Hitler was born in Austria in 1889. His father Alois was a customs officer, a drunkard and a bully, and his wife Klara was much younger than him. He was an only child and adored his mother.
Hitler went to monastery school, where he was in the choir. He copied the symbol he saw in church to become the Nazi Swastika. At school he thought he was clever but his teachers did not.
He went to Vienna hoping to become an artist and architect, but he was rejected. He drifted and became homeless, living in a hostel for three years.
He moved to Germany and he was in Munich when WW1 broke out. He enlisted immediately and rose to the rank of corporal.
During WW1 he was happy for the first time of his life. He won two iron crosses for bravery, but was later blinded in a gas attack. After the armistice Germany was forced to sign the treaty of Versailles and Hitler was angry.
Like most German soldiers, Hitler hated the Treaty of Versailles, and thought the German government had stabbed the army in the back. He hated the fact that Germany had to pay huge sums on reparations to France, lost land ad people to countries such as Poland and their army was cut to 100,000 soldiers.
He also hated Communists and Jews, and he blamed both groups for the chaos n Germany after the war.
In 1923 German money became worthless due to paying reparations and there was more financial problems after the Wall Street crash 1929, with massive unemployment and poverty.
He tried to seize power in Munich in a putsch in 1923, but it failed because he did not get the popular support he expected. He was put in prison where he wrote a book called Mein Kampf ( my struggle) about what he wanted for the future of Germany.
In the early 30s,there where 6 million people unemployed in Germany, so they where angry the government. Hitler promised people jobs and food to eat. Many people where frightened that the Communists might take control.
By 1932 the Nazi party had become the largest single party In January 1933 Hitler was asked to become Chancellor of Germany by President Hindenburg.
Britain and France did not stand up to Hitler because they where trying to keep the piece- this was called appeasement. They let Hitler take over Austria and part of Czechoslovakia in 1938.
During the 1930s Hitler stepped up persecution of the Jews; for example the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 said they where no longer German citizens.
In 1938 on Kristallnacht (crystal night) the Nazis openly attacked Jewish shops and synagogues. Many Jews where sent to concentration camps briefly.
When the Nazis invaded Poland and Russia millions of Jews came under their control. They sent killing squads (Einsatzgruppen) into Russia and Poland to kill as many Jews as possible.
In 1942 they built death camps with gas chambers to speed up the murders.
The biggest camp in Auschwitz killed 1.25 million Jews between 1942-1945.
On arrival at death camp Jews where divided into those able to work and those to be murdered straight away. All their belongings where taken away, and those able to work where given very little food and worked to death.

	Created by Michelle Jolly about 6 years ago

history revision for an end of year test!

End of year test revision