Adolf Hitler

Born ,

Died ,

Political party (NSDAP)

Political positions (Leader) of the NSDAP (1921-1945)

of Germany (1933-1945)

Fьhrer und Reichskanzler (head of state) of Germany (1934-1945)

"Hitler" redirects here. For other uses, see .

(·) (, – , ) was from 1933, and (Leader) of from 1934 until his death. He was leader of the (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), better known as the Party.

Hitler gained power in a Germany after , using oratory and , appealing to economic need of the lower and middle classes, and to establish an regime. With a restructured economy and rearmed military, Hitler pursued an aggressive foreign policy with the intention of expanding German ("living space") which triggered by ordering the invasion of Poland. At the height of its power, occupied most of , but it and the were eventually defeated by the . By then, Hitler's had culminated in the of 11 million people, including about six million , in what is now known as the .

In the final days of the war, in in with his newlywed wife, .

Contents

Early years

Childhood and heritage

Adolf Hitler as an infant.

Adolf Hitler was born on , at , , a small town in , on the border with . He was the third son and the fourth of six children of (born Schicklgruber) (1837–1903), a minor official, and (1860–1907), his second cousin, and third wife. Because of the close kinship of the two, a papal dispensation had to be obtained for the marriage. Of Alois and Klara's six children, only Adolf and his younger sister reached adulthood. Alois Hitler also had a son () and a daughter () by his second wife.

Alois was born illegitimate and for the first thirty-nine years of his life bore his mother's name, Schicklgruber. In 1876, Alois began using the name of his , , after visiting a priest responsible for and declaring that Georg was his father (Alois gave the impression that Georg was still alive but he was long dead). The name was variously spelled Hiedler, Huetler, Huettler and Hitler and probably changed to "Hitler" by a clerk. About the origin of the name there are two theories:

From Hittler and similar, "one who lives in a hut", "shepherd".

From Hidlar and Hidlarcek.

Later, Adolf Hitler was accused by his political enemies of not rightfully being a Hitler, but a Schicklgruber. This was also exploited in Allied during the Second World War when bearing the phrase "Heil Schicklgruber" were over German cities.[] Adolf was legally born a Hitler, however, and was