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by Aryadasa Ratnasinghe

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) was the architect of World War 2 (1939-1945), who mesmerized a nation and terrorised the world. He became the Dictator of Germany, and was the son of a customs official, originally called Alois Schicklgruber. Alois died when Adolf was 13 years old, and was brought up by her mother Klara.

Among the men of the 20th century, none did really affect world history more notably than Adolf Hitler. He was a soldier in the World War I (1914-1918) and never rose beyond the rank of a corporal, but proved himself to be a political genius. He knew how to gain power over the people and was a good orator who kept people spellbound when he spoke.

According to the biographer Endrew Ewart, "his personality was insignificant. He wore his hair long, with a well-known lock that straggled over his forehead. His eyes had not only a mere glint of fanaticism, but also indicated his hypnotic power, which fascinated people and made them to tremble with fear." At the end of the War in 1918, Hitler made an appeal to King Ludwig III of Bavaria, asking his permission, as an Austrian, to join the German Army. It was allowed.

It is said that for all its triviality and sordidness, the early part of Hitler's life was of fundamental importance to judge his calibre. By his association with 'lumpen proletariat' (a feckless mass of disinterested citizenry), he learnt his hates, and above all, his hatred towards the Jews, next the Poles and the Czechs.

During the War I, Hitler proved a good soldier and won the most coveted Iron Cross (a military decoration made of iron and edged with silver), first instituted in Prussia in 1813. Another symbol of Hitler was the 'swastika', which he wore in his uniform, and he decreed that it should become the German flag in 1935.

After the War, in 1918, Hitler became an employee of the Political Department of the German Army in Munich. In the course of time, he founded the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers' Party), abbreviated 'Nazi' and pronounced 'Natse'. In 1921, Hitler became the party leader. Its ideology was extremely nationalist, imperialist and racist. He had an inborn hatred for the Jews, otherwise known as Israelities or Hebrews. During 1939-1945, under the Nazi regime, some 5,000,000 Jews were put to death in Europe in its campaign for the extermination of the Jews.

In 1923, with his supporters Alfred Rosenberg, the German Politician, and Hermann Wilhelm Goering, the German Nazi Leader, Hitler was able to become an active mover with Erich Ludendorff, the German general, to overthrow the Bavarian government, in a coup d'etat. The result was that Hitler was arrested and imprisoned for two years, at the Landsberg prison. It was during this period that he wrote his famous book Mein Kampt (My Struggle), which became the Nazi Bible.

In 1933, Paul Ludwig Hans von Benekendorf und von Hindenberg, the Chancellor of Germany, appointed Adolf Hitler to succeed him in a coalition government. Now, Hitler, with the help of the Nazi party, was able to build up a personal dictatorship, through illegal measures, terror and mass propaganda. At the time of the appointment, Hitler did not have a Nazi majority in parliament, to which he was able to give a fillip soon.

On the death of von Hindernberg in 1934, Hitler was successful in becoming 'Fuhrer' (Leader) of the German State, and Reich Chancellor for life. His success was due, above all, to his power of appeal to the strong irrational convictions of the German people. The technique of Nazi crowd mastery was matchless. Mass bands, drum beats, huge banners, hypnotic slogans, standard bearers, stalwart body-guards of youngmen etc., added to the might of the Nazis.

Under Hitler and the Nazis, the German state came to be known as the Third Reich (Third Empire). It was a totalitarian dictatorship, similar to that of Communist Russia, under Josef Stalin, also known as Josef Vissarioonovuch Djugashvili. (Stalin means 'Iron Man'), and Fascist Italy under the dictator Benito Mussolini, known as 'Il Duce' (Leader).

Hitler's dictatorship consored all newspapers, radios, theatres and schools throughout Germany. It bitterly persecuted the Jews, menaced the Catholic and Protestant churches, destroyed socialist trade unions, and killed or imprisoned anyone who was suspected of opposing Nazi policy. The foreign policy of Hitler was to undo the Peace Settlement (Treaty of Versailles) signed on June 28, 1919, between the Allies and Germany, in Paris, and for territorial aggrandizement and power. To this end, Hitler employed diplomacy, deceit, pressure, threats and, if necessary, war.

The World War 2 began on September 1, 1939, when Hitler invaded Poland, and two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Until December 6, 1941, Hitler's career, as war leader, was one of a long series of victories for Germany. He carried out a purge of the Nazi party in 1934, in which hundreds of his followers were summarily shot. To achieve this end, he built up the powerful 'Gestapo' (Geheime Staatspolizei or the Nazi Secret Political Police) of which Heidrich Himmler was the Chief for a short time.

Hitler was a self-educated man, but the flaws were in his over-confident detractors. The Nazi party received strong support, not only from the lower middle class society, but also from university students and professors. The existentialist Martin Heidegger joined the Nazi party. Psychologist Carl Jung looked into the mighty phenomenon of National Socialism. In January 1942, after the failure of Hitler's Christmas offensive in the West, he returned to Berlin, and from thence onwards, rarely left the Chancellery building.

Throughout the years of the Third Reich, Hitler imposed a process that the Nazis called 'Gleichschaltung', which meant the standardisation of making things same. All political parties except the Nazis were banned as divisive. Leftist union leaders were arrested and replaced by Nazis preaching the harmonious unity of the working class. Strikes were totally banned.

Joseph Goebbels, the Propaganda Minister, rallied students to a vast bonfire outside the University of Berlin, where the works of illustrious liberals (Emile Zola) and Jew Heinrich Heine were consigned to the roaring flames. The basic idea behind all this was embodied in the slogan 'Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer' (One people, one nation, on leader).

Hitler's health began to deteriorate rapidly after 1942, owing to the long periods in his underground headquarters in East Prussia, and to a generally unhealthy mode of life and to the intake of many drugs. However, his hypnotic power was such that, even during the last few months, when he was powerless to effect events, the German Nazi leaders and generals dared not oppose him, but carried out his orders to the extreme.

Hitler, throughout life, was a vegetarian, a teetotaller and a non-smoker. But he was often inclined to hypochondria (a nervous malady which tormented him with imaginary fears and morbid anxiety) and suffered from stomach disorders due to taking drugs in excess for long periods.

The woman so deeply affected his life was Geli Raubal, his sister's daughter, who, with her mother, lived in Munich. She was 20 years younger than him, and he was intensely jealous of her personality and tried to keep her away from all male contacts. In 1931, she was found shot dead, and suicide was considered likely. It is said that Hitler was never, for the rest of his life, without her photograph in his possession.

The last month of Hitler's life was entirely spent in the deep bunker in the Chancellery garden. On the morning of April 30, 1945, Hitler was informed that Russian troops were only a block or two away from the building by the bunker complex. In the afternoon, Hitler and his newly married Eva Braun, committed suicide together. The two bodies were cremated in the Chancellery garden. He was then 57 years old.

The last propaganda lie went over the air that "the Fuhrer had died in battle at the head of his troops". Nothing was revealed to the public until 1968, fueling speculation about his fate.

One of the best kept secrets of Nazi Germany was Adolf Hitler's mistress Eva Braun, an employed girl who cared little about politics and power. She was flaxen-haired and Hitler's liaison with her was a well-kept promise, which he fulfilled only one day before his death. She loved Hitler from the bottom of her heart, and decided to end her life with the Fuhrer.

On that fateful day, in March 1945, the Anglo-Americans and Canadian armies forged across the Rhine, and in May met the Russian troops around Berlin. For Hitler there was no escape, and, hence, he decided to commit suicide, without getting caught alive to the enemies. Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allied forces on May 7, 1945.

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