Introduction to

lives in Sydney, Australia grew up hearing stories about Nazi Germany, the bombings of Munich, and Jews beings marched through his mother’s small German town always wanted to tell these stories

born in Austria 1889 as a child, dreamed of being an artist / applied twice to the Vienna Academy of Art, but was denied (headmaster of the school was Jewish) served 4 years in WWI and received 2 iron crosses for bravery injured / Germany surrendered with the Treaty of Versailles while he was recovering

 felt German leaders stabbed their countrymen in the backs by surrendering; therefore, entered politics  became the leader of a small anti Jew party – created a flag and changed the name to National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi Party)  attempted to take over German government in 1923, but failed – sentenced to 5 years in prison – wrote Mien Kampf before his release in only 9 months

 written to help recoup legal expenses from his trial and to express his ideology and goals for the future of Germany  believed the Jewish race inferior and thought they were trying to take over the world through Communism  believed German government was failing its people and planned to replace it with the Nazi Party and save Germany

 in Volume 2,  explained his propaganda campaign to rebuild the German military  explained his plan to create more “living space” by, first, spreading the German Empire to the East and enslaving the inferior Slavic people and confiscating their resources for the more racially pure, German people ▪ “the Aryan race – the perfect man”

 1933 – appointed chancellor and used this position to gain absolute power over Germany when Germany’s president, Paul von Hindenburg, died in office in August 1934  1939 – attack Poland, causing WWII  1945 – married his long-time mistress, Eva Braun / committed suicide together one day later

 1919 – party was established  1921 – Hitler took over control of party  1933 – Hitler was appointed German chancellor and Nazi gov’t took over  all other political parties were banned  Dachau – first concentration camp opened ▪ first housed political prisoners ▪ Evolved into death camp for Jews, artists, intellectuals, Gypsies, and the handicapped

  “The Final Solution” – a genocidal decree against the Jews gave the Nazi’s their “legal” basis for everything that occurred  involved 6 million Jews (2/3 of the Jewish population)

 more than 11 million people total were murdered  Jews were evicted from their homes and sent to ghettos  shipped to concentration camps  separated from husband/wife/children  those able to work, did so under horrible conditions  those unable to work were gased (shower) which could asphyxiate 2,000 people in 20 minutes ▪ this method killed approximately 4 million women and children in Auschwitz alone

 “The weak must be chiseled away. I want young men and women who can suffer pain. A young German must be as swift as a greyhound, as tough as leather, and as hard as Krupp’s steel” – Hitler, Mien Kampf  created in 1920s  by 1936, became all but compulsory to join (could pay a fee to avoid, in 1939 it was made mandatory)

“He alone who owns the youth gains the future.” – Hitler  year olds  boys were prepared for military ▪ marching, bayonet drill, grenade throwing, trench digging, map reading, gas defense, use of dugouts, getting under barbed wire fence, pistol shooting  girls were prepared for motherhood ▪ had to run 60 meters in 14 seconds, throw a ball 12 meters, complete a 2 hour march, swim 100 meters, and know how to make a bed

 Germany was devastated  high loss of life  destroyed financially  disgraced due to the atrocities, especially the Holocaust  not unified again until 1990  Total deaths: 7,393,000

 James Cleveland Owens  “The Buckeye Bullet”  African American  Ohio State University  won 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, which helped defeat Hitler’s belief that the Games would help him promote his idea of the perfect Aryan race