THE DICTATOR DATING GAME:

Instructions: You will be researching and developing the character of your dictator for the dating game. Your group will have one actor and two or three researchers. The actor will be responsible for playing the dictator as well as writing the introduction for the dictator. The researchers will write responses for the questions (on the next page).

The actor must fill in the following spaces. (be creative)

Introduction to the Dictator: (include birthplace, accomplishments, schooling, special events in his life – pretty much a short biography).

What will you wear as the dictator?

RESEARCHERS: Please fill out the question responses below for your actor.
This should reflect the biography of the dictator: (be creative)

Each answer should be at least two well written complete sentences or more.

1. What is your IDEAL date?

2. Where would you go and WHY?

3. What are your PET PEEVES?

4. What kind of books do YOU like?

5. What are YOUR hobbies?

6. What do you do in your SPARE TIME?

7. What are your favorite methods for CONTROLLING the masses?

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was born in the small Austrian village of Braunau Am Inn just across the border from German Bavaria on April 20, 1889. Adolf Hitler would one day lead a movement that placed supreme importance on a person's family tree, even making it a matter of life and death. However, his own family tree was quite mixed up and would be a lifelong source of embarrassment and concern to him.

His father, Alois, was born in 1837. He was the illegitimate son of Maria Anna Schicklgruber and her unknown mate, which may have been someone from the neighborhood or a poor millworker named Johann Georg Hiedler. It is also remotely possible Adolf Hitler's grandfather was Jewish. Alois had always used the last name of his mother, Schicklgruber, and thus was always called Alois Schicklgruber. After his success in the civil service, his proud uncle from the small farm convinced him to change his last name to match his own, Hiedler, and continue the family name. However, when it came time to write the name down in the record book it was spelled as Hitler. So in 1876, at age 39, Alois Schicklgruber became Alois Hitler.

In 1885, after numerous affairs and two other marriages ended, the widowed Alois Hitler, 48, married the pregnant Klara Pölzl, 24, the granddaughter of uncle Hiedler. Klara Pölzl eventually gave birth to two boys and a girl, all of whom died. On April 20, 1889, her fourth child, Adolf was born healthy and was baptized a Roman Catholic. Hitler's father was then 52 years old. Throughout his early days, Adolf's mother feared losing him as well and lavished affection on him.

In 1896 the Hitler household consisted of Adolf, little brother Edmund, little sister Paula, older half brother Alois Jr., older half sister Angela and two parents who were home all the time. It was a crowded, noisy little farm house which apparently angered Hitler's father. The oldest boy, Alois Jr., 13, bore the brunt of his father's discontent, including harsh words and occasional beatings. A year later, at age 14, young Alois ran away from home, never to see his father again. This put young Adolf, age 7, next in line for the same treatment. Also at this time, the family moved off the farm to the town of Lambach, Austria, halfway between Linz and Salzburg. This was the first of several moves the family would make in the restless retirement of Hitler's father. For young Adolf, the move to Lambach meant an end to farm chores and more time to play. There was an old Catholic Benedictine monastery in the town. The ancient monastery was decorated with carved stones and woodwork that included several swastikas. Adolf attended school there and saw them every day. They had been put there in the 1800's by the ruling Abbot as a pun or play on words. His name essentially sounded like the German word for swastika, Hakenkreuz. Young Hitler did well in the monastery school and also took part in the boys' choir. As a young boy he idolized the priests and for two years seriously considered becoming a priest himself. At age nine, he got into schoolboy mischief. He was caught smoking a cigarette by one of the priests. In describing his boyhood, Hitler later said of himself that he was "an argumentative little ring leader who liked to stay outside and hang around with 'husky' boys."

In 1898, the Hitler family moved once again, to the village of Leonding. They settled into a small house with a garden next to a cemetery. He found school easy and got good grades with little effort. He also discovered he had considerable talent for drawing, especially sketching buildings. He had the ability to look at a building, memorize the architectural details, and accurately reproduce it on paper, entirely from memory. One day, young Hitler went rummaging through his father's book collection and came across several of a military nature, including a picture book on the War of 1870 - 1871 between the Germans and the French. By Hitler's own account, this book became an obsession.

Hitler dreamt of becoming an artist, but his father wouldn't have it. Hitler pleaded to his father to allow him to attend the classical secondary school, but his father wanted his son to follow in his own foot steps and become a civil servant. Hitler failed his first year, later claiming he did so purposefully.

Around this same time, Hitler, an Austrian living very near the German border, became very interested in German Nationalism. Many Austrians living near Germany considered themselves German-Austrians. In January, 1903, Hitler's father died suddenly of a lung hemorrhage, leaving his thirteen year old son as head of the Hitler household. Free of discipline, Hitler's grades continued to plummet and he dropped out of school in 1905, at age 16. After two years of inactivity, He decided to pursue an education in the arts and moved to Vienna. His test drawings for Academy admittance were rejected though and Hitler was bitterly disappointed.

On December 21, Adolf's mother died of natural causes. The death was a shock to Hitler; he no longer had parents. From age 18 to 24 Hitler attempted to make in Artist in Vienna but failed miserably and instead lived on the streets and in shelters. In this time Hitler grew interested in politics. He admired the Social Democrats for their ability to organize demonstrations and propaganda techniques. Like many of the middle class in Vienna and Germany at the time, the mayor of Vienna, Karl Lueger was an anti-semite (prejudiced against Jews). Hitler still had some Jewish friends and he did not openly practice racism but his mind was absorbing the hateful messages.

Hitler left Austria at 24 partly to leave the Austrian empire which he had started to hate and in part to avoid required military service. He found a sense of pride and belonging in the German army during the first World War. Hitler was not a great soldier but was quite stoic; he accepted the meager rations and poor conditions without complaint. There was a strong anti-war sentiment among German civilians which Hitler blamed on the Jews. Hitler won an Iron cross and then became an undercover agent for the army, suppressing any Communist influence. Hitler grew increasingly and vocally anti-semitic which won the attention of his superiors. Hitler's next assigment was speaking to returning German prisoners of war. He warned them of Communism and pacifism and emphasized the evils of the Jews. The soldiers received his propaganda well because they needed someone to blame for all their problems.

In 1919, the German army had Hitler, now age 30, look into an organization called the German Worker's Party. Soon afterwards, he joined and took a central position as head of propaganda. The group attacked Communism and was fiercely anti-semitic. The party grew in number as people increasingly feared a Communist revolution. In 1920, at age 31, Hitler modified a common ancient symbol to form the swastika, or twisted cross, as a symbol for his party. The symbol is today used mostly to show hatred, ignorance and prejudice. Hitler changed the name of his party to the National Socialist German Worker's Party, the German equivalent of which was often shortened to Nazi.

By 1921 there were already over 3000 members with the largest percentage coming from ultra-conservative Munich. Hitler went to Berlin to look for more members but was shocked to hear that there was a political coup within his party back in Munich. Many of the members of the leadership committee of the party considered Hitler overbearing and wanted to strip him of his high position. Hitler quickly countered though. He returned and promptly submitted his resignation on July 11, 1921 knowing the party was nothing without him. Two weeks later Hitler was asked to rejoin the party and given the title Führer of the Nazi Party.

Between 1921 and 1923 Germany experienced horrendous financial troubles that would create an environment very suitable for someone to start a revolution. Germany was presented with a 33 billion dollar bill for the damages it caused during the first World War. Inflation immediately sky-rocketed. Germany asked for payment to be postponed but France refused. In defiance, Germany refused to pay the bill. In response to this, in January of 1923, the French Army occupied the industrial part of Germany known as the Ruhr. By November, 1923, it took four billion marks to buy one U.S. dollar. Germans lost their life savings, groceries cost billions, and hunger riots broke out.

In September of 1923, Germany made a decision that angered the populace who had stood by their government as it defied the French. Germany decided to resume payments. Bitter resentment and unrest swelled among the people, inciting extremist political groups to action and quickly bringing Germany to the brink of chaos. The Nazis in November, 1923 had 55,000 followers and were by far the most organized of the many extremist groups vying for power.

Hitler and the Nazis hatched a plot in which they would kidnap the leaders of the Bavarian government and force them at gunpoint to accept Hitler as their leader. Then, according to their plan, with the aid of famous World War One General Erich Ludendorff, they would win over the German army, proclaim a nationwide revolt and bring down the German democratic government in Berlin. They put this plan into action when they learned there would be a large gathering of businessmen in a Munich beer hall and the guests of honor were to be the Bavarian leaders they wanted to kidnap.

On November 8, 1923, SA troops under the direction of Hermann Göring surrounded the place. At 8:30 p.m. Hitler and his storm troopers burst into the beer hall causing instant panic. Hitler fired a pistol shot into the ceiling. “Silence!” he yelled at the stunned crowd. Hitler and Hermann Göring forced their way to the podium as armed SA men continued to file into the hall. State Commissioner Gustav von Kahr, whose speech had been interrupted by all this, yielded the podium to Hitler. “The National Revolution has begun!” Hitler shouted. “...No one may leave the hall. Unless there is immediate quiet I shall have a machine gun posted in the gallery. The Bavarian and Reich governments have been removed and a provisional national government formed. The barracks of the Reichswehr and police are occupied. The Army and the police are marching on the city under the swastika banner!" None of that was true, but those in the beer hall could not know otherwise. Hitler then ordered the three highest officials of the Bavarian government into a back room. State Commissioner Kahr, along with the head of the state police, Colonel Hans von Seisser, and commander of the German Army in Bavaria, General Otto von Lossow, did as they were told and went into the room where Hitler informed them they were to join him in proclaiming a Nazi revolution and would become part of the new government. But to Hitler's great surprise, his three captives simply glared at him and at first even refused to talk to him. Hitler responded by waving his pistol at them, yelling, “I have four shots in my pistol! Three for you, gentlemen. The last bullet for myself!” The revolution in the back room continued to go poorly for Hitler. Then, on a sudden impulse, Hitler dashed out of the room and went back out to the podium and shouted... “... The government of the November criminals and the Reich President are declared to be removed. A new national government will be named this very day in Munich. A new German National Army will be formed immediately. The task of the provisional German National Government is to organize the march on that sinful Babel, Berlin, and save the German people! Tomorrow will find either a National Government in Germany or us dead!" This led everyone in the beer hall to believe the men in the back room had given in to Hitler and were joining in with the Nazis. There was wild cheering for Hitler.

General Ludendorff now arrived. Hitler knew the three government leaders in the back room would actually listen to him. At Hitler's urging, Ludendorff spoke to the men in the back room and advised them to go along with the Nazi revolution. They reluctantly agreed, then went out to the podium and faced the crowd, showing their support for Hitler and pledging loyalty to the new regime. The crowd in the beer hall roared their approval and sang “Deutschland über Alles.” Hitler was euphoric. Then word came that attempts to take over several military barracks had failed and that German soldiers inside the barracks were holding out against the Nazi storm troopers. Hitler decided to leave the beer hall and go to the scene to personally resolve the problem.

Leaving the beer hall was a fateful error. In his absence the Nazi revolution quickly began to unravel. The three Bavarian government leaders, Kahr, Lossow, and Seisser, slipped out of the beer hall after falsely promising Ludendorff they would remain loyal to Hitler. Meanwhile, Hitler had no luck in getting the German soldiers who were holding out in the barracks to surrender. Having failed at that, he went back to the beer hall. When he arrived back at the beer hall he was aghast to find his revolution fizzling. There were no plans for tomorrow's march on Berlin. Munich wasn't even being occupied. Nothing was happening. In fact, only one building, Army headquarters at the War Ministry had been occupied, by Ernst Röhm and his SA troopers. Elsewhere, rogue bands of Nazi thugs roamed the city of Munich rounding up some political opponents and harassing Jews. In the early morning hours of November 9, State Commissioner Kahr broke his promise to Hitler and Ludendorff and issued a statement blasting Hitler. Kahr also ordered the breakup of the Nazi party and its fighting forces. Gen. Lossow also abandoned Hitler and ordered Army reinforcements into Munich to put Hitler on trial for treason.

The trial of Adolf Hitler for treason was not as detrimental as his enemies had expected. In fact Hitler seized the opportunity to gain footing. When the newspaper reporters asked if Hitler had indeed attempted to overthrow the government, Hitler told them he had and went on to explain why. The judges in his trial were picked by a Nazi sympathizer in the German government. They permitted Hitler to use the trial as a soap box, speaking as long as he wanted to spread his propaganda. Hitler became internationally famous.

He was found guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was given a spacious private cell with a view and was allowed to have visitors whenever he wanted including his own secretary, Rudolph Hess. Hitler used his time in prison to dictate his ideas to Hess and in doing so start his book, Mein Kampf.

The book was written during 1923 and 1924 at Hitler's prison and later at an inn. Reading Mein Kampf is like listening to Hitler speak at length about his youth, early days in the Nazi Party, future plans for Germany, and ideas on politics and race. The original title Hitler chose was “Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice.” His Nazi publisher knew better and shortened it to Mein Kampf, simply My Struggle, or My Battle.

In his writing, Hitler announced his hatred toward what he believed to be the twin evils of the world: Communism and Judaism, and he stated that his aim was to eradicate both from the face of the earth. He announced that Germany needed to obtain new soil which would properly nurture the "historic destiny" of the German people; this goal explains why Hitler invaded Europe, both East and West, before he launched his attack against Russia. Hitler presented himself as the "Superman" for which Friedrich Nietzsche had called in his writings, especially in his book, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Since Hitler blamed the current parliamentary government for much of the ills against which he raged, he announced that he would completely destroy that type of government. It is in Mein Kampf that the true nature of Hitler's character can be discovered.

Hitler divides humans up based on physical attributes. Hitler claims that German "Aryans" with blond hair and blue eyes were at the top of the hierarchy.

Hitler assigns the bottom of the order to Jews, Poles, Russians, Czechs and Gypsies. Hitler goes on to say that dominated peoples benefit by learning from the superior Aryans.

Hitler claims that the Jews are conspiring to keep this master race from rightfully ruling the world, by diluting its racial and cultural purity and by convincing the Aryan to believe in equality rather than superiority and inferiority. Hitler describes the struggle for world domination as an ongoing racial, cultural, and political battle between Aryans and Jews. The supposed struggle for world domination between Aryans and Jews was accepted as fact by the population when Hitler eventually came to power. Hitler could not have succeeded for so long if the population of Germany and countries Germany overtook had not agreed with Hitler in their attitudes toward Jews.

When it first came out in 1925, Mein Kampf sold few copies. No one wanted to read an extended, wandering, and poorly-phrased diatribe; they were hoping for exciting information about the Beer Hall Putsch or a tell-all biography. Later, when Hitler was at the reins of the nation, millions of copies were sold. It was nearly as common to see in a German household as the Bible.

Hitler was released from prison in December, 1924 after nine months of writing and reflection on his failed revolution. Hitler decided it had been foolish to attempt to overthrow the government without the support of the army. He would play on his popularity and skill with propaganda and get himself elected. In 1925, Hitler spoke with the Prime Minister of Bavaria and convinced him to lift the recently imposed ban on the Nazi Party and Nazi newspaper. However, on the first meeting of the Nazi party, Hitler again ranted and raved about tearing down the republic and threatened the Jews and Communists. This resulted in a two year ban on Hitler's public speaking. Hitler took the time to reorganize the Nazi Party for easier transition should he take over the government.

Soon though, the Nazi party faced difficulties again. The German economy was recovering thanks to heavy investment from the United States and the Dawes plan, which reduced German war reparations considerably. Unemployment was dropping and people were less dissatisfied with the government. Little occurred in the Nazi realm between 1926 and 1929. Hitler gained the support of wealthy socialites during this time who were attracted to his vibrant personality. The party was soon rich with donations from these aristocrats.

In 1926, Hitler met Joseph Goebbels and harnessed his power at speech writing by making him head of propaganda. With Goebbels hard at work with posters, speeches, meetings and a new Nazi newspaper, membership grew. In 1927, the nazis made their first attempt at gaining power through democracy but few were elected. People were quite content with the state of the country at that time. At age 39, in the summer of 1928, Hitler lived in a small country house by the Bavarian mountains.Hitler invited his step sister and her two daughters to come live with him in late 1929. Hitler soon fell in love with one of them, the twenty one year old Geli. Hitler showed her tremendous affection, doing everything with her that a loyal boyfriend should do.

On October 29, the American stock market crashed with an impact felt worldwide. People lost their jobs and life savings, banks failed, and companies went bankrupt. Hitler knew the time was now to seize power.

When the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929, the German economy was affected nearly as strongly as the American economy beause of all of the foreign investment from the United States. The United States was in such dire need of money it asked Germany to pay back its loans at once, which sent the German economy careening downward once again.

Hitler had broadened his appeal with the wealthy socialites during the quiet years and had increased the membership of the Nazi party to over 100,000 people but he needed to do much better to be elected to any kind of high position.

The Great Depression also split up the Reichstag, or German parliament. The congress was sharply divided on how to combat this economic peril and no one was willing to compromise. The result was a stagnant economy that went unchallenged. As a last resort, president Hindenburg dissolved the Reichstag in July of 1930 and called for new elecions to be held in September.

Hitler and the Nazis sprang into action, fiercely campaigning all over Germany. Goebbels launched a tremendous media campaign and held thousands of meetings and parades. During speeches, Hitler told his audience what they wanted to hear. He made outrageous promises without giving any details. He always arrived late to add to build tension. His halls were elaborately decorated with Nazi paraphenalia and military music exploding out of the speakers. Hitlers speeches would begin low and soft, but they would slowly rise to a high-pitched, over-the-top, righteous crescendo. This technique builded excitement so well that practically everyone was screaming in a quasi-religious ferver.

On September 14, 1930, the Nazis received 6,371,000 hard-won votes, eighteen percent of the total. By law, the Nazis now possessed 107 seats in the Reichstag. Hitler was something of a celebrity and his book was selling tens of thousands of copies. Money was steadily streaming in from wealthy German industrialists and the whole party was on its way up. The Germany General Staff were also supporting Hitler, mostly due to his promise to tear up the Treaty of Versailles.

Meanwhile, Hitler was having personal problems. Although Hitler's young girlfriend Geli adored all the attention and special treatment she got as the beloved of a powerful figure, she often flirted with men her own age. Geli's many romance's angered Hitler although he himself had been suiting after a seventeen year old named Eva Braun. Hitler responded to Geli's faithlessness by installing two Nazi SA chaperones to follow her at all times. She felt trapped. Finally, when Hitler forbade her to leave the apartment while he went away on a trip, she shot herself through the heart.

Hitler was extremely depressed. He couldn't eat or sleep. Herman Göring remarked later that Hitler was a changed man after the suicide of the only woman he ever loved. For some reason, when served ham some days after Geli's passing, Hitler was disgusted. He said eating it would be like eating a corpse, and he never ate meat again.

He arose from this sad state, though, to challenge President Hindenburg in the 1932 election. Goebbels created another tremendous campaign, this time incorporating film and phonographs. Hitler won over eleven million votes, 30% of the total. Hindenburg received over 18 million votes, 49% of the total. Since no one had a true majority, a run-off election was required. Hitler traveled cross-country making wild promises and positive messages. On April 10, 1932, the run-off took place. Hitler received 13,418,547 votes, or 36%. Hindenburg took in 19,359,983 votes, 53% of the total. Although they had lost, the Nazis showed tremendous popularity and the current government seemed unstable at best.

By 1932, Hitler's Nazi storm troopers numbered over 400,000 and the German government felt ill at ease. In April, Heinrich Bruening, the Chancellor of Germany, banned the SA and SS, the two divisions of Hitler's violent task force. After some shady dealings with a German officer striving for power, Hitler had the ban lifted. With their regained freedom, the SA and SS roamed the streets looking for fights. Fist fights and gun battles were commonplace.

On July 17, later known as "Bloody Sunday," the Nazis entered a Communist area of Germany and had an extended gun battle resulting in nineteen dead and 300 wounded. On July 31st, Germany voted again; this time the Nazis received 37% of the vote allowing them the majority of seats in the Reichstag. Hitler demanded the to become chancellor, but the president would only offer vice-chancellorship. Hitler was outraged. Before being ousted by the new Nazi goverment, the chancellor dissolved the reichstag and called for elections yet again.

This time, however, the Nazis were tiring of the constant campaigning and Hitler devoted much of his time to his girlfriend, Eva Braun. Eva had shot herself in the neck for wont of attention and Hitler stayed by her in the hospital from that point on. When the voting came on November 6, the Nazis lost two million votes or thirty four seats in the Reichstag. Even so, the government was more unstable than ever, the chancellor and a former chancellor were vying for power, and then a rumor circulated that the former chancellor (the officer Hitler worked with to gain strength) was back stabbing the president. President Hindengburg immediately appointed Hitler Chancellor.

On his first day in office, Hitler manipulated Hindenburg into dissolving the Reichstag and calling for new elections on March 5, 1933. Hitler and other high ranking Nazis hatched a plan to seize absolute power. They helped a Communist arsonist set the Reichstag on fire and then claimed it was a Communist plot. Hindenburg signed a state of emergency decree giving Hitler temporarily unlimited powers that normally violated the German constitution.

On the March 5 Election, Hitler won 44% of the vote; he needed a two thirds majority in the Reichstag to have a legal dictatorship. Hitler was able to win this majority thanks to the emergency decree. He used his new found powers to simply arrest any non-Nazi representative. On March 23, the Nazi Reichstag, with Hitler as President, passed a law giving Hitler complete dictatorial powers. From there Hitler would send German troops to occupy the Rhineland and conduct a systematic invasion of Europe starting World War II.