Who is Adolf Hitler?

Hitler's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, triggered the European phase of World War II. During the course of the war, Nazi military forces rounded up and executed 11 million victims they deemed inferior or undesirable—“life unworthy of life”—among them Jews, Slavs and homosexuals etc. 

Hitler had supreme authority as führer, but could not have risen to power or committed such atrocities on his own. 

Adolf Hitler's Rise to Power 

• Hitler rose to power through the Nazi Party. 
• He and other patriotic Germans were outraged and humiliated by the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles. 

AIM OF THE NAZI PARTY  

• To seize power through Germany’s parliamentary system, 
• Install Hitler as dictator,
• Create a community of racially pure Germans loyal to their führer. 

WHY THE JEWS?

Hitler blamed the Weimar Republic’s weakness on the influence of Germany’s Jewish and communist minorities, who he claimed were trying to take over the country. 

Jews represented everything the Nazis found offensive. 

Nazi Party foreign policy aimed to rid Europe of Jews and other “inferior” peoples, absorb pure-blooded Aryans into a greatly expanded Germany. 

What did hitler do to help germany? 

After being released from prison, the worldwide economic depression and the rising power of labor unions and communists convinced increasing numbers of Germans to turn to the Nazi Party.

Hitler pledged to restore prosperity, create civil order, eliminate the influence of Jewish financiers, and make the fatherland once again a world power. 

By 1932, the Nazis were the largest political party in the Reichstag. 

In January 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor of Germany. Shortly thereafter, a fire broke out in the Reichstag building in Berlin, and authorities arrested a young Dutch communist who confessed to starting it. Hitler used this episode to convince President Hindenburg to declare an emergency decree suspending many civil liberties throughout Germany, including freedom of the press, freedom of expression, and the right to hold public assemblies. The police were authorized to detain citizens without cause, and the authority usually exercised by regional governments became subject to control by Hitler’s national regime.

When Hindenburg died the following year, Hitler took the titles of führer, chancellor, and commander in chief of the army. He expanded the army tremendously, reintroduced conscription, and began developing a new air force—all violations of the Treaty of Versailles.

Hitler’s military spending and ambitious public-works programs, including building a German autobahn, helped restore prosperity. His regime also suppressed the Communist Party and purged his own Stormtroopers. 

“Night of the Long Knives”—was hugely popular and welcomed by the middle class as a blow struck for law and order. Many Germans went along with the full range of Hitler’s policies, convinced that they would ultimately be advantageous for the country.

In 1938, Hitler began his long-promised expansion of national boundaries to incorporate ethnic Germans. He conspired with Austrian Nazis to orchestrate the Anschluss (political union between Austria and Germany). Hitler’s most brazenly aggressive act yet, Czechoslovakia was forced to surrender the Sudetenland (a mountainous border region populated predominantly by ethnic Germans).

The Czechs looked to Great Britain and France for help, but hoping to avoid war by choosing a policy of appeasement. In September 1938, representatives of Great Britain and France compelled Czech leaders to cede the Sudetenland in return for Hitler’s pledge not to seek additional territory. The following year, the German army swallowed up the remainder of Czechoslovakia. 

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had taken Hitler at his word. Returning to Britain with this agreement in hand, he proudly announced that he had achieved “peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time.” 

A year later, German troops stormed into Poland, breaking the appeasement and WWII started. 

This article was originally published on WWII - The National Museum.  Its inclusion on this website is solely for education purposes.