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[[Image:Hitler7.JPG|right|300px|thumb|Adolf Hitler, giving a hint as to the violence to come.]]

[[Image:Hitler7.JPG|right|300px|thumb|Adolf Hitler, giving a hint as to the violence to come.]]

'''Adolf Hitler''' was the Austrian-born Chancellor and President of Germany from January 30, 1933 until his death on April 30, 1945.  He was also the leader (German: ''Der Führer'') of the National Socialist German Workers Party (''National-sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'', or Nazi Party) which gained political power through threat, intimidation, and outright violence throughout Germany in the aftermath of the First World War. Hitler’s policies and beliefs resulted in the mass extermination of the Jews, Gypsies, and other peoples he considered “inferior” throughout central and eastern Europe. This was directly responsible for the outbreak of [[World War II]], causing the deaths of untold millions on and off the battlefield, and ending only with his own death in his Berlin bunker.

'''Adolf Hitler''' was the Austrian-born Chancellor and President of [[Germany]] from January 30, 1933 until his death on April 30, 1945.  He was also the leader (German: ''Der Führer'') of the National Socialist German Workers Party (''National-sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'', or Nazi Party) which gained political power through threat, intimidation, and outright violence throughout Germany in the aftermath of the First World War. Hitler’s policies and beliefs resulted in the mass extermination of the [[Jews]], Gypsies, and other peoples he considered “inferior” throughout central and eastern [[Europe]]. This was directly responsible for the outbreak of [[World War II]], causing the deaths of untold millions on and off the battlefield, and ending only with his own death in his Berlin bunker.

==Early life==

==Early life==

Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, in Braunau am Inn, Austria.  Hitler's father, Alois (born 1837), was a customs official who was himself born illegitimate, carrying for a time his mother's name, Schicklgruber.   By 1876 he had his baptismal entry corrected in his church records, establishing his father as Johan Heidler, which was altered slightly to Hitler.

Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, in Braunau am Inn, [[Austria]].  Hitler's father, Alois (born 1837), was a customs official who was himself born illegitimate, carrying for a time his mother's name, Schicklgruber. By 1876 he had his baptismal entry corrected in his church records, establishing his father as Johan Heidler, which was altered slightly to Hitler.

When his father retired the family moved to Linz, Austria, where it remained a favorite for young Adolf for the rest of his life, and where he gave his wish to be buried.  When Alois died in 1903 he left enough of a pension to support his wife and children; Adolf would take his and live off of it in Vienna after leaving school, dreaming of becoming an artist.  Although somewhat competent as a painter of landscapes and architecture, his renderings of humans were considered “lifeless” and “crude” by the standards of the Academy of Fine Arts, and his application was rejected twice.  Remaining in Vienna, he moved from one cheap flop house to another, painting postcards and advertisements to earn a meager living after his allowance had dried up.  By then he had developed traits which characterized his life as a whole: secretiveness, loneliness, a Spartan mode of everyday life, and a hatred of the cosmopolitan, multinational character that was the makeup of Vienna.  

When his father retired the family moved to Linz, Austria, where it remained a favorite for young Adolf for the rest of his life, and where he gave his wish to be buried.  When Alois died in 1903 he left enough of a pension to support his wife and children; Adolf would take his and live off of it in Vienna after leaving school, dreaming of becoming an artist.  Although somewhat competent as a painter of landscapes and architecture, his renderings of humans were considered “lifeless” and “crude” by the standards of the Academy of Fine Arts, and his application was rejected twice.  Remaining in [[Vienna]], he moved from one cheap flop house to another, painting postcards and advertisements to earn a meager living after his allowance had dried up.  By then he had developed traits which characterized his life as a whole: secretiveness, loneliness, a Spartan mode of everyday life, and a hatred of the cosmopolitan, multinational character that was the makeup of Vienna.  

==Who And What He Was==

==Who And What He Was==

===''Mein Kampf''===

===''Mein Kampf''===

Hitler had his inner circle as frequent visitors in his prison cell, which was made more comfortable due to his celebrity.  While there, he dictated to Rudolf Hess the first volume of ''Mein Kampf'' (“My Struggle”), his political autobiography and a compendium of his many ideas.

Hitler had his inner circle as frequent visitors in his prison cell, which was made more comfortable due to his celebrity.  While there, he dictated to Rudolf Hess the first volume of ''Mein Kampf'' (“My Struggle”), his political autobiography and a compendium of his many ideas.