Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945). Born in the town of Braunau, Austria. In 1905, he left high school without a diploma. His two attempts to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (1907-8) failed due to "lack of artistic talent," so he began working as a painter. However, Hitler's daily occupation became politics, which he reduced to two doctrines: the superiority of the Aryan race and the Jewish threat. In 1913, he moved to Munich (he became a German citizen in 1932) and shortly after participated in World War I as a volunteer. After the war ended, Hitler joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), becoming its leader in 1921. In 1923, a coup organized by Hitler's group in Munich failed, resulting in the party being banned and its leader sentenced to five years in prison. However, he was pardoned and released a few months later. During this time, Hitler wrote his programmatic book "Mein Kampf," which detailed the doctrines and intentions of the National Socialists. With the re-establishment of the party and the exploitation of the global economic crisis, Hitler gradually became the most powerful figure in German politics. In 1933, he assumed power as Chancellor of Germany and, after the president's death, became "Leader (Fuehrer) and Chancellor (Kanzler)." By 1935, Hitler had acquired dictatorial powers through an enabling act of the German parliament, and in 1938, he took over the supreme command of the German army (Wehrmacht). Simultaneously, he excluded from power, through seemingly legal actions and open terror, any politicians who had influence in Germany. Many German and Austrian intellectuals, artists, and scientists were thus forced to leave their countries. Hitler's intentions and those of the circles he represented became evident at the latest with the "annexation" of Austria and the occupation of parts of Czechoslovakia, which had a large German-speaking minority, with the consent of France and England. With the cover of the Hitler-Stalin pact, the German army attacked Poland, thus beginning World War II, which lasted until 1945 and cost approximately 55 million lives, including about 6 million Jews. Hitler is reported to have committed suicide in Berlin, shortly before the city was completely captured by Soviet troops.