Adolf Hitler, one of the worst dictators ever if not the worst in recorded human history, was responsible for 60 to 85 million deaths during the WWII as he had triggered the conflict. His name brings connotations of
murder, misery, warfare, holocaust and the attempted extermination of the Jews and other minorities. Hitler openly expressed his hatred of Jews in his book ‘Mein Kampf’. He warned everyone about his intention to drive the Jews and minorities from Germany’s cultural, intellectual and cultural life.
Before invading Poland and triggering the WWII, Hitler gave example of Genghis Khan to his generals. He said that though Genghis Khan happily led millions of women and children to slaughter with predetermination, history still considered him solely the founder of the Mongol state; not as a murderer.
As a result of the Holocaust engineered by Hitler and his Nazi regime, 6 million Jews or around 78% of the total Jewish population (around 7.3 million) in Nazi occupied Europe at that time and an additional 5 million non-Jewish people were killed. From 1941 to 1945, Jews and other racial, political and ethnic minorities in Europe were targeted and systematically murdered by the Nazi forces.
Pan-German or All-German nationalist and anti-Semitic German Workers’ Party (DAP) became Nazi Party in 1919. Hitler became its chairman in 1921. Hitler’s Nazism was inspired by fascism that originated in Italy during the WWI. Nazism rejected any theories of the western capitalism and the Soviet socialism.
Hitler believed in an Aryan German race. Aryan race indicates to an Indo-European (European and Western Asian) Caucasian race and the racist term is used to indicate a white supremacy concept. Hitler also believed in Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of the Übermensch or ‘Super-human’ who should rule above the slave-classes of the Untermensch or ‘inferior humans’.
Despite Hitler being the worst man and one of the most documented men in human history, there are still few less known facts about him. Popular entertainment website What Culture reported on 20 such mind-boggling facts about him.
(1) Hitler Spied On The Nazi Party Before Joining Them:
After participating in the WWI, Hitler returned to Munich and remained in the army due to having no formal education or career prospects. He was appointed Verbindungsmann or intelligence agent of a reconnaissance commando of Reichswehr in July 1919. Reichswehr was the military organization of Germany from 1919 to 1935. It was united with Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Germany in 1935.
Hitler was assigned to infiltrate the German Workers’ Party (DAP), which became the National Socialist German Workers’ Party or the Nazi Party in the same year. His task was to influence other soldiers and monitoring the activities of the DAP. Soon Hitler was attracted to the anti-Semitic, anti-capitalist, nationalist, anti-Marxist ideas of DAP’s founder Anton Drexler who also founded the Nazi Party in the following year. Hitler joined DAP in September 1919 becoming the 55th member of the party.
Images Used (From left): (1) A copy of Hitler’s DAP membership card (2) Anton Drexler, founder of both DAP and the Nazi Party
(2) Hitler Had To Live In Homeless Shelters For A While:
Like many Austrians, Hitler began to get attracted to German nationalist ideas from an early age. His father died when Hitler was 14 years old and subsequently, Hitler’s performance at school dropped. 2 years later he changed school and enrolled at a school in Steyr in Upper Austria. After giving a repeat, he passed the final school exams. His mother died of breast cancer at the age of 47 on December 21, 1907. At the age of 18-19, he was twice rejected admission into the Fine Arts Academy (in 1907 and 1908) as he was declared unfit for painting. While in Vienna, he tried to make a living out of selling his paintings. But due to lack of quality and resources, he ran out of money soon. Hitler kept moving from one place to another as his savings gradually diminished and his lifestyle deteriorated. In December 1909, he was half starved and freezing and had to live in homeless shelters in Vienna and whenever he sold a painting, he would occasionally spend the night in men’s hostels. He then moved into a public dormitory for men in Vienna and lived there for 3 years until 1913 when he received his father’s inheritance and then moved to Munich.
Image Used: The public dormitory for men in Vienna, where Hitler lived from 1910 to 1913. Image attribution- Edward Hopper, wikipedia
(3) Hitler Admired Protestant Reformer Martin Luther:
Protestant reformation was a religious division within Western Christianity that attempted to reform the Roman Catholic Church by criticizing its practices such as- selling of indulgences, Pope’s authority over purgatory, the Catholic doctrine of the merits of the saints etc. In Catholicism, purgatory is an intermediate state after death where people with ‘less sufficient’ level of holiness goes to undergo purification. The ‘Merits of saints’ is a Catholic belief that states that the merits of Jesus Christ, his faithful and the communion of saints can benefit others too. These reformations were initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and others. Lutherans and Calvinists are two major branches of Protestant Christianity. Lutheran Churches were mostly founded in Germany as Martin Luther was a German friar and he initiated the movement in the 16th century.
During his stay in the men’s hostel, Hitler reportedly criticized the Germanophobia of the Catholic Church. He said that Catholic Church had spilled more blood than any other religion. Despite he was brought up as a Catholic during his childhood, he despised Christianity and especially the papacy. But he admired Luther.
Image Used (From left): (1) Portrait of Martin Luther in 1528 by German painter Lucas Cranach the Elder. (2) Illustration of Luther with Christ crucified
(4) Hitler Was Awarded the Iron Cross First Class:
According to historians, Hitler avoided joining the Austro-Hungarian army during WWI. He later claimed that the ‘mixture of races’ in the Austro-Hungarian army was the reason behind his decision. He was living in Munich at the outbreak of WWI and he joined the Bavarian Army as an Austrian citizen. He was posted to the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 16 and served as a dispatch runner or messenger on the Western Front in Belgium and France. Nearly half of his time in the WWI, he was well behind the front lines. However, he participated in the First Battle of Ypres, Battle of Arras, Battle of the Somme, Battle of Passchendaele. Hitler was wounded during the Battle of the Somme.
Hitler discovered his love for Germany during the First World War. Due to his contribution in the war, he was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class in 1914. Hitler’s Jewish superior, Lieutenant Hugo Gutmann recommended for him and Hitler was awarded Iron Cross First Class on August 4, 1918 despite being a member of the Gefreiter, the second lowest rank in German Army.
Image Used: Hitler (far right, seated) with his Bavarian infantry regiment comrades during WWI. Image attribution- Bundesarchiv, wikipedia
(5) Hitler’s Original Family Name Was Schicklgruber:
Hitler’s father Alois Hitler was the illegitimate child of Maria Anna Schicklgruber. Alois was born in 1837 but the baptismal register did not show his father’s name. So, initially, Alois bore his mother’s surname, Schicklgruber. Johann Georg Hiedler married Maria Anna in 1842.
Maria Anna died in 1847 and Alois changed his baptismal register in 1876 by recording Georg Hitler (Johann Georg Hiedler) as his father. Thus he assumed the surname Hitler which is also spelled as Hiedler, Huettler or Hüttler. Hitler surname is presumably based on ‘one who lives in a hut’.
Images Used (From left): (1) Hitler’s father Alois Hitler initially bore the surname Schicklgruber (2) Hitler during WWI
(6) For Seven Years, Hitler Was ‘Nationless’:
Hitler later stated his goal for a Großdeutschland (Greater Germany). However, he was an Austrian by birth. From a young age, he longed to be a part of the German Empire and despised the Austro-Hungarian Empire and its Habsburg Monarchy. He had formally renounced his Austrian citizenship in April, 1925 but did not obtain German citizenship immediately. He became stateless, faced the risk of deportation and was unable to run for public office.
Interior minister of Brunswick state in Germany was a member of the NSDAP or Nazi party. He appointed fellow party member Hitler as an administrator for the state in February 1932. Thus Hitler became a citizen of Brunswick and thus of Germany. He had been stateless for almost seven years.
Images Used (From left): (1) The map of German Reich from 1871 to 1918, showing the German and Austro-Hungarian Empire, Image attribution- Wiggy!, Wikipedia (2) Map of Germany today
(7) One Of Hitler’s Hobbies Was Whistling ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’:
Hitler reportedly relaxed by whistling tunes including ‘when you wish upon a star’. He entertained dinner guests by whistling and performed the hobby in moments of euphoria- such as following the fall of Paris in June 1940.
‘Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf’ was also of his favorite tunes due to ‘The Wolf’ being his nickname. When the Germans had started to retreat from Russia, Hitler became forgetful and preoccupied. During that time, once he was whistling even while eating.
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