Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who led the National Socialist German Workers Party, more commonly known as the Nazi Party. He was Chancellor of Germany (1933–1945) and Führer of Germany (1934–1945).
Hitler was a decorated veteran of World War I who achieved leadership of the Nazi Party in Weimar Germany. Following his imprisonment after a failed coup, he gained support by promoting nationalism, antisemitism and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and propaganda. The Nazis executed or assassinated many of their opponents, restructured the state economy, rearmed the armed forces (Wehrmacht) and established a totalitarian and fascist dictatorship. Hitler pursued a foreign policy with the declared goal of seizing Lebensraum ("living space"). The German invasion of Poland in 1939 caused the British and French Empires to declare war on Germany, leading to the outbreak of World War II in Europe.
The Axis Powers occupied most of continental Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. Eventually the Allies defeated the Wehrmacht and Schutzstaffel. By 1945, Germany was in ruins. Hitler's bid for territorial conquest and racial subjugation caused the deaths of tens of millions of people, including the systematic genocide of an estimated six million Jews, not including various additional "undesirable" populations, in what is known as the Holocaust.
During the final days of the war in 1945, as Berlin was being invaded by the Red Army, Hitler married Eva Braun. Less than 24 hours later, the two committed suicide in the Führerbunker.
Images and videos
Photos of Adolf Hitler
Color Footage of Hitler - Watch color footage of Hitler during WWII
Adolf Hitler at the Internet Movie Database (The Character portrayed in film and television)
Speeches and publications
Hitler's book Mein Kampf (full English translation)
A speech from 1932 (text and audiofile), German Museum of History Berlin
Hitler Speech (February 10, 1933) with English Translation
The Testament of Adolf Hitler the Borman-Hitler documents
Political offices
Preceded by
Anton Drexler
Leader of the NSDAP
1921–1945
Succeeded by
None
Preceded by
Franz Pfeffer von Salomon
Leader of the SA
1930–1945
Preceded by
Kurt von Schleicher
Chancellor of Germany(1)
1933–1945
Succeeded by
Joseph Goebbels
Preceded by
Paul von Hindenburg (as President)
Führer of Germany(1)
1934–1945
Succeeded by
Karl Dönitz (as President)
Military offices
Preceded by
Walther von Brauchitsch
Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres (Army Commander)
1941–1945
Succeeded by
Ferdinand Schörner
Notes and references
1. The positions of Head of State and Government were combined 1934–1945 in the office of Führer and Chancellor of Germany
v • d • e
Chancellor of Germany
German Empire
(1871–1918)
Otto von Bismarck · Leo von Caprivi · Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst · Bernhard von Bülow · Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg · Georg Michaelis · Georg von Hertling · Prince Maximilian of Baden
Revolutionary Period
(1918–1919)
Friedrich Ebert
Weimar Republic
(1919–1933)
Philipp Scheidemann · Gustav Bauer · Hermann Müller · Konstantin Fehrenbach · Joseph Wirth · Wilhelm Cuno · Gustav Stresemann · Wilhelm Marx · Hans Luther · Wilhelm Marx · Hermann Müller · Heinrich Brüning · Franz von Papen · Kurt von Schleicher
Third Reich
(1933–1945)
Adolf Hitler · Joseph Goebbels · Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk
Federal Republic
(1949–)
Konrad Adenauer · Ludwig Erhard · Kurt Georg Kiesinger · Willy Brandt · Helmut Schmidt · Helmut Kohl · Gerhard Schröder · Angela Merkel
v • d • e
The Hitler Cabinet
(30 January 1933–30 April 1945)
Adolf Hitler (Chancellor and Führer)
Franz von Papen (ind) · Konstantin von Neurath · Joachim von Ribbentrop · Wilhelm Frick · Heinrich Himmler · Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk (ind) · Alfred Hugenberg (DNVP) · Kurt Schmitt · Hjalmar Schacht (ind) · Hermann Göring · Walther Funk · Franz Seldte · Franz Gürtner (DNVP) · Franz Schlegelberger · Otto Georg Thierack · Werner von Blomberg (ind) · Wilhelm Keitel (ind) · Freiherr von Eltz-Rübenach (ind) · Julius Dorpmüller · Wilhelm Ohnesorge · Richard Walther Darré · Herbert Backe · Joseph Goebbels · Bernhard Rust · Fritz Todt · Albert Speer · Alfred Rosenberg · Hanns Kerrl · Hermann Muhs · Otto Meißner (ind) · Hans Lammers · Martin Bormann · Karl Hermann Frank · Rudolf Hess · Ernst Röhm
All personnel were or became NSDAP members except where indicated ("ind" = nominally independent)
v • d • e
Adolf Hitler
Politics
Political beliefs · Speeches · Mein Kampf · Zweites Buch · Last will and testament
Events
Rise to power · Third Reich · Holocaust · World War II · Death
Personal life
Home · Medical health · Religious beliefs · Sexuality · Vegetarianism
Perceptions
Books · In popular culture · Der Sieg des Glaubens · Triumph of the Will · The Empty Mirror · Hitler: The Last Ten Days · Max · Hitler: The Rise of Evil · Der Untergang (Downfall)
Family
Eva Braun (wife) · Alois (father) · Klara (mother) · Alois (half-brother) · Angela (half-sister) · Gustav (brother) · Ida (sister) · Otto (brother) · Edmund (brother) · Paula (sister) · William Patrick (nephew) · Heinz (nephew)
v • d • e
Final occupants of the Führerbunker by date of departure
April 22
Karl Gebhardt · Julius Schaub · Christa Schroeder · Johanna Wolf
April 23
Theodor Morell · Albert Speer · Joachim von Ribbentrop
April 24
Walter Frentz
April 28
Robert Ritter von Greim · Hanna Reitsch · Walter Wagner
April 29
Heinrich Müller · Bernd von Freytag-Loringhoven · Gerhardt Boldt · Rudolf Weiss
April 30
Nicolaus von Below
May 1
Erich Kempka · Traudl Junge · Gerda Christian · Constanze Manziarly · Else Krüger · Otto Günsche · Johann Rattenhuber · Werner Naumann · Wilhelm Mohnke · Hans-Erich Voss · Ludwig Stumpfegger · Martin Bormann · Artur Axmann · Walther Hewel · Günther Schwägermann · Armin D. Lehmann
May 2
Rochus Misch · Helmuth Weidling · Hans Refior · Theodor von Dufving · Siegfried Knappe
Date uncertain
Wilhelm Zander · Heinz Lorenz · Heinz Linge · Hans Baur · Helmut Kunz
Still present on May 2
Erna Flegel · Werner Haase · Johannes Hentschel
Committed suicide
Ernst-Robert Grawitz · Adolf and Eva Hitler · Joseph and Magda Goebbels · Wilhelm Burgdorf · Hans Krebs · Peter Högl
Killed
Hermann Fegelein · Goebbels children · Blondi
v • d • e
Time Persons of the Year
Charles Lindbergh (1927) · Walter Chrysler (1928) · Owen D. Young (1929) · Mahatma Gandhi (1930) · Pierre Laval (1931) · Franklin D. Roosevelt (1932) · Hugh Samuel Johnson (1933) · Franklin D. Roosevelt (1934) · Haile Selassie I (1935) · Wallis Simpson (1936) · Chiang Kai-shek / Soong May-ling (1937) · Adolf Hitler (1938) · Joseph Stalin (1939) · Winston Churchill (1940) · Franklin D. Roosevelt (1941) · Joseph Stalin (1942) · George Marshall (1943) · Dwight D. Eisenhower (1944) · Harry S. Truman (1945) · James F. Byrnes (1946) · George Marshall (1947) · Harry S. Truman (1948) · Winston Churchill (1949) · The American Fighting-Man (1950)
Complete roster · 1927–1950 · 1951–1975 · 1976–2000 · 2001–present
Persondata
NAME
Hitler, Adolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION
Führer of the National Socialist German Workers Party; Reichskanzler of Germany
DATE OF BIRTH
April 20, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH
Braunau am Inn, Austria
DATE OF DEATH
April 30, 1945
PLACE OF DEATH
Berlin, Germany
NewPP limit report
Preprocessor node count: 26706/1000000
Post-expand include size: 203884/2048000 bytes
Template argument size: 99168/2048000 bytes
Expensive parser function count: 2/500
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler"
Categories: 1889 births | 1945 deaths | Adolf Hitler | Antisemitism | Austrian Christians | Austrian Nazis | Austrian painters | Beer Hall Putsch | Chancellors of Germany | German anti-communists | German Christians | German military leaders | German military personnel of World War I | German political writers | German vegetarians | Germans of Austrian descent | Hitler family | Holocaust perpetrators | Nazi leaders | Nazis who committed suicide | People from Braunau am Inn | Politicians who committed suicide | Recipients of the Iron Cross | Suicides by firearm | Suicides by poison | Time magazine Persons of the Year | World War II political leadersHidden categories: Semi-protected | Articles needing additional references from April 2008 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since March 2008
Views
Article
Discussion
