Dawn of the Nazis: Becoming Hitler
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Hitler in 1937
Hitler in Nuremburg, 1937
How did this Austrian who came out of nowhere succeed in conquering Germany? How did he sow the seeds of hatred and violence that led to the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of over ten million souls?How did Hitler become Hitler?
"Dawn of the Nazis: Becoming Hitler" examines this one man's life, as he rose from nothing to become arguably the most notorious dictator and war criminal in history.
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Baby Adolf
Adolf Hitler as an infant (c. 1889/1890)
Adolf is born in Austria on April 20, 1889 to Alois Hitler, a customs officer, and Klara Pölzl, Alois' third wife and, reputedly, his half-niece. Adolf would be the fourth of six children born to the couple, but only he and his youngest sister Paula are to survive childhood. When Adolf is three, the family moves to Passau, Germany, and two years later, to Leonding, near Linz. There his father enrolls him, against his wishes, in a technical high school where Adolf, unhappy there, gets poor grades. The death of his brother in 1900, followed by his father's death in 1903, leads to young Hitler getting kicked out of high school for disruptive behavior. His mother, with whom Hitler is very close, dies in 1907.
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Hitler's Art
Hitler is 19 years old when he moves from Linz to Vienna. There, he lives a rather bohemian lifestyle, barely eking a living on the money he earns from selling paintings to tourists. More than anything he aspires to be a serious artist. However, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna rejects him twice; his drawing skills were deemed "unsatisfactory."
It is in Vienna where young Hitler discovers the many ethnic communities living in the Austro-Hungarian capital: Czechs, Poles, Italians, Croatians, and Jews.
He will later state: “It appeared to me like the incarnation of racial profanation."
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Guarding Versailles
June 28, 1919: French soldiers during the signing of the Treaty of Versailles
When Germany enters World War I in 1914, Hitler enlists in the Royal Bavarian Army. He would serve as a runner, running messages between trenches in battle, and would be decorated for his bravery.
The war and its outcome would have a profound effect on Hitler and the German people. The Versailles Treaty is taken as a humiliation by a defeated Germany, who are made to pay enormous reparations, lose territories, and demilitarize the Rhineland. The Treaty declares Germany responsible for starting the war.
In 1919, Hitler returns to Munich and joins the radical German Workers' Party, later renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party (aka the Nazi Party). He would exploit the German people's anger over the Treaty of Versailles to fuel their rage and rally support for the party, blaming Communists, Jews, and others for the nation's downfall. He is an impassioned and rousing speaker.
On July 29, 1921, Hitler is elected Führer (leader) of the Nazi party.
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Salute
1926: Hitler salutes a crowd in Essen, Germany.
In November 1923, at a beer hall in Munich, Hitler leads the Nazi Party in a putsch to overthrow the German government. The coup is unsuccessful, and two days later, Hitler is arrested and charged with high treason. The Nazi Party is banned. Hitler is sentenced to five years in prison, where he pens his infamous, autobiographical propaganda book Mein Kampf.
After less than a year served, Hitler is released on good behavior, and immediately begins efforts to rebuild the Nazi Party. In 1925, he makes his political comeback in the famous Munich beer hall where he launched the putsch, reaffirming his leadership of the Nazi Party.
Over the next couple years, the Nazi Party grows at an incredible pace. At the beginning of 1926, the party claims a membership of 30,000—by the end of 1928, 130,000.
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Cult of Personality
August 1927: Hitler poses for a photograph by Heinrich Hoffmann, his personal photographer.
In Hoffmann’s small Munich photography shop, Hitler, inspired by Wagner and fascinated by opera singers’ theatrical movements, studies a whole range of gestures conveying domination which he will use in the first big Nazi rallies. Hitler states: “The masses are feminine and stupid. Only emotion and hatred can keep them under control.”
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Nazi Rally
1928: Hitler at a Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, Germany
In 1927, Hitler chooses Nuremberg as his ideological capital. A Nazi bastion and a medieval city of historical significance, Nuremberg has a Wagnerian allure which brings out its connection to the Germanic warlords of the Dark Ages.
Meanwhile, the rise of the Nazi Party continues at an alarming rate, and in Germany’s 1928 legislative elections, they make their first decent splash in the political arena. The Nazis obtain 2.6 percent of the vote. This is nowhere near a majority—the Communists receive three times as many, the central party four million, and the Right five million. The Social-Democrats come out on top with ten million votes. Yet, in the Reichstag, Berlin’s parliament, this 2.6 percent of the ballots, mainly from rural areas, translates into 12 new Nazi deputies.
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Hitler Portrait
1929: Hitler poses for another photograph by Heinrich Hoffman.
October 29, 1929—'Black Tuesday.' After an avalanche of panic, the US Stock Market has the most devastating crash in its history, kicking off a Great Depression that would last over a decade and wreak havoc across the globe.
The depression is catastrophic for Germany. One after the other, factories close their doors, and the number of unemployed reaches six million. Out of despair, many Germans turn to either the Nazis or the Communists, each party offering a different solution to the same devastation.
Hitler's solution involves euthanasia. "If Germany every year would have one million children, and would eliminate 700,000 to 800,000 of the weakest, the end result would probably be an increase in (national) strength."
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Hitler and Geli
Summer 1931: Hitler naps beside his niece, Angelika “Geli” Raubal, age 23.
Although the exact nature of their relationship is unknown, it is clear that Hitler has a passionate, almost obsessive devotion to his niece. He is infatuated and considers Geli the embodiment of ideal womanhood. Some claim that he is irrationally jealous and controlling of her, and even keeps her locked in his apartment when he is away. Reportedly, Geli confides to a friend: “My uncle is a monster. No one could imagine what he demands of me.”
That September, Raubal would commit suicide in Hitler's Munich apartment--with his own pistol.
Scandalous rumors circulate in the press accusing Hitler of sexual perversion and even of having Geli murdered. But nothing is proven and no charge is made. Hitler is devastated and sinks into a profound depression.
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Campaigning From the Sky
1932: Hitler stands in front of his campaign plane.
In another huge stride toward power, Hitler runs for President of Germany in the 1932 elections. His prized Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, devises an ultramodern election campaign using airplanes. One of the largest commercial planes of the time is provided by the director of Lufthansa Airlines. Hitler's campaign slogan is "Hitler über Deutschland" ("Hitler over Germany"), a reference to both his political ambitions and his campaigning in the sky.
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Hitler Was a Pilot
1932: Hitler signs an autograph during his campaign.
Sporting a Luftwaffe leather helmet, Hitler sets off on an aerial campaign tour of some 100 German towns. His pilot, Hans Baur, pictured on the right, recalls: “We flew in all kinds of weather, even in storms. Cancelling a rally was out of the question."
Ultimately, 13 million Germans would vote for Hitler in the 1932 election—over a third of the electorate—but it is not enough to win the presidency. Hindenburg, now 84 years old, is re-elected.
However all is not lost. Hindenburg agrees to another election, and Hitler continues campaigning.
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Nazi Parade
For Hitler, the first party to eliminate in the 1932 election campaign is the Communist Party.
That summer, SA storm troopers—now 400,000 strong—provoke bloody street battles with the Communists, unhindered by the complicit police, killing many and wounding hundreds. Many Germans, exhausted by the disorder and the government’s powerlessness, approve of the Nazis’ violent acts.
A second parliamentary election is held. The result: 230 Nazis are elected to parliament. Hitler is now head of the strongest political party in Germany.
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Electing Hitler
The president faces massive pressure to name Hitler Chancellor, but he refuses. “Before God, my conscience, and the fatherland," Hindenburg states, "I cannot hand over power to a party as intolerant as yours.” But the democratic process is paralyzed, as they can reach no parliamentary majority. New elections in November 1932 once again fail to break the deadlock.
Finally, on January 30, 1933, facing the impossibility of forming a majority, President Hindenburg reluctantly names Hitler Chancellor of Germany. Absolute power is now within Hitler's grasp.
That night, Goebbels organizes a torchlight parade of storm troopers through the streets of Berlin, to the audience of a frenzied crowd. One bystander recalls people shouting: "Death to the Jews! Jewish blood will gush under the knife!"
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Nazi Exercises
1933: Oranienburg concentration camp
By late March 1933, Hitler begins to build concentration camps. One of the first camps to be built is in the town of Oranienburg (pictured here), near Berlin. Another is built in Dachau, near Munich.
On March 21, the Communist Party is officially eliminated, giving the Nazi Party absolute majority. All political enemies of the Nazi Party are arrested and sent to concentration camps for "re-education." Two days later, the Reichstag passes the Enabling Act, giving Hitler the power to pass his own laws, independent of the president or anyone else. Hitler is now more powerful than any Kaiser in German history.
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Gaining Supporters
November 10, 1933: Adolf Hitler gives a speech to workers at Siemens Factory in Berlin.
"My fellow countrymen, my fellow German workers. I come from among your ranks. I was one of you, and I was right beside you during the four years of the War. Then, progressively, thanks to my perseverance, by educating myself, and by enduring great hunger, I lifted myself up! But deep down, I remained the same."
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Nazi Children Salute
German children, ca. 1930s
With the demise of President Hindenburg in August 1934, Hitler takes his final step towards dictatorship. Inheriting the presidency, he then consolidates the offices of President and Chancellor into one single position of absolute power—Führer and Chancellor of Germany—essentially giving one man, himself, total control over both state and government. The consolidation is approved in a public vote by nine to one.
The next morning's New York Times prints: "The endorsement gives Chancellor Hitler, who four years ago was not even a German citizen, dictatorial powers unequaled in any other country, and probably unequaled in history since the days of Genghis Khan. He has more power than Joseph Stalin in Russia, who has a party machine to reckon with; more power than Premier Mussolini of Italy who shares his prerogative with the titular ruler; more than any American President ever dreamed of. No other ruler has so widespread power nor so obedient and compliant subordinates. The question that interests the outside world now is what Chancellor Hitler will do with such unprecedented authority."
