"Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), ruled Germany as dictator from 1933 to 1945. He turned Germany into a powerful war machine and provoked World War II in 1939. Hitler's forces conquered most of Europe before they were defeated in 1945.
Hitler spread death as no person has done in modern history. "Have no pity! Act brutally!" he told his soldiers. He ordered tens of thousands of those who opposed him to be executed, and hundreds of thousands to be thrown into prison.
Hitler particularly persecuted Jews. He ordered them removed and killed in countries he controlled. Hitler set up concentration camps where about 4 million Jews were murdered. Altogether, Hitler's forces killed about 6 million European Jews as well as about 5 million other people that Hitler regarded as racially inferior or politically dangerous.
Adolf Hitler began his rise to political power in 1919, the year after World War I had ended. The German Empire had been defeated, and the nation's economy lay in ruins. Hitler joined a small group of men who became known as Nazis. He soon became their leader. Hitler and his followers believed he could win back Germany's past glory. He promised to rebuild Germany into a mighty empire that would last a thousand years.
Many people did not take Hitler seriously. But his fiery words and brilliant blue eyes seemed to hypnotize those who listened to him. Many Germans believed he was their protector and friend. His emotional speeches made crowds cheer "Heil, Hitler!".
Hitler became dictator of Germany in 1933 and quickly succeeded in regaining some territories taken from Germany as a result of World War I. He threatened war against Czechoslovakia in 1938 but was stopped by a combination of counterthreats and concessions. His forces invaded Poland in 1939. Then the United Kingdom, France, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada declared war on Germany, and World War II began.
Hitler had a clear vision of what he wanted, and he had the daring to pursue it. But his aims had no limits, and he overestimated the resources and abilities of Germany. Hitler had little regard for experts in any field. He regularly ignored the advice of his generals and followed his own judgment, even while Germany was being defeated in the last years of the war. Finally, as United States, British, and Soviet troops closed in on the heart of Germany, Hitler killed himself."
Hoffmann, Peter. "Hitler, Adolf." World Book Advanced, World Book, 2021, www.worldbookonline.com/advanced/article?id=ar258000.
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“Hitler’s Decision to Invade the USSR, 1941.” Blinders, Blunders, and Wars: What America and China Can Learn, by David C. Gompert et al., RAND Corporation, 2014, pp. 81–92. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.7249/j.ctt1287m9t.14.
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LYNCH, MICHAEL. “The Legacy of Adolf Hitler: Under a Long Shadow.” AQ: Australian Quarterly, vol. 84, no. 3, 2013, pp. 18–32. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24363551.
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SCHWABE, KLAUS. “World War I and the Rise of Hitler.” Diplomatic History, vol. 38, no. 4, 2014, pp. 864–879. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26376610.
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The Hitler Youth by Alexa DvorsonHundreds of thousands of German boys and girls joined the Hitler Youth, the Nazi youth organization. This volume examines how they were seduced into obeying the Nazis and how their dreams were finally shattered.
Hitler and the Nazis by William W. LaceDefeated in World War I, Germany was humiliated and impoverished. The fanatical, charismatic leader of the Nazi Party, Adolf Hitler, promise to lead the country to world domination. Instead, he led k into World War II and virtual destruction.
Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany by Earle RiceThis book traces Adolf Hitler's rise to power and explains how he drove Europe into World War II, decimating the people and the landscape in an ultimately fruitless attempt to expand Germany's borders.
Life in the Hitler Youth by Jennifer KeeleyIn the Third Reich, the Hitler Youth members fought in World War II, witnessed and at times participated in anti-Semitic outrages, some even had their own parents arrested or were forced to shoot their friends for desertion. They also went to school, played, dated, and tried to grow up in war-torn Germany.
The Faithful Spy by John HendrixAdolf Hitler's Nazi party is gaining strength and becoming more menacing every day. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor upset by the complacency of the German church toward the suffering around it, forms a breakaway church to speak out against the established political and religious authorities. When the Nazis outlaw the church, he escapes as a fugitive. Struggling to reconcile his faith and the teachings of the Bible with the Nazi Party's evil agenda, Bonhoeffer decides that Hitler must be stopped by any means possible! In his signature style of interwoven handwritten text and art, John Hendrix tells the true story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor who makes the ultimate sacrifice in order to free the German people from oppression during World War II.
The Boys Who Challenged Hitler by Phillip HooseA Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor Winner At the outset of World War II, Denmark did not resist German occupation. Deeply ashamed of his nation's leaders, fifteen-year-old Knud Pedersen resolved with his brother and a handful of schoolmates to take action against the Nazis if the adults would not. Naming their secret club after the fiery British leader, the young patriots in the Churchill Club committed countless acts of sabotage, infuriating the Germans, who eventually had the boys tracked down and arrested. But their efforts werenot in vain: the boys' exploits and eventual imprisonment helped spark a full-blown Danish resistance. Interweaving his own narrative with the recollections of Knud himself,The Boys Who Challenged Hitler is National Book Award winner Phillip Hoose's inspiring story of these young war heroes. This thoroughly-researched and documented book can be worked into multiple aspects of the common core curriculum.
The Nazis by William W. LaceA history of the Nazi movement in Germany beginning in 1919 with the German Workers' Party and including discussion of Adolf Hitler, anti-Semitism, and World War II.
A History of the Third Reich by Jeff Hay (Editor)Volume 4 is a comprehensive compilation of excerpts of primary sources in an A-Z format, conveniently grouped in the following chapters: The Rise of the Third Reich, World War II, Concentration Camps and the Holocaust, and Everyday Life in the Third Reich. Thoroughly cross-referenced, students will easily find important primary sources to enhance and inform any research report on this valuable topic. Excerpts from diaries, memoirs, government reports and memos, contemporary newspapers and magazines, and many other sources are included in this reference that can be used both as a stand-alone and in conjunction with the other volumes.
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