Adolf Hitler years of life. Biography of Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler (b. 1889 - d. 1945) Head of the German fascist state, Nazi criminal.

The name of this man, who plunged the peoples of the world into the crucible of World War II, is forever associated with the most terrible, most massive crimes against humanity.

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in the Austrian city of Braunau am Inn in the family of Alois and Clara Hitler. So little was known about his ancestors, and even about his father himself, that this caused many rumors and suspicions among Hitler’s associates, even to the point that the Fuhrer was a Jew. He himself wrote very vaguely about his ancestors in the book “Mein Kampf”, indicating only that his father worked as a customs officer. But it is known that Alois was the illegitimate child of Maria Schicklgruber, who at that time worked for the Jew Frankenburger. She then married Georg Hitler, who recognized his son as his only in 1876, when he was already approaching 40.

Adolf's father was married three times, the third time he even needed permission from the Catholic Church, because his bride Clara Pelzl was closely related to him. Conversations about Hitler's origins stopped only after January 1933, when he came to power. According to the latest data from biographers, Adolf Hitler is a product of incest, because his paternal grandfather was also his maternal great-grandfather, and his father was married to the daughter of his half-sister.

Clara Hitler gave birth to six children, but only two survived - Adolf and Paula. In addition to them, the family raised two children of Alois from his second marriage - Alois and Angela, whose daughter Geli became Adolf's great love. His sister, to whom he later treated like a father, had been running his household since 1936, and there is information that she secretly helped people sentenced to death on behalf of her brother as best she could.

Believing that Adolf should become an official and take a proper position in society, his father decided to give him a good education. 1895 - the family moved to Linz, and Alois retired, then bought a farm with 4 hectares of land and an apiary near Lambach. That same year, the future Fuhrer entered the first grade of elementary school. There he, his mother’s favorite, had the opportunity to learn what discipline, compliance, and submission are. The boy studied well. In addition, he sang in the choir at the Benedictine monastery, took singing lessons in his free time, and some of the mentors believed that in the future he could become a priest.

However, at the age of 11, Adolf told his father that he did not want to be a civil servant, but dreamed of becoming an artist, especially since he actually had great abilities for drawing. It is curious that he preferred to depict frozen views - bridges, buildings, and never people. An angry father sent him to study at a real school in Linz. There, Adolf was captivated by the ardent nationalism manifested among the Germans living in Austria-Hungary, and he and his comrades, greeting each other, began to say: “Heil!” He was greatly influenced by the lectures of his history teacher, the German nationalist Petsch.

1903 - Father died unexpectedly, and the following year Hitler was expelled from school for poor performance. Three years later, at the insistence of his mother, he tried to enter the Academy of Arts in Vienna, but failed. His work was considered mediocre. Soon the mother also died. The second attempt to enter the academy was also unsuccessful, and Adolf, confident in his talent, blamed the teachers for everything. For some time he lived in Vienna with his friend August Kubizek, then left him, wandered, and then settled in a men's hostel.

He painted small pictures with views of Vienna and sold them in cafes and taverns. During this period, Hitler began to frequently fall into hysterics. There, in taverns, he became close to the radical circles of Vienna and became an ardent anti-Semite. He did not tolerate the Czechs either, but he was convinced that Austria should join Germany. A year before World War I, Adolf, avoiding conscription into the Austrian army because he did not want to be in the same barracks with the Czechs and other Slavs, moved to Munich.

Immediately after the declaration of war, he volunteered to enlist in the German army, becoming a soldier of the 1st company of the 16th Bavarian infantry regiment. 1914, November - for his participation in the battle with the British near the city of Ypres, Hitler was promoted to rank (became a corporal) and, on the recommendation of the adjutant of the regiment commander, the Jew Hugo Gutman, was awarded the Iron Cross, II degree.

With his fellow soldiers, the future Fuhrer behaved with restraint, with a sense of superiority, loved to argue, uttering loud phrases, and once, having sculpted clay figures, he addressed them with a speech, promising to build a people's state after the victory. If the situation allowed, he constantly read Schopenhauer’s book “The World as Will and Representation.” Even then, the basis of Adolf’s life philosophy became his statements: “Right is on the side of might,” “I do not suffer from bourgeois remorse,” “I deeply believe that I was chosen by fate for the German people.” He received deep satisfaction from military operations and did not experience horror or disgust at the sight of suffering and death.

1916, September - he, having received a shrapnel wound in the thigh, was sent to a Berlin hospital, but, plunging there into an atmosphere of pessimism, poverty and hunger and blaming the Jews for all this, in December he hurried to return to the front. 1918, August - on the proposal of the same Hugo Gutmann, he was awarded the Iron Cross, 1st degree, which Adolf Hitler was very proud of. In October, he received severe mustard gas poisoning during a British gas attack and was again hospitalized. There he was caught by the news of the surrender of Germany, and he, based on the conviction of his chosenness, decides to become a politician.

This decision successfully coincided with the mood in the country caused by the November revolution, the shame of the Treaty of Versailles, inflation, unemployment and the people's hope for the emergence of a leader who could lead Germany out of the deadlock. Racist views developed, declaring the Ario-Germanic god-man the pinnacle of human development, occultism, esotericism and magic, the pillars of which were Helena Blavatsky, Herbiger, Gaushofer,. Herbiger's student Zobettendorf founded the secret society "Thule", where Hitler became acquainted with the knowledge of ancient secret cults, mystical, demonic and satanic movements and received additional incentive to his already established anti-Semitism.

Also in 1918, one of Zobettendorf's students, Anton Drexler, founded a circle of workers, which quickly grew into the German Workers' Party. Adolf was also invited to it as a good speaker. Before this, he took a course in political education and worked among soldiers returning from captivity and largely infected with Marxist propaganda. Adolf Hitler's speeches focused on topics such as the "November Criminals" or the "Jewish-Marxist World Conspiracy."

Dietrich Eckert, a writer and poet, head of the newspaper Völkischer Beobachter, an ardent nationalist and one of the founders of the Thule Society, invested a lot in Adolf as a speaker and politician. Eckert worked on his speech, writing, presentation style, magic tricks to win over an audience, as well as good manners and the art of dressing well; introduced him to fashion salons.

1920, February - in the Munich beer hall "Hofbräuhaus" Adolf proclaimed the program of the party, which soon received a new name - the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (NSDAP), one of the leaders of which, despite the opposition of some veterans of the movement, he became. After that, he had guards with the faces of criminals. Every evening Adolf Hitler walked around the beer halls of Munich, speaking out against the Jews and the dictates of Versailles. His fiery, hateful speeches became popular.

In one of his speeches in the Austrian city of Salzburg, he outlined his program on the “Jewish problem”: “We must know whether our nation can eventually regain health and whether the Jewish spirit can somehow be eradicated. Do not hope that you can fight against the disease without destroying the carrier of the infection, without killing the bacilli. The infection will continue, and the poisoning will not be stopped until the carrier of the infection, that is, Jewry, is expelled once and for all.”

At this time, new people joined the party: Rudolf Hess, brothers Gregor and Otto Strasser, captain Ernst Rehm, who liaised between Hitler and the army. The party now has an emblem - a black swastika in a white circle on a red background. The red color symbolized the social ideals of the party, white - nationalist, the swastika - the victory of the Aryan race.

Quickly, the Nazis moved from words to deeds: they took to the streets of Munich under red banners. Adolf Hitler himself scattered leaflets and put up posters. His performances at the Krohn Circus brought him great success. 1921 - Hitler seized leadership of the party, pushing aside the previous leaders, and became the Fuhrer. Under the leadership of Rem, a “gymnastic and sports division” was created, which became the striking force of the party; and soon it was renamed “assault troops” - SA.

Nationalist-minded officers, demobilized soldiers, and war veterans are attracted here. From that time on, the Nazis switched to violent actions, disrupting the speeches of Hitler's political opponents with fists and clubs. For one of these acts, Adolf even went to prison for three months. Despite the ban by the authorities, numerous marches and rallies of stormtroopers take place in Munich, and in November 1923, with the support of General Ludendorff, Hitler at the head of the SA detachments began a putsch.

But the army did not support him, the police fired at the procession, and many NSDAP leaders were arrested, including Hitler. While in prison (9 months out of 5 years by sentence), he wrote the book “Mein Kampf”, where on 400 pages he outlined his racial theory, view of government, and a program for the liberation of Europe from Jews. 1925 - the Fuhrer began to have friction with his associates: with Rehm, who was against coming to power through legal means, with the Strasser brothers and even with Goebbels, who advocated the complete confiscation of the property of the monarchists, but the Fuhrer received money precisely from the nobility.

Two years later, SS units were created - Hitler's Praetorian Guard, of which he became one of the leaders. At the same time, the Nazis chose Nuremberg as their capital, where thousands of stormtroopers marched, the number of which reached 100,000 people, and party congresses.

At the end of the 20s. The NSDAP's struggle for parliamentary seats both in the Reichstag and in local Landtags ended in complete failure. They are not needed - the German economy is booming. However, as a result of the global economic crisis of 1929 and the depression, unemployment and poverty began to rapidly increase in the country. Under such conditions, at the next elections the NSDAP received 107 parliamentary seats and became the second faction in the Reichstag after the Social Democrats. The communists had slightly fewer seats.

Nazi deputies sat in the Reichstag in their uniforms with swastika armbands. 1931 - steel magnate Franz Thyssen introduced the Fuhrer into the circle of rich people who were disillusioned with the government and bet on the Nazis. The following year, Adolf Hitler became a German citizen and received 36.8% of the vote in the presidential election, losing to Hindenburg. However, at the same time, Hitler's associate Goering became chairman of the Reichstag.

1933 was the Fuhrer's finest hour: on January 30, Hindenburg appointed him Chancellor of the Reich. The Nazi regime began to be established in the country. The prologue to this was the arson of the Reichstag on February 27. The Communists were blamed for this (by the way, it later became known about an underground tunnel connecting Goering’s palace with the Reichstag building). The Communist Party was outlawed, and thousands of communists, including Reichstag deputies, were thrown into prison. Thousands of books that the Nazis considered Marxist, including G. Mann, Remarque, Sinclair, were publicly burned at the stake.

Then came the closure of trade unions and the arrests of their leaders. Jews and representatives of leftist forces were prohibited from entering government service. They adopted a law according to which the Fuhrer received emergency powers, and after the death of President Hindenburg in 1934, a new president was not elected: the chancellor also became the head of state. All parties were dissolved except the NSDAP, under whose control both the education of youth and the press were placed. The country's first concentration camp for political opponents of the Nazis opened in Dachau. A regime of terror was established in the country. In order not to participate in the Conference on Disarmament, the Fuhrer announced Germany's withdrawal from the League of Nations.

At this time, disagreements intensified between Rehm, who sought to strengthen his power and relied on the SA, and the Fuhrer, who was supported by the army, which demanded that Hitler take action against the stormtroopers. Remus, preparing to seize power, brought his troops into combat readiness. And then Hitler made up his mind. 1934, June 30 - with the help of the Gestapo (secret police), arrests, executions and simply murders of SA leaders were carried out. Rem was arrested by Adolf Hitler himself, and he was killed in prison. In total, about 1,000 SA leaders were killed. Now the Fuhrer relied only on the SS, led by Himmler, who had distinguished himself during these events.

And then the demolition of the Versailles system begins. Universal conscription was introduced. German troops occupied the Saar region and occupied the left bank of the Rhine. Intensified rearmament of the army began. Selected units of it were sent to Spain to help General Franco. The Fuhrer created the Anti-Comintern Pact, which included Japan and Italy. Germany began preparing for a war for “living space” both economically and militarily. At the same time (1938), Adolf Hitler put the army under his control, dismissed the Minister of War, Field Marshal von Blomberg, and the commander of the ground forces, Fritsch.

In the same year, the Germans occupied Austria without resistance and, with the consent of England and France (conference in Munich), began to dismember Czechoslovakia. At the same time, laws on citizenship and marriage were adopted, directed against Jews: they were deprived of citizenship, Germans were prohibited from marrying them, they are now subhuman. Soon the gypsies were equated with them. And then the Jewish pogroms began. They smashed synagogues and shops and beat people. And then the deportation of Jews from the Reich began. Was the Fuhrer an anti-Semite? Undoubtedly, but by no means the first. All this happened before. Only the scale of anti-Semitism, elevated to the rank of state policy in Germany, many times exceeded everything that had happened before.

1939, September 1 - by attacking Poland, the Fuhrer started World War II. By 1943, almost all of Europe lay at his feet: from the Volga to the Atlantic. With the beginning of the war, at the instigation of R. Heydrich, the “final solution to the Jewish question” began. There was talk of the extermination of 11 million people. It is curious that the Fuhrer refrained from giving a written order about this. But on his orders, the crippled, terminally ill and mentally handicapped were destroyed. All this was done to preserve the purity of the Aryan race.

Since 1943, the decline began, Hitler began to be haunted by only failures. And then a group of conspirators decided to put an end to him. This was not the first. Back on November 8, 1939, when he performed at the Munich beer hall "Bürgerbraukeller", an explosion killed eight people and injured 63. But Hitler survived because he left the pub an hour earlier. There is a version that the assassination attempt was organized by Himmler, who hoped to blame the British for this. Now, in 1944, the top of the army took part in the conspiracy.

On July 20, during a meeting at Hitler's Wolf's Lair headquarters, a bomb exploded, planted by Lieutenant Colonel Stauffenberg. Four people were killed and many were injured. Hitler was protected by the lid of an oak table, and he escaped with shell shock. A brutal reprisal followed. Some of the conspirators were mercifully given the opportunity to commit suicide, some were executed immediately, and eight people were hanged from piano strings on meat hooks.

At this time, the Fuhrer's health deteriorated sharply: nervous tics, trembling of his left arm and leg, stomach cramps, dizziness; bouts of frenzied rage were replaced by depression. He lay in bed for hours, quarreled with generals, and was betrayed by his comrades. And Soviet troops were already near Berlin. Meanwhile, on April 29, 1945, the marriage of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun took place.

Little is known about Hitler's relationships with women in his youth. During the First World War in 1916–1917. he had an intimate relationship with the Frenchwoman Charlotte Lobjoie, who gave birth to an illegitimate son in 1918. In the 1920s in Munich, Adolf was considered a “Don Juan.” Among his fans were the wife of a piano manufacturer, Elena Bechstein, and the wife of a publisher, Elsa Bruckman, and Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe, and Martha Dodd, the daughter of the American ambassador. But his great love became his niece, whom he moved to Munich in 1928. Geli was 19 years younger than him. He spent money on her from the party treasury and was jealous of everyone.

By the way, in the future, Hitler did not make much difference between personal money and state money, whether collecting an art collection for his summer residence in Bavaria or reconstructing the palace in Poland, where he was going to move. (By 1945, about 20 million marks from the state budget were spent on reconstruction.) After Geli’s suicide in 1928, Adolf experienced a deep shock and even wanted to shoot himself. He became depressed, withdrew into himself, tormented himself with reproaches and stopped eating meat and animal fats; forbade everyone from entering her room and ordered her bust from the sculptor Thorak, which was eventually exhibited in the Reich Chancellery.

True, he himself expressed the Fuhrer’s attitude towards women, believing that a great man can afford to “keep a girl” to satisfy his physical needs and treat her at his own discretion. He met Eva Braun in 1929 in the studio of his personal photographer Hoffman. Since 1932, she became his mistress, being 23 years younger. Eva was jealous: in 1935, out of jealousy, she even tried to commit suicide. And then Hitler “officially” confessed his love to her. But the wedding took place only ten years later, and their family life lasted less than a day.

On April 30, the couple committed suicide: according to one version, Eva took poison and the Fuhrer shot himself. Their corpses were taken out into the garden and set on fire. Before bequeathed his entire personal fortune to his sister Paula. In his political testament, he transferred power to the new government led by Goebbels and again blamed the Jews for everything: “Centuries will pass, and from the ruins of our cities and art monuments, hatred will be revived again and again against the people who are ultimately responsible for this, to the one to whom we owe everything, to international Jewry and its collaborators.”

A forensic medical examination of the remains of “presumably Hitler’s corpse,” carried out by representatives of the Soviet Union on the jaw, was soon called into question. Stalin even stated at the Potsdam Conference that no corpse had been found and that the Fuhrer was taking refuge in Spain or South America. All this gave rise to a lot of rumors. Therefore, publications sounded sensational that until 1982 the remains of Adolf Hitler were kept in Moscow, and then, on the orders of Yu. Andropov, they were destroyed, only the skull was preserved. To this day, many strange and unreliable things remain in the history of death.

The central figure in the history of the first half of the 20th century, the main instigator of the Second World War, the perpetrator of the Holocaust, the founder of totalitarianism in Germany and in the territories it occupied. And all this is one person. How did Hitler die: did he take poison, shoot himself, or die a very old man? This question has concerned historians for almost 70 years.

Childhood and youth

The future dictator was born on April 20, 1889 in the city of Braunau am Inn, which at that time was located in Austria-Hungary. From 1933 until the end of World War II, Hitler's birthday was a public holiday in Germany.

Adolf's family was low-income: his mother, Clara Pelzl, was a peasant woman, his father, Alois Hitler, was initially a shoemaker, but over time began to work in customs. After the death of her husband, Clara and her son lived quite comfortably, dependent on relatives.

Since childhood, Adolf showed a talent for drawing. In his youth he studied music. He especially liked the works of the German composer W.R. Wagner. Every day he visited theaters and coffee houses, read adventure novels and German mythology, loved to walk around Linz, loved picnics and sweets. But his favorite pastime was still drawing, which Hitler later began to earn his living with.

Military service

During the First World War, the future Fuhrer of Germany voluntarily joined the ranks of the German army. At first he was a private, later a corporal. During the fighting he was wounded twice. At the end of the war he was awarded the Iron Cross of the first and second degrees.

Hitler perceived the defeat of the German Empire in 1918 as a knife in his own back, because he was always confident in the greatness and invincibility of his country.

The rise of a Nazi dictator

After the failure of the German army, he returned to Munich and joined the German armed forces - the Reichswehr. Later, on the advice of his closest comrade E. Rehm, he became a member of the German Workers' Party. Instantly relegating its founders to the background, Hitler became the head of the organization.

About a year later it was renamed the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (German abbreviation NSDAP). It was then that Nazism began to emerge. The party's program points reflected A. Hitler's main ideas on restoring the state power of Germany:

Establishment of the supremacy of the German Empire over Europe, especially over the Slavic lands;

Liberation of the country's territory from foreigners, namely from Jews;

Replacing the parliamentary regime with one leader, who would concentrate power over the entire country in his hands.

In 1933, these points would find their way into his autobiography, Mein Kampf, which translated from German means “My Struggle.”

Power

Thanks to the NSDAP, Hitler quickly became a famous politician, whose opinion was taken into account by other figures.

On November 8, 1923, a rally was held in Munich, at which the leader of the National Socialists announced the beginning of the German revolution. During the so-called Beer Hall Putsch, it was necessary to destroy the treacherous power of Berlin. When he led his supporters to the square to storm the administrative building, the German army opened fire on them. At the beginning of 1924, the trial of Hitler and his associates took place, they were given 5 years in prison. Nevertheless, they were released after just nine months.

Due to their prolonged absence, a split occurred in the NSDAP. The future Fuhrer and his allies E. Rehm and G. Strasser revived the party, but not as a former regional, but as a national political power. In early 1933, German President Hindenburg appointed Hitler to the post of Reich Chancellor. From that moment on, the Prime Minister began to implement the program points of the NSDAP. By order of Hitler, his comrades Rehm, Strasser and many others were killed.

The Second World War

Until 1939, the million-strong German Wehrmacht split Czechoslovakia and annexed Austria and the Czech Republic. Having secured the consent of Joseph Stalin, Hitler launched a war against Poland, as well as England and France. Having achieved successful results at this stage, the Fuhrer entered the war with the USSR.

The defeat of the Soviet army initially led to Germany’s seizure of the territories of Ukraine, the Baltic states, Russia and other union republics. A regime of tyranny that had no equal was established on the annexed lands. However, from 1942 to 1945, the Soviet army liberated its territories from the German invaders, as a result of which the latter were forced to retreat to their borders.

Death of the Fuhrer

A common version of the following events is Hitler's suicide on April 30, 1945. But did it happen? And was the leader of Germany even in Berlin at that time? Realizing that the German troops would be defeated again, he could leave the country before the Soviet army captured it.

Until now, for historians and ordinary people, the mystery of the death of the dictator of Germany is interesting and mysterious: where, when and how Hitler died. Today there are many hypotheses about this.

Version one. Berlin

The capital of Germany, a bunker under the Reich Chancellery - it is here, as is commonly believed, that A. Hitler shot himself. He made the decision to commit suicide on the afternoon of April 30, 1945, in connection with the end of the assault on Berlin by the army of the Soviet Union.

People close to the dictator and his companion Eva Braun claimed that he himself shot himself in the mouth with a pistol. The woman, as it turned out a little later, poisoned herself and the shepherd dog with potassium cyanide. Witnesses also reported what time Hitler died: he fired the shot between 15:15 and 15:30.

Eyewitnesses of the picture made the only, in their opinion, correct decision - to burn the corpses. Since the area outside the bunker was continuously shelled, Hitler’s henchmen hastily carried the bodies to the surface of the earth, doused them with gasoline and set them on fire. The fire barely flared up and soon went out. The process was repeated a couple of times until the bodies were charred. Meanwhile, the artillery shelling intensified. Hitler's lackey and adjutant hastily covered the remains with earth and returned to the bunker.

On May 5, the Soviet military discovered the dead bodies of the dictator and his mistress. Their service personnel were hiding in the Reich Chancellery. The servants were captured for interrogation. Cooks, lackeys, security guards and others claimed that they saw someone being taken out of the dictator’s personal chambers, but Soviet intelligence never received clear answers to the question of how Adolf Hitler died.

A few days later, Soviet intelligence services established the location of the corpse and began to immediately examine it, but it also did not give positive results, because the remains found were mostly badly burned. The only way of identification was the jaws, which were well preserved.

Intelligence found and interrogated Hitler's dental assistant, Ketti Goiserman. Based on specific dentures and fillings, Frau determined that the jaw belonged to the late Fuhrer. Even later, security officers found prosthetist Fritz Echtman, who confirmed the assistant’s words.

In November 1945, Arthur Axman was detained, one of the participants in the very meeting held on April 30 in the bunker, at which it was decided to burn the bodies of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun. His story coincided in detail with the testimony given by the servant a few days after such a significant event in the history of the end of World War II - the fall of the capital of Nazi Germany, Berlin.

The remains were then packed into boxes and buried near Berlin. Later they were dug up and buried again several times, changing their location. Later, the USSR government decided to cremate the bodies and scatter the ashes to the wind. The only thing that was left for the KGB archive was the jaw and part of the skull of the former Fuhrer of Germany, which was hit by a bullet.

The Nazi could have survived

The question of how Hitler died, in fact, still remains open. After all, could the witnesses (mostly allies and assistants of the dictator) give false information in order to lead the Soviet intelligence services astray? Certainly.

That’s exactly what Hitler’s dental assistant did. After Ketty Goizerman was released from Soviet camps, she immediately retracted her information. This is the first thing. Secondly, according to USSR intelligence officers, the jaw may not belong to the Fuhrer, since it was found separately from the corpse. One way or another, these facts give rise to attempts by historians and journalists to get to the bottom of the truth - where Adolf Hitler died.

Version two. South America, Argentina

There are a large number of hypotheses regarding the escape of the German dictator from besieged Berlin. One of them is the assumption that Hitler died in America, where he fled with Eva Braun on April 27, 1945. This theory was provided by British writers D. Williams and S. Dunstan. In the book “Gray Wolf: The Escape of Adolf Hitler,” they suggested that in May 1945, Soviet intelligence services found the bodies of doubles of the Fuhrer and his mistress Eva Braun, and the real ones, in turn, left the bunker and went to the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina.

The overthrown German dictator, even there, cherished his dream of a new Reich, which, fortunately, was not destined to come true. Instead, Hitler, having married Eva Braun, found family happiness and two daughters. The writers also named in what year Hitler died. According to them, it was 1962, February 13th.

The story seems absolutely meaningless, but the authors urge you to remember 2009, in which they conducted research on the skull found in the bunker. Their results showed that the part of the head that had been shot belonged to a woman.

Important proof

The British consider the interview of Soviet Marshal G. Zhukov dated June 10, 1945, as another confirmation of their theory, where he reports that the corpse that was found by USSR intelligence in early May of the same year might not have belonged to the Fuhrer. That there is no evidence to say exactly how Hitler died.

The military leader also does not rule out the possibility that Hitler could have been in Berlin on April 30 and left the city at the last minute. He could choose any point on the map for subsequent residence, including South America. Thus, we can assume that Hitler died in Argentina, where he lived for the last 17 years.

Version three. South America, Brazil

There are suggestions that Hitler died at 95. This is reported in the book “Hitler in Brazil - His Life and Death” by writer Simoni Rene Gorreiro Diaz. In her opinion, in 1945, the overthrown Fuhrer managed to escape from besieged Berlin. He lived in Argentina, then in Paraguay, until he settled on Nossa Senhora do Livramento. This small town is located in the state of Mato Grosso. The journalist is sure that Adolf Hitler died in Brazil in 1984.

The ex-Führer chose this state because it is sparsely populated and Jesuit treasures are supposedly buried in its lands. Hitler's comrades from the Vatican informed him about the treasure and gave him a map of the area.

The refugee lived in complete secret. Changed his name to Ajolf Leipzig. Diaz is sure that he chose this surname not by chance, because his favorite composer V. R. Wagner was born in the city of the same name. His cohabitant was Cutinga, a black woman whom Hitler met upon his arrival in do Livramento. The author of the book published their photograph.

In addition, Simoni Diaz wants to compare the DNA of things that were provided to her by a relative of the Nazi dictator from Israel, and the remains of Azholf Leipzig's clothes. The journalist hopes for test results that may support the hypothesis that Hitler actually died in Brazil.

Most likely, these newspaper publications and books are just speculation that arises with each new historical fact. At least that's what I'd like to think. Even if this did not happen in 1945, it is unlikely that we will ever know in what year Hitler actually died. But we can be absolutely sure that death overtook him in the last century.

Chairman (Führer) of the NSDAP party, head of Nazi Germany, Reich Chancellor in 1933-1945, dictator

short biography

Adolf Gitler(German: Adolf Hitler [ˈaːdɔlf ˈhɪtlɐ]; April 20, 1889, the village of Ranshofen (now part of the city of Braunau am Inn), Austria-Hungary - April 30, 1945, Berlin, Germany) - the founder and central figure of National Socialism, founder totalitarian dictatorship of the Third Reich, leader ( Fuhrer) National Socialist German Workers' Party (1921-1945), Reich Chancellor (1933-1945) and Fuhrer (1934-1945) of Germany, Supreme Commander of the German Armed Forces (from December 19, 1941) in World War II.

Hitler's expansionist policy became one of the main reasons for the outbreak of World War II. His name is associated with numerous crimes against humanity committed by the Nazi regime both in Germany itself and in the territories it occupied, including the Holocaust. The International Military Tribunal found the organizations created by Hitler (SS, Security Service (SD) and Gestapo) and the leadership of the Nazi Party itself criminal.

Etymology of the surname

According to the famous German philologist and onomastics specialist Max Gottschald (1882-1952), the surname “Hitler” ( Hitlaer, Hiedler) was identical to the surname Hütler(“keeper”, probably “forest ranger”, Waldhütler).

Pedigree

Father - Alois Hitler (1837-1903). Mother - Clara Hitler (1860-1907), née Pölzl.

Alois, being illegitimate, until 1876 bore the surname of his mother Maria Anna Schicklgruber (German: Schicklgruber). Five years after the birth of Alois, Maria Schicklgruber married miller Johann Georg Hiedler, who spent his entire life in poverty and did not have his own home. In 1876, three witnesses certified that Gidler, who died in 1857, was the father of Alois, which allowed the latter to change his surname. The change in the spelling of the surname to “Hitler” was allegedly caused by a mistake by the priest when recording in the “Birth Registration Book”. Modern researchers consider the probable father of Alois not Gidler, but his brother Johann Nepomuk Güttler, who took Alois into his house and raised him.

Adolf Hitler himself, contrary to the statement widespread since the 1920s and included at the suggestion of the candidate of historical sciences, associate professor and senior researcher at the Institute of General History of the USSR Academy of Sciences V.D. Kulbakin, even in the 3rd edition of the TSB, never bore the surname Schicklgruber.

On January 7, 1885, Alois married his relative (great-niece of Johann Nepomuk Güttler) Clara Pölzl. This was his third marriage. By this time he had a son, Alois, and a daughter, Angela, who later became the mother of Geli Raubal, Hitler's alleged mistress. Due to family ties, Alois had to obtain permission from the Vatican to marry Clara.

Hitler knew about the incest in his family and therefore always spoke very briefly and vaguely about his parents, although he demanded from others documentary evidence of their ancestors. Since the end of 1921, he began to constantly reassess and obscure his origins. He wrote only a few sentences about his father and maternal grandfather. On the contrary, he mentioned his mother very often in conversations. Because of this, he did not tell anyone that he was related (in a direct line from Johann Nepomuk) to the Austrian historian Rudolf Koppensteiner and the Austrian poet Robert Hamerling.

Adolf's direct ancestors, both through the Schicklgruber and Hitler lines, were peasants. Only the father made a career and became a government official.

Hitler had an attachment to the places of his childhood only to Leonding, where his parents were buried, Spital, where his maternal relatives lived, and Linz. He visited them even after coming to power.

Childhood

Adolf Hitler was born in Austria, in the city of Braunau am Inn near the border with Germany on April 20, 1889 at 18:30 at the Pomeranz Hotel. Two days later he was baptized with the name Adolf. Hitler was very similar to his mother. The eyes, shape of the eyebrows, mouth and ears were exactly like hers. His mother, who gave birth to him at the age of 29, loved him very much. Before that, she lost three children.

Until 1892, the family lived in Braunau in the Hotel U Pomeranz, the most representative house in the suburb. In addition to Adolf, his half-brother Alois and sister Angela lived in the family. In August 1892, the father received a promotion and the family moved to Passau.

On March 24, brother Edmund (1894-1900) was born, and Adolf ceased to be the center of attention of the family for some time. On April 1, my father received a new appointment in Linz. But the family remained in Passau for another year so as not to move with the newborn baby.

In April 1895, the family gathers in Linz. On May 1, Adolf, at the age of six, entered a one-year public school in Fischlgam near Lambach. And on June 25, my father unexpectedly retired early due to health reasons. In July 1895, the family moved to Gafeld near Lambach am Traun, where the father bought a house with a plot of land of 38 thousand square meters. m.

At primary school in Fischlgam, Adolf studied well and received only excellent marks. In 1939, he visited this school and bought it, and then ordered the construction of a new school building nearby.

On January 21, 1896, Adolf's sister Paula was born. He was especially attached to her all his life and always took care of her.

In 1896, Hitler entered the second grade of the Lambach school of the old Catholic Benedictine monastery, which he attended until the spring of 1898. Here he also received only good grades. He sang in the boys' choir and was an assistant priest during mass. Here he first saw a swastika on the coat of arms of Abbot Hagen. Later he ordered the same one to be carved out of wood in his office.

In the same year, due to his father’s constant nagging, his half-brother Alois left home. After this, Adolf became the central figure of his father's worries and constant pressure, since his father was afraid that Adolf would grow up to be the same slacker as his brother.

In November 1897, the father purchased a house in the village of Leonding near Linz, where the whole family moved in February 1898. The house was located near the cemetery.

Adolf changed schools for the third time and went to fourth grade here. He attended the public school in Leonding until September 1900.

After the death of his brother Edmund on February 2, 1900, Adolf remained the only son of Klara Hitler.

Hitler (in the center) with classmates. 1900

It was in Leonding that he developed a critical attitude towards the church under the influence of his father's statements.

In September 1900, Adolf entered the first grade of the state real school in Linz. Adolf did not like the change from a rural school to a large and alien real school in the city. He only liked to walk the 6 km distance from home to school.

From that time on, Adolf began to learn only what he liked - history, geography and especially drawing; I didn't notice everything else. As a result of this attitude towards his studies, he stayed for the second year in the first grade of a real school.

Youth

When 13-year-old Adolf was in the second grade of a real school in Linz, his father unexpectedly died on January 3, 1903. Despite the continuous disputes and strained relationships, Adolf still loved his father and sobbed uncontrollably at the grave.

At his mother’s request, he continued to go to school, but finally decided for himself that he would be an artist, and not an official, as his father wanted. In the spring of 1903 he moved to a school dormitory in Linz. I began to attend classes at school irregularly.

On September 14, 1903, Angela got married, and now only Adolf, his sister Paula and his mother’s sister Johanna Pölzl remained in the house with her mother.

When Adolf was 15 years old and finishing the third grade of a real school, his confirmation took place on May 22, 1904 in Linz. During this period, he composed a play, wrote poetry and short stories, and also composed a libretto for Wagner's opera based on Wieland's legend and an overture.

He still went to school with disgust, and most of all he disliked the French language. In the fall of 1904, he passed the exam in this subject the second time, but they made him promise that he would go to another school in the fourth grade. Gemer, who at that time taught Adolf French and other subjects, said at Hitler’s trial in 1924: “Hitler was undoubtedly gifted, albeit one-sidedly. He almost did not know how to control himself, he was stubborn, self-willed, wayward and hot-tempered. Wasn't diligent." Based on numerous evidence, we can conclude that already in his youth Hitler showed pronounced psychopathic traits.

In September 1904, Hitler, fulfilling this promise, entered the state real school in Steyr in the fourth grade and studied there until September 1905. In Steyr he lived in the house of the merchant Ignaz Kammerhofer at Grünmarket 19. Subsequently, this place was renamed Adolf Hitlerplatz.

On February 11, 1905, Adolf received a certificate of completion of the fourth grade of a real school. The “excellent” grade was given only in drawing and physical education; in German, French, mathematics, shorthand - unsatisfactory; in other subjects - satisfactory.

On June 21, 1905, the mother sold the house in Leonding and moved with the children to Linz at 31 Humboldt Street.

In the autumn of 1905, Hitler, at the request of his mother, reluctantly began to attend school in Steyr again and retake the exams to obtain a certificate for the fourth grade.

At this time, he was diagnosed with a serious lung disease - the doctor advised his mother to postpone his schooling for at least a year and recommended that he never work in an office in the future. Adolf's mother picked him up from school and took him to Spital to see his relatives.

On January 18, 1907, the mother underwent a complex operation (breast cancer). In September, when his mother's health improved, 18-year-old Hitler went to Vienna to take the entrance exam to a general art school, but failed the second round of exams. After the exams, Hitler managed to get a meeting with the rector, from whom he received advice to take up architecture: Hitler’s drawings testified to his abilities in this art.

In November 1907, Hitler returned to Linz and took over the care of his hopelessly ill mother. On December 21, 1907, Klara Hitler died, and on December 23, Adolf buried her next to her father.

In February 1908, after settling matters related to the inheritance and obtaining pensions for himself and his sister Paula as orphans, Hitler left for Vienna.

A friend of his youth, Kubizek, and other comrades of Hitler testify that he was constantly at odds with everyone and felt hatred for everything that surrounded him. Therefore, his biographer Joachim Fest admits that Hitler's anti-Semitism was a focused form of hatred that had previously raged in the dark and finally found its object in the Jew.

In September 1908, Hitler made a second attempt to enter the Vienna Academy of Art, but failed in the first round. After the failure, Hitler changed his place of residence several times, without telling anyone new addresses. He avoided serving in the Austrian army. He did not want to serve in the same army with the Czechs and Jews, to fight “for the Habsburg state,” but at the same time he was ready to die for the German Reich. He got a job as an “academic artist”, and from 1909 as a writer.

In 1909, Hitler met Reinhold Hanisch, who began to successfully sell his paintings. Until mid-1910, Hitler painted a lot of small-format paintings in Vienna. These were mostly copies of postcards and old engravings, depicting all sorts of historical buildings in Vienna. In addition, he drew all kinds of advertisements. In August 1910, Hitler told the Vienna police station that Hanisch had hidden part of the proceeds from him and stolen one painting. Ganish was sent to prison for seven days. From that time on, Hitler himself sold his paintings. His work brought him such a large income that in May 1911 he refused the monthly pension due to him as an orphan in favor of his sister Paula. In addition, in the same year he received most of the inheritance of his aunt Johanna Pölzl.

During this period, Hitler began to intensively educate himself. Subsequently, he was free to communicate and read literature and newspapers in the original French and English. During the war, he liked to watch French and English films without translation. He was very well versed in the armaments of the armies of the world, history, etc. At the same time, he developed an interest in politics.

In May 1913, Hitler, at the age of 24, moved from Vienna to Munich and settled in the apartment of tailor and shop owner Joseph Popp on Schleißheimer Straße. Here he lived until the outbreak of the First World War, working as an artist.

On December 29, 1913, the Austrian police asked the Munich police to establish the address of the hiding Hitler. On January 19, 1914, the Munich criminal police brought Hitler to the Austrian consulate. On February 5, 1914, Hitler went to Salzburg for an examination, where he was declared unfit for military service.

Participation in the First World War

On August 1, 1914, the First World War began. Hitler was delighted by the news of the war. He immediately applied to King Ludwig III of Bavaria to receive permission to serve in the Bavarian Army. The very next day he was asked to report to any Bavarian regiment. He chose the 16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment ("List's Regiment", after the commander's surname).

On 16 August he was enlisted in the 6th Reserve Battalion of the 2nd Bavarian Infantry Regiment No. 16 (Königlich Bayerisches 16. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment), consisting of volunteers. On September 1, he was transferred to the 1st company of the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 16. On October 8, he swore allegiance to King Ludwig III of Bavaria and Emperor Franz Joseph.

In October 1914 he was sent to the Western Front and on October 29 participated in the Battle of Ysère, and from October 30 to November 24 at Ypres.

On November 1, 1914, he was awarded the rank of corporal. On November 9, he was transferred as a liaison officer to regiment headquarters. From November 25 to December 13, he took part in trench warfare in Flanders. On December 2, 1914 he was awarded the Iron Cross, second degree. From December 14 to 24 he took part in the battle in French Flanders, and from December 25, 1914 to March 9, 1915 - in positional battles in French Flanders.

In 1915 he took part in the battles of Nave Chapelle, La Bassé and Arras. In 1916, he participated in reconnaissance and demonstration battles of the 6th Army in connection with the Battle of the Somme, as well as in the battle of Fromelles and the Battle of the Somme itself. In April 1916 he met Charlotte Lobjoie. Wounded in the left thigh by a grenade fragment near Le Bargur in the first Battle of the Somme. I ended up in the Red Cross hospital in Belitz near Potsdam. Upon leaving the hospital (March 1917), he returned to the regiment in the 2nd company of the 1st reserve battalion.

In 1917 - the spring battle of Arras. Participated in battles in Artois, Flanders, and Upper Alsace. On September 17, 1917 he was awarded the Cross with Swords for military merit, III degree.

In 1918 he took part in the spring offensive in France, in the battles of Evreux and Montdidier. On May 9, 1918, he was awarded a regimental diploma for outstanding bravery at Fontane. On May 18, he received the wounded insignia (black). From May 27 to June 13 - battles near Soissons and Reims. From June 14 to July 14 - positional battles between Oise, Marne and Aisne. In the period from July 15 to 17 - participation in offensive battles on the Marne and in Champagne, and from July 18 to 29 - participation in defensive battles on Soissonne, Reims and Marne. He was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class, for delivering reports to artillery positions in particularly difficult conditions, which saved the German infantry from being shelled by their own artillery.

On August 25, 1918, Hitler received a service award, III class. According to numerous testimonies, he was careful, very brave and an excellent soldier. Hitler's colleague in the 16th Bavarian Infantry Regiment, Adolf Meyer, cites in his memoirs the testimony of another colleague, Michael Schleehuber, who characterized Hitler as “a good soldier and an impeccable comrade.” According to Schleehuber, he “never saw” Hitler “in any way feel discomfort from service or shy away from danger,” nor did he hear “anything negative” about him during his time in the division.

October 15, 1918 - gas poisoning near La Montaigne as a result of the explosion of a chemical shell near it. Eye damage causes temporary loss of vision. Treatment in the Bavarian field hospital in Udenard, then in the psychiatric department of the Prussian rear hospital in Pasewalk. While being treated in the hospital, he learned about the surrender of Germany and the overthrow of the Kaiser, which became a great shock for him.

Creation of the NSDAP

Hitler considered the defeat in the war of the German Empire and the November Revolution of 1918 to be the product of traitors who “stabbed in the back” the victorious German army.

In early February 1919, Hitler volunteered to serve as a guard at a prisoner of war camp located near Traunstein, not far from the Austrian border. About a month later, the prisoners of war - several hundred French and Russian soldiers - were released, and the camp and its guards were disbanded.

On March 7, 1919, Hitler returned to Munich, to the 7th Company of the 1st Reserve Battalion of the 2nd Bavarian Infantry Regiment.

At this time, he had not yet decided whether he would be an architect or a politician. In Munich, during the stormy days, he did not bind himself to any obligations, he simply observed and took care of his own safety. He remained in Max Barracks in Munich-Oberwiesenfeld until the day the troops of von Epp and Noske drove the communist Soviets out of Munich. At the same time, he gave his works to the prominent artist Max Zeper for evaluation. He handed over the paintings to Ferdinand Steger for imprisonment. Steger wrote: “...an absolutely extraordinary talent.”

On April 27, 1919, as stated in Hitler’s official biography, he encountered a detachment of Red Guards on a Munich street who intended to arrest him for “anti-Soviet” activities, but “using his carbine,” Hitler avoided arrest.

From June 5 to June 12, 1919, his superiors sent him to an agitator course (Vertrauensmann). The courses were intended to train agitators who would conduct explanatory conversations against the Bolsheviks among soldiers returning from the front. Far-right views prevailed among the lecturers; among others, lectures were given by Gottfried Feder, the future economic theorist of the NSDAP.

During one of the discussions, Hitler made a very strong impression with his anti-Semitic monologue on the head of the propaganda department of the 4th Bavarian Reichswehr Command, and he invited him to take on political functions throughout the army. A few days later he was appointed education officer (confidant). Hitler turned out to be a bright and temperamental speaker and attracted the attention of listeners.

The decisive moment in Hitler's life was the moment of his unshakable recognition by supporters of anti-Semitism. Between 1919 and 1921, Hitler intensively read books from Friedrich Kohn's library. This library was clearly anti-Semitic, which left a deep mark on Hitler's beliefs.

On September 12, 1919, Adolf Hitler, on instructions from the military, came to the Sterneckerbräu beer hall for a meeting of the German Workers' Party (DAP) - founded in early 1919 by mechanic Anton Drexler and numbering about 40 people. During the debate, Hitler, speaking from a pan-German position, won a landslide victory over the supporter of Bavarian independence. The performance made a great impression on Drexler and he invited Hitler to join the party. After some reflection, Hitler decided to accept the offer and at the end of September 1919, after leaving the army, he became a member of the DAP. Hitler immediately made himself responsible for party propaganda and soon began to determine the activities of the entire party.

On February 24, 1920, Hitler organized the first of many large public events for the party in the Hofbräuhaus beer hall. During his speech, he proclaimed the twenty-five points drawn up by him, Drexler and Feder, which became the party program. The “Twenty-Five Points” combined pan-Germanism, demands for the abolition of the Treaty of Versailles, anti-Semitism, demands for socialist reforms and a strong central government. On the same day, at the suggestion of Hitler, the party was renamed NSDAP (German: Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei - German National Socialist Workers' Party).

In July, a conflict arose in the leadership of the NSDAP: Hitler, who wanted dictatorial powers in the party, was outraged by the negotiations with other groups that took place while Hitler was in Berlin, without his participation. On July 11, he announced his withdrawal from the NSDAP. Since Hitler was at that time the most active public politician and the most successful speaker of the party, other leaders were forced to ask him to return. Hitler returned to the party and on July 29 was elected its chairman with unlimited power. Drexler was left the post of honorary chairman without real powers, but his role in the NSDAP from that moment sharply declined.

For disrupting the speech of the Bavarian separatist politician Otto Ballerstedt) Hitler was sentenced to three months in prison, but he served only a month in Munich's Stadelheim prison - from June 26 to July 27, 1922. On January 27, 1923, Hitler held the first NSDAP congress; 5,000 stormtroopers marched through Munich.

"Beer putsch"

By the early 1920s, the NSDAP had become one of the most prominent organizations in Bavaria. Ernst Röhm stood at the head of the assault troops (German abbreviation SA). Hitler quickly became a force to be reckoned with, at least within Bavaria.

In January 1923, a crisis broke out in Germany, caused by the French occupation of the Ruhr. The government, led by the non-party Reich Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno, called on the Germans to passive resistance, which led to great economic damage. The new government, led by Reich Chancellor Gustav Stresemann, was forced to accept all French demands on September 26, 1923, and as a result was attacked by both the right and the communists. Anticipating this, Stresemann ensured that President Ebert declared a state of emergency in the country from September 26, 1923.

On September 26, the conservative Bavarian cabinet declared a state of emergency in the state and appointed right-wing monarchist Gustav von Kara as commissioner of the state of Bavaria, giving him dictatorial powers. Power was concentrated in the hands of a triumvirate: Kara, the commander of the Reichswehr forces in Bavaria, General Otto von Lossow, and the chief of the Bavarian police, Hans von Seißer. Kahr refused to admit that the state of emergency introduced in Germany by the President was valid in relation to Bavaria and did not carry out a number of orders from Berlin, in particular, to arrest three popular leaders of armed groups and close the NSDAP organ Völkischer Beobachter.

Hitler was inspired by the example of Mussolini's march on Rome; he hoped to repeat something similar by organizing a march on Berlin and turned to Kahr and Lossow with a proposal to undertake a march on Berlin. Kahr, Lossow and Seiser were not interested in carrying out a senseless action and on November 6 informed the German Struggle Union, in which Hitler was the leading political figure, that they did not intend to be drawn into hasty actions and would decide on their own actions. Hitler took this as a signal that he should take the initiative into his own hands. He decided to take von Kara hostage and force him to support the campaign.

On November 8, 1923, at about 9 o'clock in the evening, Hitler and Erich Ludendorff, at the head of armed stormtroopers, appeared at the Munich beer hall "Bürgerbräukeller", where a meeting was taking place with the participation of Kahr, Lossow and Seiser. Upon entering, Hitler announced the “overthrow of the government of traitors in Berlin.” However, the Bavarian leaders soon managed to leave the beer hall, after which Kahr issued a proclamation dissolving the NSDAP and the storm troopers. For their part, the stormtroopers under the command of Röhm occupied the ground forces headquarters building at the War Ministry; there they, in turn, were surrounded by Reichswehr soldiers.

On the morning of November 9, Hitler and Ludendorff, at the head of a 3,000-strong column of stormtroopers, moved towards the Ministry of Defense, but on Residenzstrasse their path was blocked by a police detachment that opened fire. Carrying away the dead and wounded, the Nazis and their supporters fled the streets. This episode went down in German history under the name “Beer Hall Putsch.”

In February - March 1924, the trial of the leaders of the coup took place. Only Hitler and several of his associates were in the dock. The court sentenced Hitler for high treason to 5 years in prison and a fine of 200 gold marks. Hitler served his sentence in Landsberg prison. However, after 9 months, on December 20, 1924, he was released.

On the way to power

Hitler - speaker, early 1930s

During the absence of the leader, the party disintegrated. Hitler had to practically start everything from scratch. Rem provided him with great help, beginning the restoration of the assault troops. However, a decisive role in the revival of the NSDAP was played by Gregor Strasser, the leader of right-wing extremist movements in North and North-West Germany. By bringing them into the ranks of the NSDAP, he helped transform the party from a regional (Bavarian) into a national political force.

In April 1925, Hitler renounced his Austrian citizenship and was stateless until February 1932.

In 1926, the Hitler Youth was founded, the top leadership of the SA was established, and the conquest of “red Berlin” by Goebbels began. Meanwhile, Hitler was looking for support at the all-German level. He managed to win the trust of some of the generals, as well as establish contacts with industrial magnates. At the same time, Hitler wrote his work Mein Kampf.

In 1930-1945 he was Supreme Fuhrer of the SA.

When parliamentary elections in 1930 and 1932 brought the Nazis a significant increase in parliamentary mandates, the ruling circles of the country began to seriously consider the NSDAP as a possible participant in government combinations. An attempt was made to remove Hitler from the leadership of the party and rely on Strasser. However, Hitler managed to quickly isolate his associate and deprive him of all influence in the party. In the end, the German leadership decided to give Hitler the main administrative and political post, surrounding him (just in case) with guardians from traditional conservative parties.

In February 1932, Hitler decided to put forward his candidacy for the election of Reich President of Germany. On February 25, the Minister of the Interior of Braunschweig appointed him to the post of attaché at the Braunschweig representative office in Berlin. This did not impose any official duties on Hitler, but automatically gave him German citizenship and allowed him to participate in elections. Hitler took public speaking and acting lessons from opera singer Paul Devrient, and the Nazis organized a massive propaganda campaign, including Hitler becoming the first German politician to travel by plane for election campaigning. In the first round on March 13, Paul von Hindenburg received 49.6% of the votes, and Hitler came in second with 30.1%. On April 10, in a repeat vote, Hindenburg won 53%, and Hitler - 36.8%. Third place was taken both times by the communist Thälmann.

On June 4, 1932, the Reichstag was dissolved. In the elections held on July 7, the NSDAP won a landslide victory, gaining 37.8% of the vote and receiving 230 seats in the Reichstag instead of the previous 143. The Social Democrats received second place - 21.9% and 133 seats in the Reichstag.

On November 6, 1932, early elections to the Reichstag were held again. This time the NSDAP lost two million votes, gaining 33.1% and winning only 196 seats instead of the previous 230.

However, 2 months later, on January 30, 1933, President Hindenburg relieved von Schleicher of this post and appointed Hitler Reich Chancellor.

Reich Chancellor and Head of State

Power grab

"Potsdam Day" - a solemn ceremony on March 21, 1933 on the occasion of the convening of the new Reichstag

With his appointment to the post of Reich Chancellor, Hitler had not yet received power over the country. Firstly, only the Reichstag could pass any laws in Germany, and Hitler’s party did not have the required number of votes in it. Secondly, within the party itself there was opposition to Hitler in the person of the stormtroopers and their leader Ernst Röhm. And finally, thirdly, the head of state was the president, and the Reich Chancellor was just the head of the cabinet, which Hitler had yet to form. However, in just a year and a half, Hitler removed all these obstacles and became an unlimited dictator.

On February 27 (less than a month after Hitler was appointed chancellor), a fire occurred in the parliament building - the Reichstag. The official version of what happened was that the Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe, who was captured while putting out the fire, was to blame. It is now considered proven that the arson was planned by the Nazis and directly carried out by stormtroopers under the command of Karl Ernst.

Hitler announced a plot by the Communist Party to seize power and the very next day after the fire presented Hindenburg with two decrees: “On the defense of the people and the state” and “Against the betrayal of the German people and the machinations of traitors to the motherland,” which he signed. The decree “On the Protection of the People and the State” abolished seven articles of the constitution, limited freedom of speech, press, meetings and rallies; allowed viewing of correspondence and wiretapping of telephones. But the main result of this decree was a system of uncontrolled detention in concentration camps called “protective arrest.”

Taking advantage of these decrees, the Nazis immediately arrested 4 thousand prominent members of the Communist Party - their main enemy. After this, new elections to the Reichstag were announced. They took place on March 5 and the Nazi Party received 43.9% of the votes and 288 seats in the Reichstag. The decapitated Communist Party lost 19 seats. However, even this composition of the Reichstag could not satisfy the Nazis. Then, by a special resolution, the Communist Party of Germany was banned, and the mandates that were supposed to go to communist deputies (81 mandates) based on the election results were annulled. In addition, some SPD deputies who opposed the Nazis were arrested or expelled.

And already on March 24, 1933, the new Reichstag adopted the Law on Emergency Powers. According to this law, the government, headed by the Reich Chancellor, was given the power to issue state laws (previously only the Reichstag could do this), and Article 2 stated that laws issued in this way may contain deviations from the constitution.

On June 30, 1934, the Gestapo staged a massive pogrom against SA stormtroopers. More than a thousand people were killed, among them the stormtrooper leader Ernst Röhm. Many people who had nothing to do with the SA were also killed, in particular Hitler's predecessor as Reich Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and his wife. This pogrom went down in history as the Night of the Long Knives.

On August 2, 1934, at nine o'clock in the morning, German President Hindenburg died at the age of 86. Three hours later it was announced that, in accordance with a law passed by the cabinet the day before the death of the president, the functions of chancellor and president were combined in one person and that Adolf Hitler had assumed the powers of head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The title of president was abolished; From now on, Hitler was to be called Fuhrer and Reich Chancellor. Hitler demanded that all personnel of the armed forces swear allegiance not to Germany, not to the constitution, which he violated by refusing to call an election for Hindenburg's successor, but to him personally.

On August 19, a referendum was held in which these actions were approved by 84.6% of the electorate.

Domestic policy

Under Hitler's leadership, unemployment was sharply reduced and then eliminated. Large-scale humanitarian aid campaigns have been launched for people in need. Mass cultural and sports celebrations were encouraged. The basis of the policy of the Hitler regime was preparation for revenge for the lost First World War. For this purpose, industry was reconstructed, large-scale construction began, and strategic reserves were created. In the spirit of revanchism, propaganda indoctrination of the population was carried out.

First the communist and then the social democratic parties were banned. A number of parties were forced to declare self-dissolution. Trade unions were liquidated, the property of which was transferred to the Nazi labor front. Opponents of the new government were sent to concentration camps without trial or investigation.

Anti-Semitism was an important part of Hitler's domestic policy. Mass persecution of Jews and Gypsies began. On September 15, 1935, the Nuremberg Racial Laws were adopted, depriving Jews of civil rights; In the fall of 1938, a pan-German Jewish pogrom (Kristallnacht) was organized. The development of this policy a few years later was Operation Endlözung (final solution to the Jewish question), aimed at the physical destruction of the entire Jewish population. This policy, which Hitler first declared back in 1919, culminated in the genocide of the Jewish population, a decision about which was made already during the war.

The beginning of territorial expansion

Shortly after coming to power, Hitler announced Germany's withdrawal from the military clauses of the Treaty of Versailles, which limited Germany's war effort. The hundred-thousand-strong Reichswehr was transformed into a million-strong Wehrmacht, tank troops were created and military aviation was restored. The status of the demilitarized Rhine Zone was abolished.

In 1936-1939, Germany, under the leadership of Hitler, provided significant assistance to the Francoists during the Spanish Civil War.

At this time, Hitler believed that he was seriously ill and would soon die, and began to rush to implement his plans. On November 5, 1937, he wrote a political will, and on May 2, 1938, a personal will.

In March 1938, Austria was annexed.

In the fall of 1938, in accordance with the Munich Agreement, part of the territory of Czechoslovakia - the Sudetenland - was annexed.

Time magazine, in its January 2, 1939 issue, called Hitler "the man of 1938." The article dedicated to the “Man of the Year” began with Hitler’s title, which, according to the magazine, reads as follows: “Führer of the German people, Commander-in-Chief of the German Army, Navy & Air Force, Chancellor of the Third Reich , Herr Hitler". The final sentence of the rather lengthy article proclaimed:

To those following the final events of the year, it seemed more than likely that the Man of 1938 could make 1939 an unforgettable year.

Original text(English)
To those who watched the closing events of the year it seemed more than probable that the Man of 1938 may make 1939 a year to be remembered.

Third Reich in 1939. The so-called blue color indicates "Old Reich"; blue - lands annexed in 1938; light blue - Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

In March 1939, the remaining part of the Czech Republic was occupied, turned into a satellite state of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (Slovakia remained formally independent), and part of the territory of Lithuania, including Klaipeda (Memel region), was annexed. After this, Hitler made territorial claims to Poland (first - about the provision of an extraterritorial road to East Prussia, and then - about holding a referendum on the ownership of the “Polish Corridor”, in which people living in this territory as of 1918 would have to take part ). The latter demand was clearly unacceptable for Poland's allies - Great Britain and France - which could serve as the basis for the brewing of a conflict.

The Second World War

These claims met with sharp rebuff. On April 3, 1939, Hitler approved a plan for an armed attack on Poland (Operation Weiss).

On August 23, 1939, Hitler concluded a Non-Aggression Pact with the Soviet Union, a secret annex to which contained a plan for dividing spheres of influence in Europe. On August 31, an incident was staged in Gleiwitz, which served as a pretext for the attack on Poland on September 1. It marked the beginning of World War II. Having defeated Poland during September, Germany occupied Norway, Denmark, Holland, Luxembourg and Belgium in April-May 1940 and invaded France. In June, Wehrmacht forces occupied Paris and France capitulated. In the spring of 1941, Germany, under the leadership of Hitler, captured Greece and Yugoslavia, and on June 22 attacked the USSR. The defeats of the Soviet troops at the first stage of the Great Patriotic War led to the occupation of the Baltic republics, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and the western part of the RSFSR by German and allied troops. A brutal occupation regime was established in the occupied territories, which killed many millions of people.

However, from the end of 1942, the German armies began to suffer major defeats both in the USSR (Stalingrad) and in Egypt (El Alamein). The following year, the Red Army launched a broad offensive, while Anglo-American troops landed in Italy and took it out of the war. In 1944, Soviet territory was liberated from occupation and the Red Army advanced into Poland and the Balkans; at the same time, Anglo-American troops, having landed in Normandy, liberated most of France. With the beginning of 1945, the fighting was transferred to the territory of the Reich.

Attempts on Hitler

The first unsuccessful attempt on Adolf Hitler's life took place in 1930 at the Kaiserhof Hotel. When Hitler came down from the podium after speaking to his supporters, an unknown person ran up to him and tried to spray poison in his face from a homemade shooting pen, but Hitler’s guards noticed the attacker in time and neutralized him.

• On March 1, 1932, a group of four unknown people in the vicinity of Munich fired at the train in which Hitler was traveling to give a speech to his supporters. Hitler was not injured.
• On June 2, 1932, a group of unknown people fired from a road ambush at a car with Hitler in the vicinity of the city of Stralsund. Hitler was again unharmed.
• On July 4, 1932, unknown assailants fired at a car carrying Hitler in Nuremberg. Hitler received a tangential wound to his hand.

Throughout 1933 - 1938, 16 more attempts were made on Hitler's life, which ended in failure, including on December 20, 1936, the German Jew and former member of the Black Front Helmut Hirsch was going to plant two homemade bombs at the headquarters of the NSDAP in Nuremberg, where Hitler was supposed to arrive on a visit. However, the plan failed because Hirsch was unable to bypass the guards. On December 21, 1936, he was arrested by the Gestapo, and on April 22, 1937, he was sentenced to death. Hirsch was executed on June 4, 1937

• On November 9, 1938, 22-year-old Maurice Bavo was going to shoot Hitler from a distance of 10 meters with a 6.5 mm Schmeisser semi-automatic pistol during a festive parade dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch. However, Hitler at the last moment changed the plan and walked along the opposite side of the street, as a result of which Bavo was unable to carry out his plan. Later, he also tried to obtain a personal meeting with Hitler using a false letter of recommendation. However, he spent all the money and at the beginning of January 1939, he decided to leave for Paris without a ticket. On the train he was detained by Gestapo officers. On December 18, 1939, the court sentenced Bovo to death by guillotine, and on May 14, 1941, the sentence was carried out.
• On October 5, 1939, along the route of Hitler's motorcade in Warsaw, members of the SPP planted 500 kilograms of explosives, but for an unknown reason the bomb did not go off.
• On November 8, 1939, in the Munich beer hall "Bürgerbräu", where Hitler spoke every year to NSDAP veterans, Johann Georg Elser, a former member of the Union of Red Front Soldiers, the militant organization of the KPD, mounted an improvised explosive device with a clock mechanism in a column in front of which a podium was usually installed for leader. As a result of the explosion, 8 people were killed and 63 were injured, but Hitler was not among the victims. Limiting himself to a brief greeting to those gathered, he left the hall seven minutes before the explosion, as he had to return to Berlin. That same evening, Elser was captured at the Swiss border and, after several interrogations, confessed to everything. As a “special prisoner” he was placed in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, then transferred to Dachau. On April 9, 1945, when the Allies were already close to the concentration camp, Elser was shot by order of Himmler.
• On May 15, 1942, a group of people attacked Hitler's train in Poland. Several of the Fuhrer's guards were killed, as were all the attackers. Hitler was not injured.
• On March 13, 1943, during Hitler's visit to Smolensk, Colonel Henning von Treskow and his adjutant, Lieutenant von Schlabrendorff, planted a bomb in a gift box with brandy on Hitler's plane, in which the explosive device did not go off.
• On March 21, 1943, during Hitler's visit to an exhibition of captured Soviet military equipment in Berlin, Colonel Rudolf von Gersdorff was supposed to blow himself up along with Hitler. However, the Fuhrer left the exhibition ahead of schedule, and Gersdorff barely had time to disarm the fuse.
• On July 14, 1944, British intelligence agencies were planning to carry out Operation Foxley. According to the plan, the best British snipers were supposed to shoot Hitler during his visit to the Berghof mountain residence in the Bavarian Alps. The plan was not finally approved and its implementation did not take place.
• On July 20, 1944, a conspiracy was organized against Hitler, the purpose of which was his physical elimination and the conclusion of peace with the advancing Allied forces. The bomb killed 4 people, but Hitler survived. After the assassination attempt, he was unable to stand on his feet all day, as more than 100 fragments were removed from them. In addition, his right arm was dislocated, the hair on the back of his head was singed and his eardrums were damaged. He became temporarily deaf in his right ear.

Death of Hitler

There is no doubt that Hitler shot himself.

Dr. Matthias Uhl

With the arrival of the Russians in Berlin, Hitler was afraid that the Reich Chancellery would be bombarded with sleeping gas shells, and then they would put him on display in Moscow, in a cage.

Traudl Junge

According to the testimony of witnesses interrogated by both Soviet counterintelligence agencies and the relevant Allied services, on April 30, 1945, in Berlin surrounded by Soviet troops, Hitler and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide, having previously killed their beloved dog Blondie. In Soviet historiography, the point of view has been established that Hitler took poison (potassium cyanide, like most Nazis who committed suicide). However, according to eyewitnesses, he shot himself. There is also a version according to which Hitler, having taken an ampoule of poison into his mouth and bit into it, simultaneously shot himself with a pistol (thus using both instruments of death).

According to witnesses from among the service personnel, even the day before, Hitler gave the order to deliver cans of gasoline from the garage (to destroy the bodies). On April 30, after lunch, Hitler said goodbye to people from his inner circle and, shaking their hands, together with Eva Braun, retired to his apartment, from where a shot was soon heard. Shortly after 15:15 (according to other sources 15:30), Hitler's servant Heinz Linge, accompanied by the Fuhrer's adjutant Otto Günsche, Goebbels, Bormann and Axmann, entered the Fuhrer's apartment. Dead Hitler sat on the sofa; a blood stain was spreading on his temple. Eva Braun lay nearby, with no visible external injuries. Günsche and Linge wrapped Hitler's body in a soldier's blanket and carried it out into the garden of the Reich Chancellery; after him they carried out Eve’s body. The corpses were placed near the entrance to the bunker, doused with gasoline and set on fire.

On May 5, 1945, the corpses were found on a piece of blanket sticking out of the ground by a group of guards of Senior Lieutenant A. A. Panasov and fell into the hands of SMERSH. General K.F. Telegin headed the government commission to identify the remains. Colonel of the Medical Service F.I. Shkaravsky headed the expert commission for examining the remains. Hitler's body was identified with the help of Käthe Heusermann (Ketty Goiserman), Hitler's dental assistant, who confirmed the similarity of the dentures presented to her at the identification with Hitler's dentures. However, after returning from the Soviet camps, she retracted her testimony. In February 1946, the remains, identified by the investigation as the bodies of Hitler, Eva Braun, the Goebbels couple - Joseph, Magda and their six children, as well as two dogs, were buried at one of the NKVD bases in Magdeburg. In 1970, when the territory of this base was to be transferred to the GDR, at the proposal of Yu. V. Andropov, approved by the Politburo, the remains were dug up, cremated to ashes and then thrown into the Elbe (according to other sources, the remains were burned in a vacant lot near the city Schönebeck 11 km from Magdeburg and thrown into the Biederitz River). Only dentures and part of Hitler's skull with a bullet entry hole (discovered separately from the corpse) were preserved. They are kept in Russian archives, as are the side arms of the sofa on which Hitler shot himself, with traces of blood. In an interview, the head of the FSB archive said that the authenticity of the jaw was proven by a number of international examinations. Hitler's biographer Werner Maser expresses doubts that the discovered corpse and part of the skull actually belonged to Hitler. In September 2009, researchers from the University of Connecticut, based on the results of their DNA analysis, stated that the skull belonged to a woman less than 40 years old. Representatives of the FSB issued a refutation of this statement.

However, there is also a popular urban legend that the corpses of Hitler and his wife’s doubles were found in the bunker, and the Fuhrer himself and his wife allegedly fled to Argentina, where they lived peacefully until the end of their days. Similar versions are put forward and proven even by some historians, including the British Gerard Williams and Simon Dunstan. However, the scientific community rejects such theories.

Beliefs and habits

According to most biographers, Hitler was a vegetarian from 1931 (from the suicide of Geli Raubal) until his death in 1945. Some authors argue that Hitler only limited himself in eating meat.

He also had a negative attitude towards smoking; in Nazi Germany, a fight against this habit was launched. One day, when Hitler went on vacation, those who remained began to play cards and smoke. Suddenly Hitler returned. Eva Braun's sister threw a burning cigarette into an ashtray and sat on it, since Hitler forbade smoking in his presence. Hitler noticed this and decided to joke. I approached her and asked her to explain the rules of the game in detail. In the morning, Eva, having learned everything from Hitler, asked her sister “how are you doing with the blisters from burns on your butt.”

Hitler was morbidly meticulous about cleanliness. He was terrified of people with runny noses. Didn't tolerate familiarity.

He was an uncommunicative person. He considered others only when he needed them and did what he considered right. In letters I was never interested in the opinions of others. He liked to use foreign words. I read a lot, even during the war. According to von Hasselbach's personal physician, he made sure to work through at least one book every day. In Linz, for example, he signed up for three libraries at once. First, I leafed through the book from the end. If he decided that a book was worth reading, he read it in parts, only what he needed.

• Hitler dictated his speeches “in one breath,” directly to the typist. According to eyewitnesses, he delayed the dictation until the last minute; Before dictation I walked back and forth for a long time. Then Hitler began to dictate - actually give a speech - with outbursts of anger, gesticulation, etc. The two secretaries barely had time to take notes. Later he worked for several hours, correcting the printed text.
• The last filming of Hitler during his lifetime was made on March 20, 1945 and published in the film magazine “Die deutsche Wochenschau” dated March 22, 1945. In it, in the garden of the Reich Chancellery, Hitler walks around the line of distinguished members of the Hitler Youth. The last known photograph taken during his lifetime was apparently taken shortly before his birthday on April 20, 1945. In it, Hitler, accompanied by his adjutant chief Julius Schaub, inspects the ruins of the Reich Chancellery.
• Anophthalmus hitleri- a beetle named after Hitler and made rare due to its popularity among neo-Nazis.
• Hitler's personal weapon was the Walther PPK pistol.
• As the supreme commander of the German armed forces, Hitler remained in the military rank of corporal until the end.
• A store named after Hitler has opened in the Gaza Strip. Customers say they also like the store because it is named after the man who “hated Jews more than anyone else.”

Popular biographies

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in the city of Braunau am Inn, located on the border of Germany and Austria, in the family of a shoemaker. Hitler's family moved often, so he had to change four schools.

In 1905, the young man graduated from school in Linz, receiving an incomplete secondary education. Having extraordinary artistic talent, he twice tried to enter the Vienna Academy of Arts. However, in both cases, Adolf Hitler, whose biography could have turned out differently, was refused. In 1908, the young man’s mother died. He moved to Vienna, where he lived very poorly, worked part-time as an artist and writer, and was actively engaged in self-education.

World War I. NSDAP

With the outbreak of the First World War, Adolf voluntarily went to the front. At the beginning of 1914, he swore allegiance to Emperor Franz Joseph and King Ludwig III of Bavaria. During the war, Adolf received the rank of corporal and several awards.

In 1919, the founder of the German Workers' Party (DAP) A. Drexler invited Hitler to join them. After leaving the army, Adolf joined the party, taking responsibility for political propaganda. Soon Hitler managed to transform the party into a National Socialist one, renaming it the NSDAP. In 1921, a turning point occurred in Hitler’s short biography - he led the workers’ party. After organizing the Bavarian Putsch (“Beer Hall Putsch”) in 1923, Hitler was arrested and sentenced to 5 years.

Political career

Having revived the NSDAP, in 1929 Hitler created the Hitlerjungen organization. In 1932, Adolf met his future wife, Eva Braun.

In the same year, Adolf put forward his candidacy for the elections, and they began to reckon with him as an iconic political figure. In 1933, President Hidenburg appointed Hitler Reich Chancellor (Prime Minister of Germany). Having gained power, Adolf banned the activities of all parties except the Nazis and passed a law according to which he became a dictator with unlimited power for 4 years.

In 1934, Hitler took the title of leader of the Third Reich. Assuming even more power, he introduced SS security units, founded concentration camps, and modernized and equipped the army with weapons.

The Second World War

In 1938, Hitler's troops captured Austria, and the western part of Czechoslovakia was annexed to Germany. In 1939, the conquest of Poland began, marking the beginning of World War II. In June 1941, Germany attacked the USSR, led by I. Stalin. During the first year, German troops occupied the Baltic states, Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova. In 1944, the Soviet army managed to change the course of the war and go on the offensive.

At the beginning of 1945, when the German troops were defeated, the remnants of the army were controlled from Hitler's bunker (an underground shelter). Soon Soviet troops surrounded Berlin.

Other biography options

• Once in power, Hitler created more than 42,000 concentration and extermination camps. The largest of them were Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Majdanek, Treblinka, where people were subjected to sophisticated torture.
• While in prison after the Bavarian Putsch, Adolf wrote the famous work “Mein Kampf” (translated from German as “My Struggle”). In this work, he outlined his position regarding racial purity, declaring war on Jews, communists, and stated that Germany should dominate the world.
• According to some reports, Hitler staged suicide and secretly fled Germany. However, historians have not yet found reliable evidence of this fact.
• Hitler banned the Nobel Prize, creating his own National Prize, which was awarded only to Ferdinand Porsche, a car designer.
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The official census indicates that Adolf was born in Austria in April 1889. There is a version that his father Alois Schicklgruber was illegitimate and until the age of 14 he bore his mother’s surname. Later his mother married a certain I.G. Hidler (over time this surname changed a little), and under this surname Alois had already begun his youthful life, i.e. Adolf himself was already born into a family of full-fledged Hitlers.

The stepfather belonged to a family of Jews of Czech origin. Naturally, he had nothing to do with Adolf’s family tree. In 1928, after a series of investigations, a theory emerged that Adolf's grandfather might have been Jewish. Most opponents of Hitler's political beliefs happily supported this version, trying to discredit his personality and raise the question of his membership in the SS. Gaps in the biography of the German Fuhrer contributed to the strengthening of this theory. However, having looked up secret archives, historians came to the conclusion that there are no Jewish roots in Hitler’s family. And today this version is recognized as official, completely refuting the Jewish origin of the Fuhrer. After a detailed study of declassified documents, it was established that Hitler’s family tree included only Austrians for several generations.