Adolf Hitler

1

• Adolf Hitler
• 1889-1949

2
Early Years

• Born in Austria-Hungary
• The fourth of six children
• Hitler attended a Catholic school whose walls
  were engraved with crests containing the symbol
  of the swastika.
• His father, Alois, frequently beat him and,
  instead of sending Adolf to art school, sent him
  to a tech school.
• Alois was an Austrian Nationalist.
• Both of Hitlers parents die by the time he is
  18.

3
Word War I

• Hitler fought for Germany in a number of major
  battles. He was a runner, and was often exposed
  to enemy fire, and was awarded for bravery on 2
  occasions.
• Hitler described fighting in the war as the
  greatest of all experiences.
• Blamed the defeat of Germany and the Versailles
  Treaty on a conspiracy of Jews and Communists.

4
Entry into Politics

• In July 1919, Hitler was impressed with German
  Workers Party anti-semitic, nationalist,
  anti-capitalist and anti-Marxist ideas, which
  favoured a strong active government and a
  "non-Jewish" version of socialism. Hitler joined
  the party later that year.
• To increase the party's appeal, the party changed
  its name to the National Socialist German Workers
  Party (NAZI Party).
• By early 1921, Hitler was becoming highly
  effective at speaking in front of large crowds,
  demonizing the Versailles Treaty, Marxists and
  Jews.
• By July 1921, Adolf Hitler was introduced as
  Führer of the National Socialist German Workers'
  Party, marking the first time this title was
  publicly used.

5
Mein Kampf

• Mein Kampf or My Struggle,
• was originally entitled Four and a Half Years
• of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity, and
• Cowardice. The book was an autobiography
• and an exposition of his political ideology.
• Hitler began the dictation of the book
• while imprisoned for what he considered
• to be "political crimes" after his failed
• revolution in Munich in November 1923.

6
Rise to Power

• Having failed in overthrowing the Republic by a
  coup, Hitler pursued a "strategy of legality"
  this meant formally adhering to the rules of the
  Weimar Republic until he had legally gained
  power. He would then use the institutions of the
  Weimar Republic to destroy it and establish
  himself as dictator.
• The political turning point for Hitler came when
  the Great Depression hit Germany in 1930.
• In February 1933, the Reichstag building was set
  on fire and since a Dutch independent communist
  was found in the building, the fire was blamed on
  a communist plot. The government reacted by
  suspending civil liberties and basic rights,
  including habeas corpus.

7
The Third Reich

• The First Reich Rome. The Second Reich
  Bismarcks militaristic, Prussian Germany.
• Hitler oversaw one of the greatest expansions of
  industrial production and civil improvement
  Germany had ever seen, mostly based expansion of
  the military.
• Hitler oversaw one of the largest
  infrastructure-improvement campaigns in German
  history, with the construction of dozens of dams,
  autobahns, railroads, and other civil works.
• Hitler considered Sparta to be the first National
  Socialist state, and praised its early eugenics
  treatment of deformed children.

8
The Holocaust

• One of the foundations of Hitler's social
  policies was the concept of racial hygiene, based
  on the ideas eugenics and social Darwinism.
• The first victims were elders with physical and
  developmental disabilities. Jews, non-Jewish
  Poles, Communists and political opponents,
  members of resistance groups, homosexuals, Soviet
  prisoners of war, Jehovah's Witnesses,
  Adventists, trade unionists, and psychiatric
  patients were also murdered.
• Between 1939 and 1945, between 11 and 14 million
  people were killed in concentration camps,
  ghettos, mass executions, gas chambers, and
  through starvation. At least 6 million Jews were
  murdered.

9
Defeat and death

• On 30 April 1945, Hitler
• committed suicide, shooting
• himself in the temple while
• biting into a cyanide capsule.