MacFormat España 17/MacFormat 17 (Spain)/MacFormat 17.bin/DATABASE/SHARED.DIR/01272_86.cap.txt

Text File | 1996-03-14 | 7.4 KB | 408 lines

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Hitler was one of
many young men
who rejoiced at
the outbreak of
the first world war
but the subsequent
defeat was a bitter
blow. Germany was
made to concede the
blame for the war
and pay reparations,
which was an intol-
erable humiliation
for nationalist war
veterans such as
Adolf Hitler
#
Hitler and fellow
veteran General
Ludendorff led an
unsuccessful coup
in Munich in 1923.
After his arrest
Hitler spent nine
months in jail. In
his cell he wrote
his political auto-
biography, the Nazi
bible Mein Kampf
( 'My Struggle').
By the time of his
release the young
Hitler had found
his truest talent:
rabble-rousing
oratory
#
The depression of
the Thirties caused
deep discontent.
Hitler's small but
highly dedicated
National Socialist
party ('Nazi' for
short) exploited
this mood, and by
clever campaigning
transformed them-
selves into a mass
movement. By 1932
the Nazis were the
largest party in
parliament, and the
ageing president
von Hindenberg
yielded to growing
demands to make
Hitler chancellor
#
Hitler's party was
in many ways as
much a paramilitary
organisation as a
political one. The
SA, known as the
'Brownshirts', were
a kind of private
army of uniformed
thugs. Most were
recruited in the
beer cellars of
Bavaria among the
many discontented
veterans of the
first world war
#
Once Hitler was
in power the SA
grew to be an
embarrassment.
They were hated by
the regular army,
whose support
Hitler needed if
he was to hang
on to power. So
Hitler ruthlessly
eliminated his
former comrades.
This midnight
purge, which
consolidated
the Nazi regime,
became known
as Night of the
Long Knives
#
Hitler grabbed
the opportunity
presented by the
death of President
Hindenburg to join
the two offices of
chancellor and
president into one
office, which he
called simply
Fuhrer, or 'leader'.
With this, Hitler
was established
as Germany's' sole
dictator. Now he
was answerable
to no one
#
The occupation of
the Rhineland was
an act of breath-
taking audacity on
Hitler's part. By
sending troops into
the de-militarised
zone Hitler was
technically com-
mitting an act of
war, but he was
aware of Britain's
and France's reluc-
tance to move
against him. His
first experiment
in aggression had
been a success
#
The absorption of
Austria into a
greater Germany
brought Hitler one
step closer to his
dream of uniting
all the German
speakers in Europe
under one greater
Reich. With Austria
in the fold, Hitler
turned his gaze to
the small German
minority across
the border in the
Sudetenland of
Czechoslovakia
#
Hitler's massive
programme of re-
armament had by
the end of the
Thirties produced
one of the world's
best equipped and
most modern
armies. Hitler was
now ready to
expand Germany
eastwards, pushing
Europe closer and
closer to the brink
of a European war
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#
The invasion of
Poland sparked
by far the most
destructive war
in the history of
the world. Adolf
Hitler's Blitzkrieg
('lightning war')
tore across Poland
so fast that Great
Britain and France
could do nothing to
support the Poles.
Within a matter of
weeks organised
resistance in
Poland ceased
#
With Poland
defeated, Hitler
unleashed his
armies on France.
French and British
forces were swiftly
overwhelmed by
the force of the
attack and the
boldness of Hitler's
tactics. Within two
months France
capitulated and
Britain was left to
fight on alone
#
After the fall
of France Hitler
proceeded to
organise Europe
along fascist lines.
Britain seemed to
have small chance
of survival, but
Operation Sealion -
the invasion of the
British Isles - was
averted when the
RAF prevented the
Luftwaffe from
gaining control of
the skies over
southern England
in the so-called
Battle of Britain
#
The destruction
of Rommel's army,
the Afrika Korps,
by  Montgomery's
Eighth Army at
El Alamein was
one of the great
turning points of
the war. Hitler was
over-stretched;
his ally Italy was
under threat of
invasion from
North Africa. Now
for the first time
in the war the
initiative passed
to the Allies
#
Hitler had invaded
Russia in June 1941.
After spectacular
successes in the
first months the
campaign came to a
halt at the gates of
Moscow. And at
Stalingrad in 1943
Stalin's Red Army
killed or captured
the entire German
Sixth Army. Hitler
could not sustain
such heavy losses.
German forces were
soon on the retreat
#
Russian troops
pursued Germany's
armies all the way
to Berlin. With the
enemy a matter of
a few dozen yards
away, Adolf Hitler
shot himself in
his underground
bunker. The Reich
which was to
have lasted a
thousand years
was reduced to
dust after a
mere thirteen
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Anti-semitism lay
at the heart of the
Nazi philosophy.
Hitler's hatred for
Jews was laid out
explicitly in his
book Mein Kampf,
as was his plan for
their destruction.
Yet the first steps
were almost timid:
stormtroopers
marching to drum
up support for a
boycott of Jewish-
owned shops
#
As Nazi ideology
became firmly
established in
Germany, state-
sponsored anti-
Semitism gathered
pace. In an attempt
to preserve the
"purity" of the
German race Hitler
banned marriages
between Jews and
non-Jews, and also
stripped Jews of
German citizenship
#
Using the murder
of a German by a
young Jewish man
as the pretext,
Hitler launched a
nationwide orgy
of violence against
Germany's Jews.
This program was
later given the
ironical name
'Kristallnacht',
or 'crystal night',
because the acres
of broken glass
from the shop
windows glittered
like gems strewn
on the pavements
#
The public abuse of
Jews had created
an atmosphere in
which the later
horrors of the death
camps seemed no
more than a natural
progression. People
grew used to the
insidious idea that
the Jews were
less than human,
that the norms of
morality and com-
passion did not
apply to them
#
The war brought
many more Jews
into the Reich. In
1942, at a secret
conference in the
Berlin suburb of
Wannsee, Hitler
and his closest
associates worked
out the details of
"the final solution"
of the so-called
'Jewish question.'
This was the plan
to systematically
murder every Jew
in Europe
#
The concentration
camps were the
production lines of
the Final Solution.
Six million Jews
died. The horrors
of the camps can
never be described,
but decades later,
the names of the
places where the
Holocaust was
accomplished still
terrify: Auschwitz,
Buchenwald, Dachau
Bergen-Belsen,
Treblinka, Sobibor...
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Goering was one of Hitler's first and closest supporters. Hitler thought extremely
highly of Goering, once remarking that, "when it comes to the crunch he's a man of
steel - unscrupulous."
#
Goebbels was Hitler's closest lieutenant, and died with him in the Berlin bunker.
He was a master of propaganda, responsible for the creation of Hitler's public
image. He invented the "Heil Hitler" salute and the title Fuhrer
#
Himmler was the most sinister individual in a very sinister clique. In another
life, he might have remained a salesman; instead he applied his considerable
organisational talent to the business of mass murder
#
All tyrants have their henchmen - Eichmann was one of Hitler's most devoted. He is
one of the few leading Nazis who can be said to have been brought to justice. He
was tried in an Israeli court, and condemned to death by the kinsmen of the
millions he had murdered
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Speer worked closely with Hitler on grandiose plans for the rebuilding of Berlin as
the capital of the Nazi Empire. He renounced his Nazi convictions at the Nuremberg
trials, and later wrote a history of the Third Reich
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