Buckley James - Adolf Hitler

Discover More of Historys Worst

Jack the Ripper

ALADDIN

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First Aladdin paperback edition August 2017

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Cover designed by Laura Lyn DiSiena and Nina Simoneaux

Interior designed by Nina Simoneaux

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Buckley, James, Jr., 1963 author.

Title: Adolf Hitler / by James Buckley.

Description: First Aladdin hardcover/paperback edition. | New York : Aladdin, 2017. |

Series: History's worst | Audience: Ages 8 to 12. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016058534 (print) | LCCN 2016059511 (eBook) | ISBN 9781481479417 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781481479424 (paperback) | ISBN 9781481479431 (eBook)

Subjects: LCSH: Hitler, Adolf, 18891945Juvenile literature. | Heads of stateGermanyBiographyJuvenile literature. | GermanyHistory19331945Juvenile literature. | World War, 19391945AtrocitiesEuropeJuvenile literature.

Classification: LCC DD247.H5 B785 2017 (print) | LCC DD247.H5 (eBook) |

DDC 943.086092 [B]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016058534

O n a list of the worst people ever, Adolf Hitler is certainly at or near the top.

He was a racist and a murderer on an epic scale. He led his country into a terrible war, changed the lives of millions and millions of people for the worse, and altered the course of world history, also for the worse. He was selfish, cruel, and heartless.

But as much as we know now about how awful he was, at the time of his rise to power in the 1930s, millions of Germans loved Hitler and what he had to say. And it wasnt just Germans. Americans, British, and others followed his ideas. Looking back, its hard to imagine anyone thinking that what he said and what he wanted his people to do were good things. But they did think that. They believed him. They followed him. They did what he and his fellow Nazi leaders told them to do.

Hitler convinced the German people to turn their back on sanity and to seek out and destroy people he said did not belong: Jews, Catholics, Gypsies, homosexuals, developmentally or mentally disabled people, and more. Hitler wanted to create Germany for Germans alone. And he did not believe that all people born in Germany were true Germans. Hitler believed in a special, separate kind of German he called an Aryan: blue-eyed, blond, the perfect specimen of humanity. He also wanted to take over more land for the Germans to control, and tried to conquer most of Europe. He sent his armies crashing into neighboring countries, killing and capturing simply because they could. He ignored all the rules and treaties that had held Europe together, and he set himself and his people above others.

He was able to do this in part because people in Germany let him. Of course, millions of Germans were scared to death of him and his Nazis, but amid the fear, millions of others happily followed his every decree and cheered his every word. They supported his efforts to make Germany number one in Europe and his hateful need to kill people he didnt like.

Decades later part of the reason for writing a book about him is to ask, why did people let him do that? Why did they follow him? What made him so attractive? What made Adolf Hitler so popular? And how can we make sure we dont let any more Hitlers enter our world? Those are a lot of big questions. This book will try to give you some of the answers, but will also help you find your own answers to similar questions.

1

T he first thing to know about the man who grew up to transform Germany and who wanted Germans to rule the world is that he wasnt German.

Hitlers family was from Austria. In fact, the family name was not even Hitler until 1876. It was originally Schicklgruber. But Hitlers father, Alois, changed that long name to something a little less clunky. Some sources say Hitler was a form of another name from Aloiss family line.

Alois worked for the Austrian government as a customs inspector, examining people and goods coming across the nations borders. He had two childrenAlois Jr. and Angelawith two different women, and hired his teenage relative Klara to help care for them. Soon Klara was pregnant thanks to Alois. A few years before little Adolf was born, Alois married Klara and they moved into the top floor of an inn in Braunau am Inn, Austria.

The child that caused the marriage, Gustav, was born in 1885 but died shortly after. Another son, Otto, and a daughter, Ida, died very young as well. In the late nineteenth century deadly childhood diseases were not that rare, even in a modern place like Austria.

Alois and Klara kept trying, though, and on April 20, 1889, they welcomed another boy. They named him Adolfus Hitler. And so it started.

WHEN ALOIS GOT a promotion in 1892, the family moved to a new city, Passau. Passau was more than just a new city; it was in a new country. Austria shares a border with Germany, so a few Austrian officials such as Alois lived in that country to help man border stations. Because of this, for the first time in his life, Adolf Hitler was in Germany.

Having lost three other children, Klara was extremely devoted to Adolf. She doted on him constantly, trying to make sure his every need was met, that he was never unhappy. When Adolf was five, his parents added another person to the family, Edmund. Klara still wanted to spoil Adolf, but with a new baby she didnt have a lot of time to spare. Alois was off at work all day while Klara cared for the kids. Adolf took this opportunity to spend more time outside, on the streets of Passau. He got a taste of real freedom for the first time.

But his period of exploration lasted only a short while. In 1895 Alois moved the family to a farmhouse in the smaller, rural town of Hafeld, back in Austria. It was time for Adolf to start school, and after walking an hour to reach the schoolhouse, he did. Of course he also had to walk an hour home. His older half sister, Angela, recalled that even in those early days Adolf was a little ringleader.what was going on and that most other people didnt.

In addition Alois Jr. would say years later that his half brother was quick to anger from childhood onward and would not listen to anyone. [Klara] always took his side. If he didnt get his way, he got very angry.

Things changed dramatically in 1895. Alois retired from his government job. It altered the familys life completely, as Alois turned out to be terrible at retirement. He spent most of his day at home, and when he was not at home, he was hanging with his friends at bars and pubs. His awful temper was made worse by drink, and he took most of it out on Alois Jr., beating him for any slight. Angela and Edmund didnt fare much better. Adolf was around for these temper tantrums, but most of the anger missed him... at first.