Questions tagged [hitler]

All questions related to the rise, fall, and influence of Adolf Hitler, who was the leader of Nazi Germany, and one of the principal figures in WWII history and shaping the 20th Century. This is a sensitive and heavily-trolled topic so questions on this subject are held to an exceptionally strict standard.

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9 votes
2 answers
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What exactly was the position of ‘Party Minister’ assigned to Martin Bormann in Hitler’s will?

In Hitler’s last will and testament, he assigns all the different offices and functions prior to that held by him and the members of his cabinet to new office-holders-Dönitz became Reichpresident, ...
43 votes
13 answers
7k views

What were Hitler's religious beliefs?

Hitler is often cited as an example of an evil atheist (along with Stalin and Mao). But there are several quotes from him that seem to indicate he believed in the Christian God - and even used this to ...
8 votes
4 answers
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Did Bismarck have any influence on Hitler?

There were some similarities between the two brilliant statesmen. Both Bismarck and Hitler were against popular forms of governments such as democracy. Bismarck and Hitler both had similar disdain for ...
-5 votes
1 answer
175 views

Why were the workers opposed to Hitler becoming the chancellor of Germany near the end of the Weimar republic?

I just started reading " The rise and fall of the third Reich " by Shirer and came across paragraph stating a hundred thousand workers opposed Hitler becoming the chancellor. If Hitler was ...
2 votes
0 answers
86 views

What is the earliest documented characterization of Hitler as "dictator" in Canada's public record?

When did Canadians first label Adolf Hitler as a "dictator" ? The CBC Article Rise of Hitler documents that former Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King visited Germany's Chancellor Adolf ...
16 votes
1 answer
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Where can I find all Hitler speeches in original German?

I would like to find all Hitler speeches in original German, but the more I look, the less I find. Sure there are a few here and there, but his complete speeches in German are nowhere to find. I did ...
31 votes
1 answer
14k views

Could a German insult Hitler without being arrested?

According to Wikipedia, in its article about general Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, Later, when Hitler offered him the ambassadorship to the Court of St James's in 1935, he “declined with frigid ...
51 votes
3 answers
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Was Hitler exclaiming "Heil Hitler!" himself when saluting?

Boris Johnson in his book “The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History” writes: The only man to come through it with colours flying was Churchill’s parliamentary aide Bob Boothby, MP, who ...
0 votes
1 answer
292 views

Did Adolf Hitler live in Liverpool, as his sister-in-law Bridget Hitler stated?

In her published memoirs, Adolf Hitler's sister-in-law Bridget Hitler, née Dowling, the Irish wife of his brother Alois, writes that he lived in Liverpool, England, between November 1912 and April ...
15 votes
4 answers
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Did the Nazis identify as being Fascists? How exactly did they view themselves?

In the 1920s, Italy established the National Fascist Party (Italian: Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF ) Hitler adopted much from his Italian allies including their fascist ideals. Even the infamous ...
2 votes
1 answer
460 views

Who did Mussolini meet after Hitler, on arrival to Germany after rescue?

Mussolini was flown to Germany after the Gran Sasso raid. Who does Mussolini meet, after Hitler, in this video? What does the narrator say (in German)? What does it mean?
113 votes
2 answers
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Did Adolf Hitler ever address the fact that his own appearance was almost an exact opposite of what he considered the ideal Aryan appearance?

Hitler's ideal Aryan / Nordic appearance was: tall, blond, blue eyed, broad shouldered. Hitler's own appearance was: short, dark haired, brown eyed, slight and slumpy shoulders. And most of the Nazi ...
25 votes
2 answers
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What was the planned line of succession for the Nazi Party in the event that Hitler died?

What was the planned line of succession for the Nazi Party in the event that Adolf Hitler died? I see that after Hitler's suicide in April 1945, Joseph Goebbels succeeded as Chancellor of Germany for ...
5 votes
2 answers
979 views

Did Hitler actually say "Millionen stehen hinter mir."?

There is a fairly famous poster made by John Heartfield in 1932 depicting Adolf Hitler with the quote "Millionen stehen hinter mir.", which is a pun that might be roughly translated as "...
14 votes
6 answers
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Did Hitler receive any honours outside Germany?

From this article in The Telegraph: In a move designed to remove an embarrassing link to Germany's past Dulmen town council voted to revoke the honour its predecessor once bestowed upon Hitler. It ...
-6 votes
1 answer
208 views

When Hitler started WW2, did he realize that if he lost he would die? [closed]

Was it the rule back then "if you start a war for no reason, you should die"? I know that it was a question for the Nuremberg trial, but was there an informal rule that "starting wars ...
0 votes
1 answer
304 views

Why did Hitler's order to give SS members German Citizen remain in force until the 1960s? [closed]

Heinrich Boere was allowed to find refuge in Germany while under death sentence from the Dutch. I guess the obvious answer to why Germany honored laws that applied to a criminal organization is that ...
3 votes
1 answer
2k views

Did Hitler display gratitude towards Hugo Gutmann?

It is well-known that many high-ranking Nazis tried to protect some Jews. The idea was that, yes, generally speaking, 'the Jews were a menace to Germany', but even for party comrades there often was '...
19 votes
2 answers
4k views

Was it common to brush off Hitler's radical remarks as just figures of speech to whip up the supporters among US commentators in the 1930's?

I've got to this interview with a historian about the pre-war mood between the American reporters and this quote caught my eye: If you look back to the very beginning of Hitler's rhetoric about Jews, ...
12 votes
4 answers
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Did Mussolini know that Hitler was going to attack Poland?

Did Hitler inform Mussolini of his decision to attack Poland in advance? Was Mussolini in favour?
3 votes
4 answers
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Was Hitler hostile to Anglo-Saxons before he became hostile to Jews?

The German daily FAZ recently ran a positive review of Irish historian Brendan Simms' article Against a ,World of Enemies‘: The Impact of the First World War on the Development of Hitler’s Ideology in ...
-10 votes
1 answer
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How did Hitler view Fr. Denis Fahey, Fr. Leonard Feeney, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis?

Fr. Denis Fahey, Fr. Leonard Feeney, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were pretty famous names in the Christian West in the 1930s and 1940s. Is there any information concerning Hitler having views on any ...
1 vote
2 answers
662 views

What time of day was Hitler's opening speech of the 1936 Summer Olympics?

In the movie Contact, aliens from the Vega system contact humans by retransmitting Hitler's August 1st opening speech of the 1936 Summer Olympics, popularly held to be the first radio transmission to ...
-4 votes
1 answer
201 views

Why was the German Jewish population declining so much that some statisticians predicted its disappearance even before the 3rd Reich?

I was reading Hannah Arendt's Origins of Totalitarianism where she claims that German Jewry was declining at such fast rates that for their raw numbers the Holocaust could be seen as statistically '...
7 votes
1 answer
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Who is the person sitting to the left of corporal Hitler?

My son, in my opinion, looks like the person sitting next to corporal Hitler in this photograph. Does anyone know who this is or any information about where the photo was taken?
3 votes
2 answers
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What, if anything, did Hitler think of the Canadian government's treatment of the Native Americans?

What, if anything, did Hitler think of the Canadian government's treatment of the Native Americans? Asking because the TVTropes "Final Solution" page said (now removed): While the Holocaust may be ...
2 votes
0 answers
188 views

Who treated Hitler when he was wounded in World War 1?

Hitler was wounded in World War 1 (October 1916) and was treated for two months at a hospital in Brandenburg. Is it recorded which doctor(s) treated Hitler during this period? If yes, did he/she say ...
25 votes
7 answers
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Aside from the Jews, did Hitler have a final solution plan for other ethnicities/races in the Third Reich?

We know that Nazi ideology explicitly singled out Jews as the main reason for all Germany's problems, and planned to exterminate all of them. Nazis also persecuted gypsies, Polish people, and POWs. ...
3 votes
1 answer
681 views

What were Nazi policies around converts to Judaism?

While Judaism is not a missionary religion, it is possible to convert to Judaism. I can only assume (although I've not found any sources on this), that practicing converts were treated like any other ...
53 votes
9 answers
20k views

Is the claim that Hitler came to power democratically justified?

I often encounter a claim that Hitler came to power democratically, exploiting democratic procedures, was "elected" etc. Such claims are usually made by right-wing Liberals who use this ...
1 vote
4 answers
566 views

Did Hitler have any plans in regards to the troops he had stationed in Norway throughout the war?

Throughout WW2 Germany had 400,000 troops stationed in Norway essentially doing occupation duty and fighting of partisans after Norway's surrender. Now as the war started to turn against the Germans ...
14 votes
1 answer
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Did Hitler really keep the blueprints of the current Nebraska state Capitol building in the drawer of his desk?

I recently stumbled upon an article in the now-defunct lit mag Black Table in which the author establishes the un-cited claim that Hitler had designs on making Lincoln, Nebraska the new headquarters ...
17 votes
5 answers
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What do we know about Hitler/OKW's plans concerning USSR if Molotov/Ribbentropp Pact hadn't happened?

Molotov/Ribbentrop was signed Aug 23, 1939 and Hitler invaded Poland Sept 1, 1939. Came as a bit of a surprise, considering how much Hitler hated both Communists and Slavic people. And the talks ...
0 votes
1 answer
182 views

What turns a man into a tyrant? [closed]

First of all, I must apologize for my bad English as it is not my first language. So first, a bit of background. I'm doing a project on J. Stalin, A. Hitler, P. Pot and M. Zedong and why did these ...
1 vote
0 answers
210 views

How did Hitler's personal security work?

Considering recent events and, more generally, how top politicians move about in tank like cars and with a considerable amount of body guards it is quite surprising to see all those black-and-white ...
5 votes
2 answers
1k views

What was Nazi doctrine towards pro-Nazi Jews?

What was the stance of Nazi doctrine (officially or otherwise) towards pro-Nazi Jews? How did this attitude change (if at all) from the early-mid 30s to the early 40s? To illustrate one example where ...
36 votes
2 answers
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What pretext did Hitler use to justify Operation Barbarossa?

At the beginning of WW2, Nazi Germany orchestrated the infamous Gleiwitz Incident, which was used by Hitler to publicly declare, that since 5:45 we are returning fire. The invasion of Poland ...
14 votes
2 answers
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Did Nazi leaders consider continuing guerrilla warfare after the collapse of Germany?

In July 1944, von Rundstedt was relieved of command in the Western front for expressing the opinion that the war was lost. This opinion must have been shared by the most of (the reasonable part of) ...
2 votes
3 answers
992 views

Did foreign countries respond to the Munich Putsch?

Did the Munich Putsch put Hitler in the spotlight on an international level? If so why didn't the league of nations act – or any other country for that matter? On the surface the Beer-Hall Putsch ...
5 votes
2 answers
528 views

Was Romania under German command during WWII?

At the beginning of WWII, Romania was independent, but then the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact came and parts of the country were invaded by Russians. This pact triggered Romania to join the war on the ...
8 votes
1 answer
566 views

How long did Adolf Hitler serve on the front lines as an infantryman in WWI before becoming a courier?

In Word War I Hitler served in France with the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 16 (1st Company) before being promoted from Schütze (Private) to Gefreiter (Lance Corporal) and assigned to be a ...
0 votes
0 answers
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If Hitler was a far right fascist, why did he say he wanted a socialist state? [duplicate]

Everything I read (from seemingly reputable sources) says the Nazis, although having "Socialist" in their name – were really far right fascists. They also, apparently, worked to eradicate ...
2 votes
0 answers
217 views

How did Hitler view his botched career as a painter? [closed]

It's well known that Hitler wanted to be a painter. But his painting were pretty drab and it is said that he lacked the talent. My question is how did he view his botched career as an artist in the ...
4 votes
1 answer
738 views

What year was Hitler's final known painting created?

I am having trouble finding dates associated with his paintings. Is it known if he continued painting while he was the Führer? If so when was the last known painting created?
14 votes
2 answers
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Is it true that Hitler led to the invention of the atomic bomb by the Americans?

I am reading The Nuclear Express by Thomas C. Reed and Danny B. Stillman and on page 8, it describes the forced immigration of Jewish scientists involved in "Jewish Physics" to the United States and ...
12 votes
2 answers
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Does Hitler's "Mein Kampf" contain hints that he wanted to exterminate Jews on the scale that actually happened?

Imagine I live in 1933-1934 and read Hitler's "Mein Kampf". Is there anything in this book that would make me think the Nazis seriously intend to kill between 6 and 17 million Jews? I haven't read ...
14 votes
1 answer
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Why did Hitler not claim the German-majority areas of Schleswig?

As a part of the Treaty of Versailles, and following the results of the two Schleswig plebiscites held in 1920, the northern part of Schleswig (Zone 1) was returned to Denmark while the central part (...
0 votes
1 answer
293 views

Why didn't Hitler decide to wait until after winning WW2 to implement the final solution? [closed]

My question is based on the following assumptions. Hitler believed he will eventually win WW2. Hitler wanted to implement the final solution as part of the Nazi ideology. Implementing the final ...
17 votes
5 answers
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Did Hitler make the right decision for Germany when he called off Operation Zitadelle (during the Battle of Kursk)?

On the night of 9/10 July, the Western Allies mounted an amphibious invasion of Sicily. Three days later, Hitler summoned Günther von Kluge and Erich von Manstein to his Wolfsschanze headquarters ...
21 votes
6 answers
7k views

What did Hitler mean with the following statement about Franco?

The following was quoted in Albert Speer's diary entry for 26 December 1950 recalling a conversation with Hitler in January 1943 (Albert Speer, Spandau: The Secret Diary (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, ...