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Hitler is born as third of six children in Upper Austria and has an untroubled childhood. He leaves school at almost twelve years without graduation and is rejected twice by the Art’s academy. He is homeless at times, and hungry. For mere survival, he paints and sells postcards. His share of his father’s inheritance is paid out on his 24th birthday. He escapes from the military and moves to Munich, declaring himself stateless to avoid investigations by the Austrian military administration. The inheritance helps to build an existence on the fringe of society. As World War I starts, Hitler joins the Bavarian Army and becomes an ardent German soldier and patriot. For the first time he feels that he belongs. The end of the war means he loses the only regular life he’s known so far. Click here to watch all four episodes of “The Hitler Chronicles“: Click here to watch the longer version of thirteen episodes of “The Hitler Chronicles“: Subscribe to wocomoHISTORY: Follow us on Facebook: Initially installed at the NSDAP as a police informer, Hitler quickly takes over a leadership role. He realizes having a speaker’s talent. His flair for art enables him to modernize the party; he designs the swastika flag. He is impressed by the ‘March to Rome’ by Mussolini and the fascists in Italy. But his own coup attempt of 1923 fails and puts him in jail for more than a year. There he writes “Mein Kampf”. The NSDAP is forbidden and Hitler is banned from speaking publicly. It is an uncertain new beginning. Out of prison, Hitler re-establishes the NSDAP to achieve power by legal means this time. As its undoubted sole leader, he develops the party into a powerful movement. During the recovering economy the NSDAP stagnates, but with the looming crisis in the early 1930s it gains voters in each election. A series by Hermann Pölking-Eiken 2017 © Licensed by First Hand Films
