Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945) |
Adolf Hitler (20. April 1889 – 30. April 1945) was the Führer (leader) of the National Socialist
German Workers Party (Nazi Party - NSDAP) and of Nazi Germany
from 1933 to 1945. He was also
Chancellor of Germany, head of government,
and head of state, and as a result was an absolute dictator.
A highly animated and charismatic orator, Hitler is regarded as one of the most significant
leaders in world history. The military-industrial complex he fostered pulled Germany out of
the post-World War I economic crisis and, at its
height, controlled the greater part of Europe.
Hitler's attempt to create a Greater Germany (Grossdeutschland), specifically the annexation
of Austria (Anschluss) and the invasions of Czechoslovakia and Poland, was one of the primary
factors leading to the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
The embrace of total war both by the Axis and Allied powers during this time led to the
destruction of much of Europe. Hitler is almost universally held responsible for the racial
policy of Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, and the death and displacement of millions occurring
during his leadership.
Adolf Hitler speaking |
Though he had hoped to be the founder of a thousand-year Reich, he was
reported to have committed suicide in his bunker beneath Berlin with much of Europe, and
especially Germany, in ruins around him and the Soviet Red Army closing in. He is regarded
as one of the most evil men in human history.
As Soviet forces battled their way toward his Reich Chancellory in the center of Berlin, Hitler
is generally believed to have committed suicide in his Führerbunker on 30. April 1945, in Berlin,
Germany by means of a self-delivered shot to the head while biting into a cyanide tablet.
Hitler's body and that of Eva Braun, his long-term mistress whom he had married days before,
were burned and buried shortly thereafter in the Chancellory garden.
In his will, Hitler dismissed the other Nazi leaders and appointed Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz
as the new Reichspräsident (President of Germany) and Goebbels as the new Reichskanzler
(Chancellor of Germany). However, Goebbels and his entire family committed suicide on 1. May 1945.
On 8. May 1945, The German armed forces surrendered unconditionally ending the war in Europe
and with the creation of the Allied Control Council on 5. June 1945, the four powers "assume
supreme authority with respect to Germany". Hitler's proclaimed "Thousand Year Reich" had
lasted 12 years.
Typical Banknotes from Nazi Germany
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