Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an
Austrian-born
German politician and the leader of the
National Socialist German Workers Party (, abbreviated NSDAP), commonly known as the Nazi Party. He was
Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and served as
head of state as
Führer und Reichskanzler from 1934 to 1945.
A decorated veteran of World War I, Hitler joined the precursor of the Nazi Party (DAP) in 1919, and became leader of NSDAP in 1921. He attempted a failed coup d'etat known as the Beer Hall Putsch, which occurred at the Bürgerbräukeller beer hall in Munich on November 8–9, 1923. Hitler was imprisoned for one year due to the failed coup, and wrote his memoir, "My Struggle" (in German Mein Kampf), while imprisoned. After his release on December 20, 1924, he gained support by promoting Pan-Germanism, anti-semitism, anti-capitalism, and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and propaganda. He was appointed chancellor on January 30, 1933, and transformed the Weimar Republic into the Third Reich, a single-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideology of Nazism.
Hitler ultimately wanted to establish a New Order of absolute Nazi German hegemony in continental Europe. To achieve this, he pursued a foreign policy with the declared goal of seizing Lebensraum ("living space") for the Aryan people; directing the resources of the state towards this goal. This included the rearmament of Germany, which culminated in 1939 when the Wehrmacht invaded Poland. In response, the United Kingdom and France declared war against Germany, leading to the outbreak of World War II in Europe.
Within three years, German forces and their European allies had occupied most of Europe, and most of Northern Africa, and the Japanese forces had occupied parts of East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. However, with the reversal of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, the Allies gained the upper hand from 1942 onwards. By 1944, Allied armies had invaded German-held Europe from all sides. Nazi forces engaged in numerous violent acts during the war, including the systematic murder of as many as 17 million civilians, including an estimated six million Jews targeted in the Holocaust and between 500,000 and 1,500,000 Roma, added to the Poles, Soviet civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, people with disabilities, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and other political and religious opponents.
In the final days of the war, during the Battle of Berlin in 1945, Hitler married his long-time mistress Eva Braun and, to avoid capture by Soviet forces, the two committed suicide less than two days later on 30 April 1945.
Adolf is sometimes refered to as an Antichrist due to the effects he and the Nazi Party had on society and for causing World War II in general. While Hitler is most remembered for his central role in World War II and the Holocaust, his government left behind other legacies as well, including the Volkswagen, the Autobahn, jet aircraft and rocket technology.
Early years
Ancestry
Hitler's father,
Alois Hitler, was an
illegitimate child of
Maria Anna Schicklgruber, so his paternity was not listed on his birth certificate; he bore his mother's surname. In 1842,
Johann Georg Hiedler married Maria and in 1876 Alois testified before a notary and three witnesses that Johann was his father. Despite this testimony, Alois' paternity has been the subject of controversy. After receiving a "
blackmail letter" from Hitler's nephew
William Patrick Hitler threatening to reveal embarrassing information about Hitler's family tree, Nazi Party lawyer
Hans Frank investigated, and, in his memoirs, claimed to have uncovered letters revealing that Alois' mother was employed as a housekeeper for a Jewish family in
Graz and that the family's 19-year-old son,
Leopold Frankenberger, fathered Alois. Frank's claims were widely believed in the 1950s, but by the 1990s, were generally doubted by historians.
Ian Kershaw dismissed the Frankenberger story as a "smear" by Hitler's enemies, noting that all Jews had been expelled from Graz in the 15th century and were not allowed to return until well after Alois was born. in
Passau,
Germany, where Hitler would acquire
Lower Bavarian rather than Austrian as his lifelong native dialect. In 1894, the family relocated to
Leonding near
Linz, then in June 1895, Alois retired to a small landholding at Hafeld near
Lambach, where he tried his hand at farming and beekeeping. During this time, the young Hitler attended school in nearby Fischlham. As a child, he played "
Cowboys and Indians" and, by his own account, became fixated on war after finding a picture book about the
Franco-Prussian War among his father's belongings.
His father's efforts at Hafeld ended in failure, and the family relocated to Lambach in 1897. Hitler attended a Catholic school located in an 11th-century Benedictine cloister, where the walls were engraved in a number of places with crests containing the symbol of the swastika. It was in Lambach that the eight-year-old Hitler sang in the church choir, took singing lessons, and even entertained the fantasy of one day becoming a priest. In 1898, the family returned permanently to Leonding.
His younger brother Edmund died of measles on 2 February 1900, causing permanent changes in Hitler. He went from a confident, outgoing boy who excelled in school, to a morose, detached, sullen boy who constantly battled his father and his teachers.
Hitler was attached to his mother, though he had a troubled relationship with his father, who frequently beat him, especially in the years after Alois' retirement and disappointing farming efforts. Alois wanted his son to follow in his footsteps as an Austrian customs official, and this became a huge source of conflict between them. Hitler was expelled, never to return to school again.
At age 15, Hitler took part in his First Holy Communion on Whitsunday, 22 May 1904, at the Linz Cathedral. His sponsor was Emanuel Lugert, a friend of his late father.
Early adulthood in Vienna and Munich
From 1905 on, Hitler lived a
bohemian life in
Vienna on an orphan's pension and support from his mother. He was rejected twice by the
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (1907–1908), citing "unfitness for painting", and was told his abilities lay instead in the field of
architecture. Following the school rector's recommendation, he too became convinced this was his path to pursue, yet he lacked the proper academic preparation for architecture school:
In a few days I myself knew that I should some day become an architect. To be sure, it was an incredibly hard road; for the studies I had neglected out of spite at the Realschule were sorely needed. One could not attend the Academy's architectural school without having attended the building school at the Technic, and the latter required a high-school degree. I had none of all this. The fulfillment of my artistic dream seemed physically impossible.
On 21 December 1907, Hitler's mother died of breast cancer at age 47. Ordered by a court in Linz, Hitler gave his share of the orphans' benefits to his sister Paula. When he was 21, he inherited money from an aunt. He struggled as a painter in Vienna, copying scenes from postcards and selling his paintings to merchants and tourists. After being rejected a second time by the Academy of Arts, Hitler ran out of money. In 1909, he lived in a shelter for the homeless. By 1910, he had settled into a house for poor working men on Meldemannstraße. Another resident of the house, Reinhold Hanisch, sold Hitler's paintings until the two men had a bitter falling-out.
Hitler said he first became an anti-Semite in Vienna,
Loosely translated it reads: "For peace, freedom // and democracy // never again fascism // millions of dead remind [us]"
Some people have referred to Hitler's legacy in neutral or favourable terms. Former Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat spoke of his 'admiration' of Hitler in 1953, when he was a young man, though it is possible he was speaking in the context of a rebellion against the British Empire. Louis Farrakhan has referred to him as a "very great man". Bal Thackeray, leader of the right-wing Hindu Shiv Sena party in the Indian state of the Maharashtra, declared in 1995 that he was an admirer of Hitler. Friedrich Meinecke, the German historian, said of Hitler's life that "it is one of the great examples of the singular and incalculable power of personality in historical life".
Religious views
Hitler was raised by Roman Catholic parents, but after he left home, he never attended
Mass or received the
sacraments. Hitler favoured aspects of
Protestantism if they were more suitable to his own objectives. At the same time, he adopted some elements of the Catholic Church's hierarchical organization, liturgy and phraseology in his politics. After he had moved to Germany, where the Catholic and the Protestant church are largely financed through a
church tax collected by the state, Hitler never "actually left his church or refused to pay church taxes. In a nominal sense therefore," the historian
Richard Steigmann-Gall (whose views on Christianity and Nazism are admittedly outside the consensus) states, Hitler "can be classified as Catholic." Yet, as Steigmann-Gall has also pointed out in the debate about
religion in Nazi Germany: "Nominal church membership is a very unreliable gauge of actual piety in this context."
In public, Hitler often praised Christian heritage, German Christian culture, and professed a belief in an Aryan Jesus Christ, a Jesus who fought against the Jews. In his speeches and publications Hitler spoke of his interpretation of Christianity as a central motivation for his antisemitism, stating that "As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice." His private statements, as reported by his intimates, show Hitler as critical of traditional Christianity, considering it a religion fit only for slaves; he admired the power of Rome but had severe hostility towards its teaching. Here Hitler's attack on Catholicism "resonated Streicher's contention that the Catholic establishment was allying itself with the Jews." In light of these private statements, for John S. Conway and many other historians it is beyond doubt that Hitler held a "fundamental antagonism" towards the Christian churches. The various accounts of Hitler's private statements vary strongly in their reliability; most importantly, Hermann Rauschning's Hitler speaks is considered by most historians to be an invention.
In the political relations with the churches in Germany however, Hitler readily adopted a strategy "that suited his immediate political purposes". The leader of the Hitler Youth stated "the destruction of Christianity was explicitly recognized as a purpose of the National Socialist movement" from the start, but "considerations of expedience made it impossible" publicly to express this extreme position. a belief system purged of what he objected to in orthodox Christianity, and featuring added racist elements. By 1940 however, it was public knowledge that Hitler had abandoned advocating for Germans even the syncretist idea of a positive Christianity. Hitler maintained that the "terrorism in religion is, to put it briefly, of a Jewish dogma, which Christianity has universalized and whose effect is to sow trouble and confusion in men's minds."
Hitler once stated, "We do not want any other god than Germany itself. It is essential to have fanatical faith and hope and love in and for Germany."
Attitude to occultism
Some writers believe that, in contrast to some Nazi ideologues, Hitler did not adhere to esoteric ideas, occultism, or
Ariosophy. Nevertheless, other writers believe the young Hitler was strongly influenced, particularly in his racial views, by an abundance of occult works on the mystical superiority of the Germans, such as the occult and anti-semitic magazine
Ostara, and give credence to the claim of its publisher
Lanz von Liebenfels that Hitler visited Liebenfels in 1909 and praised his work. The historians are still divided on the question of the reliability of Lanz' claim of a contact with Hitler.
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke considers his account reliable,
Brigitte Hamann leaves the question open and
Ian Kershaw, although questioning to what degree he was influence by it, notes that, "Most likely, Hitler did read
Ostara, along with other racist pulp which was prominent on Vienna newspaper stands.
Health
Hitler's health has long been the subject of debate. He has variously been said to have had
irritable bowel syndrome,
skin lesions,
irregular heartbeat,
Parkinson's disease, He had problems with his teeth and his personal dentist
Hugo Blaschke stated that he fitted a large
dental bridge to his upper jaw in 1933 and that on 10 November 1944 he carried out surgery to cut off part of the left rear section of the bridge that was causing an infection of his gums. He was also suffering from a
sinus infection.
After the early 1930s, Hitler generally followed a vegetarian diet, although he ate meat on occasion. There are reports of him disgusting his guests by giving them graphic accounts of the slaughter of animals in an effort to make them shun meat. A fear of cancer (from which his mother died) is the most widely cited reason, though it is also asserted that Hitler, an antivivisectionist, had a profound concern for animals. Martin Bormann had a greenhouse constructed for him near the Berghof (near Berchtesgaden) to ensure a steady supply of fresh fruit and vegetables for Hitler throughout the war.
Hitler was a non-smoker and promoted aggressive anti-smoking campaigns throughout Germany. (See Anti-tobacco movement in Nazi Germany.) Hitler "despised" alcohol.
Syphilis
Hitler's tremors and irregular heartbeat during the last years of his life could have been symptoms of tertiary (late stage)
syphilis, which would mean he had a syphilis infection for many years. Along with another doctor,
Theodor Morell diagnosed the symptoms as such by early 1945 in a joint report to
SS head
Heinrich Himmler. Historians have speculated he may have caught the affliction from a German prostitute at a time when the disease was not yet treatable by modern
antibiotics, which would also explain his avoidance of normal sexual relations with women. However, syphilis had become curable in 1910 with Dr.
Paul Ehrlich's introduction of the drug
Salvarsan.
Since the 1870s, however, it was a common rhetorical practice on the völkisch right to associate Jews with diseases such as syphilis. Historian Robert Waite claims Hitler tested negative on a Wassermann test as late as 1939, which does not prove that he did not have the disease, because the Wassermann test was prone to false-negative results. Regardless of whether he actually had syphilis or not, Hitler lived in constant fear of the disease, and took treatment for it no matter what his doctors told him. journalist and Académie française member Joseph Kessel wrote that in the winter of 1942, Kersten heard of Hitler's medical condition. Consulted by his patient, Himmler, as to whether he could "assist a man who suffers from severe headaches, dizziness and insomnia," Kersten was shown a top-secret 26-page report. It detailed how Hitler had contracted syphilis in his youth and was treated for it at a hospital in Pasewalk, Germany. However, in 1937, symptoms re-appeared, showing that the disease was still active, and by the start of 1942, signs were evident that progressive syphilitic paralysis (Tabes dorsalis) was occurring. Himmler advised Kersten that Morell (who in the 1930s claimed to be a specialist venereologist) was in charge of Hitler's treatment, and that it was a state secret. The book also relates how Kersten learned from Himmler's secretary, Rudolf Brandt, that at that time, probably the only other people privy to the report's information were Nazi Party chairman Martin Bormann and Hermann Göring, the head of the Luftwaffe.
Monorchism
It has been alleged that Hitler had
monorchism, the medical condition of having only one
testicle. Hitler's personal doctor, Johan Jambor, supposedly described the dictator's condition to a priest who later wrote down what he had been told in a document which was uncovered in 2008, 23 years after the doctor's death.
Soviet doctor Lev Bezymensky, allegedly involved in the Soviet autopsy, stated in a 1967 book that Hitler's left testicle was missing. Bezymensky later admitted that the claim was falsified. Hitler was routinely examined by many doctors throughout his childhood, military service and later political career, and no clinical mention of any such condition has ever been discovered. Records do show he was wounded in 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, and some sources do describe his injury as a wound to the groin.
Parkinson's disease
It has also been speculated Hitler had
Parkinson's disease. Newsreels of Hitler show he had tremors in his hand and a shuffling walk (also a symptom of tertiary syphilis, see above) which began before the war and continued to worsen until the end of his life. Morell treated Hitler with a drug agent that was commonly used in 1945, although Morell is viewed as an unreliable doctor by most historians and any diagnoses he may have made are subject to doubt.
A more reliable doctor, Ernst-Günther Schenck, who worked at an emergency casualty station in the Reich Chancellery during April 1945, also claimed Hitler might have Parkinson's disease. However, Schenck only saw Hitler briefly on two occasions and, by his own admission, was extremely exhausted and dazed during these meetings (at the time, he had been in surgery for numerous days without much sleep). Also, some of Schenck's opinions were based on hearsay from Dr. Haase.
Other complaints
From the 1930s he suffered from stomach pains, in 1936 a non-cancerous
polyp was removed from his throat and he developed
eczema on his legs. He suffered
ruptured eardrums as a result of the
July 20 plot bomb blast in 1944 and 200 wood splinters had to be removed from his legs, but he was otherwise uninjured. Some doctors dismiss Hitler's ailments as
hypochondria, pointing out the apparently drastic decline of Hitler's health as Germany began losing
World War II.
Addiction to amphetamine
Hitler began using
amphetamine occasionally after 1937 and became addicted to amphetamine after the late summer of 1942.
Albert Speer stated he thought this was the most likely cause of the later rigidity of Hitler’s decision making (never allowing military retreats).
Historians' views
In a 1980 article, the German historian
Hans-Ulrich Wehler dismissed theories that sought to explain
Nazi Germany as due to some defect, medical or otherwise in Hitler. In his opinion, besides the problem that such theories about Hitler's medical condition were extremely difficult to prove, they had the effect of personalizing the phenomena of Nazi Germany by attributing everything that happened in the Third Reich to one flawed individual. The British historian Sir
Ian Kershaw agreed that it was better to take a broader view of German history by seeking to examine what social forces led to the Third Reich and its policies, as opposed to the "personalized" explanations for
the Holocaust and
World War II. All three women attempted suicide (two succeeded), a fact that has led to speculation that Hitler may have had
sexual fetishes, such as
urolagnia (aroused by urine or urination), as was claimed by
Otto Strasser, a political opponent of Hitler. Reiter, the only one to survive the Nazi regime, denied this. Some theorists have claimed that Hitler had a relationship with British fascist
Unity Mitford.
Lothar Machtan argues in
The Hidden Hitler that Hitler was homosexual.
Family
Paula Hitler, the last living member of Adolf Hitler's immediate family, died in 1960.
The most prominent and longest-living direct descendant of Adolf Hitler's father, Alois, was Adolf's nephew William Patrick Hitler. With his wife Phyllis, he eventually moved to Long Island, New York, changed his last name, and had four sons. None of William Hitler's children have had any children of their own.
Over the years, various investigative reporters have attempted to track down other distant relatives of the Führer. Many are now alleged to be living inconspicuous lives and have long since changed their last name.
Klara Hitler, mother
Alois Hitler, father
Alois Hitler, Jr., half-brother
Angela Hitler Raubal, half-sister
Bridget Dowling, sister-in-law
Eva Braun, mistress and then wife
Geli Raubal, niece
Gretl Braun, sister-in-law through Hitler's marriage to Eva Braun
Heinz Hitler, nephew
Hermann Fegelein, brother-in-law through Hitler's marriage to Eva Braun
Ilse Braun, sister-in-law through Hitler's marriage to Eva Braun
Johann Georg Hiedler, presumed grandfather
Johann Nepomuk Hiedler, maternal great-grandfather, presumed great uncle and possibly Hitler's true paternal grandfather
Leo Raubal Jr, nephew
Maria Schicklgruber, grandmother
Paula Hitler, sister
William Patrick Hitler, nephew
Hitler in media
Oratory and rallies
Hitler was a gifted orator who captivated many with his beating of the lectern and growling, emotional speech. He honed his skills by giving speeches to soldiers during 1919 and 1920. He became adept at telling people what they wanted to hear (the stab-in-the-back, the Jewish-Marxist plot to conquer the world, and the betrayal of Germany in the Versailles treaty) and identifying a scapegoat for their plight. Over time, Hitler perfected his delivery by rehearsing in front of mirrors and carefully choreographing his display of emotions. He was allegedly coached by
Erik-Jan Hanussen, a self-styled clairvoyant who focused on hand and arm gestures and who, ironically, had Jewish heritage. Munitions minister and architect
Albert Speer, who may have known Hitler as well as anyone, said that Hitler was above all else an actor.
(June 1942)]]
Massive Nazi rallies staged by Speer were designed to spark a process of self-persuasion for the participants. By participating in the rallies, by marching, by shouting heil, and by making the stiff armed salute, the participants strengthened their commitment to the Nazi movement. This process can be appreciated by watching Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will, which presents the 1934 Nuremberg Rally. The camera shoots Hitler from on high and from below, but only twice head-on. These camera angles give Hitler a Christ-like aura. Some of the people in the film are paid actors, but most of the participants are not. Whether the film itself recruited new Nazis out of theatre audiences is unknown. The process of self-persuasion may have affected Hitler. He gave the same speech (though it got smoother and smoother with repetition) hundreds of times first to soldiers and then to audiences in beer halls.
Recorded in private conversation
Hitler visited Finnish
Field Marshal Mannerheim on 4 June 1942. During the visit an engineer of the Finnish broadcasting company
YLE, Thor Damen, recorded Hitler and Mannerheim in conversation, something which had to be done secretly since Hitler never allowed recordings of him off-guard. Today the recording is the only known recording of Hitler not speaking in an official tone. The recording captures 11½ minutes of the two leaders in private conversation. Hitler speaks in a slightly excited, but still intellectually detached manner during this talk (the speech has been compared to that of the working class). The majority of the recording is a monologue by Hitler. In the recording, Hitler admits to underestimating the Soviet Union's ability to conduct war.
Patria picture disc
Adolf Hitler even released a 7-inch
picture disc with one of his speeches. Known as the
Patria (
Fatherland) picture disc, the obverse bears an image of Hitler giving a speech and has a recording of both a speech by Hitler and also Party Member Hans Hinkel. The reverse bears a hand holding a swastika flag and the Carl Woitschach recording (1933 – Telefunken A 1431) "In Dem Kampf um die Heimat – Faschistenmarsch".
Documentaries during the Third Reich
Hitler appeared in and was involved to varying degrees with a series of films by the pioneering filmmaker
Leni Riefenstahl via
Universum Film AG (UFA):
Der Sieg des Glaubens (Victory of Faith, 1933).
Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will, 1934), co-produced by Hitler.
(Day of Freedom: Our Armed Forces, 1935).
Olympia (1938).
Hitler was the central figure of the first three films; they focused on the party rallies of the respective years and are considered propaganda films. Hitler also featured prominently in the Olympia film. Whether the latter is a propaganda film or a true documentary is still a subject of controversy, but it nonetheless perpetuated and spread the propagandistic message of the 1936 Olympic Games depicting Nazi Germany as a prosperous and peaceful country. As a prominent politician, Hitler was featured in many newsreels.
Television
Hitler's attendance at various public functions, including the 1936 Olympic Games and Nuremberg Rallies, appeared on television broadcasts made between 1935 and 1939. These events, along with other programming highlighting activity by public officials, were often repeated in public viewing rooms. Samples from a number of surviving television films from Nazi Germany were included in the 1999 documentary
Das Fernsehen unter dem Hakenkreuz (Television Under the Swastika).
Documentaries post Third Reich
The World at War (1974): a Thames Television series which contains much information about Hitler and Nazi Germany, including an interview with his secretary, Traudl Junge.
Adolf Hitler's Last Days: from the BBC series "Secrets of World War II" tells the story about Hitler's last days during World War II.
The Nazis: A Warning From History (1997): six-part BBC TV series on how the cultured and educated Germans accepted Hitler and the Nazis up to its downfall. Historical consultant is Ian Kershaw.
Cold War (1998): a CNN series about the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The series begins with World War II footage, including Hitler, and how the Cold War began in earnest after Germany surrendered.
Im toten Winkel – Hitlers Sekretärin (Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary) (2002): an exclusive 90 minute interview with Traudl Junge, Hitler's secretary. Made by Austrian Jewish director André Heller shortly before Junge's death from lung cancer, Junge recalls the last days in the Berlin bunker. Clips of the interview were used in Downfall (film).
Undergångens arkitektur (The Architecture of Doom) (1989): documentary about the National Socialist aesthetic as envisioned by Hitler.
Das Fernsehen unter dem Hakenkreuz (Television Under the Swastika) (1999): documentary by Michael Kloft about the domestic use of television in Nazi Germany for propaganda purposes from 1935 to 1944.
Ruins of the Reich (2007): four-part series of the Rise and Fall of Hitler's Reich and its effects, created by Third Reich historian R.J. Adams
Films and series
Fritz Diez depicted Hitler in Ernst Thälmann - Führer seiner Klasse (East Germany, 1955), Die gefrorene Blitze (East Germany, 1967), Já, spravedlnost (Czechoslovakia, 1967), Osvobozhdenie (1970-1, Soviet Union), 17 Moments of Spring (1973, TV production, Soviet Union), Vibor Tzeli (1974, Soviet Union) and Soldaty Svobodee (1977, Soviet Union).
The Death of Adolf Hitler, a British (7 January 1973) made-for-television production, starring Frank Finlay. The movie depicts the last days of Hitler.
(1973): movie depicting the days leading up to Adolf Hitler's death, starring Sir Alec Guinness.
Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's
Hitler – Ein Film aus Deutschland () (1977): a seven-hour work in four parts. The director uses documentary clips, photographic backgrounds, puppets, theatrical stages, and other elements.
The Bunker (1981): a U.S. made-for-television movie describing the last days in the Führerbunker covering 17 January 1945 to 2 May 1945. The film stars Sir Anthony Hopkins.
Europa, Europa (1990): based on the true story of a German Jew who joined the Hitler Youth in order to avoid capture. Hitler is portrayed by Ryszard Pietruski.
Fatherland (1994): a hypothetical view of Germany in 1964, had Hitler won World War II, adapted from the novel by former journalist Robert Harris.
The Empty Mirror (1996): a psychodrama which speculates on the events following Hitler (portrayed by Norman Rodway) surviving the fall of Nazi Germany.
Moloch (1999): Hitler portrayed by Leonid Mozgovoy in a fictional drama set at his Berghof Retreat in the Bavarian Alps.
Max (2002): fictional drama depicting a friendship between Jewish art dealer Max Rothman (John Cusack) and a young Adolf Hitler (Noah Taylor) as a failed painter in Vienna.
(2003): two-part TV series about the early years of Adolf Hitler and his rise to power (up to 1933), starring Robert Carlyle.
Der Untergang (Downfall) (2004): German movie about the last days of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich, starring Bruno Ganz. This film is partly based on the autobiography of Traudl Junge, a favorite secretary of Hitler's. In 2002, Junge said she felt great guilt for "... liking the greatest criminal ever to have lived."
Valkyrie (2008): Hitler, played by David Bamber, is portrayed as a target of the famous assassination plot by Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg.
Plays
Dr Freud Will See You Now Mr Hitler (2008): radio drama by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran presenting an imagined scenario in which Sigmund Freud treats the young Hitler. Toby Jones played Hitler.
See also
Adolf Hitler's directives
Führermuseum
Glossary of Nazi Germany
Glossary of German military terms
List of books by or about Adolf Hitler
List of former Nazi Party members
List of Nazi Party leaders and officials
Poison Kitchen
Footnotes
References
Fischer, Thomas. Soldiers Of the Leibstandarte. J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, Inc. 2008. ISBN 978-0-921991-91-5.
Joachimsthaler, Anton (1999), The Last Days of Hitler – The Legends – The Evidence – The Truth, Brockhampton Press, ISBN 1-86019-902-X
Linge, Heinz (2008), With Hitler to the End. Frontline Books-Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. ISBN 1-60239-804-6.
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Further reading
Medical books
External links
;Images and videos
(
The Character portrayed in film and television)
Color Footage of Hitler during WWII
Adolf Hitler: Up Close - slideshow by Life magazine
Download "The Young Hitler I Knew" on archive.org
Did Hitler have only one testicle? from The Straight Dope
OSS document alleging sexual deviancy
History Channel's Episode – High Hitler
;Speeches and publications
A speech from 1932 (text and audiofile), German Museum of History Berlin
Hitler's book Mein Kampf (full English translation)
Adolf Hitler's Private Will, Marriage Certificate and Political Testament, April 1945 (34 pages)
"The Discovery of Hitler's Wills" Office of Strategic Services report on how the testament was found
The Testament of Adolf Hitler the Bormann-Hitler documents (transcripts of conversations in February–2 April 1945)
|years=1933–1945|after=
Joseph Goebbels}}
|years=1934–1945|after=
Karl Dönitz (as President)}}
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