Politicial leader Adolf Hilter was born in Austria on April 20, 1889. As a young man, he wanted to become an artist, but was rejected twice by the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. While in Vienna, he worked as a struggling painter copying scenes from postcards and selling his paintings to merchants and tourists. He served in the Bavarian army during World War I and received two Iron Crosses for his service. He was discharged from the army in March 1920. On April 1, 1924, he was sentenced to five years in Landsberg prison for the crime of conspiracy to commit treason. While there, he dictated his political book Mein Kampf (My Struggle) to his deputy Rudolf Hess. He was released in December 1924 because he was considered relatively harmless.
He was the leader of the Nazi party and gained political power using oratory and propaganda, appealing to economic need, nationalism, and anti-Semitism during a time Germany was in crisis. He became a German citizen in 1932, the Chancellor of Germany in 1933, and the Fuhrer of Germany in 1934. He started World War II by invading other countries in order to expand Germany. He also terminated millions of people considered undesireable to his view of an ideal race, which is now referred to as the Holocaust. This genocide lead to the deaths of approximately 11 million people including but not limited to Jews, communists, homosexuals, Roma, Jehovah's Witnesses, and prisoners-of-war. Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin on April 30, 1945.
The copyright for Mein Kampf is held by the Free State of Bavaria and will expire in 2015. In Germany, reproductions are primarily authorized only for scholarly purposes and in heavily commented form.
(Bowker Author Biography)
