The rise and fall of Adolf Hitler 1889-1945

The rise and fall of Adolf Hitler 1889-1945

Future Fuhrer Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) as a baby, circa 1890. Adolf Hitler was born on 20th April, 1889, in the small Austrian town of Braunau near the German border.

Klara Hitler, nee Polzl, mother of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and third wife to Alois Hitler. Circa 1890

Alois Hitler, the father of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, wearing the uniform of an Austrian veteran.Both Hitler's parents had come from poor peasant families. His father Alois Hitler , the illegitimate son of a housemaid, was an intelligent and ambitious man and later became a senior customs official.Alois, who was fifty-one when Adolf was born, was extremely keen for his son to do well in life. Alois did have another son by an earlier marriage but he had been a big disappointment to him and eventually ended up in prison for theft. Alois was a strict father and savagely beat his son if he did not do as he was told. Circa 1890

Adolf Hitler dressed in his field uniform during World War I. Circa 1915

Adolf Hitler (back row, second from right) recuperates with his fellow infantrymen, in a military hospital during World War I. 1918

Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.  1921

German dictator Adolf Hitler on board a ferry in the Baltic Sea.  Circa 1921

Nazi leader Adolf Hitler (1889–1945, centre) with his personal bodyguard Ulrich Graf (1878–1950, far right) and Gerhard Rossbach (1893–1967) at a meeting of the party's paramilitary wing, the SA, on on the Frottmaning Heath, near Munich, 1923.

Adolf Hitler, Leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party. Circa 1923

A photograph of Adolf Hitler, signed by him for a member of the SA.  1923

At the Ludendorff trial, from left to right: Counsel Holt, Weber (in uniform), Roder (in uniform) – who received a 5 year sentence, General Ludendorff (1865–1937) and Adolf Hitler (1889–1945). . 1923

Adolf Hitler addresses a rally in Nuremberg on German Day.  1923

Adolf Hitler, Alfred Rosenberg (left) and Dr. Friedrich Weber of the Freikorps Oberland (Oberland Free Corps), during the Munich Putsch.  1923

Adolf Hitler looking out of a barred window in Landsberg jail where he dictated his autobiography, Mein Kampf. . 1924

Adolf Hitler sits reading a paper during his imprisonment in Landsberg Jail, after the failure of the Munich Putsch. A laurel wreath hangs on the wall. 

Adolf Hitler receives visitors, including Rudolf Hess (1894–1987), (second from right), during his imprisonment in Landsberg jail. . December 1924

Adolf Hitler leaves the Landsberg Fortress after a nine month period of imprisonment. . 20th December 1924

Adolf Hitler leaves the Landsberg Fortress after a nine month period of imprisonment. . 20th December 1924

German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler (standing, centre) at a party meeting in Munich, circa 1925. Also present are Alfred Rosenberg (1893–1946, left, with crossed hands), Gregor Strasser (1892–1934, second from right) and Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945, far right).

Two of Adolf Hitler's documents, his membership of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) as Member Number 1, and his permission to have weapons.  Circa 1925

Prussian Premier and German Air Minister Hermann Goering, far right (1893–1946), with Adolf Hitler and Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945), behind Hitler on the left.  Circa 1925.

Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.  1925

A montage showing Adolf Hitler and General Erich Ludendorff (1865–1937), leaders of the Putsch in Munich, at the beginning of Hitler's rise to power.  1925

Austrian born German fascist dictator, Adolf Hitler, saluting the massed ranks of his party during the party congress at Nuremberg.  August 1927

The Nazis meet in the Munich Buergerbraukeller (left to right) Schwartz, H Esser, Adolf Hitler and Ritter Von Epp. . Circa 1927

Adolf Hitler with Bavarian Nazis at a remembrance ceremony for former military forces in Nuremberg.  2nd September 1928

Adolf Hitler, leader of the German National Socialist Party, during a visit to Munich.  1929

Adolf Hitler with his companions. (Left – Right) Graf, Hess, Schant, Hitler, Sleinbinder and Christian Weber.  Circa 1929

Adolf Hitler with members of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (left to right) Hitler's adjutant Schaub, Hitler's chauffeur Schreck, Hitler, Maurer and Schneider.  1929

Adolf Hitler drives along a flower strewn road after a rally at Nuremberg.  1929

Nazi leader Adolf Hitler holds the “Bloodied Standard” of the Nazi party at a memorial ceremony for the failed uprising of 9th November 1923, known as the “Beer Hall Putsch”.  Circa 1929

An American soldier stands near a wagon loaded with corpses outside the crematorium of the Buchenwald concentration camp, Germany, following its liberation.