Hitler's Austrian-Hungarian Roots: Exploring His Early Years

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary, in 1889. He moved to Germany in 1913, possibly to avoid conscription into the Austrian army, and enlisted in the German army at the outbreak of World War I. Hitler's hatred of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and monarchy was influenced by pan-German nationalism from an early age. He despised the empire's multiculturalism and the fact that it allowed non-German ethnic groups to have a prominent place within it. Hitler's adoration of his native Linz and Vienna was for their status as German cities, rather than Austrian cities.

Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, then part of Austria-Hungary, in 1889

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, then part of Austria-Hungary, in 1889. At the time, Austria-Hungary was a multi-ethnic empire, and Hitler's birthplace was a small town near the German border. Hitler's family moved to Germany when he was three years old, but they returned to Austria in 1894, settling in Leonding.

Hitler grew up to despise the multiculturalism of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Habsburg monarchy's policies, which allowed non-German ethnic groups to hold prominent positions within the empire. He was also influenced by pan-German nationalism from a young age, which only added to his hatred of the empire. Hitler's adoration for his native Linz and Vienna was for these cities' German identity, rather than their association with Austria.

Hitler's disdain for the empire was so intense that he avoided conscription into the Austro-Hungarian military by moving to Munich in 1913. He was eventually arrested for draft evasion in 1914 but was deemed unfit for service. When World War I broke out, Hitler volunteered for the German Army, fighting in several key battles and earning multiple honours for his bravery and service.

After the war, Hitler remained in the army and worked as an intelligence agent, monitoring the activities of the German Workers' Party (which would later become the Nazi Party). He soon became inspired by the party's nationalistic and anti-Semitic message and joined it in 1919. The rest, as they say, is history.

Hitler hated the Austro-Hungarian empire and monarchy

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn in Austria-Hungary and was raised near Linz. He lived in Vienna in the first decade of the 1900s before moving to Germany in 1913. Hitler was influenced by pan-German nationalism from a very early age, partly under the tutelage of his teacher Leopold Poetsch.

Hitler's hatred for the Habsburgs was also fuelled by their policies of tolerance and racial and religious equality. He despised the fact that Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Habsburg throne, had married a Czech woman, Sophie Chotek, who was of lower social status than him. Because the marriage was morganatic, their children were not allowed to be considered Habsburgs and were cast as outsiders. Hitler saw Franz Ferdinand as wanting to marginalise and destroy German Austria and envisioned a superior race without any mixing with other nationalities.

Hitler's move to Munich was in part an effort to dodge the Austro-Hungarian military draft, for which he was arrested in 1914, but was ultimately judged unfit for service. It was basically dumb luck that he wasn't deported. As it happened, he remained in Germany and then enlisted in the German army upon the outbreak of World War I, winning the Iron Cross.

Hitler's hatred of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and monarchy was a catalyst for his rise to power and led directly to World War II and the Holocaust. When Germany seized Austria in 1938, the children of Franz Ferdinand and Sophie, Maximilian and Ernst, were the first two Austrians arrested by the Gestapo, deported to Germany, and sent to Dachau concentration camp.

Hitler moved to Munich to dodge the Austro-Hungarian military draft

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn in Austria-Hungary and raised near Linz. He lived in Vienna in the first decade of the 1900s before moving to Germany in 1913. Hitler's move to Munich was, in part, an effort to dodge the Austro-Hungarian military draft. He was arrested in 1914 for this but ultimately judged unfit for service.

Hitler despised the Austro-Hungarian army because of its multi-ethnic character. He detested Slavs and Jews and wasn't fond of Hungarians, Italians, or Romanians, all of whom were part of the armed forces of the patchwork empire. Hitler embraced the radical "Pan-German" ideology espoused by anti-Semitic demagogues like Georg Ritter von Schönerer, who called for the German-speaking part of Austria to secede and join the German Reich of Wilhelm II. Hitler had no desire to serve the Habsburg monarchy and considered the German state to be the true legitimate representation of the German Austrians, not the Habsburg Empire.

Hitler's teacher Leopold Poetsch also influenced him with pan-German nationalism from a very early age. Hitler's adoration of his native Linz, as well as Vienna, would have been as German cities that happened to be in a state called Austria, not as Austrian cities. Hitler felt that having Austria effectively detached from Germany and united with people he considered inferior was poisonous to the German people as a whole, and he blamed the Habsburgs for this. He also felt that the empire was decaying because of the influence of non-Germans, which weakened the German people still there.

Hitler was arrested in 1914 for draft dodging but was deemed unfit for service

On January 18, 1914, a German police detective arrested 24-year-old Adolf Hitler, an Austrian artist, for dodging the Austrian draft. Hitler had fled the Hapsburg realm in May 1913 to avoid conscription. Germany and Austria-Hungary had an agreement to repatriate draft dodgers, so Hitler was arrested and taken to the Austrian consulate, where he was ordered to report to his hometown of Linz, Austria, for a fitness exam.

Hitler was determined to avoid the tedium of military drill and barracks life at all costs. He wrote a persuasive letter to Austrian officials, pleading poverty and ignorance of his obligation to register for military service. However, this was all a lie. Hitler was not poor, having inherited money from both his parents and an aunt. He chose to live in a shabby apartment because he was cheap and didn't want to waste money on a steady job. He also knew he was required to register for conscription; it would have been impossible not to know.

Hitler's real reason for wanting to avoid conscription was his hatred of the multiethnic character of the Hapsburg army. He despised Slavs and Jews and was not fond of Hungarians, Italians, or Romanians, all of whom served in the armed forces of the patchwork empire. Hitler embraced the radical "Pan-German" ideology espoused by anti-Semitic demagogues like Georg Ritter von Schönerer, who advocated for the German-speaking part of Austria to secede and join the German Reich.

In February 1914, Hitler was judged unfit for military service due to his gaunt physique, which was likely a result of his previous period of poverty in Vienna. Thus, he was free to return to his old, irregular habits of painting Munich street scenes, sketching plans for buildings, reading secondhand newspapers in cafes, daydreaming, and reading late into the night.

After the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Hitler voluntarily enlisted in the Bavarian Army. He served as a dispatch runner on the Western Front in France and Belgium, spending much of his time at regimental headquarters in Fournes-en-Weppes, well behind the front lines. He was decorated for bravery and received the Iron Cross, Second Class, in 1914.

Hitler's adoration for Linz and Vienna was as German cities, not Austrian cities

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn in Austria-Hungary and was raised near Linz. He lived in Vienna in the first decade of the 1900s before moving to Germany in 1913. Hitler's adoration for Linz and Vienna was as German cities, not Austrian cities. He despised the Austro-Hungarian Empire and its monarchy, and was influenced by pan-German nationalism from a young age. Hitler's teacher Leopold Poetsch also played a role in shaping his views. Hitler despised the multiculturalism of the Habsburg monarchy and its rule over an ethnically diverse empire. He felt that Austria's detachment from Germany and unification with people he considered inferior was poisonous to the German people. Hitler also believed that the empire was decaying due to the influence of non-Germans.

Hitler's adoration for Linz and Vienna as German cities is further reflected in his plans for Linz. He envisioned Linz as a future cultural capital of Nazi Germany and wanted to overshadow Vienna, a city he felt considerable distaste for due to his own failure to gain admission to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. Hitler planned to turn Linz into an industrial powerhouse, a hub of trade, and one of the most beautiful cities on the Danube River. He intended to make the city more beautiful than Budapest and envisioned a cultural district anchored by the Führermuseum, a museum that would hold a selection of art bought, confiscated, or stolen by the Nazis from across Europe during World War II. Hitler's plans for Linz included a new City Hall, Nazi Party headquarters, a "Gau forum", a new railway station, a stadium, a community hall, a technical university, a planetarium, a suspension bridge, and two new towers, one of which would house a mausoleum for his parents.

Hitler's affection for Linz is also evident in his establishment of the Bruckner Symphony Orchestra, which began presenting concerts in 1943. Additionally, he considered Linz to be his hometown until the end of his life.

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