Things You Might Not Know About Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler is one of the most well-known—and reviled—figures in history. As the leader of Nazi Germany, he orchestrated both World War II and the Holocaust, events that led to the deaths of at least 40,000,000 people. In the ensuing decades, he was the subject of countless books, documentaries, and TV shows. This list presents some notable, and a few lesser-known, facts about him.

Heil Schicklgruber?

Adolf Hitler was almost Adolf Schicklgruber. Or Adolf Hiedler. His father, Alois, was born out of wedlock to Maria Anna Schicklgruber and given her surname. However, when he was about 40 years old, Alois decided to adopt the last name of his stepfather, Johann Georg Hiedler, who some speculated was actually his biological father. On the legal documents, Hitler was given as the new last name, though the reason for the spelling change is unknown. Alois Hitler was married twice and had several children before taking Klara Pölzl as his third wife. The couple had six children, though only Adolf and a sister reached adulthood. Adolf had a difficult relationship with his father, who died in 1903, but he adored his mother and was reportedly grief-stricken by her death from breast cancer in 1907.

Mein Kampf: Banned Best Seller

Adolf Hitler: Mein Kampf

Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler, Volumes 1 and 2 (ed. 855), 1943

In 1924, while in prison for high treason, Hitler began writing what would later be considered one of the world’s most dangerous books. In Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”), which was initially published in two volumes (1925, 1927), Hitler chronicled his life and presented his racist ideology; he claimed to have become “a fanatical anti-Semite” while living in Vienna. Although it initially had only limited success, Mein Kampf’s popularity grew as did that of Hitler and the Nazis. A bible of National Socialism, it was required reading in Germany, and by 1939 more than five million copies had been sold. After Hitler’s death, the work was banned in Germany and other countries, and the German state of Bavaria, which held the copyright, refused to grant publishing rights. However, some foreign publishers continued to print the work, and in 2016 it entered the public domain after the copyright expired. Days later a heavily annotated Mein Kampf was published in Germany for the first time since 1945. It became a best seller.

World War I Service

When he committed suicide in 1945, Hitler was wearing the Iron Cross First Class medal, earned for his service in World War I. The honor was especially important to Hitler, who had portrayed himself as a hero during the conflict. Although he was wounded during the First Battle of the Somme (1916), recent research challenges Hitler’s account of his war experience. Some believe that he saw little if any front-line action and instead was a runner at the relatively safe regiment headquarters. This would counter his claims that he was in danger “probably every day.” In addition, while he stated that he was temporarily blinded during a mustard-gas attack in 1918, purported medical documents state that he suffered from “hysterical blindness.” He was recuperating when Germany surrendered. Oddly, his citation for the Iron Cross First Class fails to mention a specific incident of bravery, leading some researchers to speculate that it was given to honor Hitler’s length of service and his general likability with officers, notably Hugo Gutmann, a Jewish lieutenant who recommended that Hitler receive the award.

From Fire to Führer 

Reichstag fire

National Archives, Washington, D.C. (ARC Identifier: 535790)  

Following a series of maneuverings and intrigues, Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in January 1933. However, he aspired to even greater power, and that was achieved when Germany’s parliamentary building caught fire and was severely damaged on February 27, 1933. While Hitler’s involvement in the Reichstag fire remains uncertain—a lone communist was later convicted of the crime—he used the event to solidify his authority. The day after the blaze, he oversaw the suspension of all civil liberties, and in the following month’s election, the Nazis and their allies secured a majority in the Reichstag. On March 23, 1933, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, which sanctioned Hitler’s dictatorship. Then, in August 1934, shortly after the death of Pres. Paul von Hindenburg, the German people voted to give Hitler complete authority, combining the offices of chancellor and president to create the post of “Führer und Reichskanzler” (“Leader and Chancellor”).

Art Critic 

Nazi art theft

National Archives, Washington D.C

While much has been made of Hitler’s failed career as an artist—he was rejected by the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and lived in poverty trying to sell his work—his interest in art seemed only to increase after he became führer. While Hitler favored the idealized work of Classical Greece and Rome, he was highly critical of contemporary movements such as Impressionism, Cubism, and Dada. In the 1930s Nazis began removing such “degenerative art” from German museums. Modern works by Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, and Emile Nolde were later shown in a 1937 multicity exhibition and described as “culture documents of the decadent work of Bolsheviks and Jews.” Throughout the war, Hitler ordered the systematic looting of artworks on an unprecedented scale; reportedly his most coveted stolen item was the Ghent Altarpiece. This and other works were intended to fill a planned “super museum” in Linz, Austria, known as the Führermuseum.

Death and Conspiracy Theories

On April 30, 1945, with the war lost and Soviet troops advancing, Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin, shooting himself. Eva Braun, whom he had recently married, also took her own life. According to Hitler’s wishes, their bodies were burned and then buried. At least, that is the widely accepted version of his death. Almost immediately conspiracy theories began—thanks in part to the Soviets. They initially claimed that they were unable to confirm that Hitler was dead and later spread rumors that he was alive and being protected by the West. When pressed by U.S. Pres. Harry Truman, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin stated that he did not know Hitler’s fate. According to later reports, however, the Soviets recovered his burnt remains, which were identified through dental records. The body was secretly buried before being exhumed and cremated, the ashes being scattered in 1970, though a piece of skull—bearing a single gunshot wound and not found until 1946—was kept. Such news failed to stem the doubts, however, and they only increased in 2009, when researchers determined that the skull fragment actually belonged to a woman.