History Written Assignment
Having an interview with Adolf Hitler
KATE WONG KA YI 5C (16)
Hitler : Man of the Century
(One people, one empire, one leader!)
Most of the people think that Hitler is a mass murderer, but what does he
think? Let’s have an interview with him.
Theme
The life of the Perverse Political Genius Nazi Germany dictator Adolf Hitler
and his totalitarian rule over the country.
Objective
To investigate the life of Adolf Hitler, readers will be able to understand how
did a dictator rise to power and the reasons of adopting the totalitarian rule.
Background information
By the end of the WWI, the mood in Germany was grim. Germany was
exhausted and was in a state of chaos with many political parties fighting for
power. The worldwide economic depression had hit the country especially
hard, and millions of people were out of work The democratic government,
the Weimar Republic, yet also faced problems right from the start. Still fresh
in the minds of many was Germany's humiliating defeat fifteen years earlier
during World War I, and Germans lacked confidence in their weak
government. These conditions provided the chance for the rise of a new
leader, Adolf Hitler, and his party, the National Socialist German Workers'
Party, or Nazi party for short.
Background information of Hitler
Hitler was originally a messenger during the First World War. Also, he won
two Iron Crosses for bravery. After the war, he began his rise to power. He
was appointed chancellor in 1933. He quickly established himself as a
dictator once he was in power. Hitler rearmed Germany in 1935 and started
to annex European territories to set out on his empire-building mission. He
attacked Poland in 1939 and this led to the outbreak of the Second World
War. After years of fighting, Hitler was defeated by the Allies in April 1945.
He then committed suicide.
Chronology of Hitler
1889 – Hitler born in Braunau, Austria
1914 August – First World War began Germany was at war with Russia, France and
Britain. Hitler joined the German army as a regimental messenger.
1919 September – Hitler Joined German Workers’ Party
1921 – Hitler became leader of Nazi Party
1923 – Nazi’s Beer Hall Putsch in Munich led to Hitler’s arrest
1924 – Hitler sent to jail for eight months
1925 – First volume of Mein Kampt published
1928 – Nazi Party won 12 seats at Reichstag elections
1930 – Nazis won 107 seats in Reichstag elections
1932 March – Hindenbury defeated Hitler in German presidential elections
July – Nazis won 230 seats in Reichstag elections
1933 January – Hitler became German chancellor
February – Enabling Act passed – Hitler became dictator of Germany
March – Nazis won 288 seats in Reichstag elections
1934 June – Night of the Long Knives – Hitler’s rivals within the Nazi party were
eliminated
August – Hindenburg died – Hitler combined role of president and chancellor,
and becomes Führer
1936 March – German Troops march into the demilitarized Rhineland
1938 September – Germany occupied Sudetenland
1939 March – Germany occupied rest of Czech lands
September – Germany invaded Poland
- France and Britain declared war against Germany, WWII began
1940 April – Germany conquered Denmark
May-June – Germany conquered Belgium, Netherlands and France
1941 April – Germany invaded Yugoslavia and Greece
June – Germany invaded USSR
December – Hitler declared war on USA
1942 Mass extermination of Jews began
November – German army defeated by british at EI Alamein in Egypt
1943 February – German surrendered at Stalingrad
May – German and Italian troops surrendered in North Africa
August – German defeat at the Battle of Kursk marked beginning of the end of
German campaign in USSR
1944 July – Stauffenberg’s bomb plot against Hitler failed
December – Final German counter-attack in Ardennes failed
1945 January – Soviet troops invaded Germany
March – Allies cross the Rhine and invaded Germany
April – Hitler committed suicide with his wife
Interview script
= Reporter
= Hitler
Today, we have the man of the 20th century--- Mr. Adolf Hitler to have
an interview with us. Let’s start our interview. I think a lot of people
are curious about how can you rise from a messenger with no political
background to a dictator of Germany. Can you tell us more about the
n
details?
Certainly. I was a corporal in 1919. I was asked to work as an
army political agent and spy on extremist political groups in
Munich. My first mission was to infiltrate a small right-wing group
called the German Workers’ Party. In less than a year I came to
dominate the little party and later I became its president and changed its
name to National Socialist German Workers’ Party which commonly known
as the Nazi Party. At that time I was intrigued by the rise to power in Italy of
Benito Mussolini and wanted to follow his example. Unfortunately, because
of the Beer Hall Putsch I was sent to Landsberg prison for less than a year.
However, this putsch brought me a massive publicity throughout the country.
Many people were impressed by my opposition to communism and some of
them made big donations to Nazi Party funds. Therefore now we had the
financial muscle to promote our party. The political poster attracted different
classes of Germans. In late 1932, President Hindenburg offered me the post
of vice-chancellor but I turned him down. Do you know why? This post didn’t
affect much. What I want is grab more power, so I demanded the
chancellorship. Of cause at last I got the post of chancellor. After the dead of
Hindenburg I merged the office of chancellor and president into one. Then I
was the unquestioned absolute ruler of Germany.
After the WWI, Germany’s economy had been severely damaged. The
harvest was disastrous. Industrial production fell. Unemployment was
high. In this worse situation, why do you think totalitarian rule is
suitable for Germany? And how this favoured you to become the Führer?
After the shame of surrender and the Versailles Peace Treaty
came further troubles for Germany. There was runaway inflation
which wiped out the savings of the middle-classes. In Germany,
there is an atmosphere of lawlessness, strikes and street fights
between political opponents were common. Later due to the Depression,
banks failed, factories closed and created a huge number of unemployment.
At this time a totalitarian rule would be the proper ruling way. The leader
could represent the will of the people and had the power to direct all the
activities of the nation. This could make sure all citizens were absolute
obedience and created a sense of unity. In addition, one party rule could
maintain the stability of the society as the number of coup would be small.
Totalitarian dictatorship ensures the single leader grab all the power in his
hands. This helps to consolidate my power.
There are lots of people think that you are an evil person because you
systematically killed about 11 million people, including about 6 million
Jews, in concentration camps, ghettos and mass executions, or
through less systematic methods elsewhere. Can you explain why you
I
did this?
Wherever I went I began to see Jews, and the more I saw, the more
sharply they became distinguished in my eyes from the rest of
humanity. I grew sick to the stomach, I began to hate them. I
became anti-Semitic. The Jews are inferior and they are "Sub-human”. This
is our right---the right of the superiority of the "Aryan" race, or duty to
eliminate this inferior race, to pave the way for the glory of our own. Also,
the Jews are a threat to our dominance and we should remove this threat
before we even tried to use diplomatic means. Also, the pure German race
will be polluted by intermarriages with other races, especially the Jews.
So you had instigated the genocide and caused the outbreak of the
WWII. Many of the later generations criticize that you are a devil. If you
have a chance to go back to the past, would you do the same things or
you regretted for it and would not do it again?
I would still choose the same road. This is my duty to lead the
German people to develop their superiorities. Germans are the
best people in the world. This is their honour that being ruled by
our race.
Okay, so that your choice. I have read the sentence "Today Germany
is ours, and tomorrow the whole world!" from your book "Mein Kampf".
Why do you think that you can be the leader of Germany and even the
leader of the whole world?
Although I did not had a great education, I did have great
leadership skills. Leadership skills can be more important than
brain power.
I am s a great orator and when I spoke, everybody listened. I am
the greatest orator that Germany has ever known. Along with being a
tireless orator, I also possessed the quality to make everybody listen to me.
I would get the audience by telling them what they wanted to hear, then to
manipulate my theme in such a way that I would arouse the emotions of the
crowd. The ability to be an emotional driving speaker is a leadership skill
that most desire, I but few have.
I am a man of steel. I never got unnecessarily angry for a moment. For a
leader to be a leader he can't lose his temper or people will pick up on that.
Do you agree? To be a good leader one must understand how to not get off
track, or lose his cool for a moment.
I get all these which are virtues of a good leader. I must be the person who
is most suitable to rule Germany and even this World!
Thank you for your kindness to answer my questions, Mr. Hitler. I think
this interview will let the after ages know more about you and your
policies.