Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was a German political leader who started World War II and ordered the Holocaust. He was born in Austria in 1889 and died in 1945. He led a political party called the Nazi Party, and he ruled Germany from 1933 until his death. Most historians consider him one of the most harmful people in modern history.

Hitler grew up in Austria and wanted to be an artist. He was rejected twice from art school in Vienna. When World War I began in 1914, he joined the German army. Germany lost the war in 1918. Like many Germans, Hitler was angry about the loss and the harsh peace treaty that followed.

In the 1920s, Hitler joined a small political group that became the Nazi Party. He was a powerful public speaker. He blamed Germany's problems on Jewish people, communists, and other groups. These ideas were not true, but they spread widely. Germany was suffering from a terrible economic crisis called the Great Depression. Many people listened.

In 1933, Hitler became chancellor, the head of the German government. Within months he had taken total control. He banned other political parties and threw his opponents in prison. He ruled as a dictator, which means one person held all the power. He called himself the Führer, a German word for "leader."

Hitler then began taking over nearby countries by force. He invaded Poland in September 1939. That invasion started World War II. Over the next six years, the war spread across Europe, North Africa, and Asia. By the time it ended, more than 60 million people were dead. It was the deadliest war in human history.

While the war was going on, Hitler ordered the murder of Europe's Jewish people. This program of killing is called the Holocaust. About six million Jewish men, women, and children were murdered, along with millions of other victims, including Roma people, disabled people, and political prisoners. Six million is more than the entire population of a state like Wisconsin today.

Hitler killed himself in a bunker in Berlin in April 1945, as Soviet troops closed in on the city. Germany surrendered a week later. After the war, leaders around the world worked together to create new rules against this kind of mass killing. Hitler's name is now a warning. It reminds people what can happen when hatred, lies, and unchecked power come together in one leader.