Adolf Hitler | |
---|---|
![]() Official portrait, 1938 | |
Führer of Germany | |
In office 2 August 1934 – 30 April 1945 | |
Preceded by | Paul von Hindenburg (President) |
Succeeded by | Karl Dönitz (President) |
Chancellor of Germany | |
In office 30 January 1933 – 30 April 1945 | |
President | Paul von Hindenburg (1933–1934) |
Deputy | Franz von Papen (1933–1934) Hermann Göring (1941–1945) |
Preceded by | Kurt von Schleicher |
Succeeded by | Joseph Goebbels |
Führer of the Nazi Party | |
In office 29 July 1921[1] – 30 April 1945 | |
Deputy | Rudolf Hess (1933–1941) |
Preceded by | Anton Drexler (Chairman) |
Succeeded by | Martin Bormann (Party Minister) |
Personal details | |
Born | Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary | 20 April 1889
Died | 30 April 1945 Berlin, Nazi Germany | (aged 56)
Cause of death | Suicide by gun |
Citizenship |
|
Political party | Nazi Party (1921–1945) |
Other political affiliations | German Workers' Party (1919–20) |
Spouse(s) | |
Parents | Alois Hitler Klara Pölzl |
Occupation | General of Nazi Germany |
Cabinet | Hitler cabinet |
Signature | ![]() |
Military service | |
Allegiance | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Branch | Imperial German Army
Reichswehr Wehrmacht |
Service years | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Rank | Gefreiter |
Unit | 16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment |
Wars | World War I World War II |
Awards |
|
Adolf Hitler[2] (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the Nazi Party from 1933 until his death in 1945. He and his Nazi government are known for causing World War II and the Holocaust, which killed millions.
Hitler became the leader of the Nazi Party in 1921. In 1923, he attempted to seize governmental power in a failed coup in Munich and was imprisoned with a sentence of five years. In jail, he dictated the first volume of his autobiography and political manifesto Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"). He led them to become the most powerful political party in Germany after the 1932 elections. He began running the government when he became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933. The Nazis banned all other political parties and turned Germany into a dictatorship (meaning that the government was ruled by one person). Hitler's dictatorship is known as Nazi Germany, also known as the Third Reich (meaning "Third Empire" or "Third Realm"). Hitler called himself the Führer (meaning "leader") after the year 1934.
Hitler ordered the takeover of Poland in 1939, and this started World War II in Europe. Hitler made all the important decisions during the war.[3] At first, Nazi Germany did well in the war, but by 1945 they were losing. On 29 April 1945, Hitler married his longtime lover, Eva Braun, in the Führerbunker in Berlin. Less than two days later, Hitler and Braun committed suicide, as the Soviet Army got to Berlin, because they did not want to be captured alive by the Soviet Union.
Because of the Nazi government, at least 50 million people died.[4] About 28.7 million soldiers and people died in the fighting. The war also killed 19.3 million civilians and prisoners of war. Nazi forces committed many war crimes and atrocities during the war.[5] They killed their enemies sometimes with mobile death squads or put them in concentration camps and death camps. Hitler and his men persecuted and killed Jews and other ethnic, religious, and political minorities. In what is called the Holocaust, the Nazis killed six million Jews, Roma people, homosexuals, Slavs, and many other groups of people.[6]