Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in the town of Braunau-am-Inn in Austria. His entire childhood and youth was characterized by unhappiness, poverty and loneliness. Young Hitler made his living by selling small pieces of artwork with the hope of one day becoming a famous artist. However, during his stay in Vienna, his interest shifted from art to politics. Hitler’s career path would not drastically change until the outbreak of the First World War.
Hitler’s Early Years
Alois, Adolf’s father worked as a customs officer on the Austro-German border crossing. However, he retired when Adolf was only six years of age. His presence created a very tense and strict atmosphere in the Hitler household. As a result, Adolf both resented and feared his father.
Adolf Hitler started school at the age of six. When Hitler was the age of thirteen, his father passed away and his mother was left to care for him and his younger siblings on her own. Fortunately, her husband had left a reasonable pension and savings, which made it much easier for her to care for her children.
Hitler may have cared deeply about his mother, but he did not feel this way about school. He “grew up with a poor record at school and left, before completing his tuition, with an ambition to become an artist,” says Phil Stokes.
Hitler as an Artist
From age sixteen until nineteen, Adolf neither worked nor obtained any higher education. Yet, his love and passion for art continued to endure and he desired to become a famous artist. So, in 1907, he applied to the painting school of the Vienna Academy of Art, but failed the entrance exam. He tried to apply again the following year, but was not permitted to take the entrance exam. To make matters worse, his mother passed away two months after his second dismal attempt to get accepted into the Vienna Academy of Art.
Hitler, at the age of nineteen, had no relatives who were willing or able to support him. So, he moved to Vienna with the hopes of earning a decent living. However, his efforts proved fruitless. Unable to support himself with the small amount of money from his mother’s inheritance, Hitler lived in various municipal hostels. He managed to earn money from selling postcards of his architectural drawings, but his earnings were far too small for him to purchase his own flat. Hitler lived the years of his youth in loneliness and isolation with only his hopes and aspirations to keep him company.
During his time in Vienna, his interest in art shifted to politics and he became an ardent advocate of the idea of pan-Germanism. In fact, Hitler left Vienna and moved to Munich in southern Germany to avoid being drafted in the Austrian army.
Hitler’s involvement in the First World War
The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 marked a significant change in Hitler’s career. As soon as the war began, “Hitler asked for and received special permission to serve in the Bavarian-German army,” says Jennifer Rosenberg. His courage, bravery and skill as a fighter, earned him promotion to corporal and two medals of honour—the Second Class Iron Cross and, later, the First Class Iron Cross.
In October 1918, a month before the war ended, Hitler was temporary blinded by a British gas attack in the Ypres Salient. During his recovery, he heard the news of the end of the war and of Germany’s crushing defeat. Hitler’s anger toward the opposing European nations are what fuelled his desire to take political action in Germany. His new passion for politics and his vision for creating a better Germany is what influenced his aggressive policies in the twelve years of his dictatorship.
Sources
Stokes, Phil. “A Biography of Adolf Hitler” (2009, accessed 13 May 2009).
Rosenberg, Jennifer. “Adolf Hitler” (accessed 13 May 2009).
