A summary of the two's similar lives and some differences.

1. Hitler
and
Stalin
Similarities and Differences

2. Adolf Hitler
• Born: April 20, 1889 in Braunau am Inn, Austria–Hungary.
• The fourth of six children to Alois Hitler and Klara Pölzl.
• Close to his mother
• Troubled relationship with his father.
• When Hitler was ten years old, his younger brother, Edmond,
died of measles.
• Devoted himself to German nationalism to rebel against his
father.
• His father sent him to a technical high school, where Hitler
would become disruptive in order to rebel.

4. (Continued)
• In 1905, Hitler was rejected by the Academy of Fine Arts
Vienna.
• In December 1907, Hitler’s mother (47) died of breast cancer.
• In 1909, after being rejected by the Academy of Fine Arts
Vienna for a second time, Hitler was living in a homeless
shelter.
• According to Hitler, this is when he first became an anti-
Semite.
• He blamed all problems in Germany and Austria on the Jews,
as well as Marxists and Slavs.
• Social Darwinism
• Hitler enlisted in the Bavarian army during World War I.

5. Joseph Stalin
• Born: December 18, 1878 to Ketevan Geladze and
Besarion Jughashvili in the town of Gori, Georgia.
• Originally Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili
• As a child, he was inspired by “Koba”
• Alexander Kazbegi’s novel The Patricide
• Similar to Robin Hood.
• 1903: Expelled from a Georgian Orthodox seminary,
discovered the writings of Vladimir Lenin and
decided to become a Marxist revolutionary, and
even joined Lenin's Bolsheviks.
• Stalin became one of their main operatives.

7. (Continued)
• In 1906, Stalin married Ekaterina Svanidze, who later
gave birth to Stalin's first child, Yakov.
• In 1907, Ekaterina died of Typhus.
• “With her died any human feeling in him.”
• In Saint Petersburg in April 1912, Stalin created the
newspaper Pravda.
• He eventually adopted the name "Stalin” (steel),
which he used as an alias and pen name.
• Married Nadezhda Alliluyeva in 1919.
• She gave birth to two other children.
• Died November 9, 1932.

8. Adolf Hitler
• 1919: Hitler joins the German Workers' Party.
• 1920: The German Workers’ Party becomes the NSDAP (National Socialist
German Workers' Party)
• July 1921: Hitler named leader of Nazi Party
• February 26, 1924: Hitler on trial for treason after a failed attempt to overthrow
the government.
• February 26, 1925: Hitler released
• October 29, 1929: Great Depression begins, unemployment in Germany rises.
• September 14, 1930: Nazis obtain 107 seats in the election, becoming the second
largest political party in Germany after the Social Democratic Party of Germany
(SPD).
• 1932: Hitler runs for president, loses, but becomes well known in politics.
• January 30, 1933: The republic collapses; Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany
• February 27, 1933: The Reichstag burns, causes panic and anti-communism.
• March 23, 1933: Hitler Becomes Dictator of Germany.

10. Joseph Stalin
• 1921: Played an important role in engineering the Red Army invasion of
Georgia.
• 1922: Lenin has Stalin appointed as General Secretary.
• 1922: Lenin suffers a stroke, forcing him into semi-retirement in Gorki,
just south of Moscow.
• Lenin writes in his testament that Stalin should be removed from his position.
• Stalin forged an alliance with Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev against Leon
Trotsky.
• April 1923: Stalin, Kamenev, and Grigory Zinoviev prevent Lenin's
Testament from being revealed to the Twelfth Party Congress
• January 21, 1924: Lenin dies of a heart attack.
• Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev grew increasingly isolated, and were removed
from the Central Committee, and then from the Party itself.
• 1929: Stalin achieves supreme power.

12. Hitler and Stalin
• Poor • Unable to have normal
• relationships with others.
Filled with resentments
• Stalin: Became “walled up in
• No successor himself” and “incapable of
• Underestimated by their responding to human
rivals affection”
• Had the need for power • Hitler: The archetypal recluse,
could not have normal
• Serious about their historic conversations
roles. • Non-religious
• Trying to help and save their • Came to power by way of their
country. party
• Paranoia • Stalin: CPSU (Communist
• Experts at simplification Party of the Soviet Union)
• Able to appeal to the • Hitler: NSDAP (Nazi Party)
people.

14. Hitler Stalin
• Able to appeal to Germans, who • Inhibited by Marxist tradition.
were open-minded. • Followed the ideologies of other
• Created his own party. revolutionaries.
• Would give in to his nerves. • Steady nerves in a crisis.
• A gifted speaker
• Unable to communicate well with
• Tried to attract the people to a
others.
cause.
• Trusted his closest collaborators. • Inspired fear in the people.
• Helped the German Economy • Believed that there was no room for
(Lowered Unemployment) trust in politics.
– Banned the introduction of some labor- • Used “Five Year Plans”, launching a period
saving machinery. of rapid industrialization and economic
– Abolished taxation on new cars collectivization, resulting in widespread
– Encouraged the mass production of radios famine in the early 1930s.
– Took jobs and rights away from women and
Jews.