Adolf Hitler - Simple English Wikipedia

# Adolf Hitler

### From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.

Adolf Hitler (right), with Benito Mussolini

Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 in Braunau am Inn - April 30, 1945 in Berlin) was the leader of the Nazi party NSDAP in Germany from about 1921, and the leader (Führer) and Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945. Hitler is one of the most notorious people in history.

Before becoming famous, he was a war veteran. He served in World War I and was wounded. He did not always have a job after the war, but he tried painting. Then he became a right-wing politician. He was elected the leader of Germany,(displacing weak Papen regime ) and then made elections against the law. That made him a dictator. The military-industrial complex he made helped Germany get out of the economic problems after World War I. To improve the economy, the Nazi government took over other countries and took their money. At one time, Hitler's government controlled much of Europe. His government was responsible for the deportation and death of millions of people. Some of those people were considered unwanted by the government. Others were put to death because their life was considered not to be worth living. Some of these events are called The Holocaust. Adolf Hitler committed suicide (killed himself) in Berlin in 1945. Some people say he committed suicide with both a gun and poison. He did this a few days before his army was defeated by the Allies.

## Life history

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20 1889 at Braunau am Inn, a small town near Linz in the province of Upper Austria, not far from the German border, in what was then Austria-Hungary.

Adolf failed high school admission tests in Linz twice. There, he became interested in the anti-Semitic (anti-Jewish), Pan-German teachings of Professor Leopold Poetsch.

In 1913, Hitler was 24 years old. At that time, all young Austrian men had to join the army. Hitler did not like the Austrian army, so he left Austria for Germany. He lived in a German city, Munich. In 1914, Hitler joined the German army. He did well for Germany in the first world war. He was hurt in the war. The government gave him the Iron Cross as an award for fighting hard in the war.

In 1919, Hitler joined a small political party called the German Workers Party. He soon won the support of the party members. Two years later, he became the leader of the party. He renamed the party the National Socialist German Workers Party. It became known as the Nazi Party.

In 1923, Hitler tried to overthrow the Weimar Republic government (1918-36) in the Beer Hall Putsch, and almost became leader of Germany. The putsch failed. The government killed 16 of his men (the 16 dead men were later declared saints in Nazi ideology). They also put Hitler in the Landsberg Prison. They said that he would stay in prison for 5 years, but they let him leave after 9 months. While he was in prison, he wrote a book with the help of his friend Rudolf Hess. At first, Hitler wanted to call the book Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice. In the end, he called the book Mein Kampf or My Struggle. In the book, Hitler shows respect of his father. He says that they had disagreements. Hitler wished to become an artist. His father did not like this, he wanted Adolf to work for the government instead. The book then continues with many anti-semitic comments, calling for the murder and expulsion of Jews from Germany.

In 1933 Hitler got into power in Germany because of political maneuvering (tricks). His government immediately began restricting freedom of speech and press. It banned (did not allow) any other party except the Nazi party. It made people political prisoners. Then Hitler and his propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, began to spread extreme nationalism within Germany. All media had to praise the Nazis. Also, more people were born because Hitler wanted more people of the "master race" (by that he meant Aryan, or those with blue eyes and blond hair). He made Germany a totalitarian Nazi state. Aryanism was a myth, but Hitler and his friends believed it. They thought that people like the Jews and Slavs were inferior (less valuable) and should be killed.

## Related articles

- Nazism
- Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei
- Fascism
- World War II
- History of Austria
- History of Germany
- Mein Kampf

## References and further reading

- Alan Bullock, Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives, HarperCollins, 1991, ISBN 0679729941
- Alan Bullock, Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, ISBN 0060920203
- Michael FitzGerald, 'Adolf Hitler: A Portrait,' Spellmount, 2006, ISBN 1862273227
- Joachim Fest, Hitler, Harvest Books, 2002, ISBN 0156027542
- Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris, W W Norton, 1999, and Hitler 1937-1945: Nemesis, W W Norton, 2000, ISBN 0393320359
- Lothar Machtan, The Hidden Hitler (Basic Books, 2001, ISBN 0-465-04308-9; English translation by John Brownjohn)

## External links

- Quotes by Hitler from Wikiquote
- Mondo Politico Library's presentation of Adolf Hitler's book, Mein Kampf (full text, formatted for easy on-screen reading)

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Categories: Politicians | World War II people | Austrian people | Nazism | German people | 1889 births | 1945 deaths

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