from the economy.[11]
In an interview with the French journalist Bertrand de Jouvenel in February 1936, Hitler appeared to disavow Mein
Kampf by saying that parts of his book were now out of date and he was not guided by them, though precisely which
parts were out of date was left unclear.[115] In March 1936, Hitler again violated the Versailles treaty by reoccupying
the demilitarized zone in the Rhineland. When Britain and France did nothing, he grew bolder. In July 1936, the
Spanish Civil War began when the military, led by General Francisco Franco, rebelled against the elected Popular
Front government. After receiving an appeal for help from General Franco in July 1936, Hitler sent troops to support
Franco, and Spain served as a testing ground for Germany's new forces and their methods. At the same time, Hitler
continued with his efforts to create an Anglo-German alliance. In July 1936, he offered to Phipps a promise that if
Britain were to sign an alliance with the Reich, then Germany would commit to sending twelve divisions to the Far
East to protect British colonial possessions there from a Japanese attack.[116] Hitler's offer was refused.
In August 1936, in response to a growing crisis in the German economy caused by the strains of rearmament, Hitler
issued the "Four-Year Plan Memorandum" ordering Hermann Göring to carry out the Four Year Plan to have the
German economy ready for war within the next four years.[117] During the 1936 economic crisis, the German
government was divided into two factions, with one (the so-called "free market" faction) centring around the
Reichsbank President Hjalmar Schacht and the former Price Commissioner Dr. Carl Friedrich Goerdeler calling for
decreased military spending and a turn away from autarkic policies, and another faction around Göring calling for
the opposite. Supporting the "free-market" faction were some of Germany's leading business executives, most
notably Hermann Duecher of AEG, Robert Bosch of Robert Bosch GmbH, and Albert Voegeler of Vereinigte
Stahlwerke AG.[118] Hitler hesitated for the first half of 1936 before siding with the more radical faction in his "Four
Year Plan" memo of August.[119] Historians such as Richard Overy have argued that the importance of the memo,
which was written personally by Hitler, can be gauged by the fact that Hitler, who had something of a phobia about
writing, hardly ever wrote anything down, which indicates that Hitler had something especially important to say.[120]
The "Four-Year Plan Memorandum" predicated an imminent all-out, apocalyptic struggle between
Adolf Hitler 19

"Judo-Bolshevism" and German National Socialism, which necessitated a total effort at rearmament regardless of the
economic costs.[121] In the memo, Hitler wrote:
Since the outbreak of the French Revolution, the world has been moving with ever increasing speed
toward a new conflict, the most extreme solution of which is called Bolshevism, whose essence and aim,
however, are solely the elimination of those strata of mankind which have hitherto provided the
leadership and their replacement by worldwide Jewry. No state will be able to withdraw or even remain
at a distance from this historical conflict . . . It is not the aim of this memorandum to prophesy the time
when the untenable situation in Europe will become an open crisis. I only want, in these lines, to set
down my conviction that this crisis cannot and will not fail to arrive and that it is Germany's duty to
secure her own existence by every means in face of this catastrophe, and to protect herself against it, and
that from this compulsion there arises a series of conclusions relating to the most important tasks that
our people have ever been set. For a victory of Bolshevism over Germany would not lead to a Versailles
treaty, but to the final destruction, indeed the annihilation of the German people . . . I consider it
necessary for the Reichstag to pass the following two laws: 1) A law providing the death penalty for
economic sabotage and 2) A law making the whole of Jewry liable for all damage inflicted by individual
specimens of this community of criminals upon the German economy, and thus upon the German
people.[122]
Hitler called for Germany to have the world's "first army" in terms of fighting power within the next four years and
that "the extent of the military development of our resources cannot be too large, nor its pace too swift" (italics in the
original) and the role of the economy was simply to support "Germany's self-assertion and the extension of her
Lebensraum."[123] [124] Hitler went on to write that given the magnitude of the coming struggle that the concerns
expressed by members of the "free market" faction like Schacht and Goerdeler that the current level of military
spending was bankrupting Germany were irrelevant. Hitler wrote that: "However well balanced the general pattern
of a nation's life ought to be, there must at particular times be certain disturbances of the balance at the expense of
other less vital tasks. If we do not succeed in bringing the German army as rapidly as possible to the rank of premier
army in the world . . . then Germany will be lost!"[125] and "The nation does not live for the economy, for economic
leaders, or for economic or financial theories; on the contrary, it is finance and the economy, economic leaders and
theories, which all owe unqualified service in this struggle for the self-assertion of our nation."[118] Documents such
as the Four Year Plan Memo have often been used by right historians such as Henry Ashby Turner and Karl Dietrich
Bracher who argue for a "primacy of politics" approach (that Hitler was not subordinate to German business, but
rather the contrary was the case) against the "primacy of economics" approach championed by Marxist historians
(that Hitler was an "agent" of and subordinate to German business).[126]
In August 1936, the freelance Nazi diplomat Joachim von Ribbentrop was appointed German Ambassador to the
Embassy of Germany in London at the Court of St. James's. Before Ribbentrop left to take up his post in October
1936, Hitler told him: "Ribbentrop . . . get Britain to join the Anti-Comintern Pact, that is what I want most of all. I
have sent you as the best man I've got. Do what you can . . . But if in future all our efforts are still in vain, fair
enough, then I'm ready for war as well. I would regret it very much, but if it has to be, there it is. But I think it would
be a short war and the moment it is over, I will then be ready at any time to offer the British an honourable peace
acceptable to both sides. However, I would then demand that Britain join the Anti-Comintern Pact or perhaps some
other pact. But get on with it, Ribbentrop, you have the trumps in your hand, play them well. I'm ready at any time
for an air pact as well. Do your best. I will follow your efforts with interest".[127]
Adolf Hitler 20

An Axis was declared between Germany and Italy by Count Galeazzo


Ciano, foreign minister of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini on 25
October 1936. On 25 November of the same year, Germany concluded
the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan. At the time of the signing of the
Anti-Comintern Pact, invitations were sent out for Britain, China, Italy
and Poland to adhere; of the invited powers only the Italians were to
sign the pact, in November 1937. To strengthen relationships with
Japan, Hitler met in 1937 in Nuremberg Prince Chichibu, a brother of
emperor Hirohito. However, the meeting with Prince Chichibu had
little consequence, as Hitler refused the Japanese request to halt
German arms shipments to China or withdraw the German officers
serving with the Chinese in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Both the
military and the Auswärtiges Amt (Foreign Office) were strongly
opposed to ending the informal German alliance with China that
existed since the 1910s, and pressured Hitler to avoid offending the
Chinese. The Auswärtiges Amt and the military both argued to Hitler
that given the foreign exchange problems which afflicted German
rearmament, and the fact that various Sino-German economic
On 25 October 1936, an Axis was declared
agreements provided Germany with raw materials that would between Italy and Germany
otherwise use up precious foreign exchange, it was folly to seek an
alliance with Japan that would have the inevitable result of ending the Sino-German alignment.

By the latter half of 1937, Hitler had abandoned his dream of an Anglo-German alliance, blaming "inadequate"
British leadership for turning down his offers of an alliance.[128] In a talk with the League of Nations High
Commissioner for the Free City of Danzig, the Swiss diplomat Carl Jacob Burckhardt in September 1937, Hitler
protested what he regarded as British interference in the "German sphere" in Europe, though in the same talk, Hitler
made clear his view of Britain as an ideal ally, which for pure selfishness was blocking German plans.[128]
Hitler had suffered severely from stomach pains and eczema in 1936–37, leading to his remark to the Nazi Party's
propaganda leadership in October 1937 that because both parents died early in their lives, he would probably follow
suit, leaving him with only a few years to obtain the necessary Lebensraum.[129] [130] About the same time, Dr.
Goebbels noted in his diary Hitler now wished to see the "Great Germanic Reich" he envisioned in his own lifetime
rather than leaving the work of building the "Great Germanic Reich" to his successors.[131]
On 5 November 1937, at the Reich Chancellory, Adolf Hitler held a secret meeting with the War and Foreign
Ministers and the three service chiefs, recorded in the Hossbach Memorandum, and stated his intentions for
acquiring "living space" Lebensraum for the German people. He ordered the attendees to make plans for war in the
east no later than 1943 in order to acquire Lebensraum. Hitler stated the conference minutes were to be regarded as
his "political testament" in the event of his death.[132] In the memo, Hitler was recorded as saying that such a state of
crisis had been reached in the German economy that the only way of stopping a severe decline in living standards in
Germany was to embark sometime in the near-future on a policy of aggression by seizing Austria and
Czechoslovakia.[133] [134] Moreover, Hitler stated that the arms race meant that time for action had to occur before
Britain and France obtained a permanent lead in the arms race.[133] A striking change in the Hossbach Memo was
Hitler's changed view of Britain from the prospective ally of 1928 in the Zweites Buch to the "hate-inspired
antagonist" of 1937 in the Hossbach memo.[135] The historian Klaus Hildebrand described the memo as the start of
an "ambivalent course" towards Britain while the late historian Andreas Hillgruber argued that Hitler was embarking
on expansion "without Britain," preferably "with Britain," but if necessary "against Britain."[112] [136]
Hitler's intentions outlined in the Hossbach memorandum led to strong protests from the Foreign Minister, Baron
Konstantin von Neurath, the War Minister Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg, and the Army Commander General
Adolf Hitler 21

Werner von Fritsch, that any German aggression in Eastern Europe was bound to trigger a war with France because
of the French alliance system in Eastern Europe (the so-called cordon sanitaire), and if a Franco-German war broke
out, then Britain was almost certain to intervene rather than risk the chance of a French defeat.[137] The aggression
against Austria and Czechoslovakia were intended to be the first of a series of localized wars in Eastern Europe that
would secure Germany's position in Europe before the final showdown with Britain and France. Fritsch, Blomberg
and Neurath all argue that Hitler was pursuing an extremely high-risk strategy of localized wars in Eastern Europe
that was most likely to cause a general war before Germany was ready for such a conflict, and advised Hitler to wait
until Germany had more time to rearm. Neurath, Blomberg and Fritsch had no moral objections to German
aggression, but rather based their opposition on the question of timing – determining the best time for
aggression.[137]
Late in November 1937, Hitler received as his guest the British Lord Privy Seal, Lord Halifax who was visiting
Germany ostensibly as part of a hunting trip. Speaking of changes to Germany's frontiers, Halifax told Hitler that:
"All other questions fall into the category of possible alterations in the European order which might be destined to
come about with the passage of time. Amongst these questions were Danzig, Austria and Czechoslovakia. England
was interested to see that any alterations should come through the course of peaceful evolution and that the methods
should be avoided which might cause far-reaching disturbances."[138] Significantly, Halifax made clear in his
statements to Hitler—though whether Hitler appreciated the significance of this or not is unclear—that any possible
territorial changes had to be accomplished peacefully, and that though Britain had no security commitments in
Eastern Europe beyond the Covenant of the League of Nations, would not tolerate territorial changes via war.[139]
Hitler seems to have misunderstood Halifax's remarks as confirming his conviction that Britain would just stand
aside while he pursued his strategy of limited wars in Eastern Europe.
Hitler was most unhappy with the criticism of his intentions expressed by Neurath, Blomberg, and Fritsch in the
Hossbach Memo, and in early 1938 asserted his control of the military-foreign policy apparatus through the
Blomberg-Fritsch Affair, the abolition of the War Ministry and its replacement by the OKW, and by sacking Neurath
as Foreign Minister on 4 February 1938, assuming the rank, role and title of the Oberster Befehlshaber der
Wehrmacht (supreme commander of the armed forces).[140] The British economic historian Richard Overy
commented that the establishment of the OKW in February 1938 was a clear sign of what Hitler's intentions were
since supreme headquarters organizations such as the OKW are normally set up during wartime, not peacetime.[141]
The Official German history of World War II has argued that from early 1938 onwards, Hitler was not carrying out a
foreign policy that had carried a high risk of war, but was carrying out a foreign policy aiming at war.[142]

The Holocaust
One of the foundations of Hitler's social policies was the concept of
racial hygiene. It was based on the ideas of Arthur de Gobineau, a
French count; eugenics, a pseudo-science that advocated racial purity;
and social Darwinism. Applied to human beings, "survival of the
fittest" was interpreted as requiring racial purity and killing off "life
unworthy of life." The first victims were children with physical and
developmental disabilities; those killings occurred in a programme
dubbed Action T4.[143] After a public outcry, Hitler made a show of
ending this program, but the killings continued (see Nazi eugenics). An American soldier stands in front of a wagon
piled high with corpses outside the crematorium
Between 1939 and 1945, the SS, assisted by collaborationist in the newly liberated Buchenwald concentration
governments and recruits from occupied countries, systematically camp

killed somewhere between 11 and 14 million people, including about


Adolf Hitler 22

six million Jews,[144] [145] in concentration camps, ghettos and mass executions, or through less systematic methods
elsewhere. In addition to those gassed to death, many died as a result of starvation and disease while working as
slave labourers (sometimes benefiting private German companies). Along with Jews, non-Jewish Poles, Communists
and political opponents, members of resistance groups, homosexuals, Roma, the physically handicapped and
mentally retarded, Soviet prisoners of war (possibly as many as three million), Jehovah's Witnesses, Adventists,
trade unionists, and psychiatric patients were killed. One of the biggest centres of mass-killing was the industrial
extermination camp complex of Auschwitz-Birkenau. As far as is known, Hitler never visited the concentration
camps and did not speak publicly about the killing in precise terms.[146]
The Holocaust (the "Endlösung der jüdischen Frage" or "Final Solution of the Jewish Question") was planned and
ordered by leading Nazis, with Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich playing key roles. While no specific order
from Hitler authorizing the mass killing has surfaced, there is documentation showing that he approved the
Einsatzgruppen killing squads that followed the German army through Poland and Russia, and that he was kept well
informed about their activities. The evidence also suggests that in the fall of 1941 Himmler and Hitler decided upon
mass extermination by gassing. During interrogations by Soviet intelligence officers declassified over fifty years
later, Hitler's valet Heinz Linge and his military aide Otto Gunsche said Hitler had "pored over the first blueprints of
gas chambers." His private secretary, Traudl Junge, testified that Hitler knew all about the death camps.
Göring gave a written authorisation to Heydrich to "make all necessary preparations" for a "total solution of the
Jewish question". To make for smoother cooperation in the implementation of this "Final Solution", the Wannsee
conference was held on 20 January 1942, with fifteen senior officials participating (including Adolf Eichmann) and
led by Reinhard Heydrich. The records of this meeting provide the clearest evidence of planning for the Holocaust.
On 22 February, Hitler was recorded saying to his associates, "we shall regain our health only by eliminating the
Jews".

World War II

Early diplomatic triumphs

Alliance with Japan

In February 1938, Hitler finally ended the dilemma that had plagued
German Far Eastern policy: whether to continue the informal
Sino-German alliance that had existed with the Republic of China
since the 1910s or to create a new alliance with Japan. The military at
the time strongly favoured continuing Germany's alliance with China.
China had the support of Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath and
War Minister Werner von Blomberg, the so-called "China Lobby" who
tried to steer German foreign policy away from war in Europe.[147]
Both men, however, were sacked by Hitler in early 1938. Upon the
advice of Hitler's newly appointed Foreign Minister, the strongly
pro-Japanese Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hitler chose to end the alliance
Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka
with China to gain an alignment with the more modern and powerful with Hitler in Berlin
Japan. In an address to the Reichstag, Hitler announced German
recognition of Manchukuo, the Japanese-occupied puppet state in Manchuria, and renounced the German claims to
the former colonies in the Pacific held by Japan.[148] Hitler ordered an end to arms shipments to China, and ordered
the recall of all the German officers attached to the Chinese Army.[148] In retaliation for ending German support to
China in its war against Japan, Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek canceled all Sino-German economic
Adolf Hitler 23

agreements, depriving the Germans of raw materials such as tungsten that the Chinese had previously provided. The
ending of the Sino-German alignment increased the problems of German rearmament, as the Germans were now
forced to use their limited supply of foreign exchange to buy raw materials on the open market.

Austria and Czechoslovakia


In March 1938, Hitler pressured Austria into unification with Germany (the Anschluss) and made a triumphant entry
into Vienna on 14 March.[149] [150] Next, he intensified a crisis over the German-speaking Sudetenland districts of
Czechoslovakia.[151]
On 3 March 1938, the British Ambassador Sir Neville Henderson met with Hitler and presented on behalf of his
government a proposal for an international consortium to rule much of Africa (in which Germany would be assigned
a leading role) in exchange for a German promise never to resort to war to change the frontiers.[152] Hitler, who was
more interested in Lebensraum in Eastern Europe than in participating in international consortiums, rejected the
British offer, using as his excuse that he wanted the former German African colonies returned to the Reich, not an
international consortium running Central Africa. Moreover, Hitler argued that it was totally outrageous on Britain's
part to impose conditions on German conduct in Europe as the price for territory in Africa.[153] Hitler ended the
conversation by telling Henderson he would rather wait 20 years for the return of the former colonies than accept
British conditions for avoiding war.[153] [154]
On 28–29 March 1938, Hitler held a series of secret meetings in Berlin with Konrad Henlein of the Sudeten
Heimfront (Home Front), the largest of the ethnic German parties of the Sudetenland. During the Hitler-Henlein
meetings, it was agreed that Henlein would provide the pretext for German aggression against Czechoslovakia by
making demands on Prague for increased autonomy for Sudeten Germans that Prague could never be reasonably
expected to fulfill. 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 all means
because this was the only method to blow up Czechoslovakia quickly".[155] In private, Hitler considered the Sudeten
issue unimportant; his real intentions being to use the Sudeten question as the justification both at home and abroad
for a war of aggression to destroy Czechoslovakia, under the grounds of self-determination, and Prague's refusal to
meet Henlein's demands.[156] Hitler's plans called for a massive military build-up along the Czechoslovak border,
relentless propaganda attacks about the supposed ill treatment of the Sudetenlanders, and finally, "incidents" between
Heimfront activists and the Czechoslovak authorities to justify an invasion that would swiftly destroy
Czechoslovakia in a few days campaign before other powers could act.[157] Since Hitler wished to have the fall
harvest brought in as much as possible, and to complete the so-called "West Wall" to guard the Rhineland, the date
for the invasion was chosen for late September or early October 1938.[158]
In April 1938, Hitler ordered the OKW to start preparing plans for Fall Grün (Case Green), the codename for an
invasion of Czechoslovakia.[159] Further increasing the tension in Europe was the May Crisis of 19–22 May 1938.
The May Crisis of 1938 was a false alarm caused by rumours that Czechoslovakia would be invaded the weekend of
the municipal elections in that country, erroneous reports of major German troop movements along the
Czechoslovak border just prior to the elections, the killing of two ethnic Germans by the Czechoslovak police, and
Ribbentrop's highly bellicose remarks to Henderson when the latter asked the former if an invasion was indeed
scheduled for the weekend, which led to a partial Czechoslovak mobilization and firm warnings from London
against a German move against Czechoslovakia before it was realized that no invasion was intended for that
weekend.[160] Though no invasion had been planned for May 1938, it was believed in London that such a course of
action was indeed being considered in Berlin, leading to two warnings on 21 May and 22 May that the United
Kingdom would go to war with Germany if France became involved in a war with Germany.[161] Hitler, for his part,
was, to use the words of an aide, highly "furious" with the perception that he had been forced to back down by the
Czechoslovak mobilization and the warnings from London and Paris, when he had, in fact, been planning nothing for
that weekend.[162] Though plans had already been drafted in April 1938 for an invasion of Czechoslovakia in the
near future, the May Crisis and the perception of a diplomatic defeat further reinforced Hitler in his chosen course.
Adolf Hitler 24

The May Crisis seemed to have had the effect of convincing Hitler that expansion "without Britain" was not
possible, and expansion "against Britain" was the only viable course.[163] In the immediate aftermath of the May
crisis, Hitler ordered an acceleration of German naval building beyond the limits of the A.G.N.A., and in the "Heye
memorandum", drawn at Hitler's orders, envisaged the Royal Navy for the first time as the principal opponent of the
Kriegsmarine.[164]
At the conference of 28 May 1938, Hitler declared that it was his "unalterable" decision to "smash Czechoslovakia"
by 1 October of the same year, which was explained as securing the eastern flank "for advancing against the West,
England and France".[165] At the same conference, Hitler expressed his belief that Britain would not risk a war until
British rearmament was complete, which Hitler felt would be around 1941–42, and Germany should in a series of
wars eliminate France and her allies in Europe in the interval in the years 1938–41 while German rearmament was
still ahead.[165] Hitler's determination to go through with Fall Grün in 1938 provoked a major crisis in the German
command structure.[166] The Chief of the General Staff, General Ludwig Beck, protested in a lengthy series of
memos that Fall Grün would start a world war that Germany would lose, and urged Hitler to put off the projected
war.[166] Hitler called Beck's arguments against war "kindische Kräfteberechnungen" ("childish power play
calculations").[167]
On 4 August 1938, a secret Army meeting was held at which Beck read his report. They agreed something had to be
done to prevent certain disaster. Beck hoped they would all resign together but no one resigned except Beck.
However his replacement, General Franz Halder, sympathised with Beck and together they conspired with several
top generals, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris (Chief of German Intelligence) and Graf von Helldorf (Berlin's Police
Chief), to arrest Hitler the moment he gave the invasion order. However, the plan would only work if both Britain
and France made it known to the world that they would fight to preserve Czechoslovakia. This would help to
convince the German people that certain defeat awaited Germany. Agents were therefore sent to England to tell
Chamberlain that an attack on Czechoslovakia was planned and their intentions to overthrow Hitler if this occurred.
However the messengers were not taken seriously by the British. In September, Chamberlain and French Premier
Édouard Daladier decided not to threaten a war over Czechoslovakia and so the planned removal of Hitler could not
be justified.[168] The Munich Agreement therefore preserved Hitler in power.
Starting in August 1938, information reached London that Germany was beginning to mobilize reservists, together
with information leaked by anti-war elements in the German military that the war was scheduled for sometime in
September.[169] Finally, as a result of intense French, and especially British diplomatic pressure, President Edvard
Beneš unveiled on 5 September 1938, the "Fourth Plan" for constitutional reorganization of his country, which
granted most of the demands for Sudeten autonomy made by Henlein in his Karlsbad speech of April 1938, and
threatened to deprive the Germans of their pretext for aggression.[170] Henlein's Heimfront promptly responded to the
offer of "Fourth Plan" by having a series of violent crashes with the Czechoslovak police, culminating in major
clashes in mid-September that led to the declaration of martial law in certain Sudeten districts.[171] [172] In a response
to the threatening situation, in late August 1938, the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had conceived of
Plan Z, namely to fly to Germany, meet Hitler, and then work out an agreement that could end the crisis.[173] [174] On
13 September 1938, Chamberlain offered to fly to Germany to discuss a solution to the crisis. Chamberlain had
decided to execute Plan Z in response to erroneous information supplied by the German opposition that the invasion
was due to start any time after 18 September.[175] Though Hitler was not happy with Chamberlain's offer, he agreed
to see the British Prime Minister because to refuse Chamberlain's offer would confirm the lie to his repeated claims
that he was a man of peace driven reluctantly to war because of Beneš's intractability.[176] In a summit at
Berchtesgaden, Chamberlain promised to pressure Beneš into agreeing to Hitler's publicly stated demands about
allowing the Sudetenland to join Germany, in return for a reluctant promise by Hitler to postpone any military action
until Chamberlain had given a chance to fulfill his promise.[177] Hitler had agreed to the postponement out of the
expectation that Chamberlain would fail to secure Prague's consent to transferring the Sudetenland, and was, by all
accounts, most disappointed when Franco-British pressure secured just that.[178] The talks between Chamberlain and
Hitler in September 1938 were made difficult by their innately differing concepts of what Europe should look like,
Adolf Hitler 25

with Hitler aiming to use the Sudeten issue as a pretext for war and Chamberlain genuinely striving for a peaceful
solution.[179]
When Chamberlain returned to Germany on 22 September to present his peace plan for the transfer of the
Sudetenland at a summit with Hitler at Bad Godesberg, the British delegation was most unpleasantly surprised to
have Hitler reject his own terms he had presented at Berchtesgaden as now unacceptable.[180] To put an end to
Chamberlain's peace-making efforts once and for all, Hitler demanded the Sudetenland be ceded to Germany no later
than 28 September 1938 with no negotiations between Prague and Berlin and no international commission to oversee
the transfer; no plebiscites to be held in the transferred districts until after the transfer; and for good measure, that
Germany would not forsake war as an option until all the claims against Czechoslovakia by Poland and Hungary had
been satisfied.[181] The differing views between the two leaders were best symbolized when Chamberlain was
presented with Hitler's new demands and protested at being presented with an ultimatum, leading Hitler in turn to
retort that because his document stating his new demands was entitled "Memorandum", it could not possibly be an
ultimatum.[182] On 25 September 1938 Britain rejected the Bad Godesberg ultimatum, and began preparations for
war.[183] [184] To further underline the point, Sir Horace Wilson, the British government's Chief Industrial Advisor,
and a close associate of Chamberlain, was dispatched to Berlin to inform Hitler that if the Germans attacked
Czechoslovakia, then France would honour her commitments as demanded by the Franco-Czechoslovak alliance of
1924, and "then England would feel honour bound, to offer France assistance".[185]
Initially, determined to continue with the attack planned for 1 October 1938, sometime between 27 and 28
September, Hitler changed his mind, and asked to take up a suggestion, of and through the intercession of Mussolini,
for a conference to be held in Munich with Chamberlain, Mussolini, and Daladier to discuss the Czechoslovak
situation.[186] Just what had caused Hitler to change his attitude is not entirely clear, but it is likely that the
combination of Franco-British warnings, and especially the mobilization of the British fleet, had finally convinced
him of what the most likely result of Fall Grün would be; the minor nature of the alleged casus belli being the
timetables for the transfer made Hitler appear too much like the aggressor; the view from his advisors that Germany
was not prepared either militarily or economically for a world war; warnings from the states that Hitler saw as his
would-be allies in the form of Italy, Japan, Poland and Hungary that they would not fight on behalf of Germany; and
very visible signs that the majority of Germans were not enthusiastic about the prospect of war.[187] [188] [189]
Moreover, Germany lacked sufficient supplies of oil and other crucial raw materials (the plants that would produce
the synthetic oil for the German war effort were not in operation yet), and was highly dependent upon imports from
abroad.[166] The Kriegsmarine reported that should war come with Britain, it could not break a British blockade, and
since Germany had hardly any oil stocks, Germany would be defeated for no other reason than a shortage of oil.[190]
The Economics Ministry told Hitler that Germany had only 2.6 million tons of oil at hand, and that war with Britain
and France would require 7.6 million tons of oil.[191] Starting on 18 September 1938, the British refused to supply
metals to Germany, and on 24 September the Admiralty forbade British ships to sail to Germany. The British
detained the tanker Invershannon carrying 8,600 tons of oil to Hamburg, which caused immediate economic pain in
Germany.[192] Given Germany's dependence on imported oil (80% of German oil in the 1930s came from the New
World), and the likelihood that a war with Britain would see a blockade cutting Germany off from oil supplies,
historians have argued that Hitler's decision to call off Fall Grün was due to concerns about the oil problem.[166]
Adolf Hitler 26

On 30 September 1938, a one-day conference was held in Munich


attended by Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier and Mussolini that led to the
Munich Agreement, which gave in to Hitler's ostensible demands by
handing over the Sudetenland districts to Germany.[193] Since London
and Paris had already agreed to the idea of a transfer of the disputed
territory in mid-September, the Munich Conference mostly comprised
discussions in one day of talks on technical questions about how the
transfer of the Sudetenland would take place, and featured the
relatively minor concessions from Hitler that the transfer would take Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler and Mussolini at
place over a ten day period in October, overseen by an international the Munich Conference

commission, and Germany would wait until Hungarian and Polish


claims were settled.[194] At the end of the conference, Chamberlain had Hitler sign a declaration of Anglo-German
friendship, to which Chamberlain attached great importance and Hitler none at all.[195] Though Chamberlain was
well-satisfied with the Munich conference, leading to his infamous claim to have secured "peace for our time", Hitler
was privately furious about being "cheated" out of the war he was desperate to have in 1938.[196] [197] As a result of
the summit, Hitler was TIME magazine's Man of the Year for 1938.[198]

By appeasing Hitler, Britain and France left Czechoslovakia to Hitler's


mercy.[193] Though Hitler professed happiness in public over the achievement of
his ostensible demands, in private he was determined to have a war the next time
around by ensuring that Germany's future demands would not be met.[199] In
Hitler's view, a British-brokered peace, though extremely favourable to the
ostensible German demands, was a diplomatic defeat which proved that Britain
needed to be ended as a power to allow him to pursue his dreams of eastern
expansion.[200] [201] In the aftermath of Munich, Hitler felt since Britain would
not ally herself nor stand aside to facilitate Germany's continental ambitions, it
had become a major threat, and accordingly, Britain replaced the Soviet Union in
Hitler's mind as the main enemy of the Reich, with German policies being
accordingly reoriented.[202] [203] [204] [205] Hitler expressed his disappointment
Hitler enters the German populated over the Munich Agreement in a speech on 9 October 1938 in Saarbrücken when
Sudetenland region of he lashed out against the Conservative anti-appeasers Winston Churchill, Alfred
Czechoslavakia in October 1938 Duff Cooper and Anthony Eden, whom Hitler described as a warmongering
which was annexed to Germany
anti-German faction, who would attack Germany at the first opportunity, and
proper due to the Munich agreement
were likely to come to power at any moment.[206]

In the same speech, Hitler claimed "We Germans will no longer endure such governessy interference. Britain should
mind her own business and worry about her own troubles".[207] In November 1938, Hitler ordered a major
anti-British propaganda campaign to be launched with the British being loudly abused for their "hypocrisy" in
maintaining world-wide empire while seeking to block the Germans from acquiring an empire of their own.[208] A
particular highlight in the anti-British propaganda was alleged British human rights abuses in dealing with the Arab
uprising in the British Mandate of Palestine and in British India, and the "hyprocrisy" of British criticism of the
November 1938 Kristallnacht event.[209] This marked a huge change from the earlier years of the Third Reich, when
the German media had portrayed the British Empire in very favourable terms.[210] In November 1938, the Foreign
Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop was ordered to convert the Anti-Comintern Pact into an open anti-British military
alliance, as a prelude for a war against Britain and France.[211] On 27 January 1939, Hitler approved the Z Plan, a
five-year naval expansion program which called for a Kriegsmarine of 10 battleships, four aircraft carriers, three
Adolf Hitler 27

battlecruisers, eight heavy cruisers, 44 light cruisers, 68 destroyers and 249 U-boats by 1944 that was intended to
crush the Royal Navy.[212] The importance of the Z Plan can be seen in Hitler's orders that henceforward the
Kriegsmarine was to go from third to first in allotment of raw materials, money and skilled workers.[213] In the
spring of 1939, the Luftwaffe was ordered to start building a strategic bombing force that was meant to level British
cities.[214] Hitler's war plans against Britain called for a joint Kriegsmarine-Luftwaffe offensive that was to stage
"rapid annihilating blows" against British cities and shipping with the expectation that "The moment England is cut
off from her supplies she is forced to capitulate" as Hitler expected that the experience of living in a blockaded,
famine-stricken, bombed-out island to be too much for the British public.[215]
In November 1938, in a secret speech to a group of German journalists,
Hitler noted that he had been forced to speak of peace as the goal in
order to attain the degree of rearmament "which were an essential
prerequisite ... for the next step".[94] In the same speech, Hitler
complained that his peace propaganda of the last five years had been
too successful, and it was time for the German people to be subjected
to war propaganda.[216] Hitler stated: "It is self-evident that such peace
propaganda conducted for a decade has its risky aspect; because it can
too easily induce people to come to the conclusion that the present Destroyed Jewish businesses in Magdeburg
government is identical with the decision and with the intention to keep following Kristallnacht
peace under all circumstances", and instead called for new journalism
that "had to present certain foreign policy events in such a fashion that the inner voice of the people itself slowly
begins to shout out for the use of force."[216] Later in November 1938, Hitler expressed frustration with the more
cautious advice he was receiving from some quarters.[217] Hitler called the economic expert Carl Friedrich
Goerdeler, General Ludwig Beck, Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, the diplomat Ulrich von Hassell, and the economist Rudolf
Brinkmann "the overbred intellectual circles" who were trying to block him from fulfilling his mission by their
appeals to caution, and but for the fact that he needed their skills "otherwise, perhaps we could someday exterminate
them or do something of this kind to them".[218]

In December 1938, the Chancellery of the Führer headed by Philipp Bouhler received a letter concerning a severely
physically and mentally disabled baby girl named Sofia Knauer living in Leipzig.[219] At that time, there was a
furious rivalry existing between Bouhler's office, the office of the Reich Chancellery led by Hans-Heinrich Lammers,
the Presidential Chancellery of Otto Meissner, the office of Hitler's adjutant Wilhelm Brückner and the Deputy
Führer's office which was effectively headed by Martin Bormann over control of access to Hitler.[220] As part of a
power play against his rivals, Bouhler presented the letter concerning the disabled girl to Hitler, who thanked
Bouhler for bringing the matter to his attention and responded by ordering his personal physician Dr. Karl Brandt to
kill Knauer.[221] In January 1939, Hitler ordered Bouhler and Dr. Brandt to henceforward have all disabled infants
born in Germany killed.[221] This was the origin of the Action T4 program. Subsequently Dr. Brandt and Bouhler,
acting on their own initiative in the expectation of winning Hitler's favour, expanded the T4 program to killing, first,
all physically or mentally disabled children in Germany, and, second, all disabled adults.[222]
In late 1938 and early 1939, the continuing economic crisis caused by problems of rearmament, especially the
shortage of foreign hard currencies needed to pay for raw materials Germany lacked, together with reports from
Göring that the Four Year Plan was hopelessly behind schedule, forced Hitler in January 1939 to reluctantly order
major defence cuts with the Wehrmacht having its steel allocations cut by 30%, aluminium 47%, cement 25%,
rubber 14% and copper 20%.[166] On 30 January 1939, Hitler made his "Export or die" speech calling for a German
economic offensive ("export battle", to use Hitler's term), to increase German foreign exchange holdings to pay for
raw materials such as high-grade iron needed for military materials.[166] The "Export or die" speech of 30 January
1939 is also known as Hitler's "Prophecy Speech". The name which that speech is known comes from Hitler's
"prophecy" issued towards the end of the speech:
Adolf Hitler 28

"One thing I should like to say on this day which may be memorable for others as well for us Germans:
In the course of my life I have very often been a prophet, and I have usually been ridiculed for it. During
the time of my struggle for power it was in the first instance the Jewish race which only received my
prophecies with laughter when I said I would one day take over the leadership of the State, and that of
the whole nation, and that I would then among many other things settle the Jewish problem. Their
laughter was uproarious, but I think that for some time now they have been laughing on the other side of
the face. Today I will be once more the prophet. If the international Jewish financiers outside Europe
should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the
bolsheviszation of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in
Europe!"[223]
A significant historical debate has swung around the "Prophecy Speech". Historians who take an intentionist line
such as Eberhard Jäckel have argued that at minimum from the time of the "Prophecy Speech" onwards, Hitler was
committed to genocide of the Jews as his central goal.[224] Lucy Dawidowicz and Gerald Fleming have argued that
the "Prophecy Speech" was simply Hitler's way of saying that once he started a world war, he would use it as a cover
for his already pre-existing plans for genocide.[223] Functionalist historians such as Christopher Browning have
dismissed this interpretation on the grounds that if Hitler were serious with the intentions expressed in the "Prophecy
Speech", then there would not have been a 30-month "stay of execution" between the outbreak of World War II in
September 1939, and the opening of the first Vernichtungslager in late 1941.[223] Browning has also pointed to the
existence of the Madagascar Plan of 1940–41 and various other schemes as proof that there was no genocidal master
plan.[223] In his opinion, the "Prophecy Speech" was simply an expression of bravado on Hitler's part, and had little
connection with the actual unfolding of anti-Semitic policies.[223]
At least part of the reason why Hitler violated the Munich Agreement by seizing the Czech half of Czechoslovakia in
March 1939 was to obtain Czechoslovak assets to help with the economic crisis.[225] Hitler ordered Germany's army
to enter Prague on 15 March 1939, and from Prague Castle proclaimed Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate.

Start of World War II


As part of the anti-British course, it was deemed necessary by Hitler to
have Poland either a satellite state or otherwise neutralized. Hitler
believed this necessary both on strategic grounds as a way of securing
the Reich's eastern flank and on economic grounds as a way of evading
the effects of a British blockade.[226] Initially, the German hope was to
transform Poland into a satellite state, but by March 1939 the German
demands had been rejected by the Poles three times, which led Hitler to
decide upon the destruction of Poland as the main German foreign
policy goal of 1939.[137] On 3 April 1939, Hitler ordered the military to
start preparing for Fall Weiss (Case White), the plan for a German
invasion to be executed on 25 August 1939.[137] In August 1939, Hitler
spoke to his generals that his original plan for 1939 had to "... establish
an acceptable relationship with Poland in order to fight against the
West" but since the Poles would not co-operate in setting up an Adolf Hitler's face on a German stamp 1944. The
"acceptable relationship" (i.e. becoming a German satellite), he country's name has changed to the Greater
believed he had no choice other than wiping Poland off the map.[137] German Reich since 1943 and this name can be
seen on the stamp.
The historian Gerhard Weinberg has argued since Hitler's audience
comprised men who were all for the destruction of Poland (anti-Polish

feelings were traditionally very strong in the German Army), but rather less happy about the prospect of war with
Britain and France, if that was the price Germany had to pay for the destruction of Poland, it is quite likely that
Adolf Hitler 29

Hitler was speaking the truth on this occasion.[137] In his private discussions with his officials in 1939, Hitler always
described Britain as the main enemy that had to be defeated, and in his view, Poland's obliteration was the necessary
prelude to that goal by securing the eastern flank and helpfully adding to Germany's Lebensraum.[227] Hitler was
much offended by the British "guarantee" of Polish independence issued on 31 March 1939, and told his associates
that "I shall brew them a devil's drink".[228] In a speech in Wilhelmshaven for the launch of the battleship Tirpitz on
1 April 1939, Hitler threatened to denounce the Anglo-German Naval Agreement if the British persisted with their
"encirclement" policy as represented by the "guarantee" of Polish independence.[228] As part of the new course, in a
speech before the Reichstag on 28 April 1939, Adolf Hitler, complaining of British "encirclement" of Germany,
renounced both the Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact.
As a pretext for aggression against Poland, Hitler claimed the Free City of Danzig and the right for "extra-territorial"
roads across the Polish Corridor which Germany had unwillingly ceded under the Versailles treaty. For Hitler,
Danzig was just a pretext for aggression as the Sudetenland had been intended to be in 1938, and throughout 1939,
while highlighting the Danzig issue as a grievance, the Germans always refused to engage in talks about the
matter.[229] A notable contradiction existed in Hitler's plans between the long-term anti-British course, whose major
instruments such as a vastly expanded Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe would take several years to complete, and Hitler's
immediate foreign policy in 1939, which was likely to provoke a general war by engaging in such actions as
attacking Poland.[230] [231] Hitler's dilemma between his short-term and long-term goals was resolved by Foreign
Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, who told Hitler that neither Britain nor France would honour their commitments
to Poland, and any German–Polish war would accordingly be a limited regional war.[232] [233] Ribbentrop based his
appraisal partly on an alleged statement made to him by the French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet in December
1938 that France now recognized Eastern Europe as Germany's exclusive sphere of influence.[234] In addition,
Ribbentrop's status as the former Ambassador to London made him in Hitler's eyes the leading Nazi British expert,
and as a result, Ribbentrop's advice that Britain would not honour her commitments to Poland carried much weight
with Hitler.[234] Ribbentrop only showed Hitler diplomatic cables that supported his analysis.[235] In addition, the
German Ambassador in London, Herbert von Dirksen, tended to send reports that supported Ribbentrop's analysis
such as a dispatch in August 1939 that reported British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain knew "the social
structure of Britain, even the conception of the British Empire, would not survive the chaos of even a victorious
war", and so would back down.[233] The extent that Hitler was influenced by Ribbentrop's advice can be seen in
Hitler's orders to the German military on 21 August 1939 for a limited mobilization against Poland alone.[236] Hitler
chose late August as his date for Fall Weiss in order to limit disruption to German agricultural production caused by
mobilization.[237] The problems caused by the need to begin a campaign in Poland in late August or early September
in order to have the campaign finished before the October rains arrived, and the need to have sufficient time to
concentrate German troops on the Polish border left Hitler in a self-imposed situation in August 1939 where Soviet
co-operation was absolutely crucial if he were to have a war that year.[237]
The Munich agreement appeared to be sufficient to dispel most of the remaining hold which the "collective security"
idea may have had in Soviet circles,[238] and, on 23 August 1939, Joseph Stalin accepted Hitler's proposal to
conclude a non-aggression pact (the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact), whose secret protocols contained an agreement to
partition Poland. A major historical debate about the reasons for Hitler's foreign policy choices in 1939 concerns
whether a structural economic crisis drove Hitler into a "flight into war" as claimed by the Marxist historian Timothy
Mason or whether Hitler's actions were more influenced by non-economic factors as claimed by the economic
historian Richard Overy.[239] Historians such as William Carr, Gerhard Weinberg and Ian Kershaw have argued that
a non-economic reason for Hitler's rush to war was Hitler's morbid and obsessive fear of an early death, and hence
his feeling that he did not have long to accomplish his work.[130] [240] [241] In the last days of peace, Hitler oscillated
between the determination to fight the Western powers if he had to, and various schemes intended to keep Britain out
of the war, but in any case, Hitler was not to be deterred from his aim of invading Poland.[242] Only very briefly,
when news of the Anglo-Polish alliance being signed on 25 August 1939 in response to the German-Soviet
Non-Aggression Pact (instead of the severing of ties between London and Warsaw predicted by Ribbentrop) together
Adolf Hitler 30

with news from Italy that Mussolini would not honour the Pact of Steel, caused Hitler to postpone the attack on
Poland from 25 August to 1 September.[243] Hitler chose to spend the last days of peace either trying to manoeuvre
the British into neutrality through his offer of 25 August 1939 to "guarantee" the British Empire, or having
Ribbentrop present a last-minute peace plan to Henderson with an impossibly short time limit for its acceptance as
part of an effort to blame the war on the British and Poles.[244] [245] On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded western
Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September but did not immediately act. Hitler was most
unpleasantly surprised at receiving the British declaration of war on 3 September 1939, and turning to Ribbentrop
angrily asked "Now what?"[246] Ribbentrop had nothing to say other than that Robert Coulondre, the French
Ambassador, would probably be by later that day to present the French declaration of war.[246] Not long after this, on
17 September, Soviet forces invaded eastern Poland.[247]

Members of the Reichstag greet Hitler in October


1939 after the conclusion of the Polish campaign Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Munich, 1940

Adolf Hitler in Paris, 1940, with Albert Speer


(left) and Arno Breker (right)
Adolf Hitler 31

[248]

“ Poland never will rise again in the form of the Versailles treaty. That is guaranteed not only by Germany, but also ... Russia.

– Adolf Hitler in a public speech in Danzig at the end of September 1939.
After the fall of Poland came a period journalists called the "Phoney War," or Sitzkrieg ("sitting war"). In part of
north-western Poland annexed to Germany, Hitler instructed the two Gauleiters in charge of the area, namely Albert
Forster and Arthur Greiser, to "Germanize" the area, and promised them "There would be no questions asked" about
how this "Germanization" was to be accomplished.[249] Hitler's orders were interpreted in very different ways by
Forster and Greiser. Forster followed a policy of simply having the local Poles sign forms stating they had German
blood with no documentation required, whereas Greiser carried out a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign of expelling
the entire Polish population into the Government-General of Poland.[250] When Greiser, seconded by Himmler,
complained to Hitler that Forster was allowing thousands of Poles to be accepted as "racial" Germans and thus
"contaminating" German "racial purity", and asked Hitler to order Forster to stop, Hitler merely told Himmler and
Greiser to take up their difficulties with Forster, and not to involve him.[251] Hitler's handling of the Forster–Greiser
dispute has often been advanced as an example of Ian Kershaw's theory of "Working Towards the Führer", namely
that Hitler issued vague instructions, and allowed his subordinates to work out policy on their own.
After the conquest of Poland, another major dispute broke out between different factions with one centring around
Reichsfüherer SS Heinrich Himmler and Arthur Greiser championing and carrying out ethnic cleansing schemes for
Poland, and another centring around Hermann Göring and Hans Frank calling for turning Poland into the "granary"
of the Reich.[252] At a conference held at Göring's Karinhall estate on 12 February 1940, the dispute was settled in
favour of the Göring-Frank view of economic exploitation, and ending mass expulsions as economically
disruptive.[252] On 15 May 1940, Himmler showed Hitler a memo entitled "Some Thoughts on the Treatment of
Alien Population in the East", which called for expelling the entire Jewish population of Europe into Africa and
reducing the remainder of the Polish population to a "leaderless labouring class".[252] Hitler called Himmler's memo
"good and correct".[252] Hitler's remark had the effect of scuttling the so-called Karinhall argreement, and led to the
Himmler–Greiser viewpoint triumphing as German policy for Poland.
During this period, Hitler built up his forces on Germany's western frontier. In April 1940, German forces invaded
Denmark and Norway. In May 1940, Hitler's forces attacked France, conquering Luxembourg, the Netherlands and
Belgium in the process. These victories persuaded Benito Mussolini of Italy to join the war on Hitler's side on 10
June 1940. France surrendered on 22 June 1940.
Britain, whose forces evacuated France by sea from Dunkirk, continued to fight alongside other British dominions in
the Battle of the Atlantic. After having his overtures for peace rejected by the British, now led by Winston Churchill,
Hitler ordered bombing raids on the United Kingdom. The Battle of Britain was Hitler's prelude to a planned
invasion. The attacks began by pounding Royal Air Force airbases and radar stations protecting South-East England.
However, the Luftwaffe failed to defeat the Royal Air Force. On 27 September 1940, the Tripartite Treaty was signed
in Berlin by Saburo Kurusu of Imperial Japan, Hitler, and Ciano. The purpose of the Tripartite Treaty, which was
directed against an unnamed power that was clearly meant to be the United States, was to deter the Americans from
supporting the British. It was later expanded to include Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. They were collectively
known as the Axis Powers. By the end of October 1940, air superiority for the invasion Operation Sealion could not
be assured, and Hitler ordered the bombing of British cities, including London, Plymouth, and Coventry, mostly at
night.
In the Spring of 1941, Hitler was distracted from his plans for the East by various activities in North Africa, the
Balkans, and the Middle East. In February, German forces arrived in Libya to bolster the Italian forces there. In
April, he launched the invasion of Yugoslavia which was followed quickly by the invasion of Greece. In May,
German forces were sent to support Iraqi rebel forces fighting against the British and to invade Crete. On 23 May,
Hitler released Fuhrer Directive No. 30.[253]
Adolf Hitler 32

Path to defeat
On 22 June 1941, three million German troops attacked the Soviet Union, breaking the non-aggression pact Hitler
had concluded with Stalin two years earlier. This invasion seized huge amounts of territory, including the Baltic
states, Belarus, and Ukraine. It also encircled and destroyed many Soviet forces, which Stalin had ordered not to
retreat. However, the Germans were stopped barely short of Moscow in December 1941 by the Russian winter and
fierce Soviet resistance. The invasion failed to achieve the quick triumph Hitler wanted.
A major historical dispute concerns Hitler's reasons for Operation Barbarossa. Some historians such as Andreas
Hillgruber have argued that Barbarossa was merely one "stage" of Hitler's Stufenplan (stage by stage plan) for world
conquest, which Hillgruber believed that Hitler had formulated in the 1920s.[254] Other historians such as John
Lukacs have contended that Hitler never had a stufenplan, and that the invasion of the Soviet Union was an ad hoc
move on the part of Hitler due to Britain's refusal to surrender.[255] Lukacs has argued that the reason Hitler gave in
private for Barbarossa, namely that Winston Churchill held out the hope that the Soviet Union might enter the war
on the Allied side, and that the only way of forcing a British surrender was to eliminate that hope, was indeed Hitler's
real reason for Barbarossa.[256] In Lukacs's perspective, Barbarossa was thus primarily an anti-British move on the
part of Hitler intended to force Britain to sue for peace by destroying her only hope of victory rather than an
anti-Soviet move. Klaus Hildebrand has maintained that Stalin and Hitler were independently planning to attack each
other in 1941.[257] Hildebrand has claimed that the news in the spring of 1941 of Soviet troop concentrations on the
border led to Hitler engaging in a flucht nach vorn ("flight forward" – i.e. responding to a danger by charging on
rather than retreating.)[257] A third faction comprising a diverse group such as Viktor Suvorov, Ernst Topitsch,
Joachim Hoffmann, Ernst Nolte, and David Irving have argued that the official reason given by the Germans for
Barbarossa in 1941 was the real reason, namely that Barbarossa was a "preventive war" forced on Hitler to avert an
impeding Soviet attack scheduled for July 1941. This theory has been widely attacked as erroneous; the American
historian Gerhard Weinberg once compared the advocates of the preventive war theory to believers in "fairy
tales"[258]
The Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union reached its apex on 2 December 1941 as part of the 258th Infantry Division
advanced to within 15 miles (24 km) of Moscow, close enough to see the spires of the Kremlin,[259] but they were
not prepared for the harsh conditions brought on by the first blizzards of winter and in the days that followed, Soviet
forces drove them back over 320 kilometres (200 miles).
On 7 December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and four days later, Hitler's formal declaration of war
against the United States officially engaged him in war against a coalition that included the world's largest empire
(the British Empire), the world's greatest industrial and financial power (the United States), and the world's largest
army (the Soviet Union).
On 18 December 1941, the appointment book of the Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler shows he met with Hitler,
and in response to Himmler's question "What to do with the Jews of Russia?", Hitler's response was recorded as "als
Partisanen auszurotten" ("exterminate them as partisans").[260] The 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.[260]
Adolf Hitler 33

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. In February 1943, the Battle of Stalingrad ended with the
destruction of the German 6th Army. Thereafter came the Battle of
Kursk. Hitler's military judgment became increasingly erratic, and
Germany's military and economic position deteriorated along with
Hitler's health, as indicated by his left hand's severe trembling. Hitler's
biographer Ian Kershaw and others believe that he may have suffered
from Parkinson's disease.[261] Syphilis has also been suspected as a Adolf Hitler in Reichstag during his speech
cause of at least some of his symptoms, although the evidence is against Franklin D. Roosevelt. 11 December

slight.[262] 1941.

Following the allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) in 1943,


Mussolini was deposed by Pietro Badoglio, who 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 what was one of
the largest amphibious operations in history, Operation Overlord.
Realists in the German army knew defeat was inevitable, and some
plotted to remove Hitler from power.

The destroyed 'Wolf's Lair' barracks after the 20


Attempted assassination July 1944 plot

In July 1944, as part of Operation Valkyrie in what became known as


the 20 July plot, Claus von Stauffenberg planted a bomb in Hitler's headquarters, the Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair) at
Rastenburg. Hitler narrowly escaped death. He ordered savage reprisals, resulting in the executions of more than
4,900 people,[263] sometimes by starvation in solitary confinement followed by slow strangulation. The main
resistance movement was destroyed, although smaller isolated groups continued to operate.

Defeat and death


By late 1944, the Red Army had driven the Germans back into Central Europe and the Western Allies were
advancing into Germany. Hitler realized that Germany had lost the war, but allowed no retreats. He hoped to
negotiate a separate peace with America and Britain, a hope buoyed by the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt on 12
April 1945.[264] [265] [266] [267] Hitler's stubbornness and defiance of military realities allowed the Holocaust to
continue. He ordered the complete destruction of all German industrial infrastructure before it could fall into Allied
hands, saying that Germany's failure to win the war forfeited its right to survive.[268] Rather, Hitler decided that the
entire nation should go down with him. Execution of this scorched earth plan was entrusted to arms minister Albert
Speer, who disobeyed the order.[268]
In April 1945, Soviet forces attacked the outskirts of Berlin. Hitler's followers urged him to flee to the mountains of
Bavaria to make a last stand in the National Redoubt. But Hitler was determined to either live or die in the capital.
On 20 April, Hitler celebrated his 56th birthday in the Führerbunker ("Führer's shelter") below the Reichskanzlei
(Reich Chancellery). Elsewhere, the garrison commander of the besieged Festung Breslau ("fortress Breslau"),
General Hermann Niehoff, had chocolates distributed to his troops in honour of Hitler's birthday.[269]
By 21 April, Georgi Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front had broken through the defences of German General Gotthard
Heinrici's Army Group Vistula during the Battle of the Seelow Heights. The Soviets were now advancing towards
Hitler's bunker with little to stop them. Ignoring the facts, Hitler saw salvation in the ragtag units commanded by
Waffen SS General Felix Steiner. Steiner's command became known as Armeeabteilung Steiner ("Army Detachment
Adolf Hitler 34

Steiner"). But "Army Detachment Steiner" existed primarily on paper. It was something more than a corps but less
than an army. Hitler ordered Steiner to attack the northern flank of the huge salient created by the breakthrough of
Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front. Meanwhile, the German Ninth Army, which had been pushed south of the salient,
was ordered to attack north in a pincer attack.
Late on 21 April, Heinrici called Hans Krebs, chief of the Oberkommando des Heeres (Supreme Command of the
Army or OKH), and told him that Hitler's plan could not be implemented. Heinrici asked to speak to Hitler but was
told by Krebs that Hitler was too busy to take his call.
On 22 April, during one of his last military conferences, Hitler interrupted the report to ask what had happened to
Steiner's offensive. There was a long silence. Then Hitler was told that the attack had never been launched, and that
the withdrawal from Berlin of several units for Steiner's army, on Hitler's orders, had so weakened the front that the
Russians had broken through into Berlin. Hitler asked everyone except Wilhelm Keitel, Hans Krebs, Alfred Jodl,
Wilhelm Burgdorf, and Martin Bormann to leave the room,[270] and launched a tirade against the perceived treachery
and incompetence of his commanders. This culminated in an oath to stay in Berlin, head up the defence of the city,
and shoot himself at the end.[271]
Before the day ended, Hitler again found salvation in a new plan that included General Walther Wenck's Twelfth
Army.[272] This new plan had Wenck turn his army – currently facing the Americans to the west – and attack
towards the east to relieve Berlin.[272] Twelfth Army was to link up with Ninth Army and break through to the city.
Wenck did attack and, in the confusion, made temporary contact with the Potsdam garrison. But the link with the
Ninth Army, like the plan in general, was ultimately unsuccessful.[273]
On 23 April, Joseph Goebbels made the following proclamation to the people of Berlin:
I call on you to fight for your city. Fight with everything you have got, for the sake of your wives and your
children, your mothers and your parents. Your arms are defending everything we have ever held dear, and all
the generations that will come after us. Be proud and courageous! Be inventive and cunning! Your Gauleiter is
amongst you. He and his colleagues will remain in your midst. His wife and children are here as well. He, who
once captured the city with 200 men, will now use every means to galvanize the defence of the capital. The
Battle for Berlin must become the signal for the whole nation to rise up in battle ...[270]
The same day, Göring sent a telegram from Berchtesgaden in Bavaria. Göring argued that, since Hitler was cut off in
Berlin, he should assume leadership of Germany as Hitler's designated successor. Göring mentioned a time limit
after which he would consider Hitler incapacitated.[274] Hitler responded, in anger, by having Göring arrested. Later
when Hitler wrote his will on 29 April, Göring was removed from all his positions in the government.[274] [275] [276]
Further on the 23 April, Hitler appointed General der Artillerie Helmuth Weidling as the commander of the Berlin
Defense Area. Weidling replaced Lieutenant General (Generalleutnant) Helmuth Reymann and Colonel (Oberst)
Ernst Kaether. Hitler also appointed Waffen SS General (SS Brigadeführer) Wilhelm Mohnke the (Kommandant)
Battle Commander for the defence of the government district (Zitadelle sector) that included the Reich Chancellery
and Führerbunker.[277]
By the end of the day on 27 April, Berlin was completely cut off from the rest of Germany. On 28 April, Hitler
discovered that SS leader Heinrich Himmler was trying to discuss surrender terms with the Western Allies (through
the Swedish diplomat Count Folke Bernadotte).[278] Hitler ordered Himmler's arrest and had Hermann Fegelein
(Himmler's representative for the SS at Hitler's HQ in Berlin) shot.[275] [279]
Adolf Hitler 35

During the night of 28 April, Wenck reported that his Twelfth Army
had been forced back along the entire front. He noted that no further
attacks towards Berlin were possible. General Alfred Jodl (Supreme
Army Command) did not provide this information to Hans Krebs in
Berlin until early in the morning of 30 April.
On 29 April, Hitler dictated his will and political statement to his
private secretary, Traudl Junge.[280] Hans Krebs, Wilhelm Burgdorf,
Joseph Goebbels, and Martin Bormann witnessed and signed this last
will and testament of Adolf Hitler.[275] On the same day, Hitler was
informed of the assassination of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on 28
April, which is presumed to have increased his determination to avoid
capture.[281]

On 30 April 1945, after intense street-to-street combat, when Soviet


troops were within a block or two of the Reich Chancellery, Hitler
committed suicide, shooting himself in the temple with a Walther
PPK[282] while simultaneously biting into a cyanide capsule.[283] [284]
Cover of US military newspaper The Stars and
Hitler had at various times in the past contemplated suicide, and the
Stripes, May 1945
Walther was the same pistol that his niece, Geli Raubal had used in her
suicide.[285] Hitler's body and that of Eva Braun were put in a bomb
crater,[286] [287] doused in gasoline by SS Sturmbannführer Otto Günsche and other Führerbunker aides, and
cremated as the Red Army advanced and shelling continued.[283]

On 2 May, Berlin surrendered. In the postwar years there were conflicting reports about what happened to Hitler's
remains. After the fall of the Soviet Union, records found in the Soviet archives revealed that the remains of Hitler,
Eva Braun, Joseph and Magda Goebbels, the six Goebbels children, General Hans Krebs and Hitler's dogs, were
collected, moved and secretly buried in graves near Rathenow in Brandenburg.[288] In 1970, the remains were
disinterred, cremated and scattered in the Elbe River by the Soviets.[289] [290] According to the Russian Federal
Security Service, a fragment of human skull stored in its archives and displayed to the public in a 2000 exhibition
came from the remains of Hitler's body. The authenticity of the skull has been challenged by historians and
researchers.[291] DNA analysis conducted in 2009 showed the skull fragment to be that of a woman, and analysis of
the sutures between the skull plates indicated an age between 20 and 40 years old at the time of death.[292]

Legacy
Hitler, the Nazi Party and the results of Nazism are typically regarded
as gravely immoral.[293] Historians, philosophers, and politicians have
often applied the word evil in both a secular[294] and a religious sense.
Historical and cultural portrayals of Hitler in the west are
overwhelmingly condemnatory. Holocaust denial, along with the
display of Nazi symbols such as swastikas, is prohibited in Germany
and Austria.

Outside of Hitler's birthplace in Braunau am Inn, Austria, the


Memorial Stone Against War and Fascism is engraved with the Outside the building in Braunau am Inn, Austria
following message: where Adolf Hitler was born is a memorial stone
warning of the horrors of World War II
Adolf Hitler 36

FÜR FRIEDEN FREIHEIT


UND DEMOKRATIE
NIE WIEDER FASCHISMUS
MILLIONEN TOTE MAHNEN
Loosely translated it reads: "For peace, freedom // and democracy // never again fascism // millions of dead remind
[us]"
Some people have referred to Hitler's legacy in neutral or favourable terms. Former Egyptian President Anwar El
Sadat spoke of his 'admiration' of Hitler in 1953, when he was a young man, though it is possible he was speaking in
the context of a rebellion against the British Empire.[295] Louis Farrakhan has referred to him as a "very great
man".[296] Bal Thackeray, leader of the right-wing Hindu Shiv Sena party in the Indian state of the Maharashtra,
declared in 1995 that he was an admirer of Hitler.[297] Friedrich Meinecke, the German historian, said of Hitler's life
that "it is one of the great examples of the singular and incalculable power of personality in historical life".[298]

Religious views
Hitler was raised by Roman Catholic parents, but after he left home, he never attended Mass or received the
sacraments.[299] Hitler favoured aspects of Protestantism if they were more suitable to his own objectives. At the
same time, he adopted some elements of the Catholic Church's hierarchical organization, liturgy and phraseology in
his politics.[300] [301] After he had moved to Germany, where the Catholic and the Protestant church are largely
financed through a church tax collected by the state, Hitler never "actually left his church or refused to pay church
taxes. In a nominal sense therefore," the historian Steigmann-Gall (whose views on Christianity and Nazism are
admittedly outside the consensus) states, Hitler "can be classified as Catholic."[302] Yet, as Steigmann-Gall has also
pointed out in the debate about religion in Nazi Germany: "Nominal church membership is a very unreliable gauge
of actual piety in this context."[303]
In public, Hitler often praised Christian heritage, German Christian culture, and professed a belief in an Aryan Jesus
Christ, a Jesus who fought against the Jews.[304] In his speeches and publications Hitler spoke of his interpretation of
Christianity as a central motivation for his antisemitism, stating that "As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself
to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice."[305] [306] His private statements, as reported by
his intimates, show Hitler as critical of traditional Christianity, considering it a religion fit only for slaves; he
admired the power of Rome but had severe hostility towards its teaching.[307] Here Hitler's attack on Catholicism
"resonated Streicher's contention that the Catholic establishment was allying itself with the Jews."[308] In light of
these private statements, for John S. Conway and many other historians it is beyond doubt that Hitler held a
"fundamental antagonism" towards the Christian churches.[309] The various accounts of Hitler's private statements
vary strongly in their reliability; most importantly, Hermann Rauschning's Hitler speaks is considered by most
historians to be an invention.[310] [311]
In the political relations with the churches in Germany however, Hitler readily adopted a strategy "that suited his
immediate political purposes".[309] Hitler had a general plan, even before the rise of the Nazis to power, to destroy
Christianity within the Reich.[312] [313] [314] The leader of the Hitler Youth stated "the destruction of Christianity was
explicitly recognized as a purpose of the National Socialist movement" from the start, but "considerations of
expedience made it impossible" publicly to express this extreme position.[312] His intention was to wait until the war
was over to destroy the influence of Christianity.[307]
Hitler for a time advocated for Germans a form of the Christian faith he called "Positive Christianity",[315] [316] a
belief system purged of what he objected to in orthodox Christianity, and featuring added racist elements. By 1940
however, it was public knowledge that Hitler had abandoned advocating for Germans even the syncretist idea of a
positive Christianty.[317] Hitler maintained that the "terrorism in religion is, to put it briefly, of a Jewish dogma,
which Christianity has universalized and whose effect is to sow trouble and confusion in men's minds."[318]
Adolf Hitler 37

Hitler once stated, "We do not want any other god than Germany itself. It is essential to have fanatical faith and hope
and love in and for Germany."[319]

Attitude to occultism
Some writers believe that, in contrast to some Nazi ideologues, Hitler did not adhere to esoteric ideas, occultism, or
Ariosophy.[307] Hitler ridiculed such beliefs in Mein Kampf.[315] [320] Nevertheless, other writers believe the young
Hitler was strongly influenced, particularly in his racial views, by an abundance of occult works on the mystical
superiority of the Germans, such as the occult and anti-semitic magazine Ostara, and give credence to the claim of its
publisher Lanz von Liebenfels that Hitler visited Liebenfels in 1909 and praised his work.[321] The historians are still
divided on the question of the reliability of Lanz' claim of a contact with Hitler.[322] Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
considers his account reliable, Brigitte Hamann leaves the question open and Ian Kershaw is extremely sceptical.[323]

Health
Hitler's health has long been the subject of debate. He has variously been said to have had irritable bowel syndrome,
skin lesions, irregular heartbeat, Parkinson's disease,[262] syphilis,[262] Asperger syndrome[324] [325] and a strongly
suggested addiction to methamphetamine. He had problems with his teeth and his personal dentist Hugo Blaschke
stated that he fitted a large dental bridge to his upper jaw in 1933 and that on 10 November 1944 he carried out
surgery to cut off part of the left rear section of the bridge that was causing an infection of his gums. He was also
suffering from a sinus infection.[326]
After the early 1930s, Hitler generally followed a vegetarian diet, although he ate meat on occasion. There are
reports of him disgusting his guests by giving them graphic accounts of the slaughter of animals in an effort to make
them shun meat.[327] A fear of cancer (from which his mother died) is the most widely cited reason, though it is also
asserted that Hitler, an antivivisectionist, had a profound concern for animals.[328] Martin Bormann had a greenhouse
constructed for him near the Berghof (near Berchtesgaden) to ensure a steady supply of fresh fruit and vegetables for
Hitler throughout the war.
Hitler was a non-smoker and promoted aggressive anti-smoking campaigns throughout Germany. (See Anti-tobacco
movement in Nazi Germany).[329] Hitler "despised" alcohol.[330]

Syphilis
Hitler's tremors and irregular heartbeat during the last years of his life could have been symptoms of tertiary (late
stage) syphilis,[331] which would mean he had a syphilis infection for many years. Along with another doctor,
Theodor Morell diagnosed the symptoms as such by early 1945 in a joint report to SS head Heinrich Himmler.[331]
Some historians have also cited Hitler's preoccupation with syphilis across 14 pages of Mein Kampf, where he called
it a "Jewish disease", leading to speculation he may have had the disease himself. His possible discovery in 1908 that
he himself had the disease may have been responsible for his demeanor; while his life course may have been
influenced by his anger at being a syphilitic, as well as his belief that he had acquired the disease from undesirable
societal elements which he intended to eliminate. In several chapters of Mein Kampf, he wrote about the temptation
of prostitution and the spreading of syphilis, specifically volume 1, chapter 10 "Causes of the Collapse".[332]
Historians have speculated he may have caught the affliction from a German prostitute at a time when the disease
was not yet treatable by modern antibiotics, which would also explain his avoidance of normal sexual relations with
women. However, syphilis had become curable in 1910 with Dr. Paul Ehrlich's introduction of the drug Salvarsan.
No pictures exist of Hitler revealing any portion of his torso. Deborah Hayden[333] has written extensively regarding
Hitler and syphilis.[334] [335]
Since the 1870s, however, it was a common rhetorical practice on the völkisch right to associate Jews with diseases
such as syphilis. Historian Robert Waite claims Hitler tested negative on a Wassermann test as late as 1939, which
Adolf Hitler 38

does not prove that he did not have the disease, because the Wassermann test was prone to false-negative results.
Regardless of whether he actually had syphilis or not, Hitler lived in constant fear of the disease, and took treatment
for it no matter what his doctors told him.[331]
In his biography of Doctor Felix Kersten called The Man with the Miraculous Hands,[336] journalist and Académie
française member Joseph Kessel wrote that in the winter of 1942, Kersten heard of Hitler's medical condition.
Consulted by his patient, Himmler, as to whether he could "assist a man who suffers from severe headaches,
dizziness and insomnia," Kersten was shown a top-secret 26-page report. It detailed how Hitler had contracted
syphilis in his youth and was treated for it at a hospital in Pasewalk, Germany. However, in 1937, symptoms
re-appeared, showing that the disease was still active, and by the start of 1942, signs were evident that progressive
syphilitic paralysis (Tabes dorsalis) was occurring. Himmler advised Kersten that Morell (who in the 1930s claimed
to be a specialist venereologist) was in charge of Hitler's treatment, and that it was a state secret. The book also
relates how Kersten learned from Himmler's secretary, Rudolf Brandt, that at that time, probably the only other
people privy to the report's information were Nazi Party chairman Martin Bormann and Hermann Göring, the head
of the Luftwaffe.

Monorchism
It has been alleged that Hitler had monorchism, the medical condition of having only one testicle. Hitler's personal
doctor, Johan Jambor, supposedly described the dictator's condition to a priest who later wrote down what he had
been told in a document which was uncovered in 2008, 23 years after the doctor's death.[337]
Soviet doctor Lev Bezymensky, allegedly involved in the Soviet autopsy, stated in a 1967 book that Hitler's left
testicle was missing. Bezymensky later admitted that the claim was falsified.[338] Hitler was routinely examined by
many doctors throughout his childhood, military service and later political career, and no clinical mention of any
such condition has ever been discovered. Records do show he was wounded in 1916 during the Battle of the Somme,
and some sources describe his injury as a wound to the groin.

Parkinson's disease
It has also been speculated Hitler had Parkinson's disease.[339] Newsreels of Hitler show he had tremors in his hand
and a shuffling walk (also a symptom of tertiary syphilis, see above) which began before the war and continued to
worsen until the end of his life. Morell treated Hitler with a drug agent that was commonly used in 1945, although
Morell is viewed as an unreliable doctor by most historians and any diagnoses he may have made are subject to
doubt.
A more reliable doctor, Ernst-Günther Schenck, who worked at an emergency casualty station in the Reich
Chancellery during April 1945, also claimed Hitler might have Parkinson's disease. However, Schenck only saw
Hitler briefly on two occasions and, by his own admission, was extremely exhausted and dazed during these
meetings (at the time, he had been in surgery for numerous days without much sleep). Also, some of Schenck's
opinions were based on hearsay from Dr. Haase.

Other complaints
From the 1930s he suffered from stomach pains, in 1936 a non cancerous polyp was removed from his throat and he
developed eczema on his legs.[340] He suffered ruptured eardrums as a result of the July 20 plot bomb blast in 1944
and 200 wood splinters had to be removed from his legs,[341] but he was otherwise uninjured. Some doctors dismiss
Hitler's ailments as hypochondria, pointing out the apparently drastic decline of Hitler's health as Germany began
losing World War II.
Adolf Hitler 39

Mental health
Hitler's mental health is a minefield of theories, speculation and conjecture. This topic is very controversial, as many
believe that if a psychological cause can be found for Hitler's behavior, there would be more reasoning behind his
actions.
Waite, who wrote an extensive psychohistory of Hitler, concluded that he suffered from borderline personality
disorder, which manifested its symptoms in numerous ways and would imply Hitler was in full control of himself
and his actions. Others have proposed Hitler may have been schizophrenic, based on claims that he was hallucinating
and delusional during his last year of life. Others believe that Hitler had a mental disorder and was not schizophrenic
nor bipolar, but rather met the criteria for both disorders, and was therefore most likely a schizoaffective. If true, this
might be explained by a series of brief reactive psychoses in a narcissistic personality which could not withstand
being confronted with reality (in this case, that he was not the "savior of Germany" he envisioned himself to be, as
his plans and early achievements collapsed about him). In addition, his regular methamphetamine use and possible
sleep deprivation in the last period of his life must be factored into any speculation as to the cause of his possible
psychotic symptoms, as these two activities are known to trigger psychotic reactions in some individuals. Hitler
never visited a psychiatrist, and under current methodology, any such diagnosis is speculation.

Addiction to amphetamine
Hitler began using amphetamine occasionally after 1937 and became addicted to amphetamine after the late summer
of 1942.[342] Albert Speer stated he thought this was the most likely cause of the later rigidity of Hitler’s decision
making (never allowing military retreats).[343]

Historians' views
In a 1980 article, the German historian Hans-Ulrich Wehler dismissed theories that sought to explain Nazi Germany
as due to some defect, medical or otherwise in Hitler. In his opinion, besides the problem that such theories about
Hitler's medical condition were extremely difficult to prove, they had the effect of personalizing the phenomena of
Nazi Germany by attributing everything that happened in the Third Reich to one flawed individual.[257] The British
historian Sir Ian Kershaw agreed that it was better to take a broader view of German history by seeking to examine
what social forces led to the Third Reich and its policies, as opposed to the "personalized" explanations for the
Holocaust and World War II.[257]

Sexuality
Hitler presented himself publicly as a man without a domestic life,
dedicated entirely to his political mission.
He had a fiancée in the 1920s, Mimi Reiter, and later had a mistress,
Eva Braun. He had a close bond with his half-niece Geli Raubal, which
some commentators have claimed was sexual, though there is no
evidence that proves this.[344] All three women attempted suicide (two
succeeded), a fact that has led to speculation that Hitler may have had
sexual fetishes, such as urolagnia (aroused by urine or urination), as
was claimed by Otto Strasser, a political opponent of Hitler. Reiter, the
Hitler with his long-time mistress Eva Braun,
only one to survive the Nazi regime, denied this.[345] Some theorists whom he married 29 April 1945
have claimed that Hitler had a relationship with British fascist Unity
Mitford.[346] Lothar Machtan argues in The Hidden Hitler that Hitler was homosexual.[347]
Adolf Hitler 40

Family
Paula Hitler, the last living member of Adolf Hitler's immediate family, died in 1960.
The most prominent and longest-living direct descendant of Adolf Hitler's father, Alois, was Adolf's nephew
William Patrick Hitler. With his wife Phyllis, he eventually moved to Long Island, New York, changed his last
name, and had four sons. None of William Hitler's children have had any children of their own.
Over the years, various investigative reporters have attempted to track down other distant relatives of the Führer.
Many are now alleged to be living inconspicuous lives and have long since changed their last name.
• Klara Hitler, mother
• Alois Hitler, father
• Alois Hitler, Jr., half-brother
• Angela Hitler Raubal, half-sister
• Bridget Dowling, sister-in-law
• Eva Braun, mistress and then wife
• Geli Raubal, niece
• Gretl Braun, sister-in-law through
Hitler's marriage to Eva Braun
• Heinz Hitler, nephew
• Hermann Fegelein, brother-in-law
through Hitler's marriage to Eva
Braun
• Ilse Braun, sister-in-law through Adolf Hitler's genealogy
Hitler's marriage to Eva Braun
• Johann Georg Hiedler, presumed grandfather
• Johann Nepomuk Hiedler, maternal great-grandfather, presumed great uncle and possibly Hitler's true paternal
grandfather
• Leo Raubal Jr, nephew
• Maria Schicklgruber, grandmother
• Paula Hitler, sister
• William Patrick Hitler, nephew

Hitler in media

Oratory and rallies


Hitler was a gifted orator who captivated many with his beating of the lectern and growling, emotional speech. He
honed his skills by giving speeches to soldiers during 1919 and 1920. He became adept at telling people what they
wanted to hear (the stab-in-the-back, the Jewish-Marxist plot to conquer the world, and the betrayal of Germany in
the Versailles treaty) and identifying a scapegoat for their plight. Over time, Hitler perfected his delivery by
rehearsing in front of mirrors and carefully choreographing his display of emotions. He was allegedly coached by
Erik-Jan Hanussen, a self-styled clairvoyant who focused on hand and arm gestures and who, ironically, had Jewish
heritage. Munitions minister and architect Albert Speer, who may have known Hitler as well as anyone, said that
Hitler was above all else an actor.[348] [349]
Massive Nazi rallies staged by Speer were designed to spark a process of self-persuasion for the participants. By
participating in the rallies, by marching, by shouting heil, and by making the stiff armed salute, the participants
strengthened their commitment to the Nazi movement. This process can be appreciated by watching Leni
Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will, which presents the 1934 Nuremberg Rally. The camera shoots Hitler from on high
Adolf Hitler 41

and from below, but only twice head-on. These camera angles give Hitler a Christ-like aura. Some of the people in
the film are paid actors, but most of the participants are not. Whether the film itself recruited new Nazis out of
theatre audiences is unknown. The process of self-persuasion may have affected Hitler. He gave the same speech
(though it got smoother and smoother with repetition) hundreds of times first to soldiers and then to audiences in
beer halls.

Recorded in private conversation


Hitler visited Finnish Field Marshal Mannerheim on 4 June 1942. During the
visit an engineer of the Finnish broadcasting company YLE, Thor Damen,
recorded Hitler and Mannerheim in conversation, something which had to be
done secretly since Hitler never allowed recordings of him off-guard.[350] Today
the recording is the only known recording of Hitler not speaking in an official
tone. The recording captures 11½ minutes of the two leaders in private
conversation.[351] Hitler speaks in a slightly excited, but still intellectually
detached manner during this talk (the speech has been compared to that of the
working class). The majority of the recording is a monologue by Hitler. In the
recording, Hitler admits to underestimating the Soviet Union's ability to conduct
war.
Hitler and Baron Mannerheim (June
1942)
Patria picture disc
Adolf Hitler even released a 7-inch picture disc with one of his speeches. Known as the Patria (Fatherland) picture
disc, the obverse bears an image of Hitler giving a speech and has a recording of both a speech by Hitler and also
Party Member Hans Hinkel. The reverse bears a hand holding a swastika flag and the Carl Woitschach recording
(1933 – Telefunken A 1431) "In Dem Kampf um die Heimat – Faschistenmarsch".

Documentaries during the Third Reich


Hitler appeared in and was involved to varying degrees with a series of films by the pioneering filmmaker Leni
Riefenstahl via Universum Film AG (UFA):
• Der Sieg des Glaubens (Victory of Faith, 1933).
• Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will, 1934), co-produced by Hitler.
• Tag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht (Day of Freedom: Our Armed Forces, 1935).
• Olympia (1938).
Hitler was the central figure of the first three films; they focused on the party rallies of the respective years and are
considered propaganda films. Hitler also featured prominently in the Olympia film. Whether the latter is a
propaganda film or a true documentary is still a subject of controversy, but it nonetheless perpetuated and spread the
propagandistic message of the 1936 Olympic Games depicting Nazi Germany as a prosperous and peaceful
country.[352] As a prominent politician, Hitler was featured in many newsreels.

Television
Hitler's attendance at various public functions, including the 1936 Olympic Games and Nuremberg Rallies, appeared
on television broadcasts made between 1935 and 1939. These events, along with other programming highlighting
activity by public officials, were often repeated in public viewing rooms. Samples from a number of surviving
television films from Nazi Germany were included in the 1999 documentary Das Fernsehen unter dem Hakenkreuz
(Television Under the Swastika).
Adolf Hitler 42

Documentaries post Third Reich


• The World at War (1974): a Thames Television series which contains much information about Hitler and Nazi
Germany, including an interview with his secretary, Traudl Junge.
• Adolf Hitler's Last Days: from the BBC series "Secrets of World War II" tells the story about Hitler's last days
during World War II.
• The Nazis: A Warning From History (1997): six-part BBC TV series on how the cultured and educated Germans
accepted Hitler and the Nazis up to its downfall. Historical consultant is Ian Kershaw.
• Cold War (1998): a CNN series about the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The series
begins with World War II footage, including Hitler, and how the Cold War began in earnest after Germany
surrendered.
• Im toten Winkel – Hitlers Sekretärin (Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary) (2002): an exclusive 90 minute interview
with Traudl Junge, Hitler's secretary. Made by Austrian Jewish director André Heller shortly before Junge's death
from lung cancer, Junge recalls the last days in the Berlin bunker. Clips of the interview were used in Downfall.
• Undergångens arkitektur (The Architecture of Doom) (1989): documentary about the National Socialist aesthetic
as envisioned by Hitler.
• Das Fernsehen unter dem Hakenkreuz (Television Under the Swastika) (1999): documentary by Michael Kloft
about the domestic use of television in Nazi Germany for propaganda purposes from 1935 to 1944.
• Ruins of the Reich (2007): four-part series of the Rise and Fall of Hitler's Reich and its effects, created by Third
Reich historian R.J. Adams

Films
• The Death of Adolf Hitler, a British (7 January 1973) made-for-television production, starring Frank Finlay. The
movie depicts the last days of Hitler.
• Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973): movie depicting the days leading up to Adolf Hitler's death, starring Sir Alec
Guinness.
• Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's Hitler – Ein Film aus Deutschland (Hitler: A Film from Germany) (1977): a seven-hour
work in four parts. The director uses documentary clips, photographic backgrounds, puppets, theatrical stages,
and other elements.[353]
• The Bunker (1981): a U.S. made-for-television movie describing the last days in the Führerbunker from 17
January 1945 to 2 May 1945. The film stars Anthony Hopkins.
• Europa, Europa (1990): based on the true story of a German Jew who joined the Hitler Youth in order to avoid
capture. Hitler is portrayed by Ryszard Pietruski.
• Fatherland (1994): a hypothetical view of Germany in 1964, had Hitler won World War II, adapted from the
novel by former journalist Robert Harris.
• The Empty Mirror (1996): a psychodrama which speculates on the events following Hitler (portrayed by Norman
Rodway) surviving the fall of Nazi Germany.
• Moloch (1999): Hitler portrayed by Leonid Mozgovoy in a fictional drama set at his Berghof Retreat in the
Bavarian Alps.
• Max (2002): fictional drama depicting a friendship between Jewish art dealer Max Rothman (John Cusack) and a
young Adolf Hitler (Noah Taylor) as a failed painter in Vienna.
• Hitler: The Rise of Evil (2003): two-part TV series about the early years of Adolf Hitler and his rise to power (up
to 1933), starring Robert Carlyle.
• Der Untergang (Downfall) (2004): German movie about the last days of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich,
starring Bruno Ganz. This film is partly based on the autobiography of Traudl Junge, a favorite secretary of
Hitler's. In 2002, Junge said she felt great guilt for "... liking the greatest criminal ever to have lived."
• Valkyrie (2008): Hitler, played by David Bamber, is portrayed as a target of the famous assassination plot by
Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg.
Adolf Hitler 43

• Dr Freud Will See You Now Mr Hitler (2008): radio drama by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran presenting an
imagined scenario in which Sigmund Freud treats the young Hitler. Toby Jones played Hitler.

See also
• Adolf Hitler's directives
• Ex-Nazi Party members
• Führermuseum
• Glossary of Nazi Germany
• Glossary of German military terms
• List of books by or about Adolf Hitler
• List of Nazi Party leaders and officials
• Poison Kitchen

Footnotes
[1] " Hitler ersucht um Entlassung aus der österreichischen Staatsangehörigkeit (http:/ / www. ns-archiv. de/ personen/ hitler/ oesterreich/
staatsbuergerschaft. php)", 7 April 1925 (German). Translation: "Hitler's official application to end his Austrian citizenship". NS-Archiv.
Retrieved on 2008-08-19.
[2] Keegan 1989
[3] Niewyk, Donald L.; Francis R. Nicosia (2000), The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust, Columbia University Press, p. 45, ISBN 0231112009
[4] Hanock, Ian. "Romanies and the Holocaust: A Reevaluation and an Overview" (http:/ / www. radoc. net:8088/ RADOC-3-PORR. htm) ,
published in Stone, D. (ed.) (2004) The Historiography of the Holocaust. Palgrave, Basingstoke and New York.
[5] Wistrich, Robert S. (1995), Who's Who In Nazi Germany? (http:/ / www. jewishvirtuallibrary. org/ jsource/ Holocaust/ braun. html), London:
Routledge, ISBN 978-0415118880, , retrieved 2008-09-07
[6] Shirer, W. L. (1960), The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, New York: Simon and Schuster
[7] Rosenbaum, R. (1999). Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil. Harper Perennial. ISBN 0-06-095339-X
[8] Shirer (1990-11-15), The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=sY8svb-MNUwC& printsec=frontcover&
dq=the+ rise+ and+ fall+ of+ the+ third+ reich& q=alois hitler johann), p. 7, ISBN 9780671728687,
[9] Dieter Schenk, Frank: Hitlers Kronjurist und General-Gouverneur, 2006, p.65. ISBN 978-3100735621: "Dass Adolf Hitler bestimmt kein
Judenblut in den Adern hatte, scheint mir aus seiner ganzen Art dermaßen eklatant bewiesen, dass es keines weiteren Wortes bedarf," (p.330
of Frank's memoirs published in 1953 as Im Angesicht des Galgens. Deutung Hitlers und seiner Zeit aufgrund eigener Erlebnisse und
Erkenntnisse).
[10] Toland 1991, pp. 246–47
[11] Kershaw, Ian (1998), Hitler: 1889–1936: Hubris, City of Westminster, London, England: Penguin Books, pp. 8–9
[12] Anna Elisabeth Rosmus, Out of Passau: Leaving a City Hitler Called Home, p. 41
[13] John Toland, Adolf Hitler, 1976 ISBN 0-385-42053-6
[14] Payne 1990
[15] Rosmus, op cit, p. 35
[16] Shirer, p.27
[17] Payne 1990, p. 22
[18] "Adolf Hitler Video —" (http:/ / www. history. com/ topics/ adolf-hitler/ videos#adolf-hitler). History.com. . Retrieved 2010-04-28.
[19] Payne 1990, p. 41
[20] Toland 1991, p. 18
[21] Jetzinger, Franz (1976), Hitler's youth, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, p. 74, ISBN 083718617X,
[22] Bullock 1962, pp. 30–31
[23] Hitler 1998, §2
[24] Lehrer, Steven (2002), Hitler Sites: A City-by-city Guidebook (Austria, Germany, France, United States), McFarland, p. 224,
ISBN 0786410450
[25] Hamann & Thornton 1999
[26] Hitler 1998, §7
[27] Röpke1946, p. 117
[28] Waite 1993, p. 251
[29] Shirer 1961
[30] Shirer 1990, p. 53
[31] Bullock 1962, p. 52
Adolf Hitler 44

[32] "Adolf Hitler a war hero? Anything but, said first world war comrades: Unpublished letters and diaries from List regiment soldiers portray
Hitler as a loner, an object of ridicule and 'a rear area pig'" (http:/ / www. guardian. co. uk/ world/ 2010/ aug/ 16/ new-evidence-adolf-hitler),
The Guardian, August 16, 2010
[33] Alastair Jamieson, Nazi leader Hitler really did have only one ball.html (http:/ / www. telegraph. co. uk/ news/ newstopics/ howaboutthat/
3481932/ Nazi-leader-Hitler-really-did-have-only-one-ball. html), The Daily Telegraph, retrieved on 20 November 2008
[34] Rosenbaum, Ron, " Everything You Need To Know About Hitler's "Missing" Testicle (http:/ / www. slate. com/ id/ 2205359/ )", Slate, 28
Nov. 2008
[35] Lewis 2003
[36] Dawidowicz 1986
[37] Keegan 1987, pp. 238–240
[38] Bullock 1962, p. 60
[39] 1919 Picture of Hitler (http:/ / www. historisches-lexikon-bayerns. de/ document/ artikel_44676_bilder_value_6_beisetzung-eisners3. jpg),
Historisches Lexikon Bayerns, , retrieved 2008-05-22
[40] Stackelberg, Roderick (2007), The Routledge companion to Nazi Germany, New York, NY: Routledge, p. 9, ISBN 0-415-30860-7
[41] Samuel W. Mitcham, Why Hitler?: the genesis of the Nazi Reich. Praeger, 1996, p.67
[42] Kerhsaw 1999
[43] Alison Kitson, Germany, 1858–1990: Hope, Terror, and Revival, Oxford University Press, 2001, P.1921
[44] Ian Kershaw, Hitler, Pearson Education, 2000, p.60
[45] Fest 1970
[46] The party's name was officially changed in 1920 to include the prefix "National Socialist."
[47] Shirer 1961, pp. 104–106
[48] Shirer 1961, p. 109
[49] Shirer 1961, pp. 111–113
[50] http:/ / www. humanitas-international. org/ showcase/ chronography/ speeches/ 1924-03-27. html
[51] Kershaw p. 239.
[52] Bullock 1962, p. 121
[53] Katrina Vanden Heuvel The Nation 1865–1990, p. 66, Thunder's Mouth Press, 1990 ISBN 1-56025-001-1
[54] Jonathan Peter Spiro (2008-12-31), Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics, and the Legacy of Madison Grant (http:/ / books.
google. com/ ?id=4NoE2VyfN70C& pg=PA357), Univ. of Vermont Press, ISBN 9781584657156, , retrieved 2010-01-25
[55] See Verbotzeit for details.
[56] Halperin 1965, p. 403 et. seq.
[57] Halperin 1965, pp. 434–446 et. seq.
[58] Wheeler-Bennett 1967, p. 218
[59] Wheeler-Bennett 1967, p. 216
[60] Wheeler-Bennett 1967, pp. 218–219
[61] Wheeler-Bennett 1967, p. 222
[62] Halperin 1965, p. 449 et. seq.
[63] Halperin 1965, pp. 434–436, 471
[64] Bullock 1962, pp. 393–394
[65] Halperin 1965, pp. 468–471
[66] Shirer, p. 185
[67] "Des Führers Pass, Hitlers Einbürgerung" (http:/ / www. spiegel. de/ panorama/ zeitgeschichte/ 0,1518,470844,00. html), Der Spiegel (Der
Spiegel), , retrieved 2008-05-22
[68] Halperin 1965, p. 476
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Adolf Hitler 51

References
• Bloch, Michael (1992), Ribbentrop, New York: Crown Publishing, ISBN 0517593106
• Bullock, A. (1962), Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, Penguin Books, ISBN 0140135642
• Butler, Ewan; Young, Gordon (1989), The Life and Death of Hermann Goering, David & Charles,
ISBN 071539455X
• Carr, William (1972), Arms, Autarky and Aggression, London: Edward Arnold, ISBN 9780713156683
• Conway, John S. (1968), The Nazi Persecution of the Churches 1933–45, ISBN 0297763156
• Cornish, Kimberley (1999), The Jew of Linz: Hitler, Wittgenstein and their secret battle for the mind,
ISBN 0712679359
• Crozier, Andrew (1988), Appeasement and Germany's Last Bid for Colonies, London: Macmillan Press,
ISBN 0312015461
• Dawidowicz, Lucy (1976), A Holocaust Reader, New York: Behrman House, ISBN 0874412196
• Dawidowicz, Lucy (1986), The War Against the Jews, Bantam Books, ISBN 0874412226
• Doerr, Paul (1998), British Foreign Policy, Manchester: Manchester University Press, ISBN 0719046726
• Dollinger, Hans (1995-03-28), The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, Gramercy,
ISBN 0517123991
• Fest, Joachim C. (1970), The Face Of The Third Reich, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ISBN 0297179497
• Fest, Joachim C. (1974), Hitler, New York: Harcourt Trade Publishers, ISBN 0745639186
• Fischer, Thomas. Soldiers Of the Leibstandarte. J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, Inc. 2008. ISBN 978-0-921991-91-5.
• Haffner, Sebastian (1979), The Meaning of Hitler, Harvard University Press, ISBN 067455776X
• Hakim, Joy (1995), A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz, New York: Oxford University Press,
ISBN 0-19-509514-6
• Halperin, S. William (1965) [1946], Germany Tried Democracy: A Political History of the Reich from 1918 to
1933, The Norton Library, ISBN 0-393-00280-2
• Hamann, Brigitte; Thornton, Thomas (1999), Hitler's Vienna. A dictator's apprenticeship, Oxford University
Press, ISBN 0195125371
• Hildebrand, Klaus (1973), The Foreign Policy of the Third Reich, London: Batsford
• Hitler, Adolf; Norman Hepburn Baynes (1942), The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922 – August 1939, London:
Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-598-75893-3
• Hitler, Adolf; Raoul Jean Jacques Francois De Roussy De Sales, ed (1973), My New Order, Octagon Books,
ISBN 0-374-93918-7
• Hitler, Adolf (15 September), Mein Kampf, Mariner Books, ISBN 0395925037
• Joachimsthaler, Anton (1999), The Last Days of Hitler – The Legends – The Evidence – The Truth,
Brockhampton Press, ISBN 1-86019-902-X
• Kee, Robert (1988), Munich, London: Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 0241125375
• Keegan, John (1987), The Mask of Command: A Study of Generalship, Pimlico (Random House),
ISBN 0712665269
• Keegan, John (1989), The Second World War, Glenfield, New Zealand: Hutchinson, ISBN 0681970626
• Kershaw, Ian (1999), Hitler: 1889–1936: Hubris, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 0393046710
• Kershaw, Ian (2000a), The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation (4th ed.), London:
Arnold, ISBN 0340760281
• Kershaw, Ian (2000b), Hitler, 1936–1945: Nemesis, New York; London: W. W. Norton & Company,
ISBN 0393322521
• Kurowski, Franz (2005), The Brandenburger Commandos: Germany's Elite Warrior Spies in World War II,
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Book, ISBN 13: 978-08117-3250-5, 10: 0-8117-3250-9
• Langer, Walter C. (1972), The Mind of Adolf Hitler, New York: Basic Books, ISBN 0465046207
• Lewis, David (2003), The Man who invented Hitler, Hodder Headline, ISBN 0-7553-1148-5
Adolf Hitler 52

• Machtan, Lothar (2001), The Hidden Hitler, New York: Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-04308-9
• Marrus, Michael (2000), The Holocaust in History, Toronto: Key Porter, ISBN 0299234045
• Murray, Williamson (1984), The Change in the European Balance of Power, Princeton: Princeton University
Press, ISBN 0691054134
• Overy, Richard; Wheatcroft, Andrew (1989), The Road To War, London: Macmillan, ISBN 0-14-028530-X
• Overy, Richard (2005), The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia, Penguin Books, ISBN 0393020304
• Payne, Robert (1990), The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler, New York, New York: Hippocrene Books,
ISBN 0880294027
• Rees, Laurence (1997), The Nazis: A Warning From History, New York: New Press, ISBN 0563387041
• Rißmann, Michael (2001) (in (German)), Hitlers Gott. Vorsehungsglaube und Sendungsbewußtsein des deutschen
Diktators, Zürich München: Pendo, ISBN 3-85842-421-8
• Roberts, Andrew (1991), The Holy Fox, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, ISBN 0297811339
• Robertson, E.M. (1963), Hitler's Pre-War Policy and Military Plans, London: Longmans
• Röpke, Wilhelm (1946), The Solution to the German Problem, G. P. Putnam's Sons
• Rosenbaum, R. (1998), Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of his Evil, Macmillan Publishers,
ISBN 006095339X
• Shirer, William L. (1990 reprint), The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-671-72868-7
• Speer, Albert (2003), Inside the Third Reich, Weidenfeld & Nicolson History, ISBN 1-842-127357
• Steigmann-Gall, Richard (2003), The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919–1945, Cambridge; New
York: Cambridge University Press, doi:10.2277/0521823714, ISBN 0521823714
• Strobl, Gerwin (2000), The Germanic Isle, Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press,
ISBN 0521782651
• Toland, John (1991 reprint), Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography, Doubleday, ISBN 0385420536
• Tooze, Adam (2006), The Wages of Destruction, New York: Viking Press, ISBN 0670038261
• Waite, Robert G. L. (1993), The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler, Da Capo Press, ISBN 0-306-80514-6
• Weinberg, Gerhard (1970), The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany Diplomatic Revolution in Europe 1933–1936,
Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0226885097
• Weinberg, Gerhard (1980), The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany Starting World War II, Chicago, Illinois:
University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0226885119
• Wheeler-Bennett, John (1967), The Nemesis of Power, London: Macmillan, ISBN 1403918120

Further reading
• Hant, Claus (2010), Young Hitler, Quartet Books Publishing, ISBN 978-0704371828
• Murray, Henry A. (1943), [[Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler (http://library.lawschool.cornell.edu/
WhatWeHave/SpecialCollections/Donovan/Hitler/index.cfm)]: With Predictions of His Future Behavior and
Suggestions for Dealing with Him Now and After Germany's Surrender]
• O'Donnell, James (1978), The Bunker, New York: Da Capo Press, ISBN 0-306-80958-3
Adolf Hitler 53

Medical books
• Bezymenski, L. (1968), The Death of Adolf Hitler: Unknown Documents from Soviet Archives, Harcourt Brace,
ISBN 0-7181-0634-2
• Doyle, D. (2005), Hitler's Medical Care (http://www.rcpe.ac.uk/publications/articles/journal_35_1/
Hitler's_medical_care.pdf)
• Heston, L. (1980), The Medical Casebook of Adolf Hitler: His Illnesses, Doctors, and Drugs, Stein & Day,
ISBN 0-8128-2718-X
• Heston, L. (2000), The Medical Casebook of Adolf Hitler, Cooper Square Press, ISBN 0-8154-1066-2
• Heston, L. (1999), Adolf Hitler: A Medical Descent That Changed History His Drug Abuse, Doctors, Illnesses,
Baypoint Press, ISBN 0-9665852-9-1
• Morell, Dr. Theodore; et al. (1983), Adolf Hitler : The Secret Diaries of Hitler's Doctor (http://www.fpp.co.uk/
books/Morell/Morell.zip), Focal Point Publications, ISBN 0-283-98981-5
• Schwaab, E. (1992), Hitler's Mind: A Plunge into Madness, Praeger Publishers, ISBN 0-275-94132-9
• Victor, G. (1999), Hitler: The Pathology of Evil, Potomac Books, ISBN 1-57488-228-7
• Zalampas, S. (1990), Adolf Hitler: A Psychological Interpretation of His Views on Architecture Art and Music,
Bowling Green State University Popular Press, ISBN 0-87972-488-9

External links
• Works by or about Adolf Hitler (http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n79-46200) in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
Images and videos
• Adolf Hitler (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0386944/) at the Internet Movie Database
• Adolf Hitler (Character) (http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0027857/) at the Internet Movie Database (The
Character portrayed in film and television)
• Color Footage of Hitler during WWII (http://www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/movies/hitler_color)
• Photos of Adolf Hitler (http://www.bytwerk.com/gpa/hitler2.htm)
• Download "The Young Hitler I Knew" (http://www.archive.org/details/TheYoungHitlerIKnew) on
archive.org
• Did Hitler have only one testicle? (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_128b.html) from The Straight
Dope
• OSS document alleging sexual deviancy (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/hitleross5.html)
• History Channel's Episode – High Hitler (http://www.history.com/shows.do?action=detail&
episodeId=276803)
Speeches and publications
• A speech from 1932 (text and audiofile), German Museum of History Berlin (http://www.dhm.de/
sammlungen/zendok/weimar/Reden_Reserve/hitler.html)
• Hitler Speech (10 February 1933) with English Translation (http://dl01.blastpodcast.com/EVTV1History/
1531_1135376820.mov)
• Hitler's book Mein Kampf (full English translation)
• Adolf Hitler's Private Will, Marriage Certificate and Political Testament, April 1945 (http://www.eisenhower.
archives.gov/Research/Digital_Documents/Holocaust/HitlerMarriageWillPoliticalTestament.pdf) (34 pages)
• "The Discovery of Hitler's Wills" (http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/Research/Digital_Documents/
Holocaust/HitlerWillGeneralIntelligence.pdf) Office of Strategic Services report on how the testament was
found
• The Testament of Adolf Hitler the Bormann-Hitler documents (http://www.archive.org/details/
TheTestamentOfAdolfHitler) (transcripts of conversations in February–2 April 1945)
Article Sources and Contributors 54

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Optichan, Optimale, Oracun, Orangemarlin, OrbitOne, Oreo Priest, Orthogonal, Orzelmks, Orzetto, Osama bin Hitler, Osama bin dipesh, Osamabanana, Otets, Otiste, Otolemur crassicaudatus,
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Patmagroin1289, Patman21, Patrick, Patrickbarrett22, Patstuart, Patsw, Paucostacos, Paul August, Paul Barlow, Paul Benjamin Austin, Paul Siebert, Paul112, PaulBrooks747, Pavel Vozenilek,
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Wizards, Phenz, Phil Boswell, Phil Sandifer, PhilKnight, Philc 0780, Phileas, Philip Baird Shearer, Philip Stevens, Philip Trueman, PhilipO, Philopedia, Philwelch, Phobiaphobia, Phoenix Song,
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Æthelwold, Τις, А, Александър, Еdit, †††, 序名三, 5060 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors


file:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S62600, Adolf Hitler.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-S62600,_Adolf_Hitler.jpg  License: unknown
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File:Hitler Signature2.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Hitler_Signature2.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Adolf Hitler
File:Flag of the German Empire.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_the_German_Empire.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: User:B1mbo,
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File:War Ensign of Germany 1903-1918.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:War_Ensign_of_Germany_1903-1918.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Original
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Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1989-0322-506, Adolf Hitler, Kinderbild.jpg  Source:
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File:The Courtyard of the Old Residency in Munich - Adolf Hitler.jpg  Source:
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Image:Hitler with other German soldiers.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Hitler_with_other_German_soldiers.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Unknown
Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1974-082-44, Adolf Hitler im Ersten Weltkrieg.jpg  Source:
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Ktr101, Mtsmallwood, Pabouk, Peter Weis, Túrelio, YMS, 4 anonymous edits
Image:Hitlermember.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Hitlermember.png  License: Public Domain  Contributors: AnRo0002, Herbythyme, Kahlil88, Mtsmallwood,
Nishkid64, Schaengel89, Túrelio, 7 anonymous edits
Image:Drawing of Adolf Hitler.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Drawing_of_Adolf_Hitler.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Bain News Service
File:Mein Kampf dust jacket.jpeg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Mein_Kampf_dust_jacket.jpeg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Unknown author of dust
jacket; Adolph Hitler author of volume
Image:Hitler 1928.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Hitler_1928.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Ed Fitzgerald, Good Olfactory, Nard the Bard, SF007, Sevela.p,
5 anonymous edits
Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 119-0289, München, Hitler bei Einweihung "Braunes Haus".jpg  Source:
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Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1972-026-11, Machtübernahme Hitlers.jpg  Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1972-026-11,_Machtübernahme_Hitlers.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Sennecke, Robert
Image:Reichsparteitagnov1935.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Reichsparteitagnov1935.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Carroy, Der Hausgeist, Ed
Fitzgerald, Kjetil r, Madmax32, Mogelzahn, Mtsmallwood, Noclador, Scewing, Tekstman, 6 anonymous edits
File:Adolf Hitler-1933.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Adolf_Hitler-1933.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Cecil, DIREKTOR, Dsmurat, Erberg, Polarlys,
Str4nd, Vonvon, 4 anonymous edits
Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-04062A, Nürnberg, Reichsparteitag, SA- und SS-Appell.jpg  Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-04062A,_Nürnberg,_Reichsparteitag,_SA-_und_SS-Appell.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: DIREKTOR,
Gödeke, Leit, Mtsmallwood, Paul.Matthies, YMS, 1 anonymous edits
Image:HitlerMussolini1934Venice.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:HitlerMussolini1934Venice.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Istituto Nazionale Luce
(State-run production house active between 1932-1946 and 1950-1961. In 1963 it was restructured and renamed as Istituto Luce.)
Image:Hitlermusso2 edit.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Hitlermusso2_edit.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: CillanXC, F l a n k e r, Howcheng, JGHowes,
MER-C, Mindmatrix, Zzyzx11, 4 anonymous edits
Image:Buchenwald Corpses 60623.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Buchenwald_Corpses_60623.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Gump Stump, Pieter
Kuiper, The Evil IP address, Timeshifter, Túrelio, USHMM, 14 anonymous edits
File:Matsuoka visits Hitler.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Matsuoka_visits_Hitler.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: 36ophiuchi, Ajtnk, R-41, Teofilo,
WTCA
Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R69173, Münchener Abkommen, Staatschefs.jpg  Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-R69173,_Münchener_Abkommen,_Staatschefs.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: A1B2C3D4, G.dallorto, Martin H.,
Mtsmallwood, UstinadlabemELBE, Vizu, YMS
Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 137-004055, Eger, Besuch Adolf Hitlers.jpg  Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_137-004055,_Eger,_Besuch_Adolf_Hitlers.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Gms, Manxruler, Mtsmallwood, YMS,
1 anonymous edits
Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1970-083-42, Magdeburg, zerstörtes jüdisches Geschäft.jpg  Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1970-083-42,_Magdeburg,_zerstörtes_jüdisches_Geschäft.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Tsui
File:Adolf Hitler 42 Pfennig stamp.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Adolf_Hitler_42_Pfennig_stamp.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: User:Professional
Assassin
Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2008-0922-500, Reichstag, Begrüßung Adolf Hitler.jpg  Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-2008-0922-500,_Reichstag,_Begrüßung_Adolf_Hitler.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Beek100, Kolchak1923,
Mtsmallwood, Pibwl, 2 anonymous edits
Image:Hitler and Mussolini June 1940.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Hitler_and_Mussolini_June_1940.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Eva Braun
Image:Adolf Hitler in Paris 1940.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Adolf_Hitler_in_Paris_1940.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Office for Emergency
Management. Office of War Information. Overseas Operations Branch. New York Office. News and Features Bureau.
Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1987-0703-507, Berlin, Reichstagssitzung, Rede Adolf Hitler.jpg  Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1987-0703-507,_Berlin,_Reichstagssitzung,_Rede_Adolf_Hitler.jpg  License: unknown  Contributors: Beek100,
Mtsmallwood, NativeForeigner, Richardprins, YMS, 2 anonymous edits
Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1972-025-12, Zerstörte Lagerbaracke nach dem 20. Juli 1944.jpg  Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1972-025-12,_Zerstörte_Lagerbaracke_nach_dem_20._Juli_1944.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: ALE!,
Appaloosa, Mtsmallwood, 1 anonymous edits
Image:Stars & Stripes & Hitler Dead2.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Stars_&_Stripes_&_Hitler_Dead2.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Abu badali,
Bransenlane, Collard, Editor at Large, Edward, G.dallorto, Hux, Hystrix, Juiced lemon, Mogelzahn, Mtsmallwood, Multichill, Nard the Bard, PMG, Pumbaa80, Schaengel89, SchuminWeb,
Svencb, Teofilo, Thomas Gun, Tom dl, Wikipeder, Wknight94, 13 anonymous edits
Image:Mahnstein.JPG  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Mahnstein.JPG  License: GNU Free Documentation License  Contributors: Jo Oh
File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F051673-0059, Adolf Hitler und Eva Braun auf dem Berghof.jpg  Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_B_145_Bild-F051673-0059,_Adolf_Hitler_und_Eva_Braun_auf_dem_Berghof.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: 32X,
Greenshed, Grkdo, Hohum, Karnickelbogen, Mtsmallwood, The Evil IP address, Vuvar1, Wknight94, 16 anonymous edits
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 58

Image:Hitlerfamilytree.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Hitlerfamilytree.png  License: GNU Free Documentation License  Contributors: Original uploader was
Waryklingon at en.wikipedia
Image:Hitler Mannerheim.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Hitler_Mannerheim.png  License: Public Domain  Contributors: ABF, Apalsola, Methem, Mikko
Paananen, Mtsmallwood, 6 anonymous edits

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