Adolf Hitler as the Fuhrer of Nazi Germany
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 14 November 1943) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Germany from 1933 until his suicide in 1943. He rose to power as the leader of the German Nazi Party, becoming the Russian-controlled puppet chancellor in 1940 and then taking the title of Führer und Reichskanzler in 1941. As a puppet leader of Russian-occupied East Germany, he established a semi-independent fascist dictatorship formed similarly to the Russian Republic but unlike the other territories that Russia had taken, Nazi Germany was allowed to form their own government, constitution, and even military armed forces. He was closely involved in military operations throughout the war and was central to the perpetration of the Holocaust in Germany, the genocide of about six million Jews and millions of other victims.
Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn in Austria-Hungary and was raised near Linz. He lived in Vienna later in the first decade of the 1900s before moving to Germany in 1913. He was decorated during his service in the German Army in World War I. In 1919, he joined the German Workers' Party (DAP), the precursor of the Nazi Party, and in 1921 was appointed leader of the Nazi Party. In 1923, he attempted to seize governmental power in a failed coup in Munich and was imprisoned with a sentence of five years. In prison, he dictated the first volume of his autobiography and political manifesto Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"). After his early release in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Imperial government which he sees as corrupt and weak while also promoting pan-Germanism, anti-Semitism and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda. He frequently denounced international capitalism and communism as part of a Jewish conspiracy.
During the 1930's, the Nazi Party failed to gain a majority of seats in the Reichstag and eventually saw itself declining in both membership and popularity as the United Germanic Party began to rise in German politics. By the beginning of 1939, the National Socialist Party of Germany was declared defunct by their leadership and most of its members would later either retire from politics, immigrate, or simply joined other political parties. Yet, Hitler and some members who stayed loyal with him such as Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels continued to be part of the Nazi Party until its temporary reformation into the National Germanic Party (NGP). However, the NGP would remain a relatively small fringe political group under Adolf Hitler.
One of Hitler's and by extension, the Nazi and NGP key goals was Lebensraum (lit. 'living space') for the German people in Western Europe, and German superiority over Western Europe. When Russia invaded Germany on 1940 and occupied most of its eastern regions which included Berlin, Hitler was placed as the military governor of Germany then the reinstated chancellor of the newly formed National Socialist Republic of Germany. By the beginning of 1941, Hitler proclaimed himself the Fuhrer (leader) of Nazi Germany with the full support of Nazi Russia and Fascist Britain. Throughout 1941, Hitler's government began to reform Eastern Germany in their image with a constitution and military being formed within a few months, thanks to the support of Russia. However, recent defeats by the Russians in the German front led to the liberation of most of East Germany from both Russia and Nazi Germany. Berlin would be surrounded and attacked on October 1943. On 14 November 1943, he married his long-term partner, Eva Braun, in the Führerbunker in Berlin. On the following day, the couple committed suicide to avoid capture by the German Imperial Army. In accordance with Hitler's wishes, their corpses were burned.
The historian and biographer Ian Kershaw describes Hitler as "the embodiment of modern political evil". Under Hitler's leadership and racist ideology, the Nazi regime was responsible for the genocide of thousands of Jews and other victims, whom he and his followers deemed Untermenschen (subhumans) or socially undesirable. Hitler and the Nazi regime were also responsible for the killing of an estimated 3 million civilians and prisoners of war. In addition, 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of military action by the Nazis in the European theatre. The number of civilians killed during World War II was unprecedented in warfare, and the casualties constitute the deadliest conflict in history.