“More than any other contemporary German politician, he spoke in a language that gave voice to the anger and prejudice of his audience.” “He was, of course, a masterly demagogue – the basis of his early dominance within the Nazi Party,” explains Professor Kershaw. If painting was not his forte, Hitler’s real strength could be found in his oratory skills. As a voracious reader of history and mythology, and with a mind bubbling over with political thoughts, it’s somewhat surprising that this angry outsider painted bland postcard scenes of buildings and landscapes. Some might argue that Hitler’s art was also oddly pedestrian in a radical era of Picasso and Van Gogh. The second time he applied, his sample drawings were considered of such poor quality that he was not even admitted to the entrance examination. He was, however, technically mediocre. He failed the examination for the General School of Painting at the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts, partly down to his struggle to capture the human form. He focused mainly on postcards and advertisements – and earned enough to sustain a living, moving around hostels in Vienna. While leaders including Winston Churchill and George W Bush took up painting as a post-politics hobby, a young Adolf Hitler paid the bills as a jobbing artist from 1910–14. “In a most obvious sense, the answer seems clear: Hitler was the chief author of the most devastating war, and the most terrible genocide, that the world has yet known,” explains Professor Ian Kershaw – one of the world’s leading experts on the Nazi leader, who believes that our enduring preoccupation with Hitler goes far beyond a conventional interest in historical figures of great power and influence. So why are we fascinated with the Nazi dictator?
However he was very fond of his mother, who died in 1907.Īre we more fascinated with Hitler than any other dictator? Hitler has been memorialised in countless books, TV shows and films. He had a difficult relationship with his father, with many of their arguments focusing on Hitler’s refusal to behave at school. Adolf Hitler himself never used any other surname.Įarly childhood: Most of Hitler’s childhood was spent in Linz, Austria. Alois, who was illegitimate, bore his mother’s name Schicklgruber for some time, but by 1876 had established his family claim to the surname ‘Hitler’.
His full siblings are: Gustav, Ida, Otto, Edmund and Paula, but he also had two half-siblings – Alois Jr and Angela – from his father’s previous marriages. His rise to power led to the Second World War and the deaths of more than six million Jews in the Holocaust.įamily: Adolf Hitler was the fourth of six children born to Alois Hitler (1837–1903) and his third wife, Klara (1860–1907).
He was chancellor of Germany from 30 January, 1933, and Führer and chancellor combined from 2 August 1934. Adolf Hitler replaced Anton Drexler as party chairman of the Nazi Party in July 1921, and soon after he acquired the title führer (“leader”). Known for: Being the leader of the the Nazi Party and initiating the Second World War.
Born: Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 in Braunau am Inn, Austria.ĭied: Hitler died by suicide in a Berlin bunker, age 56, on 30 April 1945