Intro: An idea such as killing millions of people to create a more
prefect world or sameness throughout the human race is absolutely
psychotic and unrealistic. This vision was a fantasy world that no one
on the earth would ever live in. Yet there was one man that truly
believed in this fantasy. He had a plan, a scheme, sketched out in his
head, of how this world would work. Yet the strange thing was that he
did not fit in his own perfect world. Many
ask how would someone come across this image? How is it possible? This
image was created with constant negative influences throughout his life.
It began when he was a small boy, since before he acknowledged this
visualization. He had this idea, though he had no idea of exactly how it
formed. His absurd fantasy was formed from his absurd childhood.
Alois Hitler was a firm and often-obstinate man. He had a strong
beliefs and opinions. Alois was born in 1837 carrying his Mother’s name,
Schicklgruber. Later in his life, after accomplishments in the civil
service, his haughty uncle wanted him to go by his name, which was
Heidler(“Hitler” The World Book Encyclopedia 255). When time came for
record books, it was spelled as “Hitler”, the name that would soon haunt
the earth. Alois married his third wife at 52, having fathered three
children, soon to be four. One of which, would disgrace and belittle the
human race, his name was Adolf Hitler.
Adolf’s mother, Klara Polzl was born in 1860 and married Alois in
1885 (“Hitler” The World Book Encyclopedia 255). Klara was a tender
mother that often showed much affection for her little “Adi”. Many
believe she cared for Adolf this way because she was in fear of losing
her only living child, for she had had a miscarriage before (“The Rise
of Hitler” Online). Adolf’s stepbrother and stepsister (Edmund & Paula)
soon found a stirring hate for their stepbrother.
On May 6, 1895 Adolf enrolled in a public school in Fischlham
Austria (“Hitler” The World Book Encyclopedia 255). His father soon
retired on a pension from the Austrian civil service (“The life of
Adolf” Online). Adolf’s life became more and more hectic and strict.
With his father, a trained military man home more often, chores and
rules developed. Alois began to spend his life ordering his children and
wife around the house like a military base (Hitler np). All the
children, especially Adolf, soon dreaded that house.
The family stayed on a small farm outside of Linz, Austria (“Hitler”
The World Book Encyclopedia 255). On the farm there was always plenty
of chores to do, which Alois strongly enforced. Klara was distracted
with the other children, and soon began to ignore Adolf. Alois soon
became discontent and annoyed with the constant noise and chaos of the
house. He treated his family like military men, hard and unforgiving
(“The Rise of Hitler” Online). Alois jr., Adolf’s older half brother,
was beaten and tormented on a regular basis by Alois. At fourteen, Alois
jr. ran away from home never to see any of his family members again. In
the house, Adolf was now the eldest boy, which meant he now was forced
to take the responsibility for all the things Alois jr. once had. The
first of many negative influences that would later impact Adolf’s life
The family soon enough, moved from the home that had caused them so
many problems, to a town just off of Lambach, Austria. In this small
town, there was a Catholic Benedictine monastery that was covered with
swastikas. Adolf mentioned this place from many memories of his
childhood. Adolf went to school there and often saw them. They were put
there in the eighteen hundreds by a ruling Abbot as a pun or play on
words because “swastika” sounded like his name (“The Rise of Adolf
Hitler” Online). School had begun to take play in the mold of Adolf’s
On his pass time (besides work in school), he worked at his house
(by wishes of his father), was in the boys choir and basically
worshipped and idolized the priests at the monastery, hoping to become
one (“The rise of Adolf Hitler” Online). He was known to start and lead
the schoolyard fights, smoke, argue with his teachers Basically
causing schoolboy mischief Hitler np). His siblings and schoolmates
began to dislike Adolf, for he was a controlling and overpowering
The family moved, once again, to Leonding, Austria that meant
another school for Adolf. School was easy for Adolf in the beginning. He
received average marks and he had a talent. He could draw unbelievably
well. He found art easy and inspiring. Some said his art was brilliant,
others said that it had no point (“The life of Adolf” Online). As school
passed, an awful thing was going on at home. His brother Edmund was
getting closer to death with measles. He died at age six, leaving Adolf
upset and angry at the world. Things began to build up in Adolf’s life,
pushing him closer and closer to madness.
Adolf became more and more unusual and peculiar, as he grew older.
Once, he found his father’s military book on the war of 1870-1871
between the Germans and French. He looked through this book over a
thousand times. Later, he was said to have based his military planning
and fighting tactics in WWII on the pictures of this book (“The Rise of
Hitler” Online). His grades dropped dramatically as he found himself
more interested in other things. Adolf was growing and his ideas were
expanding, drastically. Adolf soon acquired a nasty depression for his
brothers and his fathers growing hatred for the family was constantly
lingering in his mind. School became more difficult and irrelevant as
time passed.
Adolf focused his time and effort on religion, nationalism
and of course, his artwork. Adolf once hoped to become a priest, but now
he found himself rearing from priesthood and focusing on other things,
although he still was interested in religion and races. His father
wanted him to follow in his footsteps, and work in the civil service
(“The Rise of Hitler” Online). Adolf found no interest in this, although
he did find war tactics and fighting techniques interesting. Adolf
often disagreed with his demanding father. To add to all these things,
Adolf was getting constantly taunted and harassed at school. “If he did
not have his way, he got very angry He had no friends, took to no one
and could be very heartless.” (Alois Hitler, Charles 46). With all these
destructive things going on in his life, he found himself becoming less
and less pleased and satisfied with his life.
Adolf grew distant from his often harsh and strict father. They
engaged in fights frequently about various things. His father was bitter
and stubborn and didn’t understand or acknowledge what Adolf wanted
(“The Rise of Hitler” Online). Adolf was interested in art and religion,
not science or mathematics. His father wanted him to attend technical
school, and go on to become a civil servant. Adolf wanted to attend
classical school and go on to become an artist. His father being who he
was got his way and Adolf attended technical school. His first year, he
failed most of his classes. His second year, he did better but failed
all of his mathematical courses (“The Life of Adolf” Online). ” I
thought that once my father saw what little process I was making at the
technical school he would let me devote myself to the happiness I
dreamed of” (Hitler np). He now tried in every way to
disconnect himself from his father. for all that his father brought
Angry at the world, he somehow found something called “German
nationalism.” Although Adolf grew up in Austria, he grew up on the line
of Austria and Germany and considered himself a German. His family
expressed loyalty to Germany and it’s government. Adolf often used
German words and sang the German anthem (“The Rise of Hitler”, Online).
He discovered how much he loved German culture. He was captivated by
German music. He saw his first German opera at twelve. He also loved the
German myths and stories. ” I felt as though I was pushing open a door
into a dark room I had never seen-not knowing what lay beyond the door”
(Adolf Hitler np) He was interested in nationalism, but now a whole new
world was opened up to him with “German nationalism”.
In January of 1903 Alois Hitler died. Adolf took on a sudden
power. He was now the head of the household, he could do what he wanted
with his life, and he had a whole lot more freedom! Alois left the
family well provided. Karla received half of his pension and death
benefits. Adolf received a little each month and a small inheritance
(The Rise of Hitler” Online). Adolf continued to attend technical school
in Linz, but visited home on the weekends. Adolf was guiltily enjoying
In autumn of 1903, Adolf once again was getting poor grades. He
behaved badly, for there was really no one to discipline him. He often
pulled pranks and jokes with the teachers. He was constantly disagreeing
with his teachers and rebelling in any way he could. Though there was
one teacher Adolf connected with, Dr. Leopold Potsch. He was an artist,
architecture, teacher and German nationalist. He talked about German
figures and people of importance, as long as it had to do with Germany;
Adolf was quite content (Mein Kampf np). He was everything Adolf once
hoped to be. Adolf dwelled on his schoolboy pranks and took much pride
in them. He was later known to brag about them to his top generals in
the midst of war (“The Life of Adolf” Online). Amongst the bad grades
and bad behavior, Adolf possessed an ill concealed hostility (“The Rise
Adolf was rearing away from everything he was taking part in. He was
welcomed to the Catholic sacrament in the Linz cathedral. He studied and
concentrated on religion here, but was soon uninterested in religion.
He left school in Linz in September to go to another school in Steyr. He
stayed in a boarding room with other boys. Besides school, they amused
themselves by torturing and killing small animals (“The Rise of Hitler”
Online). “Cruelty is a necessity in life” (Adolf Hitler np). Adolf
failed most of his classes but was offered help to graduate. He passed
the semester and celebrated by getting drunk and partying with his
friends (“The Rise of Hitler” Online). The last semester, he suffered
from a bleeding lung (an inherited medical problem from his father) and
used his bad health as an excuse to not pass. He was losing interest in
school and gaining interest in other things.(“The Life of Adolf”
Adolf now used his “valuable” time in other ways. He found himself
pondering and thinking about German nationalism and how he could change
Germany. He thought about government and how it should be handled
differently. He also concentrated on his artwork producing it and
selling it. He was quite pleased and satisfied with his life, yet he
hoped to pursue bigger and better things. The next few years he did
nothing but dreaming up a perfect world and reality for himself (“The
Rise of Adolf Hitler” Online). In this time, many of his scattered
thoughts and ideas, became more organized and logical. Things began
to fit into place in his mind, as he figured out what he wanted in life.
His mother urged him to get a job, but he was stubborn like his father
(Mien Kampf np). He spent his days roaming the city like a nomad,
sleeping, drawing and dreaming. He would later describe these teenage
years the best of his life (“The Rise of Adolf Hitler” Online).
Adolf wasn’t a very social person; in fact he didn’t connect with
people that much at all. He had one friend though, Kubizek, a hopeful
musician. “Adolf was often violent and high-strung” (Kubizek np). Adolf
did not have a girlfriend either, but he did have an odd obsession with
one particular girl. He talked of her constantly and made up weird
fantasy stories about her. He sent her love letters secretly, signing
them “your secret admirer”. She was an unusually pretty girl with
blonde hair and blue eyes. In Adolf’s “prefect world complexion” he
pictured all the people in the world with blonde hair and blue eyes,
which was the exact opposite of his own physical image.
Adolf didn’t care much about his relationships with people; he
Adolf had worked out his view on the world and what it should be. It
was based on a fantasy, but he was researching and looking for answers
to help him make it a reality. He studied things such as German history
and Mythology. Kubizek said certain books and operas drove Adolf to do
very weird things when he was around him. He took things so seriously
that he acted as if he was in the story. He talked of “freeing the
people of Germany” and “eliminating the inferior”. Kubizek said he often
thought of Adolf as a mad psychotic (“The Rise of Adolf Hitler” Online).
Adolf was discovering how to make his fantasy, a reality.
Now, Adolf carried a huge boasting pride for the German race and all
things German (Mien Kampf np). He loved and obsessed over Germany and
German nationalism. Those who were willing enough to begin a discussion
with him about German government or et cetera, were bound to end up to
absolutely agree with him or absolutely hate him. He was a loud and
In the spring of 1906, seventeen, Adolf traveled to Vienna, the
capitol of Austria. He had his passion for German nationalism, but was
another. Adolf loved architecture. As a young boy, he had an obvious
drawing, but flunked high school. October 18, 1907 he went to
live in Vienna. He decided he would attend the Vienna Academy of Fine
(“Hitler” The World Book Encyclopedia 255). He took the two-day
Now depressed, with no education he abandoned Vienna and returned home
sick a dying mother. In January of 1907, Klara visited a Jewish family
that declared advanced breast cancer. When Adolf found this out that his
mother was sick and close to death, he cried. Klara went into surgery
this doctor and had one breast removed. The operation was too late
(“The Rise of Hitler” Online). As her pain increased, her strength
decreased. Adolf was depressed and angry. He searched for someone to
Klara Hitler died in December of 1907 (“Hitler” The World Book
With both parents gone, Adolf began to feel lonely and sorry for
moved back to Vienna in February of 1908. Things would go quite poorly
Adolf there. He would eventually wind up sleeping on park benches and
at charity soup kitchens. His years of misery in Vienna would also be
time when he formulated and refined many of his ideas on politics and
(“The Rise of Hitler” Online). Adolf was depressed, and found a friend
Adolf Hitler went on to achieve his “perfect world complex”. In
after his years of misfortune, he became a leader of the Social
Party (“Hitler” The World Book Encyclopedia 256). He slowly progressed
more power in the German government. “Hitler was a very lonely man, but
was prepared to settle for a long romance with power” (Stone, Charles
went into the military during WWI for a while, but was injured and laid
After WWI, he thought, “He had to save Germany” (“Hitler” The World Book
Encyclopedia 265). The birth of the Nazi party was thanks to Adolf,
quietly but quickly grew. After taking part in the Beer Hall Putsch, he
prisoner for five years. In prison, he wrote a book called “Mien Kampf”,
meaning “My Struggle” (“Hitler” The World Book Encyclopedia 266). Once
freed, he started the Nazi party again. Adolf won over small groups of
people with his persuasive talk and debating (“The Rise of Hitler”
In 1933, Adolf was named Chancellor of Germany. He rearranged the German
and then sent his troops into the Rhine Land (“Hitler” The World Book
Encyclopedia 265). In 1939, WWII began by invading Poland. Adolf’s
world complexion” had to be achieved by killing all the people that did
fit into it. So, he built places called “concentration camps” to quietly
store and kill the people that were irrelevant. Some of these people
Jewish, Gypsies, Gays and Lesbians and etc (“The life of Adolf” Online).
was goal to take over the world. His childhood lead him to this goal.
Luckily, he did not ever achieve his goal; for he lost WWII and went on
Bibliography:
Anflick, Charles.RESISTENCE. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group,
1999.
“Hitler, Adolf.” The World Book Encylopedia. 1996 ed.
“The Rise of Adolf Hitler” (Online). Available
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/index.htm
Schlesinger, Arthur M. Jr. Hitler. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985.
