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Adolf Hitler

1889 – 1945 Austrian-German Fuhrer and Chancellor of Nazi Germany

Dictator of Nazi Germany whose regime waged World War II and perpetrated the Holocaust.

Religion
Baptized and confirmed Catholic; publicly invoked 'positive Christianity' and divine Providence for political ends while privately holding Christianity in contempt, calling it in the recorded Table Talk a weakness unsuited to Germans. He expected the churches to wither over time and was hostile to institutional Christianity though wary of open confrontation during wartime.
Affiliations
Founder-leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP). Contrary to popular legend he was not a member of the Thule Society and, per Albert Speer, dismissed the occult mysticism of Himmler and Rosenberg. The regime's 'positive Christianity' plank was a vague political formula, not a personal creed.

Hitler led the Nazi Party to power in 1933 and built a totalitarian, racist state that started World War II and murdered six million Jews and millions of others in the Holocaust. His public religiosity was largely tactical; historians document a private hostility to Christianity alongside a fervent, quasi-mystical belief in his own destiny and in a nature-based providence. He committed suicide in his Berlin bunker in April 1945 as the Reich collapsed.

Connections

  • associate of Albert Speer — Enjoyed unusual personal closeness as Hitler's architect.
  • associate of Alfred Rosenberg — Supplied ideology though Hitler privately mocked his mysticism.
  • ally of Ante Pavelic — His puppet state depended on Nazi Germany.
  • student of Baldur von Schirach — Cultivated a personal devotion to Hitler among German youth.
  • ally of Benito Mussolini — Axis partner whose alliance drew Italy into the war.
  • mentor of Dietrich Eckart — Early ideological mentor and patron in Munich.
  • mentor of Dietrich Eckart — Early mentor and financier who shaped his ideology in Munich.
  • rival of Engelbert Dollfuss — Banned the Nazis and was murdered in their coup attempt.
  • associate of Ernst Rohm — Early ally later killed on Hitler's order in 1934.
  • ally of Ferenc Szalasi — Put in power by Germany after Hungary tried to quit the war.
  • ally of Francisco Franco — Received German aid in the Civil War but avoided joining the Axis war.
  • associate of Hans Frank — Served as Hitler's personal lawyer and then Polish overlord.
  • associate of Heinrich Himmler — Gave Himmler control of the SS and police apparatus that ran the camps.
  • associate of Heinrich Himmler — Owed his vast police power directly to Hitler's trust.
  • successor of Hermann Goring — Long designated heir until Goring's 1945 fall from favor.
  • successor of Hermann Goring — Named heir apparent until his 1945 attempt to take power enraged Hitler.
  • ally of Ion Antonescu — One of Hitler's most committed eastern-front allies.
  • associate of Joachim von Ribbentrop — Executed Hitler's foreign policy, including the Soviet pact.
  • associate of Joseph Goebbels — Devoted acolyte who followed him into suicide.
  • associate of Joseph Goebbels — Propaganda minister and one of his most loyal followers to the end.
  • associate of Julius Streicher — An early loyalist Hitler shielded despite scandals.
  • successor of Karl Donitz — Named head of state in Hitler's final testament.
  • associate of Leon Degrelle — An admirer Hitler reportedly praised as an ideal son.
  • associate of Martin Bormann — Indispensable secretary who guarded access to the Fuhrer.
  • associate of Oswald Mosley — Admired the German regime and married at Goebbels's home with Hitler present.
  • associate of Robert Ley — A loyal if unstable functionary in the party hierarchy.
  • associate of Rudolf Hess — Deputy who transcribed Mein Kampf during their shared imprisonment.
  • associate of Rudolf Hess — Transcribed Mein Kampf and served as his deputy.
  • ally of Vidkun Quisling — Ruled Norway as a German-backed puppet.
  • associate of Wilhelm Frick — Provided the legal scaffolding for the dictatorship.

In the timeline

Wikipedia