WWII+Hitler+Page+MSCW

The Rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in Braunau, Austrailia. He was raised mostly in Linz and was the son of Alois Hitler, a minor customs official and crude father. Alois was arrogant towards his sons imagination and poor drive for education, dropping out of secondary school at the age of 16, without a diploma. Adolf aspired to become an artist, but his drawings and watercolor paintings lacked enough inspiration to admitt him into the Academy of Fine Arts, in Vienna, twice. After the death of his mother, he moved to Vienna in hopes of making it on his own as an artist. For six years, from 1907 to 1913, he struggled to keep going, aimlessly painting post cards and advertisements, while slipping into a depression driven by racial hatred and threatening feelings from the Jews toward his German, Aryan race. During World War I, Hitler tried to escape being drafted, but was called back to be examined and was deemed unfit. Never the less, in August 1914, he activley signed up for the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. This experience altered Hitler from a dreamy young adult into a harsh military nationalist man. After fighting on the front lines, inguries, and even being decorated, Hitler found a home in the army and moved into the party's propagandist division.

The treaty of Verailles, the 1918 peace agreement which ended World War I, caused Germany to take full responsibility of starting the war under the War Guilt Clause. This clause accounted Germany liable for all war damages which they would pay off in huge sums of reparations of about $32 billion. They lost territories such as, Alsace-Lorraine, Eupen, Malmedy, Northern Schleswig, Hultschin, West Prussia, Posen, and Upper Silesia. Germany's army had to take major revisions to only 100,000 men, no tanks, no airforce, only six capital naval ships, and no sumbmarines. These terms and conditions of the treaty severly angered Germany which is why historians indicate the end of World War I was a direct cause of World War II.

By August 1920, Hitler was revamping the German Worker's Party into the Nazionalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated to NSDAP or more commonly known as the Nazi Party. Hitler came across complications, being arrested for treson, but only served nine months of his five year sentence. After being released, he continued strengthening his party and recruiting the men who would lead the country into mass atrocity and all-consuming war. These men included Josef Goebbels (a master propagandist), Heinrich Himmler (who was skilled in strongarm, terror and police tactics), Hermann Goering (a popular World War I air ace), and Julius Streicher (a popular anti-Semitic journalist). Thier biggest break was the 1929 worldwide economic collapse and it's resulting depression. This helped the Nazis become the second largest party in Germany, accumulating 95 more Reichstag seats, from 12 to 107.

In 1932, Hitler ran for president, barley losing toPaul von Hindenberg, the antiquated incumbent hero of World War I. Even without the win, the Nazi party became the largest party represented after gaining 230 Reichstag seats and 37 percent of the vote.Hitler's compelling power convinced Hindenberg to appoint him as chancellor/prime minister on January 30, 1933. Hitler took this opportunity to make himself an all powerfull dictator. A month later, on February 27, 1933, fire consumed the Reichstag, where Hitler discovered a pretext for annihilating the Communist Party and apprehending it's leaders. He continued this harsh rueling and targeted anyone he did not like, any one that got in his way, and races he felt were " inferior" such as the Jews, German Gypsies, and the mentally or phyically challenged, killing millions he felt were not part of his "superior" Aryan race. When Hitler became dictator, or as he liked to be called,Fuhrer (supreme leader), after the death of Hindenberg in 1935, ther terror only continued. He carried out his goals for Germany, to unite all German speakers, expansion for more living space, and racial purification which he expressed in his book, //Mein Kampf.//

With the start of World War II, Germany reigned and conquered with their milmitary strategy, blitzkrieg. Blitzkrieg means "lightning war", and with this tactic, the German air force would come out of no where and strike the unprepared enemy by surprise, and leave victorious. With thousands going into, and dieing in war, the Nazi's had to make sure they had a plentiful amount of followers always ready. This was the reasoning behind Hitler Youth. This young branch of the Nazi party was split into three parts, //Hitlerjugend// (for boys 14-18), //Deutsches Jungvolk// (for boys 10-14), and //Bund Deutscher Mädel//(for girls). To these children, they felt it was an honor for themselves and thier families to be included in the German efforts. Another strategy crutial for German success was propaganda. With Hitler's history as a propagandist, and the help of Josef Goebbels, the Nazis were able to sway the minds of civillians to their side. The extremely well crafted lies made it seem as though all of Hitlers actions were just, simiar to being brainwashed. It seemed as though Hitler did brainwash Germany with the book burning campaigns. These campaigns ceremonially burned all German books which did not correspond with the Nazi idealology, forcing it to be the way of German life. A big part of Nazi idealology was the euthanasia program. This program was Germany's first program of mass murder, which targeted for systematic killing mentally and physically disabled patients living in institutional settings in Germany and German-annexed territories. The rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany started as a promising hope for a starving nation, but ended with terrible destructions and deaths across all of the nations pulled into the second World War. This is a very important time period to be studied because all of the events helped shape the way the world is today.

PRIMARY SOURCES

"Since we do not want to be a dying people, our goal is to increase our birth rate. But for a growing population we need space if we do not again want to see large amounts of German blood emigrating to other nations, as was the case before the World War."

This is a translated excerpt from a Nazi German geography textbook. It is trying to instill the beliefs in school children that Germany's actions for taking over other nations are for a good cause. They are being told that if they do not expand, Germans will die or move to other nations, spreading out the German speakers, rather than uniting them.

"We march through the streets with a steady and firm step and above us the flag flutters in the air"

This exceprt is translated from a Nazi German reading book for public schools. On its page, it is accomponied by a picture of young boys in uniform carrying an SS flag. This is trying to get young boys to support their country, thinking it is the right thing to do, and join Hitler Youth, or grow up with feelings that they should join the military to serve their country.

WORK CITED

Alan Axelrod, "Hitler, Adolf". Facts on File, 1995, September 18, 2011, []

David F. Burg, "The Emerging War: 1939-1941" Facts on File, 2005, September 18, 2011, []