Adolf Hitler[a] (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who

was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until his suicide in 1945. He rose to power as
the leader of the Nazi Party,[c] becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then taking the title
of Führer und Reichskanzler in 1934.[d] His invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 marks
the start of the Second World War. He was closely involved in military operations throughout
the war and was central to the perpetration of the Holocaust: the genocide of about six million
Jews and millions of other victims.
Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn in Austria-Hungary and was raised near Linz. He lived
in Vienna later in the first decade of the 1900s before moving to Germany in 1913. He was
decorated during his service in the German Army in World War I, receiving the Iron Cross. In
1919, he joined the German Workers' Party (DAP), the precursor of the Nazi Party, and in
1921 was appointed leader of the Nazi Party. In 1923, he attempted to seize governmental
power in a failed coup in Munich and was sentenced to five years in prison, serving just over
a year of his sentence. While there, he dictated the first volume of his autobiography and
political manifesto Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"). After his early release in 1924, Hitler
gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting pan-
Germanism, antisemitism and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and Nazi
propaganda. He frequently denounced communism as being part of an international Jewish
conspiracy.
By November 1932, the Nazi Party held the most seats in the Reichstag but did not have a
majority. No political parties were able to form a majority coalition in support of a candidate
for chancellor. Former chancellor Franz von Papen and other conservative leaders convinced
President Paul von Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as chancellor on 30 January 1933. Shortly
thereafter, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act of 1933 which began the process of
transforming the Weimar Republic into Nazi Germany, a one-party dictatorship based on
the totalitarian and autocratic ideology of Nazism. Upon Hindenburg's death on 2 August
1934, Hitler succeeded him, becoming simultaneously the head of state and government with
absolute power. Domestically, Hitler implemented numerous racist policies and sought to
deport or kill German Jews. His first six years in power resulted in rapid economic recovery
from the Great Depression, the abrogation of restrictions imposed on Germany after World
War I, and the annexation of territories inhabited by millions of ethnic Germans, which
initially gave him significant popular support.
One of Hitler's key goals was Lebensraum (lit. 'living space') for the German people in
Eastern Europe, and his aggressive, expansionist foreign policy is considered the
primary cause of World War II in Europe. He directed large-scale rearmament and, on 1
September 1939, invaded Poland, resulting in Britain and France declaring war on Germany.
In June 1941, Hitler ordered an invasion of the Soviet Union. In December 1941, he declared
war on the United States. By the end of 1941, German forces and the European Axis
powers occupied most of Europe and North Africa. These gains were gradually reversed after
1941, and in 1945 the Allied armies defeated the German army. On 29 April 1945, he married
his long-term partner, Eva Braun, in the Führerbunker in Berlin. The couple committed
suicide the following day to avoid capture by the Soviet Red Army. In accordance with
Hitler's wishes, their corpses were burned.
The historian and biographer Ian Kershaw describes Hitler as "the embodiment of modern
political evil".[3] Under Hitler's leadership and racist ideology, the Nazi regime was
responsible for the genocide of an estimated six million Jews and millions of other victims,
whom he and his followers deemed Untermenschen (subhumans) or socially undesirable.
Hitler and the Nazi regime were also responsible for the deliberate killing of an estimated
19.3 million civilians and prisoners of war. In addition, 28.7 million soldiers and civilians
died as a result of military action in the European theatre. The number of civilians killed
during World War II was unprecedented in warfare, and the casualties constitute the deadliest
conflict in history.
Ancestry
See also: Hitler family
Hitler's father, Alois Hitler (1837–1903), was the illegitimate child of Maria Schicklgruber.
[4]
The baptismal register did not show the name of his father, and Alois initially bore his
mother's surname, "Schicklgruber". In 1842, Johann Georg Hiedler married Alois's mother.
Alois was brought up in the family of Hiedler's brother, Johann Nepomuk Hiedler.[5] In 1876,
Alois was made legitimate and his baptismal record annotated by a priest to register Johann
Georg Hiedler as Alois's father (recorded as "Georg Hitler").[6][7] Alois then assumed the
surname "Hitler",[7] also spelled "Hiedler", "Hüttler", or "Huettler". The name is probably
based on the German word Hütte (lit. 'hut'), and probably has the meaning "one who lives in a
hut".[8]
Nazi official Hans Frank suggested that Alois's mother had been employed as a housekeeper
by a Jewish family in Graz, and that the family's 19-year-old son Leopold Frankenberger had
fathered Alois, a claim that came to be known as the Frankenberger thesis.[9] No
Frankenberger was registered in Graz during that period, no record has been produced of
Leopold Frankenberger's existence,[10] so historians dismiss the claim that Alois's father was
Jewish.[11][12]
Early years
Childhood and education
Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 in Braunau am Inn, a town in Austria-
Hungary (present-day Austria), close to the border with the German Empire.[13][14] He was the
fourth of six children born to Alois Hitler and his third wife, Klara Pölzl. Three of Hitler's
siblings—Gustav, Ida, and Otto—died in infancy.[15] Also living in the household were Alois's
children from his second marriage: Alois Jr. (born 1882) and Angela (born 1883).[16] When
Hitler was three, the family moved to Passau, Germany.[17] There he acquired the
distinctive lower Bavarian dialect, rather than Austrian German, which marked his speech
throughout his life.[18][19][20] The family returned to Austria and settled in Leonding in 1894,
and in June 1895 Alois retired to Hafeld, near Lambach, where he farmed and kept bees.
Hitler attended Volksschule (a state-funded primary school) in nearby Fischlham.[21][22]
 Hitler as an infant (c. 1889–90)
The move to Hafeld coincided with the onset of intense father-son conflicts caused by Hitler's
refusal to conform to the strict discipline of his school.[23] His father beat him, although his
mother tried to protect him.[24]
Alois Hitler's farming efforts at Hafeld ended in failure, and in 1897 the family moved to
Lambach. The eight-year-old Hitler took singing lessons, sang in the church choir, and even
considered becoming a priest.[25] In 1898, the family returned permanently to Leonding. Hitler
was deeply affected by the death of his younger brother Edmund in 1900 from measles. Hitler
changed from a confident, outgoing, conscientious student to a morose, detached boy who
constantly fought with his father and teachers.[26] Paula Hitler recalled how Adolf was a
teenage bully who would often slap her.[24]
Alois had made a successful career in the customs bureau and wanted his son to follow in his
footsteps.[27] Hitler later dramatised an episode from this period when his father took him to
visit a customs office, depicting it as an event that gave rise to an unforgiving antagonism
between father and son, who were both strong-willed.[28][29][30] Ignoring his son's desire to
attend a classical high school and become an artist, Alois sent Hitler to the Realschule in Linz
in September 1900.[e][31] Hitler rebelled against this decision, and in Mein Kampf states that he
intentionally performed poorly in school, hoping that once his father saw "what little progress
I was making at the technical school he would let me devote myself to my dream".[32]

Hitler's father, Alois, c. 1900

Hitler's mother, Klara, 1870s
Like many Austrian Germans, Hitler began to develop German nationalist ideas from a young
age.[33] He expressed loyalty only to Germany, despising the declining Habsburg
monarchy and its rule over an ethnically diverse empire.[34][35] Hitler and his friends used the
greeting "Heil", and sang the "Deutschlandlied" instead of the Austrian Imperial anthem.
[36]
After Alois's sudden death on 3 January 1903, Hitler's performance at school deteriorated
and his mother allowed him to leave.[37] He enrolled at the Realschule in Steyr in September
1904, where his behaviour and performance improved.[38] In 1905, after passing a repeat of
the final exam, Hitler left the school without any ambitions for further education or clear
plans for a career.[39]
Early adulthood in Vienna and Munich
See also: Paintings by Adolf Hitler