Hitler before World War II

When you’re in high school, history class isn’t exactly many peoples favorite subject. They go over the larger, highlighted topics and tend to leave out all of the little interesting facts that stimulate our brains. There are quiet a many people from history that we only get to see their moments in the light, and not their whole story. Today I would like to spend some time talking about the life of Adolf Hitler before his gut-wrenching war. Hitler wasn’t known as a nice human being by any means, but there are a lot of things people usually don’t know about his story before World War II began.

While many people automatically assume that Hitler is German because of his dictatorship there, he is actually from Austria. He was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria on April 20th, 1889. His father was Alois Hitler, and his mother was Klara Hitler. He had six siblings, yet only two survived to adulthood. Hitler’s father passed away when he was only thirteen, leaving his mother to care for him and his siblings. Times quickly became rough at home, and Hitler dropped out of school at the age of sixteen. Just a few short years later his mother passed away from breast cancer. Hitler then moved to Vienna where he sold post cards of his artwork to get by. Hitler submitted his artwork to the Vienna Academy of Arts multiple times, only to be rejected. During his years in Vienna is when it is believed that he picked up his anti-Semite opinions.

World War I begins, and although Hitler was not German he joined their forces. Hitler was a messenger for the four years of his service. During his time at war is when he decided that politics was the right path for him. On October thirteenth a gas shell attack causes Hitler to become temporarily blind. He w...

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...i’s gained up to two hundred and eighty eight seats in parliament, where they now dominated the other parties. Hitler now demanded and received an enabling act, giving him the power to make his own laws. Soon all other political parties were abolished, and many of their leaders were herded into concentration camps. Concentration camps became a well-known place of brutality, horror, and death.

That August Hindenburg died, and Hitler immediately made himself leader of the German nation. He soon began to strike at surrounding territories, thus World War II began. We’ve seen the horror of the war in movies, books, and pictures. Though I had never once heard Hitler’s story from boyhood, or his experiences in Vienna, or his first political stand until I took it upon myself to learn more. You never know what you’ll find digging a little deeper into the stories of the past.