Adolf Hitler
Introduction

Adolf Hitler was born in Austria on April 20, 1889. From an early age he wanted to be an artist, though he also considered entering the clerical life and becoming a priest (Shirer). His father was a practical man and wanted to see his son enter into government service and eke out a decent living for himself. His father had not had much luck with work, having tried farming and various other activities, and had been required to keep moving his family from place to place. Hitler did not have a practical vision, however. He was moved by a romantic vision of life and, deciding against the applying to the clergy, he insisted on becoming an artist, much to his father’s displeasure. Hitler relied upon his mother for moral support and when his father died in 1903, Hitler’s mother permitted him to leave school and pursue training as an artist in Vienna. His mother’s death in 1907 devastated the young man. He now had no parents and at 18 was without income. He lived in homeless shelters, never giving up his dream to be an artist. He painted watercolors and sketched, and many of these works still survive and show genuine charm. In Vienna, Hitler grew into a great fan of Wagner, commonly seen as the musical soul of contemporary Germany. Wagner infused his operas with epic splendor and romantic grandeur, and this would ultimately inform Hitler in his later passion to lead and transform Germany from a beaten down state following WWI back into a self-sustainable, proud nation in the 1930s. Most of all, however, it was Hitler’s intense nationalism, his fervent love for his country and his hatred for those who, he perceived, were destroying it from within, that compelled him to take action and become the ardent leader that he became. If there is one style of leadership that best applies to Hitler it is the visionary/charismatic leadership style.

Why Hitler Emerged as a Leader: Background

Having no sense of place or purpose in his young adulthood, Hitler found meaning in the armed forces when WWI broke out and Germany found itself fighting for its life. Hitler’s career as an artist had failed to materialize as the young man hoped, but now serving in the war he found a new passion as a soldier. He was awarded the Iron Cross for bravery twice, once in 1914 and once in 1918. He also received the Black Wound Badge in 1918. He was wounded twice, once by an exploding shell at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and once in 1918 when temporarily blinded by mustard gas. It was while recovering in a hospital for the latter that he learned the war had ended and that Germany had surrendered. This news devastated and angered him more than anything in his whole life. He was convinced that Germany had been on the verge of victory against her enemies. He looked back on his time as a soldier as the best time of his life. He was known for his discipline—he never smoked or drank alcohol—and he was always willing to take on dangerous missions that running messages through combat zones. The war shaped Hitler immensely and gave him the confidence in himself that he would draw upon later in his speeches that would animate Germans during the years of the Weimar Republic.

After the war, Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles, which basically crippled Germany and obliged the nation to pay exploitative war reparations to the Allies. It had to give up vast territories of land and its overseas colonies. Millions of Germans were out of work and the hyperinflation of its currency caused poverty unlike anything seen before in the nation. German women turned to prostitution. Families lived homeless and wretched. Berlin became vice capital of the world as Anita Berber became the poster girl of the New Woman of night life cabaret. Germany had gone from a nation with a grand, romantic vision of beauty and majesty as communicated by Wagner to the equivalent of a cheap Berlin whorehouse during the years of the Weimer Republic. Hitler resented the way he felt Germany’s leaders had sold out the people. He resented the fact that the Kaiser had abdicated. He was angry that so many Germans were out of work, penniless and without hope. He, like many other Germans, viewed international Jewry as being at the root of the matter. He viewed the attack by the Allies against Germany as part of an international conspiracy run by Jews. Indeed, just as the Bolshevik revolution in Russia had largely been a Jewish revolution against the Tsarist regime, the revolutions now surging across Eastern Europe and waging in Germany were of the same nature. Everyday Germans were fighting in their streets and cities against revolutionary organizations that sought to take control of Germany at its weakest and most vulnerable point (Paxton). Hitler gave voice to the outrage that many Germans felt. He spoke what they were all thinking and seeing. That is what first made him stand out as a leader and it happened in the following manner.

One of the conditions of the Versailles Treaty was that Germany basically give up its military. While the military did not disband completely, it was dialed back substantially. Hitler remained in the military after the war and was part of a group sent to keep tabs on local organizations, given the radical and revolutionary influences coming into Germany at the time from the East (Degrelle). At...…find a way out of the Great Depression, Hitler was able to lead Germany out of its abysmal state by using innovative ideas, implementing a meritocracy, and improving the morale of Germans by making sure their basic needs were met (Degrelle).

Hitler was above all a nationalist and his love for country motivated him through his whole life. In his youth, he wanted to express this love through art. In his adulthood he expressed his love for country through service in the military and then service in government. Even the whole world admired what he was able to accomplish in so short a time. Germany hosted the Olympic Games in 1936 and Hitler was recognized as the man of the hour, a marvel among men for the way he had transformed Germany from a beaten down dog to a proud, fully functioning independent nation once more.

Hitler was able to get others to follow him precisely because he showed himself as one who would look out for their needs. He implemented worker holidays, made it mandatory that all workers be given vacation time so that they are not overtaxed; he made certain that those who had good ideas were put into positions of authority in business and government; he also acted on the popular anger towards Jews, which most Germans saw as a problem in the country. Hitler closed the Masonic lodges and expelled the Rothschilds and embraced a populist, patriotic message not unlike what is commonly seen among various nationalistic leaders today from Trump in America to various leaders across Europe to Putin in Russia and Xi in China. People followed him because they believed in the message he communicated and the message he communicated was communicated with zeal, passion, and theatrics. Indeed, it may be Hitler’s gift for artistry and theatrics that made his ability to get others to follow so strong. The various symbols, colors and themes of the Third Reich were all his ideas, and they were meant to catch the eye, inspire patriotism, and rouse the spirit (Degrelle). For the most part, they worked to unify Germany. Of course not all Germans bought into what Hitler was selling, but there is always to be expected some resistance to change. Hitler engaged in change management effectively by identifying places of resistance (mainly among Jews, Communists, and liberals) and sought to remove them from positions of influence.

Conclusion

Hitler has gone down in history as one of the most evil men to have ever lived. Yet if one looks at him purely from a leadership standpoint one can see very many qualities of an effective leader: he communicated extraordinarily well, was able to express a vision that inspired people; met the needs of ordinary citizens, and supported a transformation that won favor among many.

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