Adolf Hitler
Führer of Nazi Germany · 1889–1945
Hitler led the Nazi Party and ruled Germany as dictator from 1933 to 1945. He started the Second World War in Europe and directed the Holocaust, the systematic murder of six million Jews and millions of others.
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Estimated from their documented words and actions. A simplification, not a verdict.
He abolished the German states' autonomy through Gleichschaltung and centralised all power in Berlin.
He suspended civil liberties, banned all other parties and ruled as Führer by decree.
He created the Gestapo and concentration camps and imprisoned or killed political opponents.
He rejected international bodies, withdrew Germany from the League of Nations and pursued extreme nationalism.
He rearmed Germany in breach of Versailles and launched wars of conquest across Europe.
He enforced racial laws that stripped Jews of citizenship and pursued the genocide of Jews, Roma and others.
He kept private property and business but subordinated it to state goals and seized Jewish property.
His regime directed the economy through the Four Year Plan, rearmament and price controls.
He sought autarky and "living space" to make Germany self-sufficient in food and raw materials.
He invoked "Positive Christianity" in public but sought to subordinate the churches and persecuted dissenting clergy.
He opposed feminism, modern art and liberal values and promoted a racial and traditional family order.
He invested in rockets, jets and motorways while promoting "blood and soil" agrarian ideals.