There are 150,000 people, brought here through the sheer will
of a single man. Together under a single banner. United by the same salute. Ready to follow him even into war, into madness, their guide, their Führer. Few names resonate as strongly
in contemporary history as that of Adolf Hitler. Few men remain associated
with such a feeling of horror and hatred in our collective memory. Our wish and our will is for this Reich
to last one thousand years. We can be joyful because
that future entirely belongs to us. Hail victory! His nationalistic and fanatic speeches
galvanized an entire people, plunging them into the deadliest conflict
of the 20th century: the Second World War. Five years of war. More than 60 million dead. The entire world was transformed. And the cataclysm marked generations. Seventy years after his death,
the history of the Nazi leader still contains grey areas. How did a man who came from nowhere
reach the pinnacle of power and commit the most atrocious war crimes
and the worst crimes against humanity ever committed? This is the story
we're about to tell. How is it possible to imagine that
this young-baby-faced boy will one day
be responsible for such utter horror? Initially, he was meant to have
an unremarkable life, the most anonymous existence possible. The boy, who would later
be called the Führer, was born in the rural province
of Linz, Austria, in April of 1889. He had an uneventful adolescence. As a young boy, he was no different
from any of his young friends, neither top of his class nor an actual dance. His teacher knew he was intelligent, but he was also lazy
and above all, extremely undisciplined. Adolf Hitler
may have been uninterested in school, but he did have a passion. He spent all his free time
in his bedroom drawing. It was his only pass time. Indeed, drawing soon became far more
than a mere childhood hobby. He had a natural talent, his entire family, none of whom
had any education in terms of art raved about his drawings
and his watercolors. And at that young age,
just 11 or 12 he decided
that he would become a painter. This artistic calling did not meet
with universal approval at home because his father, Alois,
had already planned his son's future. Adolf would, like him,
become a civil servant. His father dreamed
of making Adolf a civil servant in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and therefore told him
it was out of the question. And so there was yelling,
there were tears and perhaps even blows. His father was violent, drank too much
and then had angry outbursts. But when he was just 13, his father died suddenly
of a heart attack. Adolf then realized that nothing stood
in the way of his chosen path. He would become an artist. The year was 1907. Hitler was just 18 years old. He left home and his province of Linz
in northern Austria. His goal,
the capital, Vienna, 200 kilometers away. At the time, the city was
a major European cultural capital, a rival of Paris, and an essential place for artists
and intellectuals at the turn of the century. Convinced of his talent, Hitler believed that he could finally
make it as an artist. And the best way
was via the Academy of Fine Arts. To gain admission to this institution, students had to take
an extremely selective exam. But Adolf Hitler wasn't worried. For him, there wasn't a shadow of a doubt. The entrance exam would be nothing more
than the formality. This is someone who believed
in natural distinction, in genius, in exceptional ability. Throughout Hitler's entire life,
and this is true of the art school exam, he demonstrated
a strong and real self-confidence. He was convinced that he would succeed, and be accepted
into the Academy of Fine Arts. Signed Adolf Hitler. Here are the canvases
he painted at the time. While they demonstrate a certain talent,
careful work, they're not particularly original. In any case, that was the opinion
of the Academy of Fine Arts. The professor's considered
his work inadequate, and he failed. When the jury's verdict came in, Hitler felt as if
he'd been stabbed in the back. Adolf Hitler had clearly
not worked hard enough, he just strolled in, unconcerned, but he was only fairly talented
at drawing, nothing more. In his book "Mein Kampf",
written years later, he described this day as one
of the worst moments of his life. "I was so convinced of my success
that the announcement of my failure came like a bolt from the blue". He was not expecting this at all,
and he was crushed. Adolf Hitler did not accept this failure,
especially as he was convinced that if he failed
it was not because of a lack of talent, but because the jury was wrong. He felt frustrated
and angry at the institution. This failure ushered in the darkest years
in Hitler's life. He went into a tailspin,
a downward spiral. This is a little known episode
in his history, and yet it was during this period
that his visceral hatred for others would take root and grow. Although he was refused
by the Academy of Fine Arts, Adolf Hitler decided to stay in Vienna. He spent his days
hidden away in his attic room in this building in the city center. He had no desire to work either as a civil servant
or as an employee somewhere. All this seemed less than what he deserved
because he viewed himself as a great artist. The young man
gradually used up all his savings. Soon he was penniless without enough money
to even pay his rent. He was forced to take refuge in shelters
and sometimes lived on the street, even sleeping on public benches
some nights. Hitler was 20 years old and a vagrant. To earn a little money,
he painted landscapes that he sold to tourists. He sold his small cards,
his small paintings whenever he could. He was not eating very much
because they didn't bring in much income. His existence was totally marginal. This period of homelessness
would last several years, years during which Hitler was intensely
bitter as he was convinced that if he had fallen this low,
it could not have been his fault. Someone or something
else had to be responsible. And Hitler had identified those enemies
who wanted to hurt him, those he blamed for his failure. They have already made
scapegoats at the time. In 1920s, in Austria, some of the press was blaming
all the problems in society on a single category of the population, the Jews. The anti-Semitism was open
and unambiguous, as illustrated in "Deutches Volksblatt", the German people's newspaper with one of the largest print
runs in Vienna. In this article,
the daily newspaper discusses "the economic degradations
for which the Jews are responsible". They are compared to a disease
that was rotting the Austrian society. "The Jewish element
is a harmful foreign body that must be removed so that the state
and the people remain in good health". Another article launched an appeal
to anti-Semitic German readers. In the middle of elections in Vienna,
the Jews were portrayed as the adversary to beat. "The German electorate must not follow
the electoral slogan of jewery". The jews were condemned, repudiated,
as the ultimate anti-nationals. In other words,
people who have neither home nor hearth, neither religion nor law,
and who therefore pose a threat. Hitler regularly read
this anti-Semitic press and turned to even more radical reading. One of his favorites
was a small far right publication, "Ostara", which was overtly explicit
in its hatred of Jews. He accrudely characterized
and threatened by a German knight. Ideas that resonated
with the young Adolf Hitler. This press provided him
with the reasons for his downfall. At the time, Hitler saw himself
as a social outcast. And reading all of this literature,
reading all of this press, seeing that positions were taken
by people like the Jews, who shouldn't have the right to them. This fueled his social resentment. Hitler was 24 at the time,
and his life was a failure. But an outside event
would change everything. An event that would transform his destiny. The First World War
broke out during the summer of 1914. The Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany
against France, England and Russia. Hitler was Austrian,
but joined on the side of the Germans because it was the German people
he wanted to defend. And in this conflict
of unspeakable violence, he would find a new meaning for his life. In this photograph,
he is standing nearly unrecognizable next to his bunk mates,
a long mustache across his gaunt face. Within the Army, the young man
discovered a supportive environment. This was nearly a revelation for him. At the beginning of the First World War,
he is a young man without a family. Over weeks and months,
he finds a new place to fit in. For the first time
since the death of his mother, young Hitler again has a home. Soldier Hitler was a courier responsible
for delivering messages between the command posts
behind the front. And the boy who had only ever been
a mediocre student and a failed painter became a model soldier,
zealous and obedient. For the first time in his life,
Adolf Hitler even earned recognition. The army decorated him
with the Iron Cross, a high military award. This would be one
of the proudest achievements of his life. And when he became Führer years later,
he would always wear it. This was something important
for him personally. It was his first diploma,
his first distinction. The young man
had finally found his place in the army. The only problem was that
on November the 11th, 1918, Germany signed the armistice. The war was over. For Adolf Hitler, this was a tragedy as it meant starting from scratch
all over again, a return to his previous life,
penniless, with no family and no home. He had no desire to leave the army, this was the only place
where he had been able to live somewhat comfortably
since his childhood, since he had left his home. If he were demobilized,
he would end up starving, painting and trying to sell them. So he tried everything
he could to remain in the army. The young man
would receive valuable support from a man who took him under his wing. This man was Karl Mayr. You've probably never heard
his name or seen his face, but he would play a crucial role
in Adolf Hitler's life. He was the one who enabled the young man
to lay the foundations for what would soon
become the Nazi ideology. Karl Mayr can be credited
with creating Hitler. He served as a transitional element,
a stepping-stone that enabled him to find the ability
that would make him the führer, the guide. Karl Mayr was an important man
in the army. He was head of his regiment's
intelligence services. At the end of the war, he was facing
a rising threat among his troops. Far left militants were among the soldiers
returning from the front, and Mayr feared
that their ideas would spread. The Army leadership was worried
that these people would be taken back into civilian life, left wing ideas, left wing mentalities. They had seen how the Bolsheviks
had successfully taken the army. And they were concerned
that this could easily happen at home. Mayr wanted to prevent
these extremist movements from contaminating the army at all costs. And for this,
he needed reliable, loyal men who would keep watch over the black sheep. He therefore recruited Adolf Hitler,
who was willing to do anything to remain in the army. He began as a lowly informant
who told his commander which soldiers were trustworthy, or not. He denounced friends,
and at the same time he probably felt
that he was being very patriotic. He would help the army
eliminate its unsavory elements. The young soldier had other qualities
that Mayr viewed as extremely useful. He was a virulent patriot
and had an unmatched gift of the gab. He was someone who spoke
all the time, with a quasi-non-stop verbal incontinence; whenever he could,
he would harangue people, makes speeches. And indeed, Mayr and the others realized
that he had a gift, different from other people,
for speaking in public, particularly a wide public. Hitler had everything
to become a good protagonist, but he lacked education and culture. So Mayr sent him to the University
of Munich to take classes. It was here that Hitler learned
how to structure his thought processes. He took classes in history and politics. He found some of these lectures
particularly interesting because in these amphitheaters
at the time, some of the economics classes
were based on a radical anti-Semitism. Financial capitalism was allegedly created
by the Jews with the goal of carving up the productive forces
of different countries. This was a revelation for Hitler. He adopted it completely
while bending it to his own anti-Semitism, an anti-Semitism that was completely mad,
obsessional, radical and new. Hatred for Jews
became the defining element of Hitler's entire philosophy. He would express it violently
and crudely in a 1919 letter. Here is this letter. Four pages handwritten by Hitler himself
and sent to a soldier, Adolf Gemlich, in response to a request
about the Jewish question. This is what Hitler wrote. He stated that the Jews
are a foreign race, which he compared to
"a radical tuberculosis of the nations". Farther on, he stated that he supported
an "anti-Semitism based on reason that must lead
to systematic legal combatting and elimination
of the privileges of the Jews". The letter then contains
a barely veiled threat. "The ultimate objective must be
the irrevocable removal of the Jews". This is the beginning
of an anti-Semitic political theory that already clearly promoted the goal
of violently removing the Jews from German society. His meant separating the German wheat
from the Jewish chaff, splitting these two elements
and pushing them apart; there is already the idea of exile,
of getting rid of them. Hitler was just 30 years old, and this was his first political act, a text that laid the foundations
for his absolute anti-Semitism. He may still have been
a mere non-commissioned officer sharing his ideas in military circles,
but Hitler would not waste any time spreading his ideology,
far beyond the confines of the army. Everything would shift
during a secret mission. The date was September the 12th, 1919,
the place, Munich. Hitler was sitting at a table
in a bar downtown, but he was not any ordinary customer. The military intelligence services
had tasked him with spying on a far right wing group
that had set up its headquarters here. This was the DAP,
an ultra radical German Worker's Party with some 50 members. Adolf Hitler's mission
required him to remain incognito, but the event did not unfold as planned. A sentence was uttered
that infuriated him. While the party members were debating,
one of them promoted the idea of an independent Bavaria
that would secede from Germany. For Hitler stung by these words,
this was unthinkable and he couldn't sit still. He climbed on the table, began to speak and gave an utterly fanatic speech denouncing Bavarian separatism. Hitler defended the Greater Germany
for which he had fought, and he was so fervent,
demonstrated such conviction that the entire audience was captivated. He realises that he's got a talent
which he hadn't really realised the force. All at once, I can speak means that people
are now listening to all I've got to say. And suddenly it's like paradise for him. He is surrounded by people
who think he is great, who accept him and who listen to him. That evening of September the 12th, 1999,
marked a turning point in Adolf Hitler's life. This is, in a way,
really the second moment that Hitler's political career starts. Adolf Hitler had found his path. He would be a politician. He joined the DAP as its 55th member. The young activists
did not intend to stop there. His ambition was to climb to the very top. Two years later,
an evening in February, 1921 in Munich. The Circus Krone, one of the city's
largest entertainment venues, was packed. Six thousand people
had come to listen to Adolf Hitler. In just a few months,
the little informer from the bar had become the star spokesman
for the party. His name alone filled venues, supporters
and the merely curious were drawn to his oratory talents
and his pro-labor speeches. He expressed the
suffering of the German people their rage, their anger, their pain;
and this resonated with the public at the time. He managed to generate
profound collective enthusiasm including among people
who had originally come with the intention of heckling him. Adolf Hitler's speeches were like nothing
ever seen before at the time. In the 1920s, this is how politicians
spoke to their public. A haranguing academic tone,
a quavering voice. And now a speech by Adolf Hitler. It was new at the time, no one
had ever seen people speak in this way in Germany in those years. Hitler spoke in a staccato, choppy way. Short sentences which were
very hard hitting, very crude often, in terms of the sentiments
and full of hatred, full of aggression. But the tone of this warrant officer
had meaning and depth at the time. Hitler realized
that he could become far more than the orator
for a small political group in Bavaria. He could galvanize crowds. He could play a leading political role. As an essential member of the DAP,
he took on the leadership of the small party,
and began his immense mission to one day become a national leader. And why not, leader of all Germany. To climb to the heights of power
in the 1920s, Hitler set up an ultra
modern communications strategy. In addition to his talents as a speaker
and his extreme ideas, he also deployed a tool
that few politicians of his time were using, the power of images,
starting with his own appearance. Here at the end of the war in 1918,
he was still sporting a wide mustache, a holdover from the 19th century. Several months later,
he changed his appearance, trimming his mustache to a small brush. It was a modern look for the era. I also think there was his desire
to break with the 19th century. He was very young, and there was the influence of fashion on the youth of Munich. His portraits already show
his slick hairstyle. He would change his look of hair,
but later on. And to ensure that no one forgot his face
to make a strong impression in the 1920s, Hitler
worked with a specialist. His name was Heinrich Hoffman. He was a professional photographer
as well as a committed Nazi. One of the very first members
of Hitler's small party. He offered to become
his official photographer, and Hitler accepted. He let himself be convinced
that there was something to be done and that his image could be stylized. Hitler learned how to use photography
as a communications tool in the Munich studio
of Heinrich Hoffmann at 50 Shelling Strasse. He worked on his gestures and postures
in front of the camera to better capture attention,
better convince his public. He developed dramatic gestures
to hammer home his ideas, theatrical stances to give him
an immediately recognizable style. He was not only a politician,
he was an actor, intensely invested in his role. His trick was to borrow from the theater. He had never trained as an actor.,
but had spent long evenings at the theater and the opera
and he transferred that to politics. Hitler played the boxer
when he wanted to look defiant. He brandished his fist
when he wanted to threaten his enemies. He tried everything. He used to practice in front of a mirror,
but with a photo he could get a better idea. He perfected his performance. And the performance, the physicality
was all part of the influence he wielded. His goal was also to stand out
from the other politicians of his time. This is how one of the presidents of the German Republic,
Field Marshal Hindenburg, spoke in public. He read his speech
without ever taking his eyes off the written page, without any gestures
or the slightest expression of emotion. Hitler, however, was exactly the opposite. Clenched fists to express his anger. <i>but rather than making speeches</i>
<i>about fraternity,</i> <i>we have to reach out to the people,</i>
<i>slowly transcend their prejudices,</i> <i>to help, more and more.</i> His finger pointing downward
to signify the enemy to be destroyed. He underscored each idea
with outrageous gestures, as if he were possessed by his speech. <i>It is not the who give to the poor.</i> <i>but we say to the German people:</i>
<i>help yourself!</i> <i>Rich or poor,</i>
<i>everyone must help</i> <i>everyone must think that there is</i>
<i>someone poorer than me.</i> a<i>nd I want to help this compatriot.</i> This was all so effective
that Hoffman would later transform certain photographs into equally
expressive propaganda posters. Appearance, diction, posture. Hitler left nothing to chance,
and he also applied this approach, which is now called
political marketing to his party. Hitler thought the DAP logo was dull
compared to those of his rivals. All the major parties at the time
had sharp looking logos, three arrows for the socialists,
the black, white and red of the German flag
for the national right wing, the hammer and sickle for the communist. Hitler also wanted a symbol
that would grab people's attention and be better than his rivals,
so he got to work. One night in 1920,
in a bar he used as his headquarters, he gathered together the DAP leaders. Everyone had to contribute ideas
for the party's future logo. Several symbols were studied;
an eight branch star, another with six branches. A sort of rounded cross
and several others. Ideas were flowing
and it was an important meeting. Indeed, at the bottom of the document
was a handwritten statement, "the sacred drawing of the Germans, one of these drawings
should stir us to action". It was signed Adolf Hitler. Among the various drawings,
Hitler set his sights on this one called the swastika. To understand why we have to explore
the mentality of the German far right that had marked him so strongly. It was a world
steeped in Germanic mythology of Dantesque battle
for the survival of a race. The Aryan race
that was apparently threatened by other civilizations. A slew of ultra nationalistic literature
attributed an emblem to this people. A swastika, the symbol
of the presumed superiority of the Nordic white race. The aim was a return
to the origins of Germany, the origins of the Nordic civilization. For Hitler, this design symbolized
the superiority of the Germans over all other people,
particularly the Jews. "This cross represents the Aryan spirit,
not the Jewish spirit. It is the sign of our battle
against the worldwide plague". Hitler wanted to make this emblem
as strong as possible to attract members of other parties. He first aimed for the Communist Party,
which was extremely popular among workers. He therefore adopted the red color
from their flag. But he also had his eye on his rivals
on the far right. So he appropriated the White
of the German Imperial Banner. And thus was created
the Nazi Party trademark. In the same vein, Hitler
renamed his tiny party in a move to cast a wider net. The small German Worker's Party
became the National Socialist Party shortened to Nazi. Hitler tries everything he can
to persuade his fellow members of the German Worker's Party
that somehow German Workers Party doesn't quite work. Something is lacking, but rather he thinks
what really excites people is bringing the idea of the nationalism
and the socialism together. Just one year after stepping
into politics, Hitler had created an image that was universally recognizable,
and his party, with its swastikas, was easily identifiable. All that remained
was to become better known by all Germans. To do so, Hitler
demonstrated a keen sense of theatrics. He created his personal militia,
tough men who were responsible for attracting attention to his party
on the political stage and for impressing the masses. He created a uniform brownshirts for them. In reality, he merely copied
another politician who had already done all these. The Italian fascist leader Mussolini,
who took power in Rome with his black shirted troops. Even the name of his militia
was intended to impress. He called them the SA,
a German abbreviation for "Assault Division". With the SA, Hitler's meetings
were transformed into displays of power. He had this paramilitary force
march in perfect step with a discipline
that left a strong impression. The production was so impressive
that although he was only the head of a small party,
he appeared to be a leading politician. He even managed to make headlines
in German newspapers by using a simple method
which worked nearly every time. Violence. He used every possible pretext. The more spectacular the violence,
the more the press wrote about the Nazis. The Nuremberg Daily Journal reported
that "men wearing swastikas attacked three Jewish people in cars". Another time, the press expressed concern
about "the terror of the swastika". In Munich, "17 young people
were thrown out of a cafe
and beaten with clubs and sticks". The SA went so far as to commit attacks
like this "grenade tossed in the town of Mannheim",
a small town in Bavaria. Publicity was Hitler's oxygen. You could guarantee from the beginning
that when Hitler spoke, there would be fireworks
and verbal fireworks. And sometimes then
there would be these brawls and fights, and so on. And whatever way it made sure
that he got on into the newspapers. Not a single week
went by without news of the Nazis, and Hitler's ultra nationalistic stance
had spread throughout all of Germany. By 1923, his membership
had expanded tenfold. His party had 55,000 members. Hitler felt stronger than ever,
so he decided to use his 800 SA to organize a putsch
and march on the capital, Berlin. On November the 8th, around 7 p.m.
with several hundred armed men, he took hostage members
of the government meeting in a large Munich auditorium. He wanted to seize power by force. Hitler burst in suddenly,
followed by his SA and he fired a shot into the ceiling. He then strode to the podium and began to yell
that the national revolution had broken out. Hitler demanded
that the ministers at the meeting join him to set up a dictatorship
and march on Berlin. But his putschists
had overestimated their power. The army and police opposing them
were better organized and better armed. Battles raged in the streets for two days,
but the Nazis were no match. The putsch attempt was crushed. Hitler was arrested,
charged with high treason and sentenced. His rise seemed to have been cut short,
but in appearance only. He remained convinced
that he would soon be leading Germany. He already had a new strategy in mind. His defining feature was
his unshakeable faith in his political destiny
far beyond anything imaginable. In April 1924, in the Landsberg Prison,
the clicking of a typewriter could be heard coming from a cell
on the upper level. Adolf Hitler had his cellmate
typed up dozens of pages. He had begun a project
that infused him with new energy. He would write a book
summing up his political philosophy and would call it "Mein Kampf"
or "My Struggle". "Mein Kampf" was the underlying structure
of a political platform. Hitler aspired to be the spokesman
for all former soldiers, hence the title "My Struggle". He could have called it "Our Struggle",
but he clearly intended to demonstrate that he was the one
who was prepared to go all the way, who would take on everything in the need
to fight for Germany. Though behind bars, Hitler
never gave up his quest for power. He merely shifted his strategy
as his failed coup d'etat had given him pause for thought. At this point,
he wanted to become a leader legally through the voting process. He wanted to win elections. Hitler's goal with "Mein Kampf"
was to earn recognition for himself as the uncontested leader
of the nationalist right-wing movement. A large book,
a political essay numbering over 600 pages but a monstrous essay
in which he expanded his ultra nationalistic ideology,
the racist theories that he had been putting
together since the 1920s. He particularly stressed
the alleged superiority of the Aryans over the Jews,
blaming the latter for all of Germany's misfortunes. He compared the Jewish religion
to a venereal disease, to syphilis. "The effect of his existence
resembles also that of parasites, where he appears the host people
die out sooner or later". Hitler was explicit in "Mein Kampf"
about his idea that the territory
dominated by Germany must be a territory without Jews. Hitler also promised a domineering Germany His model was the great Germanic empire,
the one that prior to the First World War, covered a large part of Europe. "Our aim: to guarantee the German nation
the territory to which it is entitled on this earth". And this territory was immense
as Hitler wanted all the countries that had people of German origin;
Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland. And in the name of the superiority
of the Aryan race, he even set his sights on Russia. The idea was to explain
why he was fighting and the book ended with the vision
of a new war to conquer this vital space, and from this viewpoint,
to transmit an understanding that the present battle
was only preparation for the war to come. His political philosophy was ready. His book would serve as the basis
for the upcoming election campaigns. Once he was released, Hitler
would resume his conquest of Germany. This time, he would be unstoppable. On December the 20th, 1924, Hitler walked out of prison. To win power through the ballot box,
he wanted to campaign throughout the entire country,
convince everyone to vote for him. But to do so, he needed a lot of money
and his party was broke. They were very poor. One of his liutenants often used to say
that when they wanted to promote a speech intended to transform the world, they even couldn't even buy glue
for the posters. Hitler absolutely had to find money,
a lot of money. And there was only one way he could do so,
acquire support from the wealthiest Germans. At the start of the 1930s,
there were a few extremely rich businessmen in Germany,
notably the tycoons of the steel industry. Coal and steel factory owners. The problem was that for these captains
of industry, Hitler remained an extremist, a man who was clearly
not reassuring for business. November the 2nd, 1927,
in the Thierschstrasse in Munich, Hitler lived here at number 41. On this day, he had a meeting
with one of his first and most loyal supporters,
Hermann Goering. Goering was a highly decorated star
of the First World War, a highly popular fighter pilot in Germany,
and also a committed Nazi. But above all, Goering
was extremely well connected. Drawing on his fame,
he was able to go into business after the war and often socialized
with leading German businessmen. Hitler therefore sent him to acquire their support. Goering had prepared
solid arguments to squeeze money from these men. He promised fabulous contracts
with Hitler's future government, representing millions of marks
for their factories and orders at full capacity. He drew on Hitler's "Mein Kampf",
had it rewritten in black and white that to construct
the greater Germanic Reich, the priority
would be to rearm the country. "We want to recover our weapons",
he wrote. And Goering knew how to be insistent. The first to join our party
will not be forgotten and will have huge contracts on offer because Germany will rearm, etc. Hurry, there won't be enough for everyone. Tempted by the prospect
of large contracts, certain businessmen,
some of the wealthiest, let themselves be persuaded. Fritz Thyssen, for example,
the steel industrialist fell for Goering's charm,
even though he had repeatedly turned Hitler down up to that point. Thyssen put his money on Goering thinking
that everyone may mistrust his party, but if Goering himself was interested,
it was safe to put up money. Thyssen would play a decisive role
in the rise of the Nazi Party. He opened his checkbook generously
at a time when Hitler needed it most. We found a document that places him
in September 1945, during an examination
conducted by the Americans. Thyssen acknowledge
that he had financially supported the Nazis by contributing to the purchase
of the party's headquarters in 1927, the Brown House. Gone the days in the back rooms of bars. Hitler finally had an imposing building,
a comfortable private mansion with light filled rooms. And upstairs, his private office. Thyssen had been generous indeed. "I have to make payments on it myself,
perhaps 200,000 to 280,000 marks", he said. Thyssen did not stop there. He admitted paying 20,000 marks
per year to the Nazis starting in 1932
to cover operating expenses. "I gave him a pretty nice sum,
something like 20,000 marks. This became an annual contribution". Thanks to Goering, Adolf Hitler
had a comfortable budget and could finance
the most megalomaniac election ever seen in Germany. He organized the men's gatherings
in the small town of Nuremberg. He also undertook a tour
throughout all of Germany, and traveled only by airplane. This gave him a major advantage
because he could hold up to three meetings per day
while his rivals could only manage one. He was the first politician to do this,
which actually created a kind of aura of ubiquity around his personality;
he appeared to be almost magical, with an ability
to be everywhere in Germany at any moment. The Nazi leader
even printed propaganda posters with a bombastic slogan,
"Hitler dominates Germany". His meetings had a growing impact,
more and more people attended. The rise of the Nazi party
seemed to be irresistible. And the context
was increasingly favorable for this. In 1929, the Great Depression
struck Germany. It was an unprecedented economic crisis. Unemployment reached record levels. Inflation skyrocketed. The country was on the brink of disaster. For an increasing number of Germans,
Hitler began to offer hope, an alternative
to the traditional old parties, which had not been able
to revive the country. <i>I set myself a single goal:</i> <i>to eliminate</i>
<i>the 30 or so political parties.</i> But why did people believe him,
what made him different from a traditional politician? Because they did not believe the others. He was difficult, he had been in prison
and been rejected, and he seemed to be authentic
and spoke the truth. A slogan at the heart of his meetings
would reach the hearts of German voters. "Germany, wake up". There was an entire production
around the resurrection of Germany. This is what it had to symbolize. Everyime, in the early 1930s, this was one of the campaign
slogans, "Germany, wake up". With this strategy, the Nazi Party scores
went through the roof, election after election. While he ended up with three percent
of the votes in the late 1920s. In a few years, he had earned 18 percent,
than more than 33 percent of the vote. It had become
the leading party in Germany. On January the 30th, 1933,
Hitler achieved his goal. He was named head of government. In 10 years,
The little Bavarian rabble rouser had become the most
powerful man in Germany.
