Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who led the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) and served as Chancellor of Germany from 30 January 1933 and as Führer und Reichskanzler from August 1934 until his death in 1945. Under Hitler's leadership, the Nazi regime ended the democratic institutions of the Weimar Republic and established a one-party government. It pursued territorial expansion that violated the Treaty of Versailles , which led to the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and the beginning of World War II . The regime also perpetrated the Holocaust , the systematic genocide of approximately six million Jews and millions of other victims during the war. Hitler's military decisions, including the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, contributed to Germany's defeat by the Allied powers . In April 1945, as Soviet forces advanced on Berlin, Hitler died by suicide in the Führerbunker by ingesting cyanide and shooting himself in the head. Adolf Hitler, the fourth child of customs official Alois Hitler and his third wife, Klara Pölzl , was born on 20 April 1889 in Braunau am Inn , a small town in Upper Austria near the border with the German Empire . He was baptized a Catholic in the Braunau am Inn parish church, with the baptismal registry listing him simply as "Adolfus Hitler" (the Latinized form), indicating no middle name was recorded. Alois, born out of wedlock as Schicklgruber in 1837 near Döllersheim and later legitimized with the surname Hitler in 1876, married Klara—his second cousin or closer depending on uncertain paternity—requiring papal dispensation for their 1885 union due to consanguinity. The couple had six children: Gustav (1885–1887), Ida (1886–1888), Otto (1887–1887), Adolf (1889–1945), Edmund (1894–1900), and Paula (1896–1960). Only Adolf and Paula reached adulthood; Gustav, Ida, and Otto died young from illnesses like diphtheria, while Edmund died at age five from measles. Alois advanced to senior customs inspector and enforced a strict household amid career-driven moves. The family departed Braunau soon after Adolf's birth, relocating to Passau in Bavaria in August 1892, where Adolf resided until age five and developed a Bavarian dialect influencing his speech. Alois was promoted and transferred to Linz on 1 April 1893, but the rest of the family remained in Passau until May 1894, when they joined him in the Linz area, then to nearby Leonding village in November 1898 after his retirement and house purchase. Adolf attended local schools but clashed with his authoritarian father, who preferred civil service over artistic pursuits. Alois died on 3 January 1903 from a lung hemorrhage, bequeathing a modest pension that sustained Klara and the children until her death from breast cancer in 1907. Hitler performed well in primary school (Volksschule in places like Fischlham and Leonding), showing intelligence, popularity among peers, and leadership qualities; he enjoyed outdoor activities and was lively. He briefly attended the monastery school at Lambach, where his mother hoped he might become a monk, but was expelled after being caught smoking on the grounds.

Hitler attended the Realschule in Linz from September 1900, where he was exposed to German nationalist ideas prevalent in the area, which influenced him early. He struggled academically in secondary school, clashing with strict discipline and his father's expectations. He transferred to the Realschule in Steyr in September 1904, until leaving school in March 1905, earning mediocre grades overall—weak in languages like French and English, but adequate in geography, history, and drawing. Despite repeating a year, his final report of September 16, 1905, showed no improvement, and he left without the Matura needed for university or civil service. From 1902 to 1903, family finances exempted him as the only tuition-free pupil in his class.