Hitler's Austrian Roots: What's The Truth?

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, in 1889. He was the son of a local customs official and his much younger third wife. Hitler's family moved to Germany when he was three, and he returned to Austria in 1894, settling in Leonding. In 1898, the family moved to Linz, the capital of Upper Austria, where Hitler wanted to pursue a career in the visual arts. After his father's death, Hitler persuaded his mother to let him pursue his dream of becoming an artist. Hitler moved to Vienna in 1907, where he lived until 1913. He then moved to Munich, Germany, to avoid arrest for evading his military service obligation to Habsburg Austria.

Hitler considered himself ethnically German, and his fascination with German nationalism was influenced by his favourite teacher, who was part of the underground Nazi SS, and the books he read during his early adulthood in Vienna. Hitler's nationalism was not limited to Germany and Austria; he believed that all ethnic Germans should live under one German state.

Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, on 20 April 1889. The town is located in northern Austria, right on the border with Germany. Hitler's father, Alois, was a customs official who had been posted to Braunau am Inn for work. Hitler's family rented rooms in a 17th-century former inn, where he was born.

Hitler only lived in the house for a few weeks before his family moved to another address in Braunau am Inn. They left the town for good when Hitler was three years old. However, he briefly returned to Braunau in 1938 after he annexed Austria to Nazi Germany.

Hitler's birthplace continues to attract neo-Nazi sympathisers, and the Austrian government has gone to great lengths to prevent misuse of the building. For many years, the Austrian interior ministry rented the house to avoid its association with neo-Nazism.

He was raised in Linz, Austria

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, in 1889. His family moved to Linz, Austria, in 1898, when he was nine years old. Hitler's father, Alois, was a mid-level customs official, and the family moved frequently during Hitler's childhood.

Hitler wanted to pursue a career in the visual arts, but his father wanted him to enter the civil service. Hitler and his father fought bitterly over this, and their relationship was strained. Hitler's relationship with his mother, Klara, was much closer. She supported his artistic ambitions and allowed him to pursue his dream of becoming an artist after her husband's death in 1903.

Hitler's time in Linz was marked by conflict with his father and teachers. He was a poor student, and his father's attempts to discipline him were unsuccessful. Hitler later dramatised an episode from this period, depicting a visit to a customs office with his father as an event that gave rise to an "unforgiving antagonism" between them.

Hitler's time in Linz also coincided with the development of his German nationalist ideas. He expressed loyalty only to Germany, despising the rule of the ethnically diverse Habsburg monarchy. Hitler and his friends used the greeting "Heil" and sang the "Deutschlandlied" instead of the Austrian Imperial anthem.

Hitler left Linz in 1907, two years after his mother's death, and moved to Vienna, where he hoped to enrol in art school. However, he was rejected for lack of talent. He lived in Vienna until 1913, when he moved to Munich to avoid being drafted into the Austrian army.

He lived in Vienna, Austria, from 1908 to 1913

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, in 1889. He lived in Vienna, Austria, from 1908 to 1913.

Hitler moved to Vienna after his mother's death in 1907, hoping to enrol at the Vienna Academy of the Arts. However, he was rejected due to a lack of talent. In Vienna, Hitler lived in homeless shelters and painted watercolours of the city's sights to earn money.

During his time in Vienna, Hitler was exposed to racist rhetoric and anti-Semitic literature, which was easily accessible in the city. Vienna's mayor, Karl Lueger, promoted anti-Semitism, and Hitler was also influenced by the German racist nationalism propagated by the Upper Austrian Pan-German politician Georg von Schönerer. Hitler's time in Vienna coincided with a period of ethnic conflict, as members of different populations of the Austrian Empire (Czechs, Poles, Croats, and Hungarians) migrated to the rapidly growing capital.

Despite his exposure to anti-Semitism in Vienna, Hitler also had personal and business relationships with Jews in the city. He was, at times, dependent on Jews for his living, as Jewish art dealers helped him sell his paintings. It was not until after World War I that Hitler adopted an "anti-Semitic" ideology.

In 1913, Hitler moved to Munich, Germany, to avoid arrest for evading his military service obligation in Austria.

He was an Austrian citizen and served in the German Army during World War I

Hitler's Citizenship and Military Service:

Yes, Adolf Hitler was indeed an Austrian citizen by birth. He was born in Braunau am Inn, a small town in Austria, very close to the German border, on April 20, 1889. At the time, this region was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and so he was automatically a citizen of this empire. Hitler's parents, Alois and Klara Hitler, were also Austrian citizens, and his father worked as a customs official, a role that often required the family to move. Despite his Austrian citizenship, Hitler identified strongly with Germany and considered himself a German. This was due in part to his family's ethnic German heritage and the fact that the Austro-Hungarian Empire included a significant German-speaking population.

As a young man, Hitler moved to Vienna, the capital of Austria, in 1907, where he hoped to study art. However, he failed to gain entry to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and spent the following years in poverty, living in a men's shelter and selling his paintings. During this time in Vienna, Hitler developed a strong German nationalist ideology and a deep hatred for Marxism, both of which would later become central tenets of his political beliefs.

With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Hitler, despite his Austrian citizenship, volunteered to serve in the German Army (the Imperial German Army or the Deutsches Kaiserreich). This was a direct result of his passionate nationalism and his desire to fight for the country with which he most strongly identified. He served throughout the war, was wounded, and was decorated for bravery, receiving the Iron Cross, First Class, an honor rarely given to a corporal.

Hitler's military service and the experiences of the war had a profound impact on his life and future actions. He later wrote about his time in the German Army with great fondness, and it was during these years that he developed a strong belief in the superiority of the German nation and the need for Germany to dominate Europe. His service also connected him with a network of other nationalist soldiers and introduced him to the political potential of charismatic leadership and mass mobilization.

So, while Hitler was born and raised in Austria, his strong German nationalist sentiments led him to identify as German and fight for Germany during World War I. This period of his life was instrumental in shaping his future ideology and political ambitions, which would eventually lead to his rise to power in Germany and the horrors of World War II.

He annexed Austria to Nazi Germany in 1938

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, in 1889. He lived in Austria until 1913, when he moved to Germany. Hitler was thus Austrian by birth, but he considered himself German—an ethnic German who just happened to be born in the Austrian Empire rather than the German Empire. Both were dominated by ethnic Germans, but the Austrian Empire also included other nationalities.

Hitler's goal was to unite all ethnic Germans under one German state. This idea, known as Anschluss (German for "joining" or "connection"), gained support after World War I, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell and Austria was stripped of its imperial land. Many believed that Austria, now lacking economic viability, should unite with Germany.

Hitler shared this belief. In his autobiography and political manifesto, Mein Kampf, he wrote that the German Reich had a single task: "incorporating the ten million German-Austrians in the Empire and dethroning the Habsburgs, the most miserable dynasty ever ruling." He also stated that he would create a union between his birth country, Austria, and Germany by any means possible.

Hitler rose to power in Germany in 1933. In early 1938, Austrian Nazis conspired to seize the Austrian government and unite their nation with Nazi Germany. Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg learned of the plot and met with Hitler, hoping to reassert his country's independence. However, Hitler bullied Schuschnigg into naming several top Austrian Nazis to his cabinet.

On March 9, Schuschnigg called a national vote to resolve the question of Anschluss once and for all. Before the vote could take place, however, Schuschnigg gave in to pressure from Hitler and resigned on March 11. The next day, March 12, Hitler accompanied German troops into Austria, where they were greeted by enthusiastic crowds. Hitler appointed a new Nazi government, and on March 13, the Anschluss was proclaimed.

Austria existed as a federal state of Germany until the end of World War II, when the Allied powers declared the Anschluss void and reestablished an independent Austria.

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