Question

It’s time to write your report on Adolf Hitler to submit to your government..

Your report should consist of three concise paragraphs that use information from the primary sources and that:

1. describe Hitler.

2. assess his character.

3. make recommendations to the United States about how to respond to Hitler in the future.

Answer 1

Adolf Hitler is the Austrian-born leader of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party who, by exploiting post‑war discontent and using propaganda, mass rallies and paramilitary force, rose from party agitator to Germany’s chancellor and then Führer. His own writings and speeches—most notably Mein Kampf and numerous public addresses—lay out a coherent program of virulent antisemitism, racial hierarchy and expansionism (Lebensraum). He seized legal power through measures such as the Enabling Act of March 1933, then consolidated control via party and state institutions (the SS, Gestapo, and Gleichschaltung), while pursuing rearmament and territorial revision (Rhineland remilitarization, Anschluss and demands on Czechoslovakia) in direct contradiction of existing treaties.

Primary‑source evidence shows a man who is at once ideological and ruthlessly pragmatic: Mein Kampf and his speeches reveal a fanatical racial doctrine and readiness to use mass mobilization and terror to achieve ends; the Night of the Long Knives and subsequent legislation (for example, the Nuremberg Laws, the administrative decrees that stripped Jews of rights, and directives surrounding Kristallnacht) demonstrate callous willingness to commit state violence and legalize persecution. At the same time he is an effective demagogue and strategist who tolerates no independent institutions or rivals, deliberately subordinates legality to political goals, and is capable of reckless geopolitical gambits when he judges them advantageous.

Given these facts, the United States should respond by treating Hitler as a revisionist, expansionist, and violently racist regime that cannot be placated by concessions. Recommended actions: strengthen collective security with like‑minded powers and refuse recognition or acceptance of territorial seizures that violate existing treaties; increase diplomatic pressure and coordinated economic measures while expanding espionage and intelligence to monitor Nazi intentions; prepare military deterrence and mobilization plans rather than rely on appeasement; and provide refuge and material support to victims of persecution and to anti‑Nazi political forces. Publicly documenting and exposing Nazi laws, speeches and actions will help undermine their domestic and international legitimacy and warn other nations of the threat they pose.