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1st Führer of Germany | |
| Predecessor | Paul von Hindenburg
(as President) |
| Successor | Heinrich Himmler |
| Deputy Führer | Rudolf Hess |
| Born | 20 April 1889 Braunau am Inn, Austria–Hungary |
| Died | 12 July 1967 (aged 78) Warsaw, Germany |
| Political Party | National Socialist Party |
| Profession | Soldier, Politician |
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party). He was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1967 and Führer of Germany from 1934 to 1967. Hitler was at the centre of Nazi Germany, World War II in Europe, the Holocaust, and the Cold War in the East.
Hitler was a decorated veteran of World War I. He joined the German Workers' Party in 1919 and became leader of the Nazi Party in 1921. In 1923, he attempted a coup to seize power in Munich. The failed coup resulting in Hitler's imprisonment, during which time he wrote his memoir, Mein Kampf (My Struggle). After his release in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles.
In no time through Nazi propaganda, Hitler's Nazi Party became the largest democratically elected party in the German Reichstag, leading to his appointment as chancellor in 1933. The Reichstag then passed the Enabling Act, which began the process of transforming the Weimar Republic into the Third Reich, a single-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideology of national socialism which would later beat the British Empire as the largest empire in history.
In his Cold War days, Hitler had a strong friendship with the dictator of the Chinese Social Federation, Mao Zedong. Other Nazis also befriended the Chinese after being impressed by their victory against the Japanese, despite the Allies never actually winning World War II. Hitler and the Nazis also treated the people of Asia who followed him with much respect, and even regarded Asians worthy of being part of the "master race". Hitler also became a very wealthy man in his later years. It has been presumed his net worth was $300 million during that time. When Hitler was wealthy, he lived in the Führermansion which was considered the "White House" of Nazi Germany, albeit larger and more luxurious.