Timur PANKOV
ALMATY, April 19
(THE GLOBE)
Adolf Hitler was born in the small Austrian village of Braunau Am Inn just across the border from German Bavaria on April 20, 1889. When Adolf was 7 years old, the family moved off the farm to the town of Lambach, Austria, halfway between Linz and Salzburg. There was an old Catholic Benedictine monastery in the town. The ancient monastery was decorated with carved stones and woodwork that included several swastikas. Adolf attended school there and saw them every day. Young Hitler did well in the monastery school and also took part in the boys� choir. As a young boy he idolized the priests and for two years seriously considered becoming a priest himself.
In 1898, the Hitler family moved once again, to the village of Leonding. They settled into a small house with a garden next to a cemetery. He found school easy and got good grades with little effort. He also discovered he had considerable talent for drawing, especially sketching buildings. He had the ability to look at a building, memorize the architectural details, and accurately reproduce it on paper, entirely from memory. One day, young Hitler went rummaging through his father�s book collection and came across several of a military nature, including a picture book on the War of 1870 - 1871 between the Germans and the French. By Hitler�s own account, this book became an obsession.
Around this same time, Hitler, an Austrian living very near the German border, became very interested in German Nationalism. Many Austrians living near Germany considered themselves German-Austrians.
From age 18 to 24 Hitler attempted to make in Artist in Vienna but failed miserably and instead lived on the streets and in shelters. In this time Hitler grew interested in politics. He admired the Social Democrats for their ability to organize demonstrations and propaganda techniques. Like many of the middle class in Vienna and Germany at the time, the mayor of Vienna, Karl Lueger was an anti-semite (prejudiced against Jews). Hitler still had some Jewish friends and he did not openly practice racism but his mind was absorbing the hateful messages.
Hitler left Austria at 24 partly to leave the Austrian empire which he had started to hate and in part to avoid required military service. He found a sense of pride and belonging in the German army during the first World War. Hitler was not a great soldier but was quite stoic; he accepted the meager rations and poor conditions without complaint. There was a strong anti-war sentiment among German civilians which Hitler blamed on the Jews. Hitler won an Iron cross and then became an undercover agent for the army, suppressing any Communist influence. Hitler grew increasingly and vocally anti-semitic which won the attention of his superiors.
In 1919, the German army had Hitler, now age 30, look into an organization called the German Worker�s Party. Soon afterwards, he joined and took a central position as head of propaganda. The group attacked Communism and was fiercely anti-semitic. The party grew in number as people increasingly feared a Communist revolution. In 1920, at age 31, Hitler modified a common ancient symbol to form the swastika, or twisted cross, as a symbol for his party. Hitler changed the name of his party to the National Socialist German Worker�s Party, the German equivalent of which was often shortened to Nazi.
Between 1921 and 1923 Germany experienced horrendous financial troubles that would create an environment very suitable for someone to start a revolution. Germany was presented with a 33 billion dollar bill for the damages it caused during the first World War. Inflation immediately sky-rocketed. Germans lost their life savings, groceries cost billions, and hunger riots broke out.
The Nazis in November, 1923 had 55,000 followers and were by far the most organized of the many extremist groups vying for power.
Hitler and the Nazis hatched a plot in which they would kidnap the leaders of the Bavarian government and force them at gunpoint to accept Hitler as their leader. Then, according to their plan, with the aid of famous World War One General Erich Ludendorff, they would win over the German army, proclaim a nationwide revolt and bring down the German democratic government in Berlin. They failed and Hitler was put on trial for treason.
The trial of Adolf Hitler for treason was not as detrimental as his enemies had expected. In fact Hitler seized the opportunity to gain footing. The judges in his trial were picked by a Nazi sympathizer in the German government. They permitted Hitler to use the trial as a soap box, speaking as long as he wanted to spread his propaganda. Hitler became internationally famous.
He was found guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was given a spacious private cell with a view and was allowed to have visitors whenever he wanted including his own secretary, Rudolph Hess. Hitler used his time in prison to dictate his ideas to Hess and in doing so start his book, Mein Kampf.
The original title Hitler chose was �Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice.� His Nazi publisher knew better and shortened it to Mein Kampf, simply My Struggle, or My Battle.
In his writing, Hitler announced his hatred toward what he believed to be the twin evils of the world: Communism and Judaism, and he stated that his aim was to eradicate both from the face of the earth. It is in Mein Kampf that the true nature of Hitler�s character can be discovered.
Hitler divides humans up based on physical attributes. Hitler claims that German �Aryans� with blond hair and blue eyes were at the top of the hierarchy.
Hitler assigns the bottom of the order to Jews, Poles, Russians, Czechs and Gypsies. Hitler goes on to say that dominated peoples benefit by learning from the superior Aryans.
Hitler claims that the Jews are conspiring to keep this master race from rightfully ruling the world, by diluting its racial and cultural purity and by convincing the Aryan to believe in equality rather than superiority and inferiority. Hitler describes the struggle for world domination as an ongoing racial, cultural, and political battle between Aryans and Jews. The supposed struggle for world domination between Aryans and Jews was accepted as fact by the population when Hitler eventually came to power. Hitler could not have succeeded for so long if the population of Germany and countries Germany overtook had not agreed with Hitler in their attitudes toward Jews.
Hitler was released from prison in December, 1924 after nine months of writing and reflection on his failed revolution. Hitler decided it had been foolish to attempt to overthrow the government without the support of the army. He would play on his popularity and skill with propaganda and get himself elected.
At age 39, in the summer of 1928, Hitler lived in a small country house by the Bavarian mountains. Hitler invited his step sister and her two daughters to come live with him in late 1929. Hitler soon fell in love with one of them, the twenty one year old Geli. Hitler showed her tremendous affection, doing everything with her that a loyal boyfriend should do.
On October 29, the American stock market crashed with an impact felt worldwide. People lost their jobs and life savings, banks failed, and companies went bankrupt. Hitler knew the time was now to seize power.
Hitler and the Nazis sprang into action, fiercely campaigning all over Germany. They launched a tremendous media campaign and held thousands of meetings and parades. During speeches, Hitler told his audience what they wanted to hear. He made outrageous promises without giving any details. He always arrived late to add to build tension. Hitlers speeches would begin low and soft, but they would slowly rise to a high-pitched, over-the-top, righteous crescendo. This technique builded excitement so well that practically everyone was screaming in a quasi-religious ferver.
Meanwhile, Hitler was having personal problems. Although Hitler�s young girlfriend Geli adored all the attention and special treatment she got as the beloved of a powerful figure, she often flirted with men her own age. Geli�s many romance�s angered Hitler although he himself had been suiting after a seventeen year old named Eva Braun. Hitler responded to Geli�s faithlessness by installing two Nazi SA chaperones to follow her at all times. She felt trapped. Finally, when Hitler forbade her to leave the apartment while he went away on a trip, she shot herself through the heart.
Hitler was extremely depressed. He couldn�t eat or sleep. Hitler was a changed man after the suicide of the only woman he ever loved.
On the March 5 Election, Hitler won 44% of the vote; he needed a two thirds majority in the Reichstag to have a legal dictatorship. Hitler was able to win this majority thanks to the emergency decree. He used his new found powers to simply arrest any non-Nazi representative. On March 23, the Nazi Reichstag, with Hitler as President, passed a law giving Hitler complete dictatorial powers. From there Hitler would send German troops to occupy the Rhineland and conduct a systematic invasion of Europe starting World War II.
Adolf Hitler � political leader of Germany, 1933-45 fuhrer and Chancellor of Reichstag. He started World War 2 threatening to bring European civilization to the end.
20/04/1889 � Adolf Hitler was born (leader of Naciz party).
20/04/ 1949 - Jessica Lange was born (Academy Award-winning actress: Tootsie [1982], Blue Skies [1994]; Frances, King Kong, All That Jazz, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Sweet Dreams).
20/04/1972 - The manned lunar module from Apollo 16 landed on the moon.
20/04/1950 � Alexandr Lebed� was born (ex-general, mayor of Krasnoyarsk region).
20/04/1958 � Vyacheslav Fetisov was born (hockey player, winner of all world competitions).
21/04/ 1926 - Queen Elizabeth II was born (Elisabeth Mary) (Queen of the United Kingdom)
21/04/1955 � Kris Kelmi was born, Russian singer and composer.
21/04/1960 - Brazil inaugurated its new capital, Brasilia, transferring the seat of national government from Rio de Janeiro.
22/04/1870 � Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was born (the leader of world proletariat).
22/04/ 1904 - J. (John) Robert Oppenheimer was born (physicist: Enrico Fermi Award for work in nuclear physics: designed & built 1st atomic bomb).
22/04/ 1937 - Jack Nicholson (Rose) was born (Academy Award-winning actor: One Flew Over the Cuckoo�s Nest [1975], Terms of Endearment [1983]; Five Easy Pieces, The Shining, Batman, Broadcast News, Chinatown, Easy Rider, Prizzi�s Honor, The Witches of Eastwicke, Little Shop of Horrors, A Few Good Men).
April, 20
The Kazakh Concert Hall. The concert of Rakhmaninov�s compositions. 6.00 p.m.
April, 22
The Kazakh Concert Hall. The state ensemble �Kamerata of Kazakhstan�. 6.30. p.m.
The Kosteyev State National Museum. Exhibition of the works of S. Kalmykov, I. Itkind, V. Eifert, and Rudolf Nuriev�s painting.
From 10.00 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Closed on Monday.
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
© 1998 IPA House. All Rights Reserved.