How Hitler Became a Monster
Adolf Hitler 20 April 1889 to 30 April 1945 (suicide), age 56
In office: 2 August 1934 to 30 April 1945, age 45 - 56
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Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician who became a dictator of Germany from 1933 (age 45) until his suicide in 1945 (age 56). He was born in Braunau am Inn in Austria Hungary on 20 April 1889 and he was raised near Linz. He lived in Vienna later in the decade of the 1900s and later moved to Germany in 1913. He was the fourth of six children born to Alois Hitler and his third wife, Klara Pozl. Three of Hitler's siblings—Gustav, Ida, and Otto—died in infancy. Also living in the household were Alois's children from his second marriage: Alois Jr. (born 1882) and Angela (born 1883).
Hitler's Family Moved to Germany when He Was 3
When Hitler was three, the family moved to Passau, Germany. There he acquired the distinctive lower Bavarian dialect, rather than Austrian German, which marked his speech throughout his life. The family returned to Austria and settled in Leonding in 1894, and in June 1895 Alois retired to Hafeld, near Lambach, where he farmed and kept bees. Hitler attended Volkschule (a state-funded primary school) in nearby Fischlham.
Intense Father-Son Conflicts Had to be Endured
The move to Hafeld coincided with the onset of intense father-son conflicts caused by Hitler's refusal to conform to the strict discipline of his school. His father beat him, although his mother tried to protect him. Alois Hitler's farming efforts at Hafeld ended in failure, and in 1897 the family moved to Lambach. The eight-year-old Hitler took singing lessons, sang in the church choir, and even considered becoming a priest. In 1898 the family returned permanently to Leonding. Hitler was deeply affected by the death of his younger brother Edmund, who died in 1900 from measles. Hitler changed from a confident, outgoing, conscientious student to a morose, detached boy who constantly fought with his father and teachers.
Alois had made a successful career in the customs bureau and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. Hitler later dramatized an episode from this period when his father took him to visit a customs office, depicting it as an event that gave rise to an unforgiving antagonism between father and son, who were both strong-willed. Ignoring his son's desire to attend a classical high school and become an artist, Alois sent Hitler to the Realschule in Linz in September 1900. Hitler rebelled against this decision, and in Mein Kampf states that he intentionally did poorly in school, hoping that once his father saw "what little progress I was making at the technical school he would let me devote myself to my dream".
Hitler Had the Same Nationalist Ideast as Many Austrian Germans
Like many Austrian Germans, Hitler began to develop German nationalist ideas from a young age. He expressed loyalty only to Germany, despising the declining Habsburg monarchy, and its rule over an ethnically variegated empire. Hitler and his friends used the greeting "Heil", and sang the "Deutschland" instead of the Austrian Imperial anthem.
Hitler's Father Alois Died Suddenly in 1903
After Alois's sudden death on 3 January 1903, Hitler's performance at school deteriorated and his mother allowed him to leave. He enrolled at the Realschule in Steyr in September 1904, where his behavior and performance improved. In 1905, after passing a repeat of the final exam, Hitler left the school without any ambitions for further education or clear plans for a career.
Klara Hitler, approx. 1870's
Alois Hitler, approx. 1900
Adolf Hitler, approx. 1889-1890
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Adolf Hitler's Childhood Was Miserable
Hitler's father was harsh and distant. He had a closer relationship with his mother, and her death from cancer when he was 17 was traumatic for him. Hitler had a normal education. As a young man, he showed no special talents.Hitler's origins: Hitler was born in a small town in Austria in 1889. He was the son of a local customs official and his much younger third wife. Hitler's father was an illegitimate child and it is uncertain who his father was, but there is no evidence for the legend that this unidentified grandfather was Jewish.
Adolf Hitler's Abusive Childhood as Quora Members Explain It From Facts
"While he was not continuously abused, he would often enter into conflict with, his father, who would then beat him. His mother, on the other hand, loved him.While he was in school, he was a popular child. Clever and outgoing, but he had a problem with respecting authority, getting into numerous conflicts with his teachers and father, who had a really short temper.
In 1900, he changed. His little brother, Edmund, died of measles. Hitler withdrew, hanging around the cemetery at night, sky-gazing and “talking” to trees. It deeply affected him.
His father sent him to a technical school, which he never finished, deliberately doing poorly, hoping his father would give up on him, so he could pursue an artistic career.
After his father died, he left the school and his behavior even improved. But, in 1907, his mother died of breast cancer. Hitler was devastated. Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna rejected him twice and he wound up living in homeless shelters.
All in all, while he did not have a perfect childhood, his rebelliousness caused him all that. He was a genius, he could have been an architect, artist, or whatever he wanted to be. Instead, he became a hateful person responsible for the murder of 75 million people in the Second World War he caused."
By Vlado Vladowski, Quora contributor
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Hitler's Father was a Wealthy Mid-Level Austrian Customs Officer
"Hitler's father was a mid-level Austrian customs officer and money wasn't the only thing he was rolling in, but women also. He married a rich, older lady, but immediately started having affairs, including one with a much younger house servant. A few years later, he left his sick wife to be with his mistress and had another child, but since the Catholic Church didn't allow divorce at the time, he couldn't marry her. So he waited for his old wife to die and had a child in the meantime. Then his wife died and had another child, but then the new wife got sick, so he employed his much younger cousin Klara to take care of her. Then when his new wife died, he immediately got Klara pregnant and then married her. Klara and Alois had three children together who all tragically died in infancy. So when the 4th child, Adolf, came along, Klara spoiled him rotten.
Hitler's Parents Had a few More Children with Klara (After His First Wife Died)
Klara and Alois had a few more kids and the family moved around a few times, which meant Adolf had to attend five different elementary schools. Adolf's father Alois was very strict and was very short-tempered as well, and took most of his anger on his eldest son until he had enough and ran away at the age of 14, leaving 7-year-old Adolf to do most of the chores and get berated by his father. The result of this was a difficult relationship with his dad while Adolf was super attached to his mother who worried over him and his health excessively.
Hitler Did Well In School
And when it came to his school life, Hitler did well in school. At first, his grades were good and his teachers praised him for that. He was popular with the other kids as well and enjoyed gathering them together to play war games. He also loved reading and he particularly loved stories about cowboys and Indians. But as he got older, he started to get into trouble. He was caught smoking once, organized a raid on a local orchard, and tormented his pro-Austrial religion teacher with symbolic gestures displaying his allegiance to the idea of united Germanic people under a greater German state and defines of Habsburg, Austria. The area where Hitler lived was once a part of the German confederation and many people who lived there considered themselves as Germans. Adolf always tended to go against whatever his father said and since his father was an Austrian Public Official, Hitler got big into German nationalism."
By Siddhant Ghuraiya, Quora contributor
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Hitler and the Nazis were not Lunatics
"Hitler and the Nazis who planned and perpetrated the Holocaust were not slavering lunatics. They were not insane, and they were not even personally depraved. Their ideas and personal behavior were not outside of the mainstream. That's the really terrifying thing about them.
There is a comfort in saying that Hitler was the most evil man who ever lived because we can then write him and his actions off as unique, a one-time thing. The Holocaust can be explained as a sort of freak accident. "If the Germans hadn't accidentally elected Satan as their Chancellor, then none of this would have happened. Lesson learned, won't happen again." But that's not true.
Hitler's ability to implement his ideas ended up being exceptional, but the ideas themselves were not. We want to think that the SS officers in charge of the camps were particularly beastly, that Germany was in the 1930s suddenly overrun with werewolves and demons with unnatural blood-thirst and a unique capacity for evil.
But the awful truth is that there is no reason to think that the Germans of the era were morally exceptional and that if chance had put the necessary elements into place elsewhere, the citizens of other countries would have behaved differently. Nazism was not a disease that everyone but the Germans had a natural immunity to, and the Allies developed an inoculation after the war. The Holocaust did not happen because God was out of the office in the 1940s, but has now learned his lesson and won't make that mistake twice. The devil did not make them do it: men acted of their own nature, design, impulse, and will.
The problem of evil was not fixed as part of the Yalta Conference. We are the same species we were in 1940, with the same genes the same brains the same instincts, and the same flaws. And that means that it could happen again, and that is something we need to recognize and reflect on."
By Patrick O'Neill, Quora contributor
There is a comfort in saying that Hitler was the most evil man who ever lived because we can then write him and his actions off as unique, a one-time thing. The Holocaust can be explained as a sort of freak accident. "If the Germans hadn't accidentally elected Satan as their Chancellor, then none of this would have happened. Lesson learned, won't happen again." But that's not true.
Hitler's ability to implement his ideas ended up being exceptional, but the ideas themselves were not. We want to think that the SS officers in charge of the camps were particularly beastly, that Germany was in the 1930s suddenly overrun with werewolves and demons with unnatural blood-thirst and a unique capacity for evil.
But the awful truth is that there is no reason to think that the Germans of the era were morally exceptional and that if chance had put the necessary elements into place elsewhere, the citizens of other countries would have behaved differently. Nazism was not a disease that everyone but the Germans had a natural immunity to, and the Allies developed an inoculation after the war. The Holocaust did not happen because God was out of the office in the 1940s, but has now learned his lesson and won't make that mistake twice. The devil did not make them do it: men acted of their own nature, design, impulse, and will.
The problem of evil was not fixed as part of the Yalta Conference. We are the same species we were in 1940, with the same genes the same brains the same instincts, and the same flaws. And that means that it could happen again, and that is something we need to recognize and reflect on."
By Patrick O'Neill, Quora contributor
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Miscellaneous Information About Hitler's Actions As a Young Person
"His alcoholic father used to beat the crap out of him regularly. Once he was in a coma for two weeks from a beating."By John Scallan, Quora contributor
"Hitler killed his lovely pet dog Blondie because he needed to test the effectiveness of the cyanide capsules but more importantly he didn't want her to be taken by the Russians when the bunker was captured. He loved Blondie and didn't want her to be a trophy for the enemy."
By Cameron Dickerson, the Quora contributor'
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Adolf Hitler Had a Hate-Admiration Relationship with His Father
"Alois Hitler was a strictly authoritarian, emotionally cold bully, who demanded blind obedience. The children were to call him Herr Vati (M’lord Father), speak to him in the second person majestic, and speak only when he was allowed to speak (anyone who has served in the military recognizes immediately this pattern). Hitler's father was a civil servant to the boot and wanted his children to become so, and he tried to extirpate anything “weak” or “unmanly” from them. This led his eldest son Alois Jr to run away from home and when Adolf was now the eldest, he bullied and beat him up on an almost daily basis. He had a hippopotamus hide whip with which he spanked his children, but especially Adolf.
Hitler's Father was Very Cruel to His Son
Alois tried to crush and subjugate Adolf, and it became a battle of wills. Adolf realized that no matter what he did, his father would never approve of it and he would be denigrated, insulted, and scolded. Before Alois Jr ran away, he had been the target of his father’s fury; after that, Adolf became the target at the age of nine. After that, every day would be filled with insults, beating, and scolding.
The easy-going extremely intelligent boy who had fared brilliantly in the school became sullen, rebellious, and truant. He would have serious troubles with authorities and neglect school.
When Alois died when Adolf was 13, Adolf cried uncontrollably. He stated in Mein Kampf that he could not love his father. But he admired and feared him. He was the idol whom to emulate.
Alois Hitler was by no means anyhow atypical by the day’s standards in Austria. Childraising was a brutal business, and children were abused universally. The results were appalling - and without that brutal upbringing, the two world wars would have not happened as the boys, who had been brutalized and abused as children, marched to their deaths like unquestioning robots.
It can be safely said that human history has been a one million years’ nightmare from which we have only recently woken up."
"Alois Hitler was a strictly authoritarian, emotionally cold bully, who demanded blind obedience. The children were to call him Herr Vati (M’lord Father), speak to him in the second person majestic, and speak only when he was allowed to speak (anyone who has served in the military recognizes immediately this pattern). Hitler's father was a civil servant to the boot and wanted his children to become so, and he tried to extirpate anything “weak” or “unmanly” from them. This led his eldest son Alois Jr to run away from home and when Adolf was now the eldest, he bullied and beat him up on an almost daily basis. He had a hippopotamus hide whip with which he spanked his children, but especially Adolf.
Hitler's Father was Very Cruel to His Son
Alois tried to crush and subjugate Adolf, and it became a battle of wills. Adolf realized that no matter what he did, his father would never approve of it and he would be denigrated, insulted, and scolded. Before Alois Jr ran away, he had been the target of his father’s fury; after that, Adolf became the target at the age of nine. After that, every day would be filled with insults, beating, and scolding.
The easy-going extremely intelligent boy who had fared brilliantly in the school became sullen, rebellious, and truant. He would have serious troubles with authorities and neglect school.
When Alois died when Adolf was 13, Adolf cried uncontrollably. He stated in Mein Kampf that he could not love his father. But he admired and feared him. He was the idol whom to emulate.
Alois Hitler was by no means anyhow atypical by the day’s standards in Austria. Childraising was a brutal business, and children were abused universally. The results were appalling - and without that brutal upbringing, the two world wars would have not happened as the boys, who had been brutalized and abused as children, marched to their deaths like unquestioning robots.
It can be safely said that human history has been a one million years’ nightmare from which we have only recently woken up."
By Susanna Viljanen, Quora contributor
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Adolf Hitler was Socially Quite Boring
Hitler's hours-long monologues on the same old subjects night after night, his guests were bored to tears. But not fearful.
He was capable of being polite and charming and, unusually for a dictator, didn't make subordinates disappear, unlike, say, Stalin or Mao.
He was kind to his secretaries and remembered their birthdays.
He liked animals, dogs especially. Under Göring's aegis and with Hitler’s blessing the Nazis banned vivisection.
By Marc Lawrence, Quora contributor
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Hitler's Traumatic Childhood
Hitler's childhood traumas: He (allegedly) almost drowned as an 8-year-old when he was playing near a river and fell into it. He was saved by a priest.
His younger brother died at the age of 7 or thereabouts of an illness, which affected Adolf deeply.
Hitler's Older Brother Ran Away from Home to Escape His Father's Brutality
His older half-brother ran away from home in his teens because he was tired of their father’s controlling and abusive behavior. This led to young Adolf becoming the oldest boy in the house, and thus he started taking the brunt of their fathers’ abuse from then on, mostly down to their father wanting his son(s) to become government officials like him and getting mad when they didn’t want to follow in his footsteps, and belting them as punishment or getting drunk.
Hitler's Father Died when Adolf was 13
Alois Sr. died when Adolf was only around 13, and Adolf said that he sometimes had to go to the local bar and take his drunken dad home. Adolf said that his father beat him when he told his father of his ambition to be an artist and that the beatings only stopped when Adolf read a book advising people to be stoical in the face of pain and eventually powered through a beating session without crying out, which Alois apparently found off-putting enough to stop.
Hitler Revealed in His Book "Mein Kampf" How Religion Unsettled Him
In Mein Kampf, he relates that he was unsettled by religious arguments growing up, such as those between Catholics and Protestants, although it’s unclear if he is referring to specific events- his mother was a devout Catholic, his father was an atheist who didn’t like that his kids were being raised religious, so that might have had something to do with it. Adolf was quite religious as a child but he grew to resent being made to go to church by the time he was a teenager (after his father had died), and he later claimed that he wished the church had been burned to the ground; his godparent would later be interviewed and confirmed that Adolf really didn’t want to be there (this didn’t stop the adult Fuhrer from claiming to be deeply religious to get the Christian vote, of course, and he never really became an atheist so much as something more like “spiritual, but not religious”).
Hitler Had an Excellent Memory
His school grades started to drop around the time his father retired from work and was home more, and by his mid-teens, they were so bad that he had to be held back a year and sent to a different school miles away, which he had to walk to and from every day, plus he had a habit of challenging the teachers he didn’t respect or agree with and domineering younger kids into playing with him. He hated school but was an otherwise bright kid who read a lot and had an excellent memory, so his bad grades probably embarrassed him- once the book I read claimed (without providing a source) that after he dropped out of school entirely at the age of 16, the headmaster found his final report card on the floor of the boys’ toilet covered in sh*t after Adolf had used it to wipe his backside.
Hitler Predicted to Win a Lottery and Was Deeply Disappointed
After dropping out of school he apparently entered a local lottery and was utterly convinced that he would win, and was shattered when he predictably failed.
Hitler's Mother Died when He was 17
At the age of 17, his mother died (she wasn’t especially old), and he started telling his best friend at the time that he believed there was something wrong with his bloodline (his father, mother, and younger brother had all died before he was in his twenties) and that he didn’t expect to live a long life. He was also stalking a local opera singer he had a crush on and would write romantic letters he never sent, and at one point allegedly considered kidnapping her and taking her to a bridge to commit murder-suicide in what he thought would be like a tragic opera, though, of course, he didn’t go through with that. He would, though, talk about suicide at numerous points in his life, and ultimately, of course, he died by shooting himself.
So, yes, he had several childhood traumas, though some of them might have been caused/exacerbated by his natural melodramatic, paranoid, and depressive personality and temperament.
His younger brother died at the age of 7 or thereabouts of an illness, which affected Adolf deeply.
Hitler's Older Brother Ran Away from Home to Escape His Father's Brutality
His older half-brother ran away from home in his teens because he was tired of their father’s controlling and abusive behavior. This led to young Adolf becoming the oldest boy in the house, and thus he started taking the brunt of their fathers’ abuse from then on, mostly down to their father wanting his son(s) to become government officials like him and getting mad when they didn’t want to follow in his footsteps, and belting them as punishment or getting drunk.
Hitler's Father Died when Adolf was 13
Alois Sr. died when Adolf was only around 13, and Adolf said that he sometimes had to go to the local bar and take his drunken dad home. Adolf said that his father beat him when he told his father of his ambition to be an artist and that the beatings only stopped when Adolf read a book advising people to be stoical in the face of pain and eventually powered through a beating session without crying out, which Alois apparently found off-putting enough to stop.
Hitler Revealed in His Book "Mein Kampf" How Religion Unsettled Him
In Mein Kampf, he relates that he was unsettled by religious arguments growing up, such as those between Catholics and Protestants, although it’s unclear if he is referring to specific events- his mother was a devout Catholic, his father was an atheist who didn’t like that his kids were being raised religious, so that might have had something to do with it. Adolf was quite religious as a child but he grew to resent being made to go to church by the time he was a teenager (after his father had died), and he later claimed that he wished the church had been burned to the ground; his godparent would later be interviewed and confirmed that Adolf really didn’t want to be there (this didn’t stop the adult Fuhrer from claiming to be deeply religious to get the Christian vote, of course, and he never really became an atheist so much as something more like “spiritual, but not religious”).
Hitler Had an Excellent Memory
His school grades started to drop around the time his father retired from work and was home more, and by his mid-teens, they were so bad that he had to be held back a year and sent to a different school miles away, which he had to walk to and from every day, plus he had a habit of challenging the teachers he didn’t respect or agree with and domineering younger kids into playing with him. He hated school but was an otherwise bright kid who read a lot and had an excellent memory, so his bad grades probably embarrassed him- once the book I read claimed (without providing a source) that after he dropped out of school entirely at the age of 16, the headmaster found his final report card on the floor of the boys’ toilet covered in sh*t after Adolf had used it to wipe his backside.
Hitler Predicted to Win a Lottery and Was Deeply Disappointed
After dropping out of school he apparently entered a local lottery and was utterly convinced that he would win, and was shattered when he predictably failed.
Hitler's Mother Died when He was 17
At the age of 17, his mother died (she wasn’t especially old), and he started telling his best friend at the time that he believed there was something wrong with his bloodline (his father, mother, and younger brother had all died before he was in his twenties) and that he didn’t expect to live a long life. He was also stalking a local opera singer he had a crush on and would write romantic letters he never sent, and at one point allegedly considered kidnapping her and taking her to a bridge to commit murder-suicide in what he thought would be like a tragic opera, though, of course, he didn’t go through with that. He would, though, talk about suicide at numerous points in his life, and ultimately, of course, he died by shooting himself.
So, yes, he had several childhood traumas, though some of them might have been caused/exacerbated by his natural melodramatic, paranoid, and depressive personality and temperament.
By Jonathan Campbell, Quora contributor
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Adolf Hitler Ancestry
Hitler's father, Alois Hitler (1837–1903), was the illegitimate child of Maria Anna Schicklgruber. The baptismal register did not show the name of his father, and Alois initially bore his mother's surname, 'Schicklgruber'. In 1842, Johann Georg Hiedler married Alois's mother. Alois was brought up in the family of Hiedler's brother, Johann Nepomuk Hiedler. In 1876, Alois was made legitimate and his baptismal record was annotated by a priest to register Johann Georg Hiedler as Alois's father (recorded as "Georg Hitler"). Alois then assumed the surname "Hitler", also spelled 'Hiedler', 'Hüttler', or 'Huettler'. The name is probably based on the German word Hütte (lit., "hut"), and likely has the meaning "one who lives in a hut".
Hitler's Mother Was a Housekeeper for a Jewish Family
Nazi official Hans Frank suggested that Alois's mother had been employed as a housekeeper by a Jewish family in Graz and that the family's 19-year-old son Leopold Frankenberger had fathered Alois. No Frankenberger was registered in Graz during that period, no record has been produced of Leopold Frankenberger's existence, and Jewish residency in Styria had been illegal for nearly 400 years and would not become legal again until decades after Alois's birth, so historians dismiss the claim that Alois's father was Jewish.
A Mysterious grandfather?
Nazi official Hans Frank suggested that Alois's mother had been employed as a housekeeper by a Jewish family in Graz and that the family's 19-year-old son Leopold Frankenberger had fathered Alois. No Frankenberger was registered in Graz during that period, no record has been produced of Leopold Frankenberger's existence, and Jewish residency in Syria had been illegal for nearly 400 years and would not become legal again until decades after Alois's birth, so historians dismiss the claim that Alois's father was Jewish.
His Mother Died of Breast Cancer
On 21 December 1907, his mother died of breast cancer at the age of 47, when he was 18. In 1909, Hitler ran out of money and was forced to live a bohemian life in homeless shelters and a men's dormitory. He earned money as a casual laborer and by painting and selling watercolors of Vienna's sights. During his time in Vienna, he pursued a growing passion for architecture and music, attending ten performances of Lohengrin, his favorite Wagner opera.
In Vienna, Hitler Became Exposed To Racist Rhetoric
It was in Vienna that Hitler first became exposed to racist rhetoric. Populists such as Mayor Karl Lueger exploited the climate of virulent anti-Semitism and occasionally espoused German nationalist notions for political effect. German nationalism had a particularly widespread following in the Mariahif district, where Hitler lived. Georg Ritter von Schonerer became a major influence on Hitler. He also developed an admiration for Martin Luther. Hitler read local newspapers such as Deutsches Volksblatt that fanned prejudice and played on Christian fears of being swamped by an influx of Eastern European Jews. He read newspapers and pamphlets that published the thoughts of philosophers and theoreticians such as Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche, Gustave Le Bon, and Arthur Schopenhauer.
Hitler's Mother Was a Housekeeper for a Jewish Family
Nazi official Hans Frank suggested that Alois's mother had been employed as a housekeeper by a Jewish family in Graz and that the family's 19-year-old son Leopold Frankenberger had fathered Alois. No Frankenberger was registered in Graz during that period, no record has been produced of Leopold Frankenberger's existence, and Jewish residency in Styria had been illegal for nearly 400 years and would not become legal again until decades after Alois's birth, so historians dismiss the claim that Alois's father was Jewish.
A Mysterious grandfather?
Nazi official Hans Frank suggested that Alois's mother had been employed as a housekeeper by a Jewish family in Graz and that the family's 19-year-old son Leopold Frankenberger had fathered Alois. No Frankenberger was registered in Graz during that period, no record has been produced of Leopold Frankenberger's existence, and Jewish residency in Syria had been illegal for nearly 400 years and would not become legal again until decades after Alois's birth, so historians dismiss the claim that Alois's father was Jewish.
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Hitler's Early Adulthood in Vienna and Munich
In 1907, Hitler left Linz to live and study fine art in Vienna, financed by orphan benefits and support from his mother. He applied for admission to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna but was rejected twice. The director suggested Hitler should apply to the School of Architecture, but he lacked the necessary academic credentials because he had not finished secondary school.His Mother Died of Breast Cancer
On 21 December 1907, his mother died of breast cancer at the age of 47, when he was 18. In 1909, Hitler ran out of money and was forced to live a bohemian life in homeless shelters and a men's dormitory. He earned money as a casual laborer and by painting and selling watercolors of Vienna's sights. During his time in Vienna, he pursued a growing passion for architecture and music, attending ten performances of Lohengrin, his favorite Wagner opera.
In Vienna, Hitler Became Exposed To Racist Rhetoric
It was in Vienna that Hitler first became exposed to racist rhetoric. Populists such as Mayor Karl Lueger exploited the climate of virulent anti-Semitism and occasionally espoused German nationalist notions for political effect. German nationalism had a particularly widespread following in the Mariahif district, where Hitler lived. Georg Ritter von Schonerer became a major influence on Hitler. He also developed an admiration for Martin Luther. Hitler read local newspapers such as Deutsches Volksblatt that fanned prejudice and played on Christian fears of being swamped by an influx of Eastern European Jews. He read newspapers and pamphlets that published the thoughts of philosophers and theoreticians such as Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche, Gustave Le Bon, and Arthur Schopenhauer.
The Origin and Development of Hitler's Anti-Semitism
The origin and development of Hitler's anti-Semitism remains a matter of debate. His friend August Kubizek claimed that Hitler was a "confirmed anti-Semite" before he left Linz. However, historian Brigitte Hamann describes Kubizek's claim as "problematical". While Hitler states in Mein Kampf that he first became an anti-Semite in Vienna, Reinhold Hanisch, who helped him sell his paintings, disagrees. Hitler had dealings with Jews while living in Vienna. Historian Richard J. Evans states that "historians now generally agree that his notorious, murderous anti-Semitism emerged well after Germany's defeat [in World War I], as a product of the paranoid "stab-in-the-back"-explanation" for the catastrophe".
Hitler Inherited Part of His Father's Estate in 1913
Hitler received the final part of his father's estate in May 1913 and moved to Munich, Germany. When he was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army, he journeyed to Salzburg on 5 February 1914 for medical assessment. After he was deemed unfit for service, he returned to Munich. Hitler later claimed that he did not wish to serve the Habsburg Empire because of the mixture of races in its army and his belief that the collapse of Austria-Hungary was imminent.
The origin and development of Hitler's anti-Semitism remains a matter of debate. His friend August Kubizek claimed that Hitler was a "confirmed anti-Semite" before he left Linz. However, historian Brigitte Hamann describes Kubizek's claim as "problematical". While Hitler states in Mein Kampf that he first became an anti-Semite in Vienna, Reinhold Hanisch, who helped him sell his paintings, disagrees. Hitler had dealings with Jews while living in Vienna. Historian Richard J. Evans states that "historians now generally agree that his notorious, murderous anti-Semitism emerged well after Germany's defeat [in World War I], as a product of the paranoid "stab-in-the-back"-explanation" for the catastrophe".
Hitler Inherited Part of His Father's Estate in 1913
Hitler received the final part of his father's estate in May 1913 and moved to Munich, Germany. When he was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army, he journeyed to Salzburg on 5 February 1914 for medical assessment. After he was deemed unfit for service, he returned to Munich. Hitler later claimed that he did not wish to serve the Habsburg Empire because of the mixture of races in its army and his belief that the collapse of Austria-Hungary was imminent.
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Adolf Hitler and World War I: He was in the Bavarian Army
In August 1914, at the outbreak of World War I, Hitler was living in Munich and voluntarily enlisted in the Bavarian Army. According to a 1924 report by the Bavarian authorities, allowing Hitler to serve was almost certainly an administrative error, since as an Austrian citizen, he should have been returned to Austria. Posted to the Bavarian Reserve Regiment 16 (1st Company of the List Regiment), he served as a dispatch runner on the Western Front in France and Belgium, spending nearly half his time at the regimental headquarters in Fournes-en Weppes, well behind the front lines. In 1914, he was present at the First Battle of Ypres and in that year was decorated for bravery, receiving the Iron Cross, Second Class.
Hitler Pursued Art such as Cartoon Drawing While in the Army
During his service at headquarters, Hitler pursued his artwork, drawing cartoons and instructions for an army newspaper. During the Battle of the Somme in October 1916, he was wounded in the left thigh when a shell exploded in the dispatch runners' dugout. Hitler spent almost two months recovering in hospital at Beeliz, returning to his regiment on 5 March 1917. He was present at the Battle of Arras of 1917 and the Battle of Passchendaele. He received the Black Wound Badge on 18 May 1918 and in August 1918, on a recommendation by Lieutenant Hugo Gutmann, his Jewish superior, Hitler received the Iron Cross, First Class, a decoration rarely awarded to one of Hitler's Gefreiter rank. On 15 October 1918, he was temporarily blinded in a mustard gas attack and was hospitalized in Pasewalk. While there, Hitler learned of Germany's defeat, and – by his own account – upon receiving this news, suffered a second bout of blindness.
Hitler Loved the War and Called it "The Greatest of All Experiences"
Hitler described the war as "the greatest of all experiences", and was praised by his commanding officers for his bravery. This sort of explains that he suffered mentally due to his strange love of war. His wartime experience reinforced his German patriotism, and he was shocked by Germany's capitulation in November 1918. His bitterness over the collapse of the war effort began to shape his ideology. Like other German nationalists, he believed the Dolchstoßlegende (stab-in-the-back-myth), which claimed that the German army, "undefeated in the field", had been "stabbed in the back" on the home front by civilian leaders, Jews, Marxists, and those who signed the armistice that ended the fighting—later dubbed the "November criminals".
The Treaty of Versailles Ruling Disturbed Hitler and other Germans
The Treaty of Versailles stipulated that Germany had to relinquish several of its territories and demilitarise the Rhineland. The treaty imposed economic sanctions and levied heavy reparations on the country. Many Germans saw the treaty as an unjust humiliation. They especially objected to Article 231, which they interpreted as declaring Germany responsible for the war. The Versailles Treaty and the economic, social, and political conditions in Germany after the war were later exploited by Hitler for political gain.
Hitler Pursued Art such as Cartoon Drawing While in the Army
During his service at headquarters, Hitler pursued his artwork, drawing cartoons and instructions for an army newspaper. During the Battle of the Somme in October 1916, he was wounded in the left thigh when a shell exploded in the dispatch runners' dugout. Hitler spent almost two months recovering in hospital at Beeliz, returning to his regiment on 5 March 1917. He was present at the Battle of Arras of 1917 and the Battle of Passchendaele. He received the Black Wound Badge on 18 May 1918 and in August 1918, on a recommendation by Lieutenant Hugo Gutmann, his Jewish superior, Hitler received the Iron Cross, First Class, a decoration rarely awarded to one of Hitler's Gefreiter rank. On 15 October 1918, he was temporarily blinded in a mustard gas attack and was hospitalized in Pasewalk. While there, Hitler learned of Germany's defeat, and – by his own account – upon receiving this news, suffered a second bout of blindness.
Hitler Loved the War and Called it "The Greatest of All Experiences"
Hitler described the war as "the greatest of all experiences", and was praised by his commanding officers for his bravery. This sort of explains that he suffered mentally due to his strange love of war. His wartime experience reinforced his German patriotism, and he was shocked by Germany's capitulation in November 1918. His bitterness over the collapse of the war effort began to shape his ideology. Like other German nationalists, he believed the Dolchstoßlegende (stab-in-the-back-myth), which claimed that the German army, "undefeated in the field", had been "stabbed in the back" on the home front by civilian leaders, Jews, Marxists, and those who signed the armistice that ended the fighting—later dubbed the "November criminals".
The Treaty of Versailles Ruling Disturbed Hitler and other Germans
The Treaty of Versailles stipulated that Germany had to relinquish several of its territories and demilitarise the Rhineland. The treaty imposed economic sanctions and levied heavy reparations on the country. Many Germans saw the treaty as an unjust humiliation. They especially objected to Article 231, which they interpreted as declaring Germany responsible for the war. The Versailles Treaty and the economic, social, and political conditions in Germany after the war were later exploited by Hitler for political gain.
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Adolf Hitler's Adult Life Summary
Hitler was decorated as he served in the German army during WWI. Throughout the war, the only military decorations Hitler displayed were his Wound Badge and Iron Cross from World War I and the Nazi Golden Party Badge. Hitler's position in World War II was essentially supreme commander of the German Armed Forces (Oberbefehlshaber der Deutschen Wehrmacht).
How the Nazi Party Began:
In 1919 he joined the German Workers Party (DAP Deutsche Arbeits Party), the precursor of the Nazi party. Hitler was appointed as the leader of the Nazi Party in 1921. In 1923 he attempted to seize governmental power in a failed coup in Munich and was imprisoned with a sentence of 5 years. In jail, he dedicated the first volume of his autobiography Mein Kampf (My Struggle). He was released early in 1924 and he gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting pan-Germanism, anti-Semitism, and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda. He frequently denounced international capitalism and communism as part of a Jewish conspiracy.
Hitler Rose to Power and Became the Leader of the Nazi Party
When he rose to power he was the leader of the Nazi party (The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism.
In November 1932 Hitler Held Most Seats in the German Reichstag
By November 1932, the Nazi Party held the most seats in the German Reichstag but did not have a majority. As a result, no party was able to form a majority parliamentary coalition in support of a candidate for chancellor. The former chancellor Franz von Papen and other conservative leaders persuaded President Paul von Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as chancellor on 30 January 1933. Shortly after, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act of 1933 which began the process of transforming the Weimar Republic into Nazi Germany, a one-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideology of Nazism.
Hitler Replaced Hindenburg in 1934
On 2 August 1934, Hindenburg died and Hitler replaced him as the head of state and government. Hitler aimed to eliminate Jews from Germany and establish a New Order to counter what he saw as the injustice of the post-World War I international order dominated by Britain and France. His first six years in power resulted in rapid economic recovery from the Great Depression, the abrogation of restrictions imposed on Germany after World War I, and the annexation of territories inhabited by millions of ethnic Germans, which initially gave him significant popular support.
Hitler sought "Lebensraum" for East Germans in Eastern Europe in 1939
Hitler sought Lebensraum (lit. 'living space') for the German people in Eastern Europe, and his aggressive foreign policy is considered the primary cause of World War II in Europe cause of World War II in Europe. He directed large-scale rearmament and, on 1 September 1939, invaded Poland, resulting in Britain and France declaring war on Germany. In June 1941, Hitler ordered an invasion of the Soviet Union. In December 1941, he declared war on the United States. By the end of 1941, German forces and the European Axis powers occupied most of Europe and North Africa. These gains were gradually reversed after 1941, and in 1945 the Allied armies defeated the German army. On 29 April 1945, he married his longtime partner, Eva Braun, in the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin. Less than two days later, the couple committed suicide to avoid capture by the Soviet Red Army. Their corpses were burned as Hitler had commanded.
The Historian Ian Kershaw Describes Hitler as "The Embodiment of Modern Political Evil"
The historian and biographer Ian Kershaw describe Hitler as "the embodiment of modern political evil". Under Hitler's leadership and racist ideology, the Nazi regime was responsible for the genocide of about six million Jews and millions of other victims, whom he and his followers deemed Untermenschen (subhumans) or socially undesirable. Hitler and the Nazi regime were also responsible for the killing of an estimated 19.3 million civilians and prisoners of war. In addition, 28.7 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of military action in the European theatre. The number of civilians killed during World War II was unprecedented in warfare, and the casualties constituted the deadliest conflict in history.
Hitler sought "Lebensraum" for East Germans in Eastern Europe in 1939
Hitler sought Lebensraum (lit. 'living space') for the German people in Eastern Europe, and his aggressive foreign policy is considered the primary cause of World War II in Europe cause of World War II in Europe. He directed large-scale rearmament and, on 1 September 1939, invaded Poland, resulting in Britain and France declaring war on Germany. In June 1941, Hitler ordered an invasion of the Soviet Union. In December 1941, he declared war on the United States. By the end of 1941, German forces and the European Axis powers occupied most of Europe and North Africa. These gains were gradually reversed after 1941, and in 1945 the Allied armies defeated the German army. On 29 April 1945, he married his longtime partner, Eva Braun, in the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin. Less than two days later, the couple committed suicide to avoid capture by the Soviet Red Army. Their corpses were burned as Hitler had commanded.
The Historian Ian Kershaw Describes Hitler as "The Embodiment of Modern Political Evil"
The historian and biographer Ian Kershaw describe Hitler as "the embodiment of modern political evil". Under Hitler's leadership and racist ideology, the Nazi regime was responsible for the genocide of about six million Jews and millions of other victims, whom he and his followers deemed Untermenschen (subhumans) or socially undesirable. Hitler and the Nazi regime were also responsible for the killing of an estimated 19.3 million civilians and prisoners of war. In addition, 28.7 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of military action in the European theatre. The number of civilians killed during World War II was unprecedented in warfare, and the casualties constituted the deadliest conflict in history.
How WW2 began
During his dictatorship, he initiated World War II in Europe by invading Poland on 1 September 1939. He was closely involved in military operations throughout the war and was central to the perpetration of the Holocaust, the genocide of about six million Jews and millions of other victims.
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Conclusion of How Hitler Became a Monster: In a Nutshell
If Austrian boys would not have to endure so much childhood severe physical abuse, then maybe WW1 and WW2 would not have happened. See Susanna Viljanen's comment on the brutality of how parents treated their children during those times of WW1 and WW2.
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I have used Grammarly to clean up the grammar in this article and it had a lot of grammar mistakes so it was edited by Grammarly.
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