RISE AND FALL OF THE HITLER REICH

 
        The Rise and Fall of Hitlers Reich Feeling that all was 
lost, Hitler shot himself on April 30, 1945. By orders 
formally given by him before his death, SS officers 
immersed Hitler's body in gasoline and burned it in the 
garden of the Chancellery. Soon after the suicide of Hitler, 
the Germ On Easter Sunday April 20, 1889, at an inn called 
the Gasth of Zum Pommer, the wife of an Austrian Customs 
official gave birth to a son, Adolf Hitler. He was the 
fourth child to the parents of Alois and Klara Hitler of 
Austria. Hitler was a good student. One of the teachers in 
his high school classified young Hitler as "notorious, 
cantankerous, willful, arrogant, and irascible. He has an 
obvious difficulty in fitting in at school." He did well 
enough to get by in some of his courses but had no time for 
Adolf saw no real reason to stay in high school. He left 
school at age sixteen without a leaving certificate. 

        In September 1907, Hitler left home taking with him all 
the money left to him by his father, who had died a few 
years earlier. The money would preliminary examination, the 
applicant was asked to submit drawings. Biblical drawings 
were most preferred. Hitler's drawings were returned saying 
they were "too wooden and too lifeless." He was rejected. He 
tried three months later and did not get pa Hitler moved 
into an apartment with his friend in Vienna. He pretended to 
be a student living off his relatives money. He read many 
books and sat in on the Austrian government sessions . 
Hitler speaks of his life in Vienna as "five years in which 
I had In 1913, Hitler moved to Munich. Life was not much 
better there until the First World War started in 1914. 
While many people were frightened and sad at the thought of 
a world war, Hitler was delighted. He held the rank of 
corporal, and in forty-seven b On October 13th 1918, a 
month before Germany surrendered to the Allies, his good 
luck ran out. When Hitler and his fellow dispatch runners 
were waiting in line for their food rations, British troops 
began lobbing high explosive shells nearby. Some of th 
Hitler soon regained use of his eyes, but as he was about to 
rejoin his regiment, he got the terrible news of Germany's 
surrender. "Once again, everything went black before my 
eyes, and I tottered and groped my way back to the place 
where we slept and bu As part of Hitler's job, he 
investigated a party called "the German Workers' Party." He 
was disgusted how the group had no organization, although he 
was in favor of many of the party's ideas. To follow up with 
his job, he joined the group to make sure t Hitler finally 
found his talent as a great orator. He first became aware of 
his talent while teaching at the University of Munich. When 
he talked, he held his audiences spellbound. He would 
sometimes lose five pounds a night by getting so active in 
his He persuaded the other party members to rent one of the 
largest halls in Munich_one that seated at least 2,000 
people. There Hitler made of list of demands to the German 
government. Point twenty-five said, "For modern society, a 
colossus with feet of cl Ernst Rohm, a friend of Hitler's, 
organized a group of storm troopers for Hitler. The German 
name for storm troopers was Storm Abtcilung, or SA for 
short. They first beat and killed hecklers at Nazi 
speakings. When there were no hecklers, they found Je By the 
summer of 1923, the Nazi party had grown to 150,000 members. 
With the Nazi movement growing so rapidly, Hitler knew it 
was time to make a move on Germany. 

        November 11, 1923 seemed like a perfect time for Hitler 
to make the grab for power. It was Hitler captured the 
government leaders and forced them to join him. His 3,000 
men then marched to Berlin in an attempt to take it over. 
The German police were waiting. Shots were fired and sixteen 
nazis and two policemen lay dead. Hundreds more were w The 
trial was a "political circus". Hitler was allowed to speak 
for hours at a time. During one of his speeches he said, "It 
is the External Court of History _ That court will judge us 
_ as Germans who wanted the best for their people and their 
fatherla Hitler served only nine months of his five-year 
sentence. The guards gave him a suite of several adjoining 
rooms where guests could come or go as they pleased. He was 
sent many gifts and grew visibly fatter. He wrote a book 
called Mein Kampf, or My Str The government banned 
the Nazi party after the revolt. There were also many  
reasons for lack of Nazi activity. The Allies had loosened 
their grip on the German economy. The French had left the 
Ruhr leaving Germany's industries intact, and the United St 
The depression in America caused the economic system in 
Germany to plummet. Because of the harsh times, Nazis got 
two million more votes then the Communist party. The 
election put them just under the Democratic party and gave 
them 107 more seats in the House. Hitler was planning on 
running for President of Germany against Paul Von 
Hinderburg, a social democrat. Hitler campaigned frequently, 
going to every major city and town. He was the f 
By 1932 the SA troops numbered 400,000. The SA's goal was to 
make people afraid, and they accomplished that with ease. 
One of the most popular chants of the SA troops is as 
follows: "Sharpen the knives on the sidewalk so that they 
can cut the enemy's bo In the election of 1932, Hitler could 
not beat out the eighty-five year old President Hindenburg. 
However, 230 Nazi candidates held seats, and Hitler was made 
Chancellor of Germany. It was the second highest position in 
the German government. With only Hitler still was not 
elected to the Presidency. Using force, Hitler got 
Hinderburg to pass a law that abolished freedom of speech, 
of the press, and of assembly. Hitler then brought before 
the court the Enabling Act. This law gave Hitler the power 
of a After the bills were passed, the German military feared 
that when Hitler took full leadership of the country, they 
would lose control, and the SA would take over. Hitler 
assured the military that this was not true. To gain 
their trust, he gave them a li In August of 1934 
President Hindenburg died. Hitler's last obstacle in his 
quest for complete power was removed. Using his unlimited 
powers, he combined the offices of president and chancellor. 
To everyone in Germany he was now Der Fuhrer, the leader. 
Avoiding capture by the approaching forces, Hitler shot 
himself on April 30, 1945. The world was never the same 
again. Hitler's Reich was over, and millions of jews were 
dead. Quite rightly, the world asked questions: How 
could this have happened? 