Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, in Braunau am Inn, a small Austrian town near the Austro-German frontier. After his father's retirement from the state customs service, Adolf spent most of his childhood in Linz, the capital of Upper Austria. It was during his youth in Linz that he developed his strong nationalist and anti-Semitic views, which would later play a major role in his political ideology and policies.

Hitler moved to Munich, Germany, in 1913 and was later drafted into the German Army during World War I. Despite being a mediocre student earlier in life, he rose to prominence in the German political system shortly after the war, joining the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), later known as the Nazi Party. His charismatic oratory and propaganda skills were instrumental in his rise to power.

Becoming Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Hitler's policies precipitated World War II and led to the genocide known as the Holocaust, during which six million Jews were killed. Hitler's pursuit of aggressive nationalist policies resulted in the devastation of large parts of Europe and the global impact of the war. He died by suicide on April 30, 1945, as Allied forces closed in on Berlin.

Books

Mein Kampf Official Nazi Translation