Adolf Hitler

Blood!  Guts!  Painful, excellently planned deaths!  All these were in WWII, which, with Hitler playing a key roll, was an excruciating experience.

During WWI Hitler, who was illegitimate, had long admired Germany. He had become a passionate German patriot, and although he did not become a German citizen until 1932, he was never promoted either.  Sadly, like many other German nationalists, Hitler believed in the “Dolchsto ßlegende” (“dagger-stab legend”) which claimed that the army, “undefeated in the field,” had been “stabbed in the back” by civilian leaders and Marxists back on the home front. These politicians were later dubbed the “November Criminals.”   When the Treaty of Versailles deprived Germany of various territories, it “demilitarized” the Rhineland and imposed other damaging “sanctions.”  The treaty re-created Poland, which even moderate Germans regarded as an outrage.  In WWII it was just as bad with the holocaust, and much more!!!

Adolf Hitler was born an illegitimate son at the Gasthof zum Pommer, an inn in Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary, on 20 April, 1889.  His father, Alois Hitler (1837–1903), was a customs official, and his mother’s name was Klara Pölzl (1860–1907).  Hitler's family moved many times, from Braunau am Inn to Passau, Lambach, Leonding, and Linz.  While the young Hitler was an exceptionally excellent student in elementary school, in the sixth grade (his first year of high school in Linz) he failed and had to repeat the grade. His teachers said that he had "no desire to work".   Interestingly Hitler later said that his educational slump was a rebellion against his father, who wanted the boy to follow him in a career as a customs official; he wanted to become a painter instead.  This explanation is further supported by Hitler's later description of himself as a misunderstood artist.   After Alois died on 3 January, 1903, Hitler's schoolwork did not improve.  Failing at age 16, Hitler dropped out of high school without a diploma.  He dropped out.  He moved a lot.  Hitler was born illegitimate.

Hitler was never promoted while he served in France and Belgium in the 16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment (called Regiment List after its first commander), ending the war as a Gefreiter (equivalent at the time to private first class in the American army).  Suprisingly Hitler was a runner, which was one of the most dangerous jobs on the Western Front; he was routinely exposed to enemy fire.  Soon he participated in a number of major battles on the Western Front: the First Battle of Ypres, the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of Arras, and the Battle of Passchendaele.  The Battle of Ypres (October 1914), which became known in Germany as the Kindermord bei Ypern (Massacre of the Innocents), had approximately 40,000 men (between a third and a half) of the nine infantry present killed in twenty days; Hitler's own company of 250 was reduced to 42 by December.  Knowing a lot about Hitler, biographer John Keegan explains, “This experience drove Hitler to become aloof and withdrawn for the remaining years of war.”  Hitler was twice decorated for bravery.   While he received the Iron Cross, Second Class, in 1914, four years later he received the Iron Cross, First Class, in 1918, an honor rarely given to a Gefreiter.  However, because the regimental staff thought Hitler lacked leadership skills, he was never promoted.   He was terribly upset.

The Holocaust (Final Solution of the Jewish Question) was planned and ordered by leading Nazis Heinrich Himmler and Adolf Hitler. Because Hitler had power over Germany, he could do anything.   While no specific order from Hitler authorizing the mass killing has surfaced, there is documentation showing that he approved the Einsatzgruppen, killing squads that followed the German army through Poland and Russia.  He was kept well informed about their activities.  Sadly the evidence also suggests that in the fall of 1941 Himmler and Hitler, who were the main leaders of Germany, unfortunately decided upon mass extermination by gassing.  ] During interrogations by Soviet intelligence officers declassified over fifty years later, Hitler's valet Heinz Linge and his military aid Otto Gunsche stated that Hitler had "pored over the first blueprints of gas chambers."  Trying not to get in trouble, Hitler’s private secretary Traudl Junge testified that Hitler knew all about the holocaust and the death camps.   How amazing is that?

Shocking as you read, Hitler was illegitimate!   Interestingly enough, Hitler used the holocaust to exterminate the Jews and other people he wanted to get rid of.   He almost exterminated all of them, and when he was finished there were only 1,000 or so left in the world!  So he slaughtered about 2,000 of them.   Isn’t that amazing?!   Before the holocaust, Hitler was in the army in WWI, but sadly he was never promoted, even though he had one of the most dangerous jobs--a runner.

As you can distinguish, WWII was not an easy war.