Hitler

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Adolf Hitler Born 1889 20 April in Austria to Alexois and Klara Hitler who then moved the Linz in Austria Grew up and happy and cheerful boy with his 5 brothers and sisters before his family moved to Lambach in Germany after his father failed in being a farmer

Early Years When his younger brother Edmund died in 1900 Adolf’s personality changed He changed from being a confident clever boy to one who constantly battled with his teachers and parents He had a good relationship with his mother but often fought with his authoritarian father His father wanted him to follow in his footsteps of being an Austrian custom official whereas Adolf wanted to a classical high school His father never relented and Adolf become more bitter He did not consisder himself Austrian or Austrian German but purely German (think back to the early units)

Continued His father died in 1903 and Adolf’s behaviour become more uncontrollable He was expelled from school twice From 1905 (16) he was living a bohemian life in Vienna on a orphans pension and rejected twice from the Vienna School of Fine Arts who suggested he was better suited to architecture In 1907 his mother died and he continued to live in Vienna trying to make a living as a painter At this time Vienna had many Jews who had escaped the pogroms' in Russia, but it was also a place of wide spread anti-Semitism and racism This may have influenced his views later on, as well as the teachings of Martin Luther and Wagner In 1913 he recived the final part of his fathers estate and moved to Munich

World War 1 First he managed to avoid military service in Austria due to ill health but when Germany joined he joined a Bavarian regiment He served in the Western Front as a runner and rose to he rank of Lance Coporal He participated in a number of battles including Ypres, Somme and Passcendale He was decorated twice for bravery (Iron Cross) and was wounded in 1916 In 1918 he was blinded in a mustard gas attack and placed in hospital

Post War 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 his commanding officers for his bravery. Hitler believed in the Dolchstoßlegende ("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 the November Criminals.

Entry to Politics In July 1919, Hitler was appointed a Verbindungsmann (police spy) of an Aufklärungskommando (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, which favoured 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.

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