Adolf Hitler: The Artist

Adolf Hitler is widely regarded to have been one of the most despicable persons to have ever lived. He and the rest of the Nazi party used the power of the German government to commit some of the worst atrocities in human history. His early life was not nearly so ominous as one might expect, however. Before joining the army at the outbreak of World War I, he wanted nothing more than to be a famous artist. He did not spend his childhood plotting how he would kill the Jews. Rather, he spent it dreaming of gaining entrance into the Academy of Fine Arts at Vienna. It was largely his failure to achieve entrance into this academy that changed the course of his life forever.

The extent to which Hitler made art a part of his life, even after becoming Chancellor of Germany, but especially before joining the army, is surprising to many people. As a teenager and young man, he spent much of his time and money attending the opera (his favorites who those by Wagner). After becoming an orphan, he lived on his inheritance and his orphan's pension while "studying" for the entrance examination into the school of painting at the Academy in Vienna. Gaining entrance into the Academy seems to have been for Hitler less a life's goal than it was something he had took for granted.

It came as a complete shock to Hitler when he was not accepted into the Academy the first time he took the entrance examination in 1907, so he stayed in Vienna "studying" to take it again. He spent most of his time visiting museums, attending the opera, and gawking at the city's architecture, however. The next year when he again applied for admission, he was again rejected. Again, the reason was "unfitness for painting" although he was supposedly told that he had great talents in architecture. Although he pretended that he would study to obtain entrance into school of architecture, he lacked the educational experience he would have needed and seems to have made no serious effort to pursue a course of study in architecture. His fascination with architecture never failed him, however, and his favorite architect became one of his closest advisers while Hitler served as Chancellor.