paper on hitler

8/8/2019 Paper on HITLER

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Despite this testimony, Alois' paternity has been the subject of

controversy. After receiving a "blackmail letter" from Hitler's nephew

William Patrick Hitler threatening to reveal embarrassing information

about Hitler's family tree, Nazi Party lawyer Hans Frank investigated,

and, in his memoirs, claimed to have uncovered letters revealing thatAlois' mother, Maria Schicklgruber, was employed as a housekeeper

for a Jewish family in Graz and that the family's 19-year-old son,

Leopold Frankenberger, fathered Alois. No evidence has ever been

produced to support Frank's claim, and Frank himself said Hitler's full

Aryan blood was obvious. Frank's claims were widely believed in the

1950s, but by the 1990s, were generally doubted by historians. Ian

Kershaw dismisses the Frankenberger story as a "smear" by Hitler's

enemies, noting that all Jews had been expelled from Graz in the 15th

century and were not allowed to return until well after Alois was born.

CHILD HOOD

Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 at half-past six in

the evening at the Gasthof zum Pommer, an inn in Braunau am Inn,

AustriaHungary, the fourth of Alois and Klara Hitler's six children..

Adolf Hitler as an infant At the age of three, his family moved to

Kapuzinerstrasse 5 in Passau, Germany where the young Hitler would

acquire Lower Bavarian rather than Austrian as his lifelong native

dialect. In 1894, the family moved to Leonding near Linz, then in

June 1895, Alois retired to a small landholding at Hafeld near

Lambach, where he tried his hand at farming and beekeeping. During

this time, the young Hitler attended school in nearby Fischlham. As a

child, he tirelessly played "Cowboys and Indians" and, by his own

account, became fixated on war after finding a picture book about the

Franco-Prussian War in his father's things.He wrote inM

ein Kampf:

"It was not long before the great historic struggle had become my

greatest spiritual experience. From then on, I became more and more

enthusiastic about everything that was in any way connected with war

or, for that matter, with soldiering."


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His father's efforts at Hafeld ended in failure and the family moved to

Lambach in 1897. There, Hitler attended a Catholic school located in

an 11th-century Benedictine cloister whose walls were engraved in a

number of places with crests containing the symbol of the swastika. It

was in Lambach that the eight year-old Hitler sang in the churchchoir, took singing lessons, and even entertained the fantasy of one

day becoming a priest.In 1898, the family returned permanently to

Leonding.

His younger brother Edmund died of measles on 2 February 1900,

causing permanent changes in Hitler. He went from a confident,

outgoing boy who found school easy, to a morose, detached, sullen

boy who constantly battled his father and his teachers.

Hitler was close to his mother, but had a troubled relationship with his

authoritarian father, who frequently beat him, especially in the years

after Alois' retirement and disappointing farming efforts. Alois

wanted his son to follow in his footsteps as an Austrian customs

official, and this became a huge source of conflict between them.

Despite his son's pleas to go to classical high school and become an

artist, his father sent him to the Realschule in Linz, a technical high

school of about 300 students, in September 1900. Hitler rebelled, and

in Mein Kampf confessed to failing his first year in hopes that once

his father saw "what little progress I was making at the technical

school he would let me devote myself to the happiness I dreamed of."

Alois never relented, however, and Hitler became even more bitter

and rebellious.

After Alois' sudden death on 3 January 1903, Hitler's behaviour at the

technical school became even more disruptive, and he was asked to

leave. He enrolled at the Realschule in Steyr in 1904, but upon

completing his second year, he and his friends went out for a night of

celebration and drinking, and an intoxicated Hitler tore his school

certificate into four pieces and used it as toilet paper. When someone

turned the stained certificate in to the school's director, he "... gave

him such a dressing-down that the boy was reduced to shivering jelly.

It was probably the most painful and humiliating experience of his

life."Hitler was expelled, never to return to school again.


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At age 15, Hitler took part in his First Holy Communion on

Whitsunday, 22 May 1904, at the Linz Cathedral. His sponsor was

Emanuel Lugert, a friend of his late father.

EARLY ADULTHOOD IN VIENNA AND

MUNICH

From 1905 on, Hitler lived a bohemian life in Vienna on

an orphan's pension and support from his mother. He was rejected

twice by the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (19071908), citing

"unfitness for painting", and was told his abilities lay instead in the

field of architecture.The purpose of my trip was to study the picture

gallery in the Court Museum, but I had eyes for scarcely anything but

the Museum itself. From morning until late at night, I ran from one

object of interest to another, but it was always the buildings which

held my primary interest..

Following the school rector's recommendation, he too became

convinced this was his path to pursue, yet he lacked the proper

academic preparation for architecture school:

In a few days I myself knew that I should some day become an

architect. To be sure, it was an incredibly hard road; for the studies I

had neglected out of spite at the Realschule were sorely needed. One

could not attend the Academy's architectural school without having

attended the building school at the Technic, and the latter required a

high-school degree. I had none of all this. The fulfilment of my

artistic dream seemed physically impossible.

The Courtyard of the Old Residency in Munich, by Adolf Hitler, 1914

On 21 December 1907, Hitler's mother died of breast cancer at age

47. Ordered by a court in Linz, Hitler gave his share of the orphans'

benefits to his sister Paula. When he was 21, he inherited money from


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an aunt. He struggled as a painter in Vienna, copying scenes from

postcards and selling his paintings to merchants and tourists. After

being rejected a second time by the Academy of Arts, Hitler ran out

of money. In 1909, he lived in a shelter for the homeless. By 1910, he

had settled into a house for poor working men on Meldemannstrae.Another resident of the house, Reinhold Hanisch, sold Hitler's

paintings until the two men had a bitter falling-out.

Hitler said he first became an anti-Semite in Vienna, which had a

large Jewish community, including Orthodox Jews..

WORLD WAR I

Hitler served in France and Belgium in the 16th

Bavarian Reserve Regiment (called Regiment Listafter its firstcommander), ending the war as a Gefreiter(equivalent at the time to a

lance corporal in the British and private first class in the American

armies). He served on the Western Front as a regimental runner, "a

relatively safe job" based at regimental headquarters, several miles

from the Front..According to research by Dr Thomas Weber of the

University of Aberdeen, earlier historians of the period had not

distinguished between regimental runners who were based away from

the front "in relative comfort", and company or battalion runners who

moved among the trenches and were often subjected to machine gun

fire. He was present at a number of major battles on the Western

Front, including the First Battle of Ypres, the Battle of the Somme,

the Battle of Arras and the Battle of Passchendaele. The Battle of

Ypres (October 1914), which became known in Germany as the

Kindermord bei Ypern (Massacre of the Innocents) saw

approximately 40,000 men (between a third and a half) of the nine

infantry divisions present killed in 20 days, and Hitler's own company

of 250 reduced to 42 by December. Biographer John Keegan has saidthat this experience drove Hitler to become aloof and withdrawn for

the remaining years of war..

On 15 October 1918, Hitler was admitted to a field hospital,

temporarily blinded by a mustard gas attack. The English

psychologist David Lewis and Bernhard Horstmann suggest the


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blindness may have been the result of a conversion disorder (then

known as "hysteria")..In fact, Hitler said it was during this experience

that he became convinced the purpose of his life was to "save

Germany." Some scholars, notably Lucy Dawidowicz argue that an

intention to exterminate Europe's Jews was fully formed in Hitler'smind at this time, though he probably had not thought through how it

could be done. Most historians think the decision was made in 1941,

and some think it came as late as 1942.

Two passages in Mein Kampfmention the use of poison gas:

At the beginning of the Great War, or even during the War, if twelve

or fifteen thousand of these Jews who were corrupting the nation had

been forced to submit to poison-gas . . . then the millions of sacrifices

made at the front would not have been in vain.. These tactics are

based on an accurate estimation of human weakness and must lead to

success, with almost mathematical certainty, unless the other side also

learns how to fight poison gas with poison gas. The weaker natures

must be told that here it is a case of to be or not to be..

Hitler had long admired Germany, and during the war he had become

a passionate German patriot, although he did not become a German

citizen until 1932. Hitler found the war to be "the greatest of all

experiences" and afterwards he was praised by a number of hiscommanding officers for his bravery.. He was shocked by Germany's

capitulation in November 1918 even while the German army still held

enemy territory..Like many other German nationalists, Hitler believed

in the Dolchstolegende ("dagger-stab legend") which claimed that

the army, "undefeated in the field," had been "stabbed in the back" by

civilian leaders and Marxists back on the home front. These

politicians were later dubbed theNovember Criminals.

The Treaty of Versailles deprived Germany of various territories,demilitarised the Rhineland and imposed other economically

damaging sanctions. The treaty re-created Poland, which even

moderate Germans regarded as an outrage. The treaty also blamed

Germany for all the horrors of the war, something which major

historians such as John Keegan now consider at least in part to be


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victor's justice; most European nations in the run-up to World War I

had become increasingly militarised and were eager to fight. The

culpability of Germany was used as a basis to impose reparations on

Germany (the amount was repeatedly revised under the Dawes Plan,

the Young Plan, and the Hoover Moratorium).

Entry into politics

A copy of Adolf Hitler's forged German Workers' Party

(DAP) membership card. His actual membership number was 555

(the 55th member of the party the 500 was added to make the group

appear larger) but later the number was reduced to create the

impression that Hitler was one of the founding members.. Hitler had

wanted to create his own party, but was ordered by his superiors inthe Reichswehr to infiltrate an existing one instead.

After World War I, Hitler remained in the army and returned to

Munich, where he in contrast to his later declarations attended the

funeral march for the murdered Bavarian prime minister Kurt Eisner..

After the suppression of the Bavarian Soviet Republic, he took part in

"national thinking" courses organized by the Education and

Propaganda Department(Dept Ib/P) of the Bavarian Reichswehr

Group, Headquarters 4 under Captain Karl Mayr. Scapegoats werefound in "international Jewry", communists, and politicians across the

party spectrum, especially the parties of the Weimar Coalition.

In July 1919, Hitler was appointed a Verbindungsmann (police spy) of

an Aufklrungskommando (Intelligence Commando) of the

Reichswehr, both to influence other soldiers and to infiltrate a small

party, the German Workers' Party (DAP). During his inspection of the

party, Hitler was impressed with founder Anton Drexler's anti-

semitic, nationalist, anti-capitalist and anti-Marxist ideas, whichfavoured a strong active government, a "non-Jewish" version of

socialism and mutual solidarity of all members of society. Drexler

was impressed with Hitler's oratory skills and invited him to join the

party. Hitler joined DAP on 12 September 1919, and became the

party's 55th member. He was also made the seventh member of the


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executive committee. Years later, he claimed to be the party's seventh

overall member, but it has been established that this claim is false.

Here Hitler met Dietrich Eckart, one of the early founders of the party

and member of the occult Thule Society,Eckart became Hitler's

mentor, exchanging ideas with him, teaching him how to dress and

speak, and introducing him to a wide range of people. Hitler thanked

Eckart by paying tribute to him in the second volume ofMein Kampf

World War II

Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka with Hitler in

Berlin, In February 1938, Hitler finally ended the dilemma that hadplagued German Far Eastern policy, namely whether to continue the

informal Sino-German alliance that existed with Republic of China

since the 1910s or to create a new alliance with Japan. The military at

the time strongly favoured continuing Germany's alliance with China.

China had the support of Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath

and War Minister Werner von Blomberg, the so-called "China Lobby"

who tried to steer German foreign policy away from war in Europe..

Both men, however, were sacked by Hitler in early 1938. Upon the

advice of Hitler's newly appointed Foreign Minister, the strongly pro-

Japanese Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hitler chose to end the alliance

with China as the price of gaining an alignment with the more modern

and powerful Japan. In an address to the Reichstag, Hitler announced

German recognition of Manchukuo, the Japanese-occupied puppet

state in Manchuria, and renounced the German claims to the former

colonies in the Pacific held by Japan. Hitler ordered an end to arms

shipments to China, and ordered the recall of all the German officers

attached to the Chinese Army. In retaliation for ending Germansupport to China in the war against Japan, Chinese Generalissimo

Chiang Kai-shek canceled all of the Sino-German economic

agreements, which deprived the Germans of raw materials such as

tungsten that the Chinese had previously provided. The ending of the

Sino-German alignment increased the problems of German


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rearmament, as the Germans were now forced to use their limited

supply of foreign exchange to buy raw materials on the open market.

Start ofWorld War II

Adolf Hitler's face on a German stamp 1944. The country's

name has changed to the Greater German Reich since 1943 and this as

part of the anti-British course, it was deemed necessary by Hitler to

have Poland either a satellite state or otherwise neutralized. Hitler

believed this necessary both on strategic grounds as a way of securing

the Reich's eastern flank and on economic grounds as a way of

evading the effects of a British blockade. Initially, the German hope

was to transform Poland into a satellite state, but by March 1939 the

German demands had been rejected by the Poles three times, whichled Hitler to decide upon the destruction of Poland as the main

German foreign policy goal of 1939. On 3 April 1939, Hitler ordered

the military to start preparing forFall Weiss (Case White), the plan

for a German invasion to be executed on 25 August 1939. In August

1939, Hitler spoke to his generals that his original plan for 1939 had

to "... establish an acceptable relationship with Poland in order to fight

against the West" but since the Poles would not co-operate in setting

up an "acceptable relationship" (i.e. becoming a German satellite), he

believed he had no choice other than wiping Poland off the map. Thehistorian Gerhard Weinberg has argued since Hitler's audience

comprised men who were all for the destruction of Poland (anti-Polish

feelings were traditionally very strong in the German Army), but

rather less happy about the prospect of war with Britain and France, if

that was the price Germany had to pay for the destruction of Poland, it

is quite likely that Hitler was speaking the truth on this occasion. In

his private discussions with his officials in 1939, Hitler always

described Britain as the main enemy that had to be defeated, and in

his view, Poland's obliteration was the necessary prelude to that goal by securing the eastern flank and helpfully adding to Germany's

Lebensraum. Hitler was much offended by the British "guarantee" of

Polish independence issued on 31 March 1939, and told his associates

that "I shall brew them a devil's drink". In a speech in Wilhelmshaven

for the launch of the battleship Tirpitz on 1 April 1939, Hitler

threatened to denounce the Anglo-German Naval Agreement if the


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British persisted with their "encirclement" policy as represented by

the "guarantee" of Polish independence..

DEATH OF HITLER:

Hitler took up residence in the Fhrerbunker on 16 January

1945, where the Allies advanced from both east and west.. By late

April, Soviet forces had entered Berlin and were battling their way to

the centre of the city.. On 22 April, Hitler said defeat was imminent

and that Germany would lose the war. He expressed his intent to kill

himself and later asked physician Werner Haase to recommend a

reliable method of suicide. Haase suggested combining a dose ofcyanide with a gunshot to the head.

Hitler had a supply of cyanide capsules.. He also learned of

the execution of his ally Benito Mussolini, whose body was hung up

and publicly beaten after death, and vowed not to share a similar fate..

After midnight on 29 April, Hitler married Eva Braun in a small

civil ceremony in a map room.. Hitler and Braun lived together as

husband and wife in the bunker for fewer than 40 hours..

Late in the morning of 30 April, with the Soviets less than 500

metres from the bunker..

Hitler, two secretaries, and his personal cook then had lunch..At

around 14:30 Adolf and Eva Hitler went into Hitler's personal study.

Some witnesses later reported hearing a loud gunshot at around

15:30. After waiting a few minutes, Hitler's valet, Heinz Linge, with

Bormann at his side, opened the door to the small study. Linge laterstated he immediately noted a scent of burnt almonds, a common

observation made in the presence of prussic acid, the aqueous form of

hydrogen cyanide. Hitler's SS adjutant, Sturmbannfhrer Otto

Gnsche, entered the study to inspect the bodies, which were found

seated on a small sofa, Eva's to Hitler's left and slumped away from

him. Gnsche has since stated that Hitler "...sat...sunken over, with


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blood dripping out of his right temple. He had shot himself with his

own pistol..."The Walther PPK 7.65 mm pistol lay at Hitler's feet.

According to Hitler's SS bodyguard, Oberscharfhrer Rochus Misch,

Hitler's head was lying on the table in front of him.

Blood dripping from his temple and chin had made a large stain

on the right arm of the sofa..Eva's body had no visible physical

wounds and Linge assumed she had poisoned herself..

Gnsche announced that the Fhrer was dead. Immediately

afterwards, several people in the bunker began smoking cigarettes

(which had been forbidden, given Hitler's strong dislike for smoking).

Several witnesses said the two bodies were carried up to ground level

and through the bunker's emergency exit to a small, bombed-out

garden behind the Chancellery where they were doused with petrol

and set alight by Linge and members of Hitler's personal SS

bodyguard..

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