Date of birth: April 20, 1889
Date of death: April 30, 1945
Birthplace: Ranshofen village, Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary
Adolf Gitler- a significant figure in the history of the XX century. Adolf Gitler created and led the National Socialist movement in Germany. Later Chancellor of Germany, Fuhrer.
Biography:
Adolf Hitler was born in Austria in the small, unremarkable town of Braunau am Inn on April 20, 1889. Hitler's father, Alois, is an official. Mother, Clara, was a simple housewife. It is worth noting such an interesting fact from the biography of the parents that they were relatives to each other (Clara is the cousin of Alois).
There is an opinion that supposedly Hitler's real name is Schicklgruber, but this opinion is erroneous, since his father changed it back in 1876.
In 1892, the Hitler family, in connection with his father's promotion, was forced to move from his native Braunau an der Inn to Passau. However, they did not stay there for a long time and, already in 1895, they hastened to move to the city of Linz. It was there that young Adolf first went to school. Six months later, the condition of Hitler's father deteriorated sharply and the Hitler family again had to move to the city of Gafeld, where they bought a house and finally settled.
During his school years, Adolf showed himself as a student with outstanding abilities, teachers described him as a very diligent and diligent student. Hitler's parents had hopes that Adolf would become a priest, however, even then the young Adolf had a negative attitude towards religion and, therefore, from 1900 to 1904 he studied at a real school in the city of Linz.
At the age of sixteen, Adolf leaves school and has been fond of painting for almost 2 years. His mother did not quite like this fact and, having heeded her requests, Hitler, with grief in half, finishes the fourth grade.
1907 Adolf's mother undergoes an operation. Hitler, waiting for her to recover, decides to enter the Vienna Art Academy. In his opinion, he had remarkable abilities and exorbitant talents for painting, however, the teachers dispelled his dreams, advising him to try to become architects, since Adolf did not show himself in the portrait genre.
1908 Clara Pölzl dies. Hitler, having buried her, again goes to Vienna to make another attempt to enter the academy, but, alas, without passing the 1st round of exams, he started wandering. As it turned out later, his constant moving was due to his unwillingness to serve in the army. He justified this by saying that he did not want to serve on a par with the Jews. At the age of 24, Adolf moves to Munich.
It was in Munich that he was overtaken by the First World War. Rejoiced at this fact, he volunteered. During the war he was awarded the rank of corporal; honored with several awards. In one of the battles he received a shrapnel wound, because of which he spent a year in a hospital bed, however, upon recovery, he decides to return to the front again. At the end of the war, he blamed the politicians for the defeat and spoke very negatively about this.
In 1919 he returned to Munich, which at that time was engulfed in revolutionary moods. The people were divided into 2 camps. Some were for the government, others for the communists. Hitler himself decided not to get involved in all this. At this time, Adolf discovers his oratorical talents. In September 1919, thanks to his enchanting speech at the congress of the German Workers' Party, he received an invitation from the head of the DAP, Anton Drexler, to join the movement. Adolf receives a position in charge of party propaganda.
In 1920, Hitler announces 25 points for the development of the party, renames it the NSDAP and becomes its head. It was then that his dreams of nationalism began to come true.
During the first party congress in 1923, Hitler holds a parade, thereby showing his serious intentions and strength. At the same time, after an unsuccessful coup attempt, he went to jail. While serving his sentence, Hitler writes the first volume of his memoirs Mein Kampf. The NSDAP, created by him, is disintegrating due to the lack of a head. After prison, Adolf revives the party and appoints Ernst Röhm as his assistant.
During these years, the Hitlerite movement begins its momentum. So, in 1926, an association of young adherents of nationalists, the so-called "Hitler Youth", was created. Further, in the period from 1930-1932, the NSDAP receives an absolute majority in parliament, thereby contributing to an even greater growth in Hitler's popularity. In 1932, due to his position, he received the post of attaché to the German Minister of the Interior, which gave him the right to be elected to the post of Reich President. Having carried out an incredible campaign, by those standards, he still failed to win; had to settle for second place.
In 1933, under pressure from the National Socialists, Hindenburg appointed Hitler to the post of Reich Chancellor. In February of this year, there is a fire that the Nazis planned. Hitler, taking advantage of the situation, asks Hindenburg to grant emergency powers to the government, which consisted, for the most part, of members of the NSDAP.
And so the Hitlerite machine begins its action. Adolf starts with the liquidation of trade unions. Gypsies, Jews are being arrested. Later, when Hindenburg died, in 1934, Hitler became the full leader of the country. In 1935, Jews, by order of the Fuhrer, are deprived of their civil rights. The National Socialists begin to increase their influence.
Despite racial discrimination and tough policies pursued by Hitler, the country was emerging from decline. There was almost no unemployment, the industry developed at an incredible pace, and humanitarian aid was organized for the population. Special attention should be paid to the growth of Germany's military potential: an increase in the size of the army, the production of military equipment, which contradicted the Treaty of Versailles, concluded after the defeat of Germany in World War I, which prohibited the creation of an army and the development of a military industry. Gradually, Germany begins to regain territory. In 1939, Hitler begins to express claims to Poland, challenging its territories. In the same year, Germany signs a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. September 1, 1939 Hitler sends troops to Poland, then occupies Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium.
In 1941, ignoring the non-aggression pact, on June 22, Germany invades the USSR. The rapid advance of Germany in 1941 is replaced by defeats on all fronts in 1942. Hitler, who did not expect such a rebuff, was not ready for such a development of events, since he intended to capture the USSR in a few months, according to the Barbarossa plan developed by him. In 1943, a massive offensive by the Soviet army began. In 1944, the pressure intensifies, the Nazis have to retreat further and further. In 1945, the war finally passes to the territory of Germany. Despite the fact that the combined troops were already on their way to Berlin, Hitler sent invalids and children to defend the city.
On April 30, 1945, Hitler and his mistress Eva Braun poisoned themselves with cyanide in their bunker.
Hitler was assassinated several times. The first attempt took place in 1939, a bomb was planted under the podium, however, Adolf left the hall a few minutes before the explosion. The second attempt was made by the conspirators on July 20, 1944, but it also failed, Hitler received significant injuries, but survived. All participants in the conspiracy, on his orders, were executed.
Main achievements of Adolf Hitler:
During his reign, despite the rigidity of his policies and all sorts of racial oppression due to Nazi beliefs, he was able to unite the German people, brought to naught unemployment, stimulated the growth of industry, brought the country out of the crisis, brought Germany to a leading position in the world in terms of economic indicators . However, having unleashed the war, hunger reigned inside the country, since almost all food went to the army, food was issued on cards.
Chronology of important events from the biography of Adolf Hitler:
April 20, 1889 – Adolf Hitler was born.
1895 - enrolled in the first class of the school in the town of Fischlham.
1897 - studies at the school at the monastery of the town of Lambach. Later expelled from it for smoking.
1900-1904 - studying at a school in the city of Linz.
1904-1905 - studying at a school in the city of Steyr.
1907 - failed the exams at the Vienna Academy of Arts.
1908 - mother died.
1908-1913 - constant moving. Avoids the army.
1913 - moves to Munich.
1914 - He went to the front in the ranks of volunteers. Receives first award.
1919 - conducts campaigning activities, becomes a member of the German Workers' Party.
1920 - entirely devoted to the activities of the party.
1921 - becomes head of the German Workers' Party.
1923 - unsuccessful coup attempt, prison.
1927 - the first congress of the NSDAP.
1933 - receives the powers of the Reich Chancellor.
1934 - "Night of the Long Knives", the massacre of Jews and Gypsies in Berlin.
1935 - Germany begins to build up military power.
1939 - Hitler unleashes World War II by attacking Poland. Survives the first attempt on his life.
1941 - the entry of troops into the USSR.
1943 - a massive offensive by Soviet troops and attacks by coalition troops in the West.
1944 - the second assassination attempt, as a result of which he is seriously injured.
April 29, 1945 - wedding with Eva Braun.
April 30, 1945 - Poisoned with potassium cyanide with his wife in his Berlin bunker.
Interesting facts about Adolf Hitler:
He was a supporter of a healthy lifestyle, did not eat meat.
He considered excessive ease in communication and behavior unacceptable, therefore he made demands to observe manners.
He suffered from the so-called verminophobia. He protected sick people from himself and fanatically loved cleanliness.
Hitler read one book a day
Adolf Hitler's speeches were so fast that 2 stenographers could hardly keep up with him.
He was meticulous about the composition of his speeches and, at times, devoted several hours to improving them until he brought them to the ideal
In 2012, one of the creations of Adolf Hitler, the painting "Night Sea", went under the auction hammer for 32 thousand euros.
Adolf Gitler. In the twentieth century, this name became synonymous with cruelty and inhumanity - people who experienced the horrors of concentration camps, saw the war with their own eyes, know who they are talking about. But history is gradually fading into the past, and already now there are those who consider him their hero, create for him the halo of a "romantic" freedom fighter. It would seem - how can the victors of fascism take the side of the vanquished? However, among the descendants of those who fought Hitler and died from his army, there are those who today, April 20, celebrate the Fuhrer's birthday as their holiday.
Even on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the great victory, in 2005, some documents were found and published that explore and tell about the personality of Adolf Hitler, diaries and memoirs of the people around him - a few strokes to the portrait of the dictator.
People should not know who I am and what family I am from!
Diary of Hitler's sister Paula was found in Germany. Describing the earliest memories of her childhood, when she was about eight and Adolf 15 years old, Paula writes: "I again feel the heavy hand of my brother on my face." New information about Paula herself also appeared - initially she was considered only an innocent victim, but as it turned out, the Fuhrer's sister was engaged to one of the most sinister euthanasia doctors of the Holocaust. The researchers came to the Russian protocols of interrogations, from which it follows that Paula Hitler was engaged to Erwin Jaeckelius, responsible for the murder of 4,000 people in a gas chamber during the war years. The wedding did not happen only because Adolf forbade it, and after a while, Yekelius was actually surrendered to the Russian army.
Historians have also discovered memoirs written jointly by Hitler's half-brother Alois and half-sister Angela. One of the passages describes the cruelty of Hitler's father, also named Alois, and how Adolf's mother tried to protect her son from constant beatings: "In fear, seeing that the father could no longer restrain his unbridled anger, she decided to end these tortures. She rises to the attic and covers Adolf with her body, but cannot dodge another blow from her father. She silently endures it.
25 pills a day + shots = perfect dictator
It is known that Hitler took great care of his health. His personal physician was Professor Morel, a well-known Berlin venereologist, one of the few people whom the dictator trusted. According to eyewitnesses, Morel had an almost hypnotic influence on the Fuhrer and his patient was extremely pleased with the work of the life physician.
There is evidence that Hitler took over 25 different pills a day. Morel constantly gave him painkillers and tonic injections, first as needed, then for prophylaxis, and after a while the injections became an obligatory part of life.
The Fuhrer, preoccupied with his appearance, constantly took diet pills, which were invariably followed by opium.
"Care" about health has become truly a mania - even the vegetables that Hitler ate were grown on special plots of land. It was fumigated to free it from bacteria, fertilized with extra pure manure from extra clean animals. Everything was carefully checked - the dictator was afraid that he might be poisoned.
Examining all these "precautions", post-war doctors came to the conclusion that Hitler's body was aging by four to five years in a year.
It is likely that new facts about Adolf's biography will soon appear. On the eve of Hitler's birthday, Germany announced its agreement to make the archives of the Holocaust publicly available. These documents contain data on the fate of more than 17 million victims of Nazism.
Until now, only employees of the international Red Cross could use this information, they helped people look for relatives who disappeared during the war. Now declassified archives will be available to scientists and former prisoners of concentration camps.
Perhaps this data will still be able to open the eyes of those who dare to create his cult now.
The material also uses information from the site Peoples.Ru
The material was prepared by the online editorialwww.rian.ru based on information from the RIA Novosti Agency and other sources
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The book "My Struggle" by Adolf Hitler.
The prison, or fortress, in Landsberg an der Lech, where Hitler spent a total of 13 months before and after the trial (according to the sentence for "high treason" only nine months!), Historians of Nazism are often called the Nazi "sanatorium". Everything ready, walking in the garden and receiving numerous guests and business visitors, answering letters and telegrams.
Hitler dictated the first volume of the book containing his political program, calling it "Four and a half years of struggle against lies, stupidity and cowardice." Later she came out under the name "My Struggle" (Mein Kampf), sold millions of copies and made Hitler a rich man.
Hitler offered the Germans one proven culprit, an enemy in satanic guise - a Jew. After the "liberation" from the Jews, Hitler promised the German people a great future. Moreover, immediately. Heavenly life will come on German soil. All shopkeepers will receive shops. Poor tenants will become homeowners. Losers-intellectuals - professors. Poor peasants - rich farmers. Women - beauties, their children - healthy, "the breed will improve." It was not Hitler who "invented" anti-Semitism, but it was he who planted it in Germany.
And he was far from the last to use it for his own purposes.
The main ideas of Hitler that had developed by this time were reflected in the NSDAP program (25 points), the core of which was the following requirements: 1) the restoration of the power of Germany by uniting all Germans under a single state roof; 2) the assertion of the dominance of the German Empire in Europe, mainly in the east of the continent in the Slavic lands; 3) the cleansing of the German territory from the "foreigners" that litter it, primarily Jews; 4) the elimination of the rotten parliamentary regime, its replacement by a vertical hierarchy corresponding to the German spirit, in which the will of the people is personified in a leader endowed with absolute power; 5) the liberation of the people from the dictatorship of world financial capital and the full support of small and handicraft production, the creativity of freelancers.
Adolf Hitler outlined these ideas in his autobiographical book "My Struggle".
Hitler's path to power.
Hitler left the Landsberg fortress on December 20, 1924. He had a plan of action. At first, to purge the NSDAP of "factionalists", to introduce iron discipline and the principle of "fuhrerism", that is, autocracy, then to strengthen its army - the SA, to destroy the rebellious spirit there.
Already on February 27, Hitler delivered a speech in the Bürgerbräukeller (all Western historians refer to it), where he bluntly stated: “I alone lead the Movement and personally bear responsibility for it. And I alone, again, bear responsibility for everything that happens in the Movement. ..Either the enemy will pass over our corpses, or we will pass over his..."
Accordingly, at the same time, Hitler carried out another "rotation" of personnel. However, at first, Hitler could not get rid of his most powerful rivals - Gregor Strasser and Röhm. Although pushing them into the background, he began immediately.
The "cleansing" of the party ended with the fact that Hitler created in 1926 his "party court" WENT - the investigative and arbitration committee. Its chairman, Walter Buch, until 1945 fought "sedition" in the ranks of the NSDAP.
However, at that time, Hitler's party could not count on success at all. The situation in Germany gradually stabilized. Inflation has gone down. Unemployment has decreased. Industrialists managed to modernize the German economy. The French troops left the Ruhr. The Stresemann government managed to conclude some agreements with the West.
The pinnacle of Hitler's success in that period was the first party congress in August 1927 in Nuremberg. In 1927-1928, that is, five or six years before coming to power, heading a still relatively weak party, Hitler created a "shadow government" in the NSDAP - Political Department II.
Goebbels was the head of the propaganda department since 1928. No less important "invention" of Hitler were the Gauleiters in the field, that is, the Nazi bosses in the field in individual lands. Huge Gauleiter headquarters replaced after 1933 the administrative bodies established in Weimar Germany.
In 1930-1933, there was a fierce struggle for votes in Germany. One election followed another. Pumped up with the money of the German reaction, the Nazis rushed to power with all their might. In 1933 they wanted to get her out of the hands of President Hindenburg. But for this they had to create the appearance of support for the NSDAP party by the general population. Otherwise, the post of chancellor would not have been seen by Hitler. For Hindenburg had his favorites - von Papen, Schleicher: it was with their help that it was "most convenient" for him to rule the 70 million German people.
Hitler never received an absolute majority in an election. And an important obstacle in its path was the extremely strong parties of the working class - the Social Democratic and the Communist. In 1930, the Social Democrats won 8,577,000 votes in the elections, the Communists 4,592,000, and the Nazis 6,409,000. In June 1932, the Social Democrats lost a few votes, but still received 795,000 votes, while the Communists gained new votes, gaining 5,283,000 votes. The Nazis reached their "peak" in this election: they received 13,745,000 ballots. But already in December of the same year they lost 2,000 voters. In December, the situation was as follows: the Social Democrats received 7,248,000 votes, the Communists again strengthened their positions - 5,980,000 votes, the Nazis - 1,1737,000 votes. In other words, the preponderance has always been on the side of the workers' parties. The number of ballots cast for Hitler and his party, even at the peak of their career, did not exceed 37.3 percent.
Adolf Hitler - Chancellor of Germany.
On January 30, 1933, the 86-year-old President Hindenburg appointed the head of the NSDAP, Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany. On the same day, superbly organized stormtroopers concentrated on their assembly points. In the evening, with torches lit, they passed by the presidential palace, in one window of which stood Hindenburg, and in the other - Hitler.
According to official figures, 25,000 people took part in the torchlight procession. It went on for several hours.
Already at the first meeting on January 30, a discussion took place of measures directed against the Communist Party of Germany. Hitler spoke on the radio the next day. "Give us four years. Our task is to fight against communism."
Hitler fully took into account the effect of surprise. He not only prevented the anti-Nazi forces from uniting and consolidating, he literally stunned them, took them by surprise and very soon defeated them completely. This was the first Nazi blitzkrieg on their own territory.
1 February - Dissolution of the Reichstag. New elections have already been scheduled for March 5. The ban on all open-air communist rallies (of course, they were not given halls).
On February 2, the president issued an order "On the Protection of the German People", a virtual ban on meetings and newspapers critical of Nazism. The tacit authorization of "preventive arrests", without appropriate legal sanctions. Dissolution of city and communal parliaments in Prussia.
February 7 - Goering's "Decree on Shooting". Police permission to use weapons. The SA, SS and the Steel Helmet are involved in helping the police. Two weeks later, the armed detachments of the SA, SS, "Steel Helmet" come under Goering's disposal as auxiliary police.
February 27 - Reichstag fire. On the night of February 28, about ten thousand communists, social democrats, people of progressive views are arrested. The Communist Party and some organizations of the Social Democrats are banned.
February 28 - order of the President "On the protection of the people and the state." In fact, the announcement of a "state of emergency" with all the ensuing consequences.
Order for the arrest of the leaders of the KKE.
At the beginning of March, Telman was arrested, the militant organization of the Social Democrats Reichsbanner (Iron Front) was banned, first in Thuringia, and by the end of the month - in all German lands.
On March 21, a presidential decree "On betrayal" is issued, directed against statements that harm the "well-being of the Reich and the reputation of the government", "emergency courts" are created. The name of the concentration camps is mentioned for the first time. Over 100 of them will be created by the end of the year.
At the end of March, a law on the death penalty is issued. Introduced the death penalty by hanging.
March 31 - the first law on the deprivation of the rights of individual lands. Dissolution of the state parliaments. (Except for the Prussian Parliament.)
April 1 - "boycott" of Jewish citizens.
April 4 - ban on free exit from the country. The introduction of special "visas".
April 7 - the second law on the deprivation of land rights. Return of all titles and orders abolished in 1919. The law on the status of "officialdom", the return of his former rights. Persons of "unreliable" and "non-Aryan origin" were excluded from the corps of "officials".
April 14 - Expulsion of 15 percent of professors from universities and other educational institutions.
April 26 - the creation of the Gestapo.
May 2 - Appointment in certain lands of "imperial governors" who were subordinate to Hitler (in most cases, former Gauleiters).
May 7 - "purge" among writers and artists.
Publication of "black lists" of "not (true) German writers". Confiscation of their books in shops and libraries. The number of banned books - 12409, banned authors - 141.
May 10 - Public burning of banned books in Berlin and other university cities.
June 21 - inclusion of the "Steel Helmet" in the SA.
June 22 - the ban of the Social Democratic Party, the arrests of the functionaries of this party who were still at large.
25 June - Introduction of Göring's control over theatrical plans in Prussia.
From June 27 to July 14 - self-dissolution of all parties not yet banned. The prohibition of the creation of new parties. The actual establishment of a one-party system. Law depriving all emigrants of German citizenship. The Hitler salute becomes mandatory for civil servants.
August 1 - renunciation of the right of pardon in Prussia. Immediate enforcement of sentences. Introduction of the guillotine.
August 25 - A list of persons deprived of citizenship is published, among them - communists, socialists, liberals, representatives of the intelligentsia.
September 1 - the opening in Nuremberg of the "Congress of the Winners", the next congress of the NSDAP.
September 22 - Law on the "imperial cultural guilds" - states of writers, artists, musicians. The actual ban on the publication, performance, exhibition of all those who are not members of the Chamber.
November 12 - elections to the Reichstag under a one-party system. Referendum on Germany's withdrawal from the League of Nations.
November 24 - the law "On the detention of recidivists after they have served their sentence."
"Recidivists" means political prisoners.
December 1 - the law "on ensuring the unity of the party and the state." Personal union between party Fuhrers and major state functionaries.
December 16 - the mandatory permission of the authorities to parties and trade unions (extremely powerful during the Weimar Republic), democratic institutions and rights are completely forgotten: freedom of the press, freedom of conscience, freedom of movement, freedom of strikes, meetings, demonstrations. Finally, creative freedom. From the rule of law, Germany has become a country of total lawlessness. Any citizen, on any slander, without any legal sanctions, could be put in a concentration camp and kept there forever. For a year, the "lands" (regions) in Germany, which had great rights, were completely deprived of them.
So what about the economy? Even before 1933, Hitler said: “Do you really think me so crazy that I want to destroy German large-scale industry? Entrepreneurs, through business qualities, have gained a leading position. headship." During the same 1933, Hitler gradually prepared himself to subjugate both industry and finance, to make them an appendage of his military-political authoritarian state.
The military plans, which he hid even from his inner circle at the first stage, the stage of the "national revolution", dictated their own laws - it was necessary to arm Germany to the teeth in the shortest possible time. And this required extremely intense and purposeful work, investment in certain industries. The creation of a complete economic "autarky" (that is, such an economic system that itself produces everything it needs for itself and consumes it itself).
As early as the first third of the 20th century, the capitalist economy was striving to establish widely branched world ties, to the division of labor, etc.
The fact remains that Hitler wanted to control the economy, and thereby gradually curtailed the rights of owners, introduced something like state capitalism.
On March 16, 1933, that is, one and a half months after coming to power, Schacht was appointed chairman of the German Reichsbank. "Own" man will now be in charge of finances, seek gigantic sums to finance the war economy. Not without reason, in 1945, Schacht sat on the dock in Nuremberg, although the department had departed before the war.
On July 15, the General Council of the German Economy is convened: 17 large industrialists, agrarians, bankers, representatives of trading firms and apparatchiks of the NSDAP - issue a law on "mandatory association of enterprises" in cartels. Part of the enterprises "joins", in other words, is absorbed by larger concerns. This was followed by: Goering's "four-year plan", the creation of the super-powerful state concern Hermann Goering-Werke, the transfer of the entire economy to a war footing, and at the end of Hitler's reign, the transfer of large military orders to Himmler's department, which had millions of prisoners, and therefore , free labor force. Of course, we must not forget that the big monopolies profited immensely under Hitler - in the early years at the expense of "arized" enterprises (expropriated firms in which Jewish capital participated), and later at the expense of factories, banks, raw materials and other valuables seized from other countries .
Yet the economy was controlled and regulated by the state. And immediately failures, disproportions, a lag in light industry, etc., were discovered.
By the summer of 1934, Hitler was facing serious opposition within his party. The "old fighters" of the SA assault detachments, led by E. Rem, demanded more radical social reforms, called for a "second revolution" and insisted on the need to strengthen their role in the army. German generals opposed such radicalism and the claims of the SA to lead the army. Hitler, who needed the support of the army and himself feared the uncontrollability of the attack aircraft, spoke out against his former comrades-in-arms. Accusing Rem of plotting to kill the Fuhrer, he staged a bloody massacre on June 30, 1934 ("the night of long knives"), during which several hundred SA leaders, including Rem, were killed. Strasser, von Kahr, the former Chancellor General Schleicher and other figures were physically destroyed. Hitler acquired absolute power over Germany.
Soon, army officers swore allegiance not to the constitution or country, but to Hitler personally. Germany's supreme judge proclaimed that "the law and the constitution are the will of our Fuhrer." Hitler aspired not only to legal, political and social dictatorship. "Our revolution," he once stressed, "will not end until we dehumanize people."
It is known that the Nazi leader wanted to start a world war already in 1938. Prior to this, he managed to "peacefully" annex large territories to Germany. In particular, in 1935 the Saarland through a plebiscite. The plebiscite turned out to be a brilliant trick of Hitler's diplomacy and propaganda. 91 percent of the population voted in favor of "joining". Perhaps the results of the vote were falsified.
Western politicians, contrary to elementary common sense, began to give up one position after another. Already in 1935, Hitler concluded with England the notorious "Navy Agreement", which gave the Nazis the opportunity to openly create warships. In the same year, universal conscription was introduced in Germany. On March 7, 1936, Hitler ordered the occupation of the demilitarized Rhineland. The West was silent, although it could not help but see that the dictator's appetites were growing.
The Second World War.
In 1936, the Nazis intervened in the Spanish Civil War - Franco was their protege. The West was delighted with the order in Germany, sending its athletes and fans to the Olympics.
And this is after the "night of long knives" - the murders of Rem and his storm troopers, after the Leipzig trial of Dimitrov and after the adoption of the notorious Nuremberg Laws, which turned the Jewish population of Germany into pariahs!
Finally, in 1938, as part of intensive preparations for war, Hitler carried out another "rotation" - he expelled Minister of War Blomberg and Supreme Army Commander Fritsch, and also replaced professional diplomat von Neurath with Nazi Ribbentrop.
On March 11, 1938, Nazi troops entered Austria in a victorious march. The Austrian government was intimidated and demoralized. The operation to capture Austria was called "Anschluss", which means "attachment". And finally, the climax of 1938 was the capture of Czechoslovakia as a result of the Munich Agreement, that is, in fact, with the consent and approval of the then British Prime Minister Chamberlain and the French Daladier, as well as Germany's ally, fascist Italy.
In all these actions, Hitler acted not as a strategist, not as a tactician, not even as a politician, but as a player who knew that his partners in the West were ready for all sorts of concessions. He studied the weaknesses of the strong, constantly spoke to them about the world, flattered, cunning, and intimidated and suppressed those who were unsure of themselves.
On March 15, 1939, the Nazis captured Czechoslovakia and announced the creation of a so-called protectorate on the territory of Bohemia and Moravia.
On August 23, 1939, Hitler signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union and thereby secured a free hand in Poland.
On September 1, 1939, the German army invaded Poland, which marked the beginning of World War II. Hitler took command of the armed forces and imposed his own plan of warfare, despite the strong resistance of the army leadership, in particular, the chief of the general staff of the army, General L. Beck, who insisted that Germany did not have enough forces to defeat the allies (England and France), who declared war on Hitler. After Hitler's attack on Poland, England and France declared war on Germany. The beginning of World War II is dated September 1, 1939.
Already after the declaration of war by France and England, Hitler captured half of Poland in 18 days, utterly defeating its army. The Polish state was unable to fight one on one with the powerful German Wehrmacht. The first stage of the war in Germany was called "sitting" war, and in other countries - "strange" or even "funny". All this time Hitler remained the master of the situation. The "funny" war ended on April 9, 1940, when Nazi troops invaded Denmark and Norway. On May 10, Hitler launched a campaign to the West: the Netherlands and Belgium became his first victims. In six weeks, the Nazi Wehrmacht defeated France, defeated and pressed the British expeditionary corps to the sea. Hitler signed the truce in Marshal Foch's salon car, in the forest near Compiègne, that is, in the very place where Germany capitulated in 1918. Blitzkrieg - Hitler's dream - came true.
Western historians now admit that in the first phase of the war the Nazis scored more political than military victories.
But no army was even remotely as motorized as the German one. The gambler Hitler felt himself, as they wrote then, "the greatest commanders of all times and peoples", as well as "an amazing visionary in technical and tactical respects" ... "the creator of the modern armed forces" (Jodl).
Let us remember at the same time that it was impossible to object to Hitler, that he was only allowed to be glorified and deified. The High Command of the Wehrmacht has become, in the apt expression of one researcher, the "Führer's office". The results were not long in coming: an atmosphere of super-euphoria reigned in the army.
Were there generals who openly contradicted Hitler? Of course not. Nevertheless, it is known that during the war they retired, falling out of favor, or three supreme commanders of the armies, 4 chiefs of the general staff (the fifth - Krebs - died in Berlin along with Hitler), 14 out of 18 field marshals of the ground forces, 21 out of 37 colonel generals.
Of course, no normal generals, that is, generals not in a totalitarian state, would have allowed such a terrible defeat as Germany suffered.
Hitler's main task was the conquest of "living space" in the East, the crushing of "Bolshevism" and the enslavement of "world Slavs."
The English historian Trevor-Roper convincingly showed that from 1925 until his death, Hitler did not doubt for a second that the great peoples of the Soviet Union could be turned into silent slaves, who would be controlled by German overseers, "Aryans" from the ranks of the SS. Here is what Trevor-Roper writes about this: “After the war, you often hear the words that the Russian campaign was Hitler’s big “mistake”. If he had behaved neutrally towards Russia, he would have been able to subjugate all of Europe, organize it and And England would never have been able to drive the Germans out of there.I cannot share this point of view, it comes from the fact that Hitler would not be Hitler!
For Hitler, the Russian campaign was never a spin-off military scam, a private foray into important sources of raw materials, or an impulsive move in a game of chess that looks almost a draw. The Russian campaign decided whether or not to be National Socialism. And this campaign became not only obligatory, but also urgent.
Hitler's program was translated into military language - "Plan Barbarossa" and into the language of occupation policy - "Plan Ost".
The German people, according to Hitler's theory, were humiliated by the victors in the First World War and, under the conditions that arose after the war, could not successfully develop and fulfill the mission assigned to them by history.
In order to develop the national culture and increase the sources of power, he needed to acquire additional permanent space. And since there were no free lands, they should have been taken where the population density is low and the land is used irrationally. Such an opportunity for the German nation was available only in the East, at the expense of territories inhabited by peoples less valuable in racial terms than the Germans, primarily the Slavs. The capture of a new living space in the East and the enslavement of the peoples living there were considered by Hitler as a prerequisite and starting point for the struggle for world domination.
The first major defeat of the Wehrmacht in the winter of 1941/1942 near Moscow had a strong impact on Hitler. The chain of his successive victorious campaigns of conquest was interrupted. According to Colonel-General Jodl, who during the war years communicated with Hitler more than anyone else, in December 1941 the Fuhrer's inner confidence in the German victory disappeared, and the disaster at Stalingrad convinced him even more of the inevitability of defeat. But this could only be assumed by some features in his behavior and actions. He himself never talked about it to anyone. Ambition did not allow him to admit to the collapse of his own plans. He continued to convince everyone around him, the entire German people of the inevitable victory and demanded that they make as much effort as possible to achieve it. According to his instructions, measures were taken for the total mobilization of the economy and human resources. Disregarding reality, he ignored all the advice of specialists who went against his instructions.
The stop of the Wehrmacht in front of Moscow in December 1941 and the counteroffensive that followed caused confusion among many German generals. Hitler ordered to stubbornly defend each line and not to retreat from their positions without orders from above. This decision saved the German army from collapse, but it also had its downside. It assured Hitler of his own military genius, of his superiority over the generals. Now he believed that by taking over the direct leadership of military operations on the Eastern Front instead of the retired Brauchitsch, he would be able to achieve victory over Russia as early as 1942. But the crushing defeat at Stalingrad, which became the most sensitive for the Germans in World War II, stunned the Fuhrer.
Since 1943, all of Hitler's activities were in fact limited to current military problems. He no longer made far-reaching political decisions.
Almost all the time he was at his headquarters, surrounded only by the closest military advisers. Hitler nevertheless spoke to the people, although he showed less interest in their position and moods.
Unlike other tyrants and conquerors, Hitler committed crimes not only for political and military reasons, but for personal reasons. Hitler's victims numbered in the millions. At his direction, a whole system of extermination was created, a kind of conveyor for killing people, eliminating and disposing of their remains. He was guilty of the mass extermination of people on ethnic, racial, social and other grounds, which is qualified by lawyers as a crime against humanity.
Many of Hitler's crimes were not related to the protection of the national interests of Germany and the German people, were not caused by military necessity. On the contrary, to some extent they even undermined the military power of Germany. So, for example, to carry out massacres in the death camps created by the Nazis, Hitler kept tens of thousands of SS men in the rear. Of these, it was possible to create more than one division and thereby strengthen the troops of the army in the field. Transporting millions of prisoners to the death camps required an enormous amount of rail and other transport, and it could be used for military purposes.
In the summer of 1944, he considered it possible, steadfastly holding positions on the Soviet-German front, to thwart the invasion of Europe that was being prepared by the Western Allies, and then use the situation favorable for Germany to reach an agreement with them. But this plan was not destined to be realized. The Germans failed to throw into the sea the Anglo-American troops that had landed in Normandy. They managed to hold the captured bridgehead, concentrate huge forces there and, after careful preparation, break through the front of the German defense. The Wehrmacht did not hold its positions in the east either. A particularly major catastrophe occurred in the central sector of the Eastern Front, where the German Army Group Center was completely defeated, and Soviet troops began to move menacingly quickly towards the German borders.
Hitler's last year.
The failed assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944, committed by a group of opposition-minded German officers, was used by the Fuhrer as a pretext for the all-encompassing mobilization of human and material resources to continue the war. By the autumn of 1944, Hitler managed to stabilize the front, which had begun to fall apart in the east and west, restore many defeated formations and form a number of new ones. He again thinks about how to cause a crisis in his opponents. In the West, he thought, it would be easier to do this. The idea that came to him was embodied in the plan of the German performance in the Ardennes.
From a military point of view, this offensive was a gamble. It could not inflict significant damage on the military power of the Western allies, much less cause a turning point in the war. But Hitler was primarily interested in political results.
He wanted to show the leaders of the United States and Britain that he still had enough strength to continue the war, and now he decided to shift the main efforts from east to west, which meant weakening resistance in the east and raising the danger of Germany being occupied by Soviet troops. By an unexpected display of German military power on the Western Front, with a simultaneous display of readiness to accept defeat in the East, Hitler hoped to arouse fear among the Western powers about the possible transformation of all of Germany into a Bolshevik bastion in the center of Europe. Hitler also hoped to force them to start separate negotiations with the existing regime in Germany, to make a certain compromise with him. He believed that Western democracies would prefer Nazi Germany over communist Germany.
However, all these calculations were not justified. The Western Allies, although experiencing some shock from the unexpected German offensive, did not want to have anything to do with Hitler and the regime he led. They continued to work closely with the Soviet Union, which helped them get out of the crisis caused by the Wehrmacht's Ardennes operation by launching an offensive ahead of schedule from the Vistula line.
By the middle of spring 1945, Hitler no longer had any hope for a miracle. On April 22, 1945, he decided not to leave the capital, stay in his bunker and commit suicide. The fate of the German people no longer interested him.
The Germans, Hitler believed, turned out to be unworthy of such a "brilliant leader" as he, therefore they had to die and give way to stronger and more viable peoples. In the last days of April, Hitler was concerned only with the question of his own fate. He feared the judgment of the peoples for the crimes committed. He was horrified by the news of the execution of Mussolini along with his mistress and the mockery of their corpses in Milan. This end terrified him. Hitler was in an underground bunker in Berlin, refusing to leave it: he did not go either to the front or to inspect German cities destroyed by Allied aircraft. On April 15, Eva Braun, his mistress for over 12 years, joined Hitler. At the time when he was going to power, this connection was not advertised, but as the end approached, he allowed Eva Braun to appear with him in public. In the early morning of April 29, they were married.
Having dictated a political testament in which the future leaders of Germany called for a merciless fight against the "poisoners of all peoples - international Jewry", Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945, and their corpses, on Hitler's orders, were burned in the garden of the Reich Chancellery, next to the bunker where the Fuhrer spent the last months of his life.
More than seventy years have passed since he disappeared, and we still remember Adolf Hitler. Many with horror, and some with nostalgia. The history of the twentieth century cannot be imagined without this sinister figure. Like a devil from a snuffbox, he jumped onto the political stage of Weimar Germany and conquered it. Then, as if playing, he threw the countries of Western Europe at his feet and drew them into the slaughter of nations. Now it is not customary to remember this, but until 1939 Hitler had many admirers abroad, for whom the Fuhrer was a model of a strong, strong-willed leader. Many mysteries are fraught with his dizzying career. Not all of them are open to this day.
nomadic childhood
Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in the village of Ranshofen to Austrian subjects Alois and Clara. Not a single biography of the founder of National Socialism can do without unraveling the "family" collision. Some smart people who want to show their education stubbornly call Hitler Schicklgruber. However, most historians adhere to the quite convincing version, according to which Alois took his father's surname before Adolf was born. Therefore, there is no reason to tease Hitler with Schicklgruber. However, this does not stop journalists who want to catch another sensation in the maelstrom of the past of the great Fuhrer.
Mother doted on her offspring. Adolf was the first surviving child, after three deaths. In those distant times, giving birth at the age of 29 was a feat and a miracle for a woman. Isn't this fact prompted Hitler to think about his chosenness?
Father often changed jobs, so Adolf was forced to roam from school to school. At first diligent and inquisitive, he lost much of his student ardor when he crossed the threshold of his fourth school. Favorite subjects were history, geography and drawing. Everything else was disgusting and led to the first serious problem in his life - Adolf Hitler was left for the second year. One can imagine what resentment this aroused in the father, who was too demanding of his sons. However, he soon dies. Adolf's nomadic childhood ends.
Failed artist
Now he can indulge in his main passion - drawing. At the request of his mother, he continues to go to school, but lives separately. At this time, he writes poetry and short stories, is seriously interested in Wagner, and reads a lot. The study was abandoned. In 1907, Clara Hitler dies. Having settled the affairs of the inheritance, Adolf goes to Vienna. This period of his life is known from Mein Kampf. Hitler does not hide his plight in those years. It is not possible to enter the Vienna Art Academy. The life of a free artist could be exchanged for service in the Austrian army, but Adolf prefers to live from hand to mouth, doing odd jobs.
Vienna is the capital of a multinational empire, where Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Hungarians, Croats and Jews flocked. Most are poor and dirty. Their incomprehensible language seems to Hitler a heap of meaningless sounds. It is then that hatred for all strangers is born in him. It was a squabble in a large communal apartment, where the Germans were forced to fight for a handful of coins with foreigners. It is in the slums that the theory of racial superiority has its loyal adherents. Adolf Hitler did not invent anything, but absorbed these ideas.
His landscapes are called mediocre. This is not true. Look at the sketches and pictorial miniatures of the young Hitler. They are elegant and well crafted. But the era of classical art is gone. Impressionism flourished in France, based not on a true image of reality, but on the strength of sensuality. But Hitler was a retrograde. Until the end of his days, he will retain his disgust for the "incomprehensible daub" of the rotten intelligentsia. His whole life was a desire to return to the good old traditions. For this, he was ready to destroy the whole world.
His fight
In "Mein Kampf" the formation of the Fuhrer of the true Aryans is well described. Participation in the Great War, gas poisoning, post-war poverty and dreams of revenge. Occult ideas and social Darwinism intertwined in Hitler's head in the most monstrous way. Once at a meeting of a tiny nationalist party, he becomes its leader. This is where questions begin for which there are no clear answers. A man with a hysterical temperament and an absurd figure was supposed to cause laughter among the regulars of the pubs. But the funny little man is confidently moving towards the goal. The National Socialist Party acquires rich patrons and capable organizers.
The Nazi putsch of 1923 coincided with the proletarian uprisings in Berlin. Unrest is suppressed mercilessly, but fate favors Hitler. His brief confinement makes him a martyr to the idea. In prison, he writes his main book, where he sets out not only the details of his biography, but also plans for the future. Anti-Semitism and aggression shine through in his every phrase. Why is England and France silent? They need him to fight the infection of Bolshevism.
With the coming of the Nazis to power in 1933, the “era of the thousand-year Reich” begins. Contrary to predictions of a quick collapse, the new regime is only getting stronger. Repressions against dissidents and Jews begin immediately, but this does not bother the Western powers. Until recently, Germany groaned under the burden of reparations and indemnities, but now she dictates terms and inflames past grievances. On March 7, 1936, three out of nineteen German battalions crossed the Rhine, with orders to retreat immediately if the French army appeared. But the French army did not appear. Hitler later said: "If the French entered the Rhineland, we would have to scatter with our tails between our legs."
Until September 1, 1939, the Third Reich effortlessly annexed Austria, the Czech Republic and the Rhineland. Germany was strengthened by loyal allies: Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. The command of the Wehrmacht looked in horror at what their favorite Fuhrer was doing, but Hitler did not hesitate. He knew that everyone would forgive him. And he was forgiven.
Historians of this era never tire of wondering how the nation of Schiller and Goethe turned into complete sadists!? The king (and the Fuhrer) is made by his environment. Therefore, to call Hitler an ominous demon who led the Germans into the abyss would be an exaggeration. Of course, he is a bright figure, but behind him was a team, some of whose members we still do not know. The Fuhrer himself did not like to go into details, trusting the solution of specific issues to his assistants. But he loved to perform, bringing himself to ecstasy. He loved to travel around the country. The chronicles of his appearance in public are excellent examples of cinematography and directing.
So, when we talk about Hitler, we are talking about a symbol. There is no need to exaggerate the influence of this man. Hitler was thoroughly prepared for the role of a public leader. It is known that he took acting lessons. Gait, gestures and facial expressions are the result of hard training. His main mystery is those invisible helpers and well-wishers who armed him with racial theory, gave him guarantees of non-intervention, paid for the construction of the Wehrmacht and the Nazi state, carried out extermination and inhuman experiments on "untermensch" in concentration camps.
Suicide or mysterious disappearance of Adolf Hitler?
An attack on the Soviet Union seems like complete madness. Countries already captured by 1941 required human and technical resources. Little Germany was at its limit. The famous "tigers" and "panthers" have not yet been adopted. Some Wehrmacht battalions rolled through the cities and villages of captured Poland on ordinary carts. There was not enough food, and the tailoring of winter clothes did not even begin. There was no frost-resistant machine oil. Did Hitler not know about this? Or did he hope that the blitzkrieg would destroy the Soviet Union like a house of cards? Researchers are still breaking spears over the reason for such an act. But Hitler was not insane. Proof of this is the Barbarossa plan. Everything in it is thought out to the smallest detail. Who really ordered Hitler to attack the USSR?..
According to the official version, he committed suicide on April 30, 1945, by taking poison and shooting himself in the temple. A loyal adjutant doused the bodies of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun with gasoline and set them on fire near the entrance to the bunker. The corpses were identified by a dentist's assistant who made Hitler's dentures. This valuable confession did not help her avoid being sent to the Soviet camp. Perhaps out of revenge, when she returned to her homeland, she retracted her testimony. Versions about the salvation of Hitler and Eva Braun continue to excite the minds of sensational readers, but they do not change anything. The Fuhrer of the German nation did not show himself in any way in the post-war world, remaining an ominous symbol of fascism.
(Total 18 photos)
It must be assumed that none of the many henchmen, flatterers and sycophants, saying on this day toast and many years in honor of the beloved Fuhrer, could not have imagined the inglorious and shameful end awaiting the leader of the Reich in just six years.
On merit and a reward ... but for now, Hitler's close associates sing praises to him and present a variety of, often very original gifts. Many donors are waiting for the same unenviable and well-deserved fate as the hero of the day himself.
1. In the first picture, the famous automobile designer Ferdinand Porsche (in the center, in a civilian suit), Adolf Hitler and the head of the German Labor Front Robert Ley admire the gift to the Führer from Porsche - a Volkswagen convertible.
2. Hitler accepts congratulations from Heinrich Hoffmann, his personal photographer, and Theodor Morrell, the Fuhrer's personal doctor, is waiting a little to the right of the queue.
3. Gifts received for a significant anniversary are stored in one of the rooms of the Reich Chancellery.
4. A gift from Porsche especially liked Hitler. According to some reports, the Fuhrer loved fast driving until 1939, when he suddenly became concerned about a possible accident, and limited the speed of his motorcade to 55 km / h.
5. Gifts continue to accumulate in the Reich Chancellery, apparently not particularly seducing the Fuhrer - numerous paintings, sculptures and figurines. Noteworthy is the flower vase with the swastika in the right corner of the picture.
6. Another gift - a model of the Condor aircraft. Hitler is clearly more interested in all sorts of technical things than paintings and vases. To the left of Hitler stands Hans Bauer, the personal pilot of the leader.
7. Golden model of the House of German Art (Haus der Deutschen Kunst), a museum built in 1937 in Munich, designed to perpetuate the greatness and superiority of Nazi art. This gift was made by Hermann Göring, commander of the Luftwaffe.
8. Once again, Ferdinand Porsche pleases the Fuhrer with a car model.
9. And one more model, unfortunately of an unidentified building, handmade jewelry.
10. In honor of the birthday of the father of the nation, the streets of Berlin are illuminated with festive illumination, the Brandenburg Gate is illuminated and decorated.
11. Of course, a parade and a mass rally took place on the occasion of the anniversary.
12. Band members are preparing to take part in the festive parade.
13. Axis East-West (Ost-West-Achse), the longest 50-kilometer avenue, a street for mass processions and parades, part of the Nazi master plan to rebuild Berlin. A section of this axis, 12 kilometers long, was opened just in time for Hitler's birthday.
14. Troops march in the face of the Fuhrer during a festive military parade.
