Adolf Hitler (German: Adolf Hitler; April 20, 1889, Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary - April 30, 1945, Berlin, Third Reich) - leader (Führer) of the National Socialist German Workers' Party from July 29, 1921, Reich Chancellor National Socialist Germany from January 31, 1933, Reich President of Germany from August 2, 1934, supreme commander armed forces Germany in World War II.
He studied fine arts. He created several hundred works during his life and sold his paintings and postcards to earn a living during a period living in Vienna from 1908 to 1913. After World War II, some of his paintings were discovered and sold at auction for tens of thousands of dollars. Others were captured by the US Army and are still in special storage facilities. American government. In total, according to some sources, there are about 720 paintings by Hitler in the world today.
Some of Hitler's paintings ended up in the hands of US Army soldiers at the end of World War II. They were brought to America along with a number of other war trophies and remain in special storage facilities of the US government, which refuses to put them on public display. Other paintings have been preserved by private individuals. In the 2000s, some of them were put up for sale at auctions. In 2006, five of the nineteen works attributed to Hitler were purchased at Jefferys (Wales) by a remaining unknown Russian collector. In 2009, Malloch auction house in Shropshire sold fifteen paintings of Hitler for a total of $120,000, while Ludlow auction in Shropshire sold thirteen of his paintings for a total of more than €100,000. In 2012, one painting of Hitler was sold at auction in Slovakia for $42,300. On June 22, 2015, at an auction in Germany, 14 paintings painted by Adolf Hitler were sold for €400,000.
From 1908 to 1913, Hitler drew postcards and painted buildings to earn money for a living. He painted his first self-portrait in 1910 - this work, like twelve other paintings of Hitler, was discovered by company sergeant major Willy McKenna in 1945 in the German city of Essen.
Samuel Morgenstern, an Austro-Hungarian entrepreneur and business partner of Hitler during his Viennese period, bought some of Hitler's early paintings. According to Morgenstern, Hitler first came to him in the early 1910s - in 1911 or 1912. When Hitler first came to Morgenstern's store, where he sold glass, he allegedly offered him to buy three paintings. Morgenstern maintained a database of his clients, which could be used to search for buyers for Hitler's early paintings. It was established that most of the buyers of his paintings were Jews. Thus, an important client of Morgenstern, a lawyer named Joseph Feingold, a Jew by nationality, bought a whole series of paintings by Hitler depicting views of old Vienna.
Pictures drawn by Hitler
….I didn’t come into this world for this
to make people better, and in order to
to exploit their weaknesses"
...A man born to be a dictator,
does not submit to someone else's will - he is the will himself,
no one pushes him - he moves forward himself,
and there is nothing reprehensible in this.
A person who is meant to lead
people have no right to say: “If you want
me, I'll come." No, his duty is to appear himself.”
Adolf Hitler
The “granite foundation” of Adolf Hitler’s worldview
Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 (since 1933, this day became a national holiday in Nazi Germany). Adolf Hitler's father Alois was born on June 7, 1837 in Strones. He was the illegitimate son of the peasant woman Anna Maria Schickilgruber, received his mother's surname. His mother married Alois's alleged father Johann Georg Hitler in 1842, but Alois was not adopted after his mother's death (1847) was raised in the family of his uncle Johann Nepomuk Gidler. In 1876, Johann Georg Hitler, in the presence of 3 witnesses, officially declared himself the father of Alois, which was recorded on June 6, 1876, and on November 23, he officially adopted a new surname.
Alois Schicklgruber, aka Hitler, was married three times: the first time to a woman who was fourteen years older than him. The marriage was unsuccessful. Alois left for another woman, whom he married after the death of his first wife. But soon she died of tuberculosis. For the third time he married a certain Clara Pelzl, who was twenty-three years younger than her husband. In order to formalize this marriage, it was necessary to ask permission from the church authorities, since Clara Pelzl was obviously closely related to Alois. Be that as it may, Clara Pelzl became the mother of Adolf Hitler. Alois's first marriage was childless, from his second marriage there were two surviving children - Alois and Angela, from the third there were also two - the future Fuhrer of Germany and a certain Paula (1896-1960) For some time she worked as a doctor's secretary in a military hospital. She was fond of mountain travel and racing; her older brother sent her a ticket to the Nuremberg Rally every year as a gift. In 1938, after the Anschluss of Austria, she moved to Vienna. In March 1941 at the Imperial Hotel in Vienna last time I saw my older brother. To last days During the war, she lived in Vienna, where in May 1945 she was integrated by American intelligence services. In total, Alois Hitler had seven children, one of them illegitimate and two born immediately after marriage. In Leonding, in his own house with a garden, Alois Hitler lived until his death. Adolf Hitler was the third child from his father's third marriage. The Hitler family was not friendly. Hitler avoided talking about his parents, but in rare moments of frankness he admitted to people close to him that he did not get along well with his father, a man with dictatorial habits. Hitler not only did not get along with his father, he was beaten. Paula recalled that one day, after another beating, little Hitler lost consciousness; his father Alois was frightened by this, but the next day he resumed the procedure (19). As an adult, Hitler will say: I am grateful to my father for raising me by force. At the same time, he deeply revered his mother, a calm, gentle woman who, apparently, left a deep imprint on his memory. Hitler took the death of his mother very hard: “In all my practice,” recalled Bloch, who repeatedly witnessed scenes at his deathbed, “I have never seen a more inconsolable person than Adolf Hitler” (1). Having become the ruler of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler elevated the figure of his mother to the pinnacle of national cult. The birthday of a girl from a forested Austrian village, Clara Pölzl, August 12, was proclaimed by Hitler in the 30s as “German Mother’s Day” (17). Hitler treated his sister Paula and half-brother Alois very coldly. Paula, many years after her brother's death, said: “I never loved my brother Adolf the way a sister should love a brother. He was always different, no matter how much he had anything to do with us, at least with me. Already as a child I had enough reasons to hate him, since my mother spoiled him to my detriment. I was his maid and had to read his every desire from his eyes...” (18) Adolf’s relationships with his peers developed quite well - he was a leader among them. Already from an early age, Hitler showed the main traits of his character: “We all liked him both in class and not in class,” recalled Joseph Keplinger. He had willpower. Two extremes of character merged in him, a combination of which is extremely rare in people - he was a calm fanatic” (2). In the fall of 1905, Hitler met a man for whom he immediately felt affection. It was a certain August Kubizek, the son of an upholsterer. In Kubichik, Hitler saw not a distant person, but a devoted friend. Despite this, their friendship did not last long. The only person for whom Hitler had kindred feelings was his half-sister Angela Hitler, by marriage Angela Raubal. When Hitler became an influential man in Bavaria, he ordered Angela, who was widowed by that time, to leave and made her his housekeeper. Angela Raubal ran the household of Hitler's bachelor both in Munich and at his residence in Berchtesgaden, in the Bavarian Alps. Hitler had an affair with Angela's daughter, also Angela (Geli) Raubal.
Adolf's brother, Alois Hitler, served five months in prison for theft at age 18. Having been released, he was caught again two years later, this time he was imprisoned for eight months. In 1929, t. That is, already at the time when Adolf Hitler began to come into power, Alois was tried for bigamy. Then he went to England, started a new family there, left her and returned to his homeland. In fascist Germany, Alois “settled down” and opened a thriving beer bar in Berlin, which was eagerly visited by the Nazi brethren and foreign journalists - the latter because they hoped to find out from Alois some details about Adolf Hitler. But Alois knew how to keep his mouth shut. He, no doubt, knew that several of Adolf Hitler's friends, who had done the future Fuhrer favors at the beginning of his career and showed excessive talkativeness, had come to a bad end. The SS men removed them without much noise. According to foreign correspondents, Alois Hitler was a portly man in the thirties, a typical German innkeeper.
Hitler did not study well in high school, therefore he did not graduate from a real school and did not receive a matriculation certificate. Using lung disease as an excuse, Adolf convinced his mother that it was advisable to stop studying. Critics later claimed that he lied about his illness in Mein Kampf. But Paula testified that her brother was really sick, even coughing up blood. This was confirmed by his childhood friend and neighbor. His father died relatively early - in 1903. Mother sold the house in Leonding and settled in Linz. From the age of 16, the future Fuhrer lived quite freely at the expense of his mother. At one time I even studied music. In his youth from musical and literary works he preferred Wagner's operas, German mythology and adventure novels of Karl May, the adult Hitler's favorite composer was Wagner, his favorite film was King Kong. As a boy, Hitler loved cakes and picnics, long conversations past midnight, and loved to look at beautiful girls; in adulthood these addictions intensified.
He slept until noon, went to the theater, especially the opera, and sat for hours in coffee shops. He spent his time visiting theaters and the opera, copying paintings by Romantic artists, reading adventure books and walking in the forests around Linz. His mother spoiled him, and Adolf behaved like a dandy, wearing black leather gloves, a bowler hat, and walking with a mahogany cane with an ivory head. He rejected all offers to find a job with contempt - The future Fuhrer said: “Looking for a piece of bread and butter is not for me!” At the age of 18 he went to Vienna to enter the Academy of Fine Arts there in the hope of becoming a great artist. He entered twice - once he failed the exam, the second time he was not even admitted to it, and he had to earn a living by drawing postcards and advertisements. He was advised to enroll in architectural institute, but for this you had to have a certificate of maturity. Hitler would regard his years in Vienna (1907-1913) as the most instructive of his life. In Mein Kampf, Hitler described in detail and verbosely how he began to educate himself in Vienna. “I read then an unusually large amount and, moreover, thoroughly. Over the course of several years, I thus created the foundations of knowledge that still feed me today.” He further reported that he had developed his own own method reading: “However, I understand by reading, apparently, something different than most our so-called intellectuals." This is followed by a long tirade, which ends like this: “The art of reading, as well as learning, is this: remember the essential, forget the unimportant. Only such reading makes sense at all, and from this point of view the Vienna period was especially beneficial and important for me.” Hitler read a lot in Vienna, but extremely randomly. I read books on the occult, astrology, and adventure novels Karl May and greedily devoured Viennese tabloid magazines and brochures published by various reactionary organizations. One of these magazines, namely the anti-Semitic magazine called "Ostara", which was published by one of the preachers of racism and anti-Semitism in Austria, the former monk Georg Lanz, aka Jorg Lanz von Liebenfels, will have to dwell in more detail. For the identity of Hitler’s statements with the “theories” preached by the Viennese racists is striking. Already in Lanz's penny brochures, the driving force of history was declared to be the war between the "blond master race", which Lanz called simply "heldings", from the German word held - hero, and other inferior races called "afflings", from the German word affe - monkey. Lanz urged the Heldings to avoid the “ape-like” in order to prevent intermarriage. He considered the connection between blond women of the “superior races” and “subhumans” of the “ape-like” breed to be a monstrous “racial disgrace.” By the way, Lanz recommended that representatives of the “superior races” have many wives, without paying attention to church morality. According to Lanz's theory, the Heldings were supposed to set up special nurseries for breeding pure Aryans.
In the future, he said, he only needed to add some details to the “great ideas” he acquired there (hatred of Jews, liberal democrats and “philistine” society). In Vienna, he also became interested in the idea of "living space" (Lebensraum) for Germany. Hitler read everything he could get his hands on. Subsequently, fragmentary knowledge drawn from popular philosophical, sociological, historical works, and most importantly, from the pamphlets of that distant time, they compiled Hitler’s “philosophy”. Hitler read a lot in Vienna, but extremely randomly. When the money left by his mother and the inheritance of a wealthy aunt ran out of less than 25 crowns of an orphan's pension a month, his resources dried up, he spent the night on benches in the park, then in a rooming house in Meidling. And finally, he stayed in Meldemannstrasse in the Mennerheim charity institution, which literally means “Men’s House”. “Even now I shudder,” Hitler later wrote, “when I remember these miserable dens, dirty and noisy... It was the saddest period in my life” (3). This period of Adolf Hitler's life is characterized by the emergence of his interest in politics. Hitler often entered into violent arguments with his opponents, becoming very excited: “When he got excited,” Hanisch recalled, “he could not restrain himself, he shouted and waved his arms. When he was calm, he generally behaved with dignity” (4). It is known that the ideologists of racism always fulfill a certain social order. In the then Vienna, the capital of the multinational Habsburg monarchy, anti-Semitism was necessary ruling classes as an ideological weapon in the fight against the growing self-awareness of the masses, against the noble sense of internationalism that arose among them, against the unity of the working people different nationalities. Along with racial theory German nationalism played a large role in the formation of Hitler's worldview. Nationalism in Vienna was represented in those years by the Pan-German Party. Its leader was Georg von Schönerer, whom Hitler called a “deep mind.” Schenerer was militant German nationalist. He hated socialism and the working class. Schönerer's political credo was to unite all Germans in one empire. Schönerer despised the Habsburg monarchy. However, the Pan-Germans were not successful in Vienna: the openly anti-people and anti-socialist policies they pursued did not enjoy the support of the broad masses. To top it all off, Schönerer was at odds with the powerful Catholic Church and thereby, as Hitler later wrote, “wasted his strength.”
The idol of the Austrian philistinism, the burgomaster of Vienna, Karl Lueger, also had a great influence on Hitler and his worldview. Luger managed to rally the Viennese petty bourgeoisie into a “shock fist.” This politician, who, as Hitler assured, was “the most powerful German mayor of all time” and would have become “one of the greatest minds” in Germany if he had been born not in Vienna, but in Berlin, was indeed something of a classic of social demagoguery. He had already thought of using the “rabble,” the “crowd,” and the scum of society to suppress the working masses. Luger contrasted the shopkeeper with the proletarian, the lumpen with the organized worker, and the hysterical dropouts with the intellectuals. Luger was an experienced demagogue and made extensive use of popular anti-capitalist slogans, quietly altering them for his own purposes. The primary source of Hitler's tirades directed against "monopolies", against "exploitation", "speculators" (and in general all those who "do not work") were not only the works of Feder, the first theoretician of the National Socialist Party, but also the speeches of Lueger, who mobilized Viennese petty bourgeois against "capital". While defending the interests of the elite of society, Luger at the same time widely used anti-capitalist phraseology, which inspired the philistines and helped them imagine themselves as great “revolutionaries.” Lueger’s demagogic formulas, for example, “speculation is equal to criminal easy money, equal to profit without the products of labor,” were subsequently widely used by Hitler. No wonder he wrote in Mein Kampf that Luger “understood the value of broadcast propaganda and masterfully influenced the instincts of his supporters.” Under the leadership of the Viennese burgomaster, the Christian Social Party became the strongest party in the Austrian parliament in 1907.
So, “granite foundation”. However, one should not exaggerate the importance of book and other wisdom in creating this foundation. Of course, Luger, Lanz, Schönerer, and other reactionary figures of the then Austro-Hungarian monarchy contributed to the worldview of the future Fuhrer. But biggest role Life itself and his immediate environment played a role in the formation of his personality. And here we cannot help but note that researchers, as a rule, cover the so-called “Viennese period” of Hitler’s life too briefly. Official biographers of the Fuhrer for obvious reasons they didn't want to draw attention to him. And historians who studied Hitler after 1945, either due to a lack of materials and living witnesses of those years, or out of a sense of respect, also talk about him only in passing. All this time, Hitler did odd jobs, took on some temporary work (for example, helping at construction sites, clearing snow or carrying suitcases), then he began to draw (or rather, sketch) pictures, which were sold first by his companion, Reinhold Hanisch, and later himself. He mainly copied architectural monuments from photographs in Vienna and Munich, where he moved in 1913. He sold some of his clothes, including his black winter coat. At the age of 25, the future Fuhrer had no family, no beloved woman, no friends, no permanent job, nor life goal- there was something to despair about.
He became a person with no interest in anything, burning with a passion for conquest and filled with contempt and hatred for everyone.
Although his comrades respected him for his talent, politeness, and willingness to help. According to Hanisch's recollections, Hitler gained a reputation as an intellectual in the workroom. It was a period of deprivation and poverty, the most vile period of his life. But it was also a time that shaped him more than any university. In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote: “Vienna was and remains for me the most difficult and thorough school of life. At this time, I created a picture of the world and a worldview that became the granite foundation of my actions at that time. I only had to add a little to what I received in those days; I didn’t have to change anything.” Meanwhile, even what we know about Hitler’s life in Vienna is absolutely reliable, provides rich food for thought. Hitler spent four years - a considerable period of time - in flophouses among the pariahs of the then Vienna, in the criminal or, let's say, semi-criminal world. His company was obviously tramps, swindlers, pimps, simply degenerate people, “asocial” elements, as they were called in the “Third Reich.” Hitler shared with them his plans (for example, Hanisch claims that the future Fuhrer had a plan to forge paintings by old masters) and ideas. In turn, these social outcasts shared their ideas and plans with Hitler.
Sociologists from different countries dealing with the problems of the criminal world have repeatedly noted that this world has its own cruel laws, its own “ethics” and its own “morality”. The pinnacle of this world is hatred of the society that rejected them. This hatred is not directed at one particular class, it extends to all classes and strata, to all generally normal people.
Did the customs, ethics and morality of the Viennese bottom, the criminal mafia, influence the “granite foundation” of Hitler’s worldview? Of course they did. Here is Hitler’s famous, many times quoted statement from Mein Kampf: “The idea of struggle is as old as life itself, for life is saved only by those who trample on the life of others. In a fight, the clever one wins, the clumsy one wins, and the weak one loses. Wrestling is the father of everything. Man does not live according to the principles of humanity and reign over the animal world, but only with the help of humanity itself. fierce struggle." And here is a quote from Hitler’s speech in 1928: “Whatever goal a person achieves in life, he achieves it thanks to his cruelty.”
The Viennese period of Hitler's life ended quite suddenly: he moved to Munich to escape military service. On January 18, 1914, Hitler received an order to report for military service in Linz on January 20. He requested to defer his conscription due to plight to the consul. The authorities of Linz complied and moved the conscription date to February 5, and the place of appearance was in nearby Salzburg. Hitler showed up at the recruiting office but was declared unfit for military service. In Munich, Hitler rented a furnished room in a poor area, not far from the barracks, from a tailor named Popp. For some time he lived in this room together with a certain Greiner, and then alone, and led approximately the same life as in Vienna: he drew advertisements and notices, sold pictures with views of Munich. According to eyewitnesses, the future Fuhrer then spent all his free time in cheap cafes and pubs, greedily swallowed newspapers and ranted about politics, flying into a rage whenever it came to Marxists, capitalists, and Jews. In a word, he was a “tavern politician,” as they were then called in Germany. Hitler had no definite plans for the future. At twenty-four years old, he was a man without a profession, without education, without moral principles.
Dissatisfied with its existence, the stratum of society to which Hitler belonged enthusiastically welcomed the First World War, believing that every loser would have a chance to become a “hero,” but for Adolf Hitler this was the beginning of the realization of his dream of Greater Germany. On August 3, he sent a petition to the Bavarian King Ludwig 3 asking him to enlist in the army. He received a positive response and on August 16 was assigned to the 1st Bavarian Infantry Regiment. A few days later he was transferred to the 2nd Bavarian Regiment.
Having become a volunteer, Hitler spent four years in the war. He served at the regimental headquarters as a liaison officer with the rank of corporal and did not even become an officer. But he received not only a medal for being wounded, but also orders. Order of the Iron Cross 2nd class, possibly 1st. Some historians believe that Hitler wore Iron Cross 1st class, without having the right to do so. Others claim that he was awarded this order on the recommendation of a certain Hugo Gutmann, the adjutant of the regiment commander... a Jew, and that therefore this fact was omitted from the official biography of the Fuhrer. Among the soldiers, he was respected both for his ingenuity and for his exceptional courage. On the night of October 7, Hitler was wounded in the thigh. Adolf was evacuated to a field hospital. When Hitler's health was not in danger, he was released to Berlin. There he saw hunger and extreme deprivation, as well as “bastards agitating for peace.”
Hitler developed a ferocious hatred of Jews. Germany lost this war. The country was engulfed in the fire of revolution. For a man who found himself in the war, the news of the defeat of Germany and the victory of the 1918 revolution turned out to be a stunning blow.
Hitler took this as a personal, but final failure. Hatred grew in him, the desire for revenge grew stronger. The victory of the revolution gave final and irreversible form to Hitler's destructive tendencies, since he saw in it an attack on the greatness in which, as the future Fuhrer believed, he and Germany were united.
Hitler, and with him hundreds of thousands of other Germans returned home. After the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. He participated in the so-called Investigative Commission, which was involved in the “cleansing” of the 2nd Infantry Regiment, identifying “troublemakers” and “revolutionaries.” And on June 12, 1919, on the initiative of Captain Mayer, he was sent to short-term “political education” courses, which again functioned in Munich. After completing the courses, he became an agent in the service of a certain group of reactionary officers who fought leftist elements among the soldiers and non-commissioned officers.
He compiled lists of soldiers and officers involved in the April uprising of workers and soldiers in Munich. He collected information about all kinds of dwarf organizations and parties regarding their worldview, programs and goals. And he reported all this to management. This was the beginning of his breakthrough from obscurity.
The future founder of the totalitarian dictatorship of the Third Reich did very poorly at school. Almost the only subject that young Adolf coped with excellently was fine art. He dreamed of becoming an artist, while his father, Alois Hitler, wanted his son to go into public service. On this basis, violent quarrels often arose between them. Adolf, foaming at the mouth, argued that he was only interested in art.
(Total 21 photos)
In 1907, when Hitler Sr. had already died, Adolf tried to enter the Vienna Academy of Arts. He had a very high opinion of his talent and did not consider it necessary to prepare for entrance exams. As a result, it failed miserably. However, not wanting to upset his terminally ill mother, the young man told her that his work captivated admissions committee. For days on end, the false student wandered the streets of Vienna, looking at the city's architecture and making sketches.
"Color House"
"Town square, store entrance."
"A musician from the old town of Vell."
A year later, Adolf decided to try his luck again and this time he had already done some work to prepare for the exams. But the result was the same. The commission members barely glanced at the work of the aspiring artist. Hitler began to rapidly sink to the bottom; more and more often he appeared in flophouses and taverns in the company of dirty tramps. The money from the sale of paintings was barely enough to live on.
"The Hills"
It is unknown how Hitler’s life would have turned out if he had not met a certain Reinhold Hanisch, with whom they organized a joint business. Ganish was quite successful in selling postcards to tourists with landscapes and views of Vienna, drawn by a self-taught artist. They sold 20 crowns so well that the court recognized Hitler as a wealthy man, and the survivor's pension went to his younger sister Paula.
"Lock".
"Vienna State Opera".
"Mill".
In 1913, Hitler moved to Munich, where he became a successful master. His works became more diverse. The Germans eagerly bought not only landscapes, but also soft, soothing still lifes.
"Munich Theater"
"White Orchids".
The Munich period ended when the young man, at the age of 25, was drafted to the front of the First World War. He took paints with him and painted in his free time. Drawings painted in the trenches stand in stark contrast to the much more sensual early works. The watercolors are dominated by bombed-out buildings and military equipment.
After returning from the war, Hitler became closely involved in politics and wrote only occasionally. Sometimes he amused himself by portraying naked women.
In his early years of creativity, the future dictator painted several self-portraits. Perhaps the most interesting of them dates back to 1910. Hitler depicted himself without eyes, nose and ears, but the characteristic comb-over of hair and initials above the figure in a brown suit allowed art historians to attribute the painting.
IN total Adolf Hitler's brushes include more than three thousand paintings and sketches, most of which were painted at the front. The most expensive work was sold at auction for ten and a half thousand pounds sterling. It was purchased by an unknown Russian. Four paintings of the Fuhrer belong to the US Army and rest in a secret underground vault at the Center for Military History. Access to these paintings is open only to a few experts, and, according to the Americans, the paintings will never be presented to the public.
According to many critics, Hitler's artistic talent was modest. This explains small quantity portraits. However, when a modern art critic was asked to look at some of the paintings without saying whose work they were, he rated them as “pretty good.”
The rampant Nazism in the 30-40s of the last century is one of the most terrible and bloody events in history. Take a look at rare photos of the one who was at the head of criminal acts against humanity.
The main figure, founder and executor of the embodiment of the bloody Nazi dream was Adolf Hitler, whose portrait became the face of fascism and Nazism throughout the world.
In our article you will see a large selection of photographs from the life of this most terrible dictator. Many of the photographs are rare and appeared in the public domain quite recently, when they were sold under the hammer at one of the auctions in the spring.
When you look in the face of this man, your blood runs cold and you are overcome with horror from the realization that all the most terrible events - millions of deaths, hellish experiments and abuse of people and children - happened on our Earth precisely because of him.
Root of Evil
Hitler's parents, father Alois (1837-1903) and mother Clara (1860-1907), were formally relatives, so his father had to obtain marriage licenses. Alois was a very difficult person with a tough character; he often started drunken brawls in the house and assaulted people. The unfortunate mother saw the light in the window only in her little son Adolf and completely gave him her love and hyper-care. He was her fourth child, the first three died in early age from diseases.
Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in Austria in the small village of Ranshofen.
From an early age the boy drew well, which his father was terribly dissatisfied with and forbade his son to do this. His mother, on the contrary, tried to develop the boy’s skills behind Alois’s back and constantly inspired him that he was immensely talented and would become famous. When the father caught the eye of his son’s drawings, he became furious and gave the two a beating, to which his wife shouted at him in despair that he was mistaken, his son would still be famous throughout the world. And she turned out to be right, but he became famous not for his artistic drawings.
Adolf Hitler's school years
IN school years Hitler was distinguished by good studies, leadership qualities, and he had already begun to show the inclinations of nationalism and the desire to join the ranks of the Boer soldiers. He colorfully demonstrated all this in drawings, showing them to his peers. As experts note, this behavior could have been caused by an emotional protest to the oppressive father, who demanded unquestioning obedience from his son.
According to the memoirs of Alois Jr., Hitler's half-brother, Adolf was distinguished by cruelty and could become furious over minor reasons, he loved no one except his mother, and was a narcissistic person. He was also overly spoiled - his mother indulged Adolf in everything, so he didn't care. got away with it.
The beginning of the dictator's path
Munich 08/02/1914 Hitler at a rally on Odeonplatz during the period of mobilization German army to participate in the First World War.
Having matured, Hitler tried to enter art school and was completely confident that he would succeed without difficulty. But what a blow it was for him when he was not enrolled, saying that his drawings were good, but not sufficient for an art school; with such skills he was recommended to go to the Faculty of Architecture. Adolf was furious; he believed that the school was staffed by mediocrities who had no way of appreciating truly talented things.
For several years he tried to enter art school. educational institutions, but everywhere he was refused. The feeling of an ideal artist, nurtured by his mother, haunted him, although in reality it turned out that he did not have the talent that the blinded woman idealized. motherly love Clara.
After unsuccessful attempts to become an artist, the death of his mother, impoverishment and wandering, Hitler volunteered to join the German army, which then unleashed the First World War. According to the recollections of fellow soldiers, Adolf was brave, quiet and efficient, for which he quickly received the rank of corporal in the service, but Hitler was not given a leadership rank, since he was considered an excellent performer who lacked leadership qualities. Fellow soldiers also noted his inexplicable luck: Hitler always returned from the battlefield alive and unharmed, even if his entire squad was defeated, and when injuries occurred, they were light and did not threaten the life of the future Fuhrer.
Front-line photos of Hitler during the First World War
During the First World War, Adolf's nationalist sentiments and beliefs only grew and strengthened, and by leaps and bounds. When Germany began to lose and give up ground, protest sentiments began in the rear due to poverty and hunger, which Hitler regarded as a betrayal.
What are the Jews to blame for?
The beginning of Hitler's ascent to political Olympus in 1921.
At the end of the war, Hitler left military service, which never became his career, but allowed him to have like-minded people, of whom there were only 7 people. With these people Hitler began his political career, and later the realization of your dreams. He wanted little: “to become the sole leader of Germany and begin the fight against the hated Jews and enslave the whole world.” Hatred of Jews fueled his sick imagination; Adolf believed that this nation wanted to seize power over other nations and make them faceless.
Hitler was not always an anti-Semite; throughout his life he had Jewish friends who helped him in varying degrees. Bitterness and hatred began to grow after the death of her mother, who was sick with cancer, and her doctor was a Jew. Hitler repeatedly thanked this doctor for trying as hard as possible to cure his mother. But, most likely, Hitler had a subconscious resentment against the doctor for not saving his mother, and she was the only person whom the Fuhrer madly loved, and after her death he grieved greatly. Therefore, over time, the resentment grew into an obsessive hatred of the entire Jewish people.
First successes and the Beer Hall Putsch
Hitler's career grew rapidly in the political sphere, he was a great speaker who could hold the attention of a crowd and captivate them with his ideas.
In his speeches, the future chancellor played on the patriotic sentiments of the population that reigned in Germany after the war and the failed capitulation, which led the country to huge foreign debts and economic decline.
When the audience of listeners who came to his speeches grew to 2,000 people, Hitler began to suppress by force everyone who shouted out discontent: they were dragged out and beaten by his stormtroopers.
Without significant obstacles from the authorities, Adolf became more aggressive and organized massacres with those protesting against his actions and ideas with the help of entire self-defense units he created, for which he once spent 5 weeks in prison.
Hitler enlisted the experience and support of Mussolini, the Italian dictator who had successfully gained power in Italy in the 1920s through conquest and violent suppression of resistance.
The Bürgerbräukeller beer hall (1923), where the Beer Hall Putsch began. Photo from the German Federal Archives
Seizure of the War Ministry building by Rem fighters during the Beer Hall Putsch. With a banner - Himmler
In 1923, Hitler staged a putsch in Germany to seize power, which was called the “beer hall.” The seizure of power failed due to the betrayal of some of his supporters, although it was initially successful. During these events, 18 people died, including law enforcement officers and Nazis.
The birth of the famous Mein Kampf
Hitler was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison as an organizer of mass riots, but was then released early in December 1924. In prison, he wrote his famous two-volume memoir, consisting of an autobiography and a political campaign, which he called Mein Kampf, translated from German as “My Struggle.” Also, during the year of imprisonment, Hitler reflected for a long time on his mistakes and realized that Mussolini’s scenario for the violent seizure of power was not suitable for Germany, and built new plan actions.
At Ludendorff's trial, from left to right: lawyer Holt, Weber, Roder General Ludendorff and Adolf Hitler, 1923
After being released from Landsberg prison in Landsberg am Lech in Bavaria, December 1924.
Two documents of Adolf Hitler have been preserved in the German federal archive: the first is a permit to carry weapons, the second confirms his membership in the National Socialist German Workers' Party, as the first person under No. 1.
Hitler's election speeches
German Nazi meeting in Munich 1929
Hitler is an excellent speaker. Early 1930s, during the election race.
Photo portrait 1932.
At the construction site of the new building of the Reichsbank (the central bank of the German Empire), May 1932.
When Hitler came out of prison, he built a new plan, political, to achieve his goal. His calculation was to play on the national sentiments of the population and the middle class, which at that time was experiencing difficult financial difficulties, and also to put pressure on the authorities. Every now and then he staged various kinds of provocations.
At the pinnacle of power
After 14 years of ups and downs political arena Through violent and political action, several rounds of elections and pressure on the German government, Hitler came to power as chancellor on January 30, 1933. Celebrations of this event resulted in the famous torchlight procession through Berlin.
No one then could have guessed which beast in human form was entrusted with power. After all, in recent years, during the election race, Hitler hid and restrained his anti-Semitic aspirations and desire to resort to radical measures to implement the idea of cleansing Germany and the world from the Jewish race.
Mass Nazi rally in Bückeburg, 1934
A visit to his prison cell in Landsberg prison 10 years later, where Hitler wrote his book "Mein Kampf" 1934.
Olympic Games 1936, top German officials sign autographs
Berlin 1936, Hitler's farewell at the New Year's banquet with the guests present
Wedding of the Nazi elite
All those in power who helped Hitler get so much high position in the government, they had the illusion that this “Nazi upstart” would become a cornered puppet in their hands, but they soon paid for it sadly and belatedly realized their irreparable mistake.
In pursuit of power, Hitler decided to take care of his health in order to have time to bring his vile ideas to life and, as he believed, save Germany. Therefore, the Fuhrer became a true vegetarian, as a result of which he actively created laws to protect animals and toughened punishment for their violations.
Communication with animals
The Fuhrer's favorite German shepherd Blondie
Hitler with his Scotch Terriers
Communication with children
Also, Hitler always demonstrably showed concern for German children as the future of a pure nation.
Various events during Hitler's reign
The first statement that Hitler made as chancellor was about rearming the army and restoring its full combat capability, after which it would be possible to conquer lands in the East with their complete Germanization.
Bückeburg, 1937. Thanksgiving Day
Regular rallies
Reichstag, decision was made on the peaceful annexation of Austria 1938.
Preparations for the performance of the Leopoldhall orchestra Munich 1938.
Visit to the city of Graslitz, temporarily occupied Sudetenland 1938.
Nazi rally in Czechoslovakia, Eger 1938
Hitler with Austrian fans in 1939.
Events before the start of World War II
Performance on May Day at the stadium in 1939.
After Hitler came to power, the holiday received official status in 1933 - National Labor Day.
Hitler at the Charlottenburg Theater, May 1939.
First voyage of the ship Robert Ley, Hitler on board the ship.
Tea drinking at his residence in Obersalzberg (Bavarian Alps) 1939.
The height of World War II
Hitler having lunch on the front line, 1940.
France 40th year
Hitler with Emmy and Edda Goering 1940
Emmy is a German theater and film actress, the second wife of Hermann Goering, and was secretly considered the first lady of Germany. Together with Magda Goebbels (wife of the German Minister of Education), she led various charitable events. Godfather Edda was Hitler himself.
Christmas celebration with German senior military officials, 1941.
Adolf Hitler greets German military personnel at the airfield in Uman.
In the photo, Hitler is in the Ukrainian city of Uman and greets his soldiers. Hitler flew here to inspect the German and Italian military in the summer of 1941.
A symbolic gift to Hitler on the occasion of the capture of Sarajevo.
The soldiers hastened to remove this sign hanging on the wall near the Latin Bridge and hand it over to the Fuhrer almost immediately after the capture of Sarajevo, as a symbol of their victory and the spread of Hitler’s power in these territories.
Visits to the hospital with wounded officers, 1944.
Hitler and Goebbels at a press conference in Berlin
Hitler's presentation to Marshal Goering - “Lady with a Falcon” (1880).
Both figures were collectors of paintings and other works of famous authors; by 1945, Adolf’s collection amounted to more than 6,000 paintings, Goering’s - more than 1,000. The paintings were purchased or confiscated by personal agents politicians. The rights to these paintings are disputed to this day.
Hitler with Eva Braun
Hitler discussing the Bulge with Göring and Guderian in October 1944
Inspection of the destruction after the bombing Soviet troops, spring 1945
The rarest recent footage
This is rare footage of Hitler in the last days of his life, since after massive offensives Soviet army In response to the fascist detachments of German troops, Hitler preferred to hole up in his underground bunker.
Last photo during life
Photo from the FBI database, USA. Possible change in Hitler's appearance during his escape attempt.
According to the official version, on April 30, 1945, together with his wife Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler committed suicide. Eva died after taking a poison capsule without any visible signs of violence, and Hitler first shot his beloved German Shepherd before putting a bullet in his head.
Death of Adolf Hitler
According to information from members of Hitler's staff, the day before they were ordered to prepare cans of gasoline to burn the corpses. On April 30, 1945, Hitler, having shaken hands with people from his inner circle, went with his wife to his room, and soon a shot was heard from it. After a while, the servants looked into their room, where they saw the corpse of the Fuhrer with a gunshot wound to the head and the corpse of Eva Braun without visible injuries. After which they wrapped the bodies in army blankets, doused them with previously prepared gasoline and burned them, as ordered.
The photo shows a burnt corpse being examined by Soviet specialists.
But there is a version that Hitler and Brown fled to South America, where they met their old age, and instead of themselves they left the corpses of their doubles. Even Stalin at one time put forward the version that Hitler was alive and hiding with the Allies.
The photo shows supposedly seventy-five-year-old Hitler on his deathbed.
Walter Frentz is a German photographer, cinematographer, and director. Personal photographer Adolf Hitler. One of key figures in the visual propaganda system of the Third Reich.
Received a degree in electrical engineering. While studying, he met Albert Speer, who later introduced and recommended him to Leni Riefenstahl. Before the outbreak of World War II, he worked as a cameraman at the Universum Film AG studio, in particular, he was a cameraman for Leni Riefenstahl on the set of the documentaries “Triumph of the Will” (1935) and “Olympia” (about the Summer Olympic Games 1936 in Berlin). In 1939, Frenz took color photographs of Moscow. In 1938 he joined the Luftwaffe and, accompanying Hitler, removed the Anschluss of Austria. V. Frenz was not a member of the NSDAP, but in 1941 he was accepted into the ranks of the SS. This happened during W. Frenz’s visit to Minsk together with Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler in the summer of 1941. On August 15, 1941, Walter Frenz wrote in his diary:
"Breakfast with the Reichsführer SS in Minsk, prison camp, execution, lunch at the Government House, mental hospital, collective farm. The Reichsführer SS took two Belarusian boys with him (to be sent to Berlin). Received into the ranks of the SS by Lieutenant General Wolf."
He witnessed mass executions in Minsk.
As a newsreel cameraman (UFA-Wochenschau), he was sent by the Fuhrer's Main Headquarters (Führerhauptquartier) to film the occupation invasion of Warsaw and Paris. In addition to his official duties, Frenz played the role of a private photographer for Hitler and his inner circle. Along with Heinrich, Hoffmann was the only photographer with access to Adolf Hitler who specialized in color photography. From 1939 to 1945 he was a permanent correspondent for the propaganda film magazine "German Weekly Review".
Among the color photographs he completed:
Numerous portraits of high-ranking officials of the Third Reich;
. occupied Minsk (1941) and Sevastopol (1942);
. special objects: Atlantic Wall (1943), factory for the production of V-2 and V-4 retaliation weapons, Dora guns;
. destruction of the cities of Dresden, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Munich, etc. (1945).
He was interned by the Americans and spent several months in a camp in Hammelburg.
Former cameraman and photographer at Hitler's Headquarters Walter Frentz (1907-2004) in a prison cell in Frankfurt am Main. 1945 - 1946 After his arrest (05/22/1945), Frenz was sent to an American internment camp for Germans in Hammelburg (Lower Franconia) and remained there until 1946.
Martin Bormann (right) - "Hitler's shadow." Hitler's personal secretary, head of the Fuhrer's office. By the end of World War II, he had gained considerable influence as his personal secretary, controlling the flow of information and access to Hitler.
Adolf Hitler and representatives Supreme High Command Wehrmacht at the military training ground in Rügenwalde in Pomerania.
A. Hitler and Reichsführer SS G. Himmler, accompanied by SS generals and officers, on a walk near the Berghof residence.
Preparations for the launch of the German V-2 (V 2) ballistic missile at the Heidelager military training ground in the Blizna region in Poland.
The building of the Ministry of Public Education and Propaganda on Wilhelmplatz Square in Berlin, destroyed by British air bombs. In the background is the surviving building built for the ministry in 1938. The photo was presumably taken from the window of the old “Imperial Chancellery”.
The building of the old Imperial Chancellery on Wilhelmstrasse 77 in Berlin, destroyed as a result of an Allied raid. Presumably, March 14, 1945.
Adolf Hitler in the basement of the “Imperial Chancellery” in front of a model of the reconstruction of the city of Linz. The model was transported from the studio of the architect Hermann Giesler (1898-1987) in Munich to Berlin in February 1945 and placed in the basement of the “Imperial Chancellery”, where lighting fixtures were installed to simulate different times of day. At this time, Hitler often went down to the model to distract himself from the hopeless situation at the fronts.
On March 19, 1943, Adolf Hitler (center), Albert Speer (right) and other dignitaries arrived at the training ground in Rügenwald (now Darlowo, Poland), where they were presented with the super-heavy 800-mm Dora (80-cm- Kanone (E) and a prototype Sd.Kfz.184 Ferdinand self-propelled gun.
Luftwaffe chief Goering played with these toys
A Wehrmacht lieutenant and a German draftsman work on a photocopying table at Hitler's headquarters, Wolfsschanze.
Adolf Hitler and German officers walk their dogs at Rastenburg headquarters. Winter 1942-1943.
Portrait of a Blondie
A. Hitler's personal secretary Gertraud "Traudl" Humps (1920-2002) on the terrace of the Berghof residence in Obersalzberg. In June 1943, G. Humps married Hitler's valet Hans Hermann Junge.
Adolf Hitler and General Jodl (Alfred Jodl) at the map of military operations at the Wolfschanze headquarters.
Adolf Hitler and Aviation Minister Hermann Goering surrounded by officers. The photo was taken during the demonstration of the Hetzer self-propelled gun for Hitler’s birthday.
Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler, SS Brigadefuhrer and Hitler's personal dentist Hugo Blaschke, SS Brigadefuhrer and representative of the German Foreign Ministry at Hitler's main headquarters Walter Hevel and head of the NSDAP party office Reichsleiter Martin Bormann on the terrace of Hitler's Berghof residence. Spring 1943
Adolf Hitler at the Berghof residence in early April 1944
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini(Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini, 1883-1945) and Field Marshal General Wilhelm Keitel (Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel, 1882-1946) at Feltre airfield.
German aircraft designers Ernst Heinkel (1888 - 1958) and Claude Dornier (Claude Honoré Desiré Dornier, 1884 - 1969) at Hitler's Berghof residence.
Portrait of Adolf Hitler in the cabin of an airplane during a flight. 1942 - 1943
Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler talks to a local boy during an inspection tour of Belarus. This and another boy were sent to orphanage to Germany. Next to Himmler are the chief of the personal staff of the Reichsführer SS Karl Wolf and the head of the “escort of the Reichsführer SS” and bodyguard Joseph Kirmayer, on the right is most likely a translator from the “order police.”
Soviet children from the village of Novinki near Minsk. The photograph was taken during an inspection by Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler of Minsk and its environs.
German artillerymen at the gunner's sights in the turret coastal installation of a 105-mm cannon (10.5 cm S.K.C/32) of the Atlantic Wall.
The base of the demolished Lenin monument in front of the Government House in occupied Minsk.
Destroyed by the explosion that occurred on November 3, 1941, the Assumption Cathedral of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
Barack (Lagebaracke), in which meetings were held on the situation at the fronts at Hitler's headquarters "Wolfschanze". On July 20, 1944, an attempt was made on Hitler’s life.
German artillerymen with a 75-mm field gun model 1897 (Canon de 75 mle 1897 Schneider) on the Atlantic Wall battery. The German designation of the gun is 75 mm FK 231(f).
Fuel tanks of V-2 (V-2) rockets on the assembly line in tunnel "B" of the Dora-Mittelbau underground plant.
Wreckage of a German V-2 (V 2) rocket in the Blizna area after an unsuccessful launch from the Heidelager test site in Poland.
Portrait of a Red Army artillery commander in German captivity.
Portrait of a Red Army soldier in a prisoner of war camp in Belarus.
SS Obersturmbannführer, authorized to carry out the euthanasia program and personal doctor A. Hitler Karl Brandt (Karl Brandt, 1904-1948) examines the jaw of a captured Red Army soldier in a prisoner of war camp in Belarus.
Portrait of a cook at Hitler's Headquarters, Otto Günther, who received the nickname Krümel ("Little") at the headquarters.
A. Hitler in front of a model for the reconstruction of the city of Linz in the studio of the architect G. Giesler (Hermann Giesler, 1898-1987) in Munich.
The chief of staff of the operational leadership of the Supreme High Command of the Wehrmacht, Major General Alfred Jodl (Alfred Jodl, in the foreground), Adolf Hitler and the chief of staff of the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht, Colonel General W. Keitel (Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel) discuss the progress of the war with France at the map in the main headquarters "Felsennest" near Bad Münstereifel. Behind them is A. Jodl's adjutant, Major Willy Deyhle.
Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler inspects a psychiatric hospital in the village of Novinki near Minsk.
Gauleiter of Danzig-West Prussia Albert Forster (1902-1952) plays the guitar at the wedding of Hitler's personal secretary Gerda Daranovski (1913-1997) and Luftwaffe lieutenant colonel at the main headquarters Eckhard Christian (1907-1985).
Adolf Hitler and Berlin's General Building Inspector Albert Speer select stone samples for the construction of a new building in Berlin. The photograph was taken in the courtyard of the new Imperial Chancellery.
Berlin Inspector General for Construction Albert Speer (1905-1981) wearing an SS cap during a car ride in Belgium. Speer was not a member of the SS, and the cap was not part of his everyday dress and uniform.
