Adolf Hitler: The Early Years of The Death Bringer

Adolf Hitler:

The Early Years of the Death Bringer

Adolf Hitler or as many people have called him throughout history, the Death Bringer, lived a very depressing but otherwise ordinary youth. The majority of times, when the name Hitler is mentioned, the only thoughts that come to mind are of his horrible genocide of the Jews, thoughts of his early life never come to mind. Most think that he must have had a disastrous youth due to his future actions but he actually had a relatively normal youth. Adolf's early years consisted of his youth, his extensive military career, and his disastrous rise to power. A deeper examination of Hitler's early life will thoroughly express what occurred in his early years.

Adolf Hitler was born in the small town of Braunau, Austria on April 20, 1889. His parents were Alois and Klara Hitler. His father, Alois, was a customs officer. Alois was a very strict father. He would brutally beat young Adolf every time he would disobey him. Although his parents were very strict to Adolf as a child they did it for his own sake because they were always worried about his well being. Adolf did very well in his first few years at school. He was at the top of his class and seemed to have a great academic future. He was also very popular among his fellow class mates. He also showed tremendous leadership skills in school. His great academic future all started to fall apart when he moved up to higher grade levels. Due to the fact that he was no longer at the top of his class he stopped trying and eventually, going against his parents will, dropped out of school. The only thing that young Adolf was drawn to in school was art.

Adolf later told his father that he was not going to join the civil service, as his father wanted him to, but he was going to be an artist. This ordeal enraged his father and the relationship between them was destroyed. The conflict finally ended in 1903 when Alois Hitler died. Adolf was only thirteen years old when his father died but his death did not affect him much. Adolf just thought that now that his father was dead that he could do whatever he wanted. Soon after his father's death he convinced his mother to let him leave school. When he turned eighteen he received the money from his father's will and moved to Vienna to continue his passion of art. He was enraged when he was rejected from the art school. He was too embarrassed to tell his mother that he had not gotten in to the art school so young Adolf just continued to live in Vienna acting as if he actually was an art student, just like mentioned in Liz Gogerly's book Adolf Hitler, "At least he felt he was living the life of an artist" (12). Soon after in 1907 his mother died of cancer and

unlike his father's death, Adolf was affected greatly by his mother's death. He was said to always have carried a picture of his mother with him all the time. Now receiving his father's civil service pension he had no reason to seek a job.

Unexpectedly due to his youth, Adolf Hitler also had an extensive military career that he originally did not plan for. In 1909, after a few years of just relaxing a just doing as he pleased he was supposed to register for military service but he refused because he hated Austria and would not serve on their military. Soon after he was caught and put through the medical test for the army but he was rejected for being too weak and according to the doctors unable to bear arms. Enraged by their judgment Adolf then went to join the German army and World War 1 gave him the opportunity to do so. This was a great opportunity for Adolf because due to the great demand for soldiers they would overlook his medical tests giving him the opportunity to redeem himself.

Hitler's exact words were "I was overcome with impetuous enthusiasm, and falling on my knees, wholeheartedly thanked Heaven that I had been granted the happiness to live live at this time" as stated by Jerome Bruner (1). Hitler really enjoyed being in the military because it was the first time that he was part of a group that was fighting for a common purpose. He showed tremendous courage and boldness throughout his military career. He was a message-runner that always came through for the German army. Even through the most dangerous conditions Hitler would always managed to get the message through to its recipient. He received many prestigious awards during the First World War, one of which include the Iron Cross medal. Unfortunately

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