Hitler, Adolph
1889-l945,
German dictator, founder and leader of NATIONAL SOCIALISM, or Nazism; b.
Austria. In World War I he served in the Bavarian army, was gassed and wounded,
and received the Iron Cross (first class) for bravery. The war embittered him,
and he blamed Germany's defeat on the Jews and Marxists. Settling in Munich, he
joined with other nationalists to found (1920) the Nazi party. In the famous
beer-hall putsch (1923), Hitler attempted to overthrow BAVARIA's republican
government, but the army put down the revolt, and Hitler was imprisoned. He
thus became known throughout Germany and used his nine months in prison to
write Mein Kampf [my struggle], filled with anti-Semitism, power worship,
disdain for morality, and his strategy for world domination. It became the
bible of the Nazi party. The Nazi movement grew slowly until 1929, when the
economic depression brought it mass support. Hitler made prime use of his
frenzied but magnetic oratory of hate and power, his insight into mass
psychology, and his mastery of deceitful strategy, or the big lie. He used his
virulent ANTI-SEMITISM and anti-Communism to win the support both of the
workers and of the bankers and industrialists. Although he was defeated when he
ran for president in 1932, Pres. Paul von HINDENBURG was persuaded to name him
chancellor (1933), and the REICHSTAG gave him dictatorial powers. With other
Nazi leaders, among them GOERING, HIMMLER, and GOEBBELS, he crushed the
opposition and took control of all facets of German life. Anti-Semitism was
enacted into law, and CONCENTRATION CAMPS were established. In 1934, voters
approved the union of the presidency and chancellorship in Hitler's person. His
aggressive foreign policy, abetted by English and French appeasement,
culminated in the triumph of the MUNICH PACT (1938). As he prepared Germany for
war, he bullied smaller nations into making territorial concessions. He became
allied with MUSSOLINI in Italy, and he helped FRANCO come to power in Spain.
Austria was absorbed into the Third Reich, and Czechoslovakia was dismembered.
In 1939 he signed a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union that gave him a
free hand to invade Poland. With that act WORLD WAR II began, and Hitler took
complete control of Germany's war efforts. At first Germany was triumphant, but
the tide turned, and by July 1944 the German military situation was desperate.
Despite a well-ned assassination attempt against him, in which he was
injured, Hitler remained in charge and insisted that Germany ht to the
death. As the Third Reich collapsed, Hitler remained in an underground bunker
in Berlin while the Russians approached the city. On April 29, 1945, he married
his longtime mistress, Eva BRAUN, and on April 30 they committed suicide. He
left Germany a devastated nation. Hitler's legacy is the memory of the most
dreadful tyranny of modern centuries.
