The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany

Chapter 1 opens with a brief description of the scene in Berlin on the days leading up to January 30, 1933, when Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany and the “Thousand-Year Reich” was born (5). The remainder of the chapter focuses on Hitler’s family background, early life, and political education as a young man living in Vienna.

Alois Hitler, the future dictator’s father, went by the name “Alois Schicklgruber” until 1876, when paternity- and inheritance-related questions required that he adopt the name “Heidler,” misspelled as “Hitler” on his revised baptismal certificate. Alois married Klara Poelzl, his second cousin and 23 years his junior. Their son Adolf was born on April 20, 1889, in the Austrian town of Braunau-am-Inn, just across the border from the German state of Bavaria. In later years, Adolf Hitler rarely mentioned his upbringing. Mein Kampf reveals that young Hitler rebelled against his father, who wanted his son to follow him into civil service. In fact, young Adolf Hitler earned poor grades in high school, seems to have been repulsed by the idea of working for a living in the traditional way, and hoped instead to become an artist.