Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria on April 20, 1889. He was the 4th child of Alois Schickelgruber and Klara Hitler. 4 of his siblings died in childhood and only his sister, Paula and Adolf survived childhood. Hitler’s father was very strict and frequently hit him.
He was very popular and did extremely well in primary school but by secondary school, he rarely excelled at schoolwork.When Hitler was 13, his father died so there was no strong influence to keep him at school when he was older. Hitler left school when he was 15 without any qualifications to pursue his dream of becoming an artist. Hitler had applied in Vienna Academy of the Arts and was rejected twice. In 1908, Hitler’s mother died off breast cancer so Hitler decided to live in Vienna.
By this time, Hitler had run out of money and moved into a homeless shelter where he stayed for several years. It was during this time that Hitler had developed his hatred for Jews.Hitler moved to Munich in 1913 and when WWI broke out, Hitler applied to serve in the German army and was accepted even though he was an Austrian citizen. He received many bravery medals for this.
It was during this time that he learnt of Germany’s surrender and developed a hatred for the Treaty of Versailles.After WWI, Hitler wanted to ‘save’ Germany so he decided to join the German Workers Party in 1919 and was chairman by 1921 and renamed it ‘Socialist German Workers Party’. Hitler began making speeches in a beer hall and caught the attention of many people. In November 1923, Hitler organized a meeting in the beer hall with 3,000 people and announced a revolution and declared the new government. The ‘Beer Hall Putsch’ failed with 20 deaths and Hitler was arrested and tried in 1924 and was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
However, Hitler only served 9 months in prison, during which he wrote Mein Kampf.
