The name Adolph Hitler has become almost synonymous with Nazi and is closely associated with the second world war. Never has one individual dominated his party and country so much in history. He had a very inauspicious beginning but became one of the most notorious figures in the world by the time of his death.
Adolph Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in Austria. He was the fourth child of six children. As a young child, Hitler became used to a sight that was to dominate his later life as he saw the death of three of his brothers and a sister.
He came from a devout Roman Catholic family with a very strict upbringing. Their father used the rod or his belt very frequently; quite possibly impressing on the young Adolph that using violence to achieve your goal was okay.
Some beatings were so bad that his mother would lie over the young Adolph to take some of the lashes. A close relationship developed to the point of Adolph being called a mummy’s boy.
At high school a history teacher introduced him to the concept of German nationalism. This gave purpose to a hitherto lacklustre life.
The country of Hitler’s birth, Austria, was part of a vast European empire from which Germany was formed in 1866. Both countries spoke the same language and as far as Hitler was concerned, the two countries should be united to form a pan German Reich.
In 1907 Hitler made a failed attempt to enter the famous school of arts in Vienna, the capital of Austria. His disappointment was exacerbated by the death of his mother from breast cancer. He made a second attempt but was rejected again.
Hitler plunged into deeper depression and with no attempt to find employment found himself with the down and outs of the city. He was later to write in his book “Mein Kampf(my struggle)”:-
“I owe it to that period that I grew hard and I am still capable of being hard.”
He survived by selling paintings of Viennese buildings. At this time he also took an interest in politics. He abhorred but at the same time was intrigued by the socialists.One thing that fascinated him about the socialists, was their fearlessness in using violence against the masses to get their point across. Later in his book “Mein Kampf”
he wrote:-
“I achieved an equal understanding of the importance of physical terror against the individual or the masses”.
According to Hitler a far right movement was needed as an antidote to the socialists if they were to counter the growing communism.
Nearly two hundred thousand jews lived in Vienna. For Hitler, this number was too much. In “Mein Kampf” he wrote:-
“Where ever I went, I saw jews and the more I saw the more they set themselves apart,in my eyes, from the rest of humanity. I stopped being a weak kneed cosmopolitan and became an anti-semite.”
From a very early age, Hitler had formed what were to become the nucleus of Nazi ideology. In “Mein Kampf” he wrote:-
“Vienna for me remains the hardest and most thorough school of my life. In it I obtained the foundations of a political view that never left me.”
In 1914, the first world war started. On the first day, Hitler joined the cheering crowd to celebrate the news in the belief that Germany would win.
The same day he joined the German army as a messenger. His job was to carry messages to the frontline. It must be said that he performed the role with much valour and was awarded an iron cross for bravery. However, in 1918, he was blinded by British mustard gas. He was taken to a German hospital where he was expected to regain his sight within hours or days. This did not happen. One story goes that a leading psychologist was called in to hypnotise Hitler. The psychologist told him that he was different from the others and that his sight could only be restored by force of his will. This treatment helped to instil in Hitler that despite his humble background he has been singled out by destiny and somehow he was special.
Germany lost the war in 1918 and to the disdain of Hitler and many others an armistice was signed; signalling the beginning of the humiliation of Germany. The November criminals as the people in charge were called, stabbed Germany in the back by conceding defeat to the allies in a war they could have won. The coffin to Germany’s humiliation was nailed with the signing of the Versailles treaty in 1919.
The constitution of Germany was also reformed. The Weimar republic, as it was called, consisted of an elected president with emergency powers to overrule the parliament. Proportional representation was the order of the day for the parliament. The chancellor(prime minister) normally leader of the largest party in parliament was selected by the president.
Hitler was asked by the army to infiltrate the German Worker’s Party(Its acronym in German was DAP for Deutsche Arbeiterpartei). It was an ultra-nationalist, anti-communist, anti-capitalist and an anti-jew group. The views of Hitler tallied with the basic tenets of this group and with time, became a prominent member.
By 1920 the leadership of the party began to take note of his activism particularly his oratory skills when putting forward his views to other members. They started giving him more responsibilities in their propaganda campaigns.
The DAP became the NSDAP with the NS meaning Nationalist Socialist or in German “Nazis” for short. Their logo,the swastika, was designed by Adolph Hitler. The swastika was originally used by indian religions like Bhuddism and Hinduism as a symbol of spirituality or divinity. This symbol has been hijacked by the Nazis. Nowadays people associate this symbol with them.
When the Nazis chose this symbol as their emblem, they corrupted it’s true meaning. It was originally meant as a symbol of peace but people tend to associate it with the opposite.
According to the Nazis, the Germans were descendants of the Aryan race. As such they were superior to any other race. The purity of the race had to be maintained by not marrying outside your race. By their reckoning, the jews were way down on the food chain and deserved to be treated inhumanely.
In 1921 argument broke out amidst the still fledgling Nazi party. During this melee Hitler threatened to leave. Such was his oratory ability that the chairmanship of the party was offered to him.
The Nazis popularity increased as people became disenchanted with the performance of the Weimer Republic. Inflation was at an all time high. A popular German newspaper printed a cartoon in which a man filled a wheel barrow with money to buy a loaf bread. He went into the shop but when he came back out, all the money was on the floor because somebody had stolen the wheel barrow. Such was the value of the German currency.
In 1923 because of Germany’s inability to pay back reparations as was stipulated in the treaty of Versailles, France occupied the Rurh. A lot of Germans were forced out.Some were made to work in the coal mines or steel factories thus making the German economy even worse. The situation in the country fuelled the rise of the Nazis.
Hitler capitalised on the general discontent of the country to attempt a failed coup on the Weimer Republic late in November of that year.
The Nazi party was banned, some of its members were killed and Hitler was jailed for treason. During his time in prison he wrote “Mein Kampf(my struggle)” which became a best seller in Germany.
When he was released, the Nazis had to start from scratch again. This time round, life was made easier with the publication of “Mein Kampf” and Hitler’s notoriety in certain circles as a public speaker. Inflation was under better control as the Weimer Republic introduced a new currency in Germany. Despite these changes, conditions remained bad for a lot of people; making the country a fertile land for extremist groups to flourish.
A world event of note in our discourse was the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its repercussions on the German economy was enormous. Financial help from the U.S which Germany so relied on, was not forth coming. The German economy plummeted into depression which turned to be advantageous to the Nazis in the 1930 Reichstag elections.
In the elections of 1930, the Nazis won 18% of the votes thus marking them as major players in German politics. This prompted Hitler to stand for the presidency in 1932.Though Hiddenburg won the election Hitler had 35% of the votes.
In the Reichstag elections of 1933 no party had majority rule. In such a situation, the Weimar constitution allowed the president to use emergency powers and choose a chancellor to oversee parliament. Though not a fan of Hitler Hiddenburg appointed him as chancellor given his last showing in the presidential elections.
In February of 1933, a fire was started in the Reichstag. Marius van Der Lubbe was found at the scene. As a member of the communist party, the theory that the communist were behind the incident was given credence. It also gave Hitler the opportunity to advice Hiddenburg to use his emergency powers to suspend civil liberties. Hiddenburg complied.
In March of that year, there was another Reichstag election in which the Nazis won 44% of the votes. This was not enough to rule by themselves but they were able to form a majority coalition.
This coalition passed the Enabling Act which amended the Weimar constitution to give the chancellor(Adolph Hitler) unlimited legislative powers for the next four years.
After this act, the Nazis were in full control of the government. They wasted no time in intimidating other parties that by July of that year, the Nazis were the only legal party in Germany. Hitler’s reign of terror started.
In 1934 Hiddenburg died. Hitler combined the offices of the presidency and chancellor to become fuhrer of Germany. From then on, he went forth and plundered with impunity.
On the final analysis, it must be stated that Hitler used the democratic means to attain power. Once that power was attained, on the infamous “night of long knives”, he eliminated all opposition to become probably the most notorious dictator in history.
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