Adolf Hitler
- born in 1889 in Austria
- dropped out of school at 16
- wanted to be and artist and architect
- failed to get into art school
- moved to Germany in 1913
- joined German Army when WWI broke out
- was wounded twice (once by gas)
- won numerous medals
- accepted the “stab in the back” theory- accecpted Treaty of Versailles.
- hated Weimer Republic
- joined the Nationalist Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi) after WWI
- voted Fuhrer (Leader) of the Nazi Party in 1921
- Nazi party attracted the following groups of people:
1. Manual laborers
2. Former soldiers
3. Adventurers and misfits
- The Nazi Party:
1. was violently nationalistic
2. was anti-Semitic (anti-Jew)
3. Hated the democratic Weimer Republic
4. talked of the Volk (German common people) superiority
Beer Hall Putsch (1923)
- Hitler and the Nazis tried to take over the German Gov’t
- Failed miserably
- Hitler was arrested for treason
- Got five years but only served 9 months
- While in prison he wrote his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle)
- Outlined Hitler’s ideas:
1. Aryans were the superior race
- Germans, Dutch, Belgians, Scandinavians and English
- No interbreeding
2. Anti-Semitic beliefs
- Hated Jews, inferior race
- Hitler associated them with the Weimer Republic and
Communism
3. Hated democracy
- Believed one person had to have the power to keep order and
Discipline
4. Undo the Treaty of Versailles
5. Re-unite German speaking peoples
- Austria, Sudetenland, Danzig, Poland
6. Lebensraum
- “Living space” in Russia for the German People
- Hitler also learned that he would have to come to power legally
- January 30, 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany
- Within 18 months Hitler had total power and created “The Third Reich”
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