Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, in 1889. He served as a corporal in World War I. When the Armistice was signed in 1918, he was in a hospital, temporarily blinded by a mustard gas attack. The Weimar Republic that followed Germany's defeat was politically shaky. The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to pay heavy reparations, which helped drive massive inflation. At its worst in 1923, a loaf of bread cost 200 billion marks. Germans faced widespread poverty, upheaval, and a loss of national pride. Hitler rose through politics in these years. He gave speeches at a stunning rate, about one every 72 hours from 1933 to 1939. He studied crowds closely and rehearsed his delivery and gestures over and over. The speeches below are key moments from his career, presented as historical record.
Speech 1: The Beer Hall Putsch Trial Defense (April 1, 1924)
On November 8-9, 1923, Hitler and the NSDAP tried to seize power in Munich. This became known as the Beer Hall Putsch, a failed coup modeled on Mussolini's March on Rome the year before. Sixteen NSDAP members and four police officers were killed. Hitler was arrested and charged with high treason, which could carry the death penalty. The trial began February 26, 1924. Hitler saw at once that the trial was not a threat. It was a stage. He turned a criminal case into a nationalist rally, and turned a total failure into the founding story of the Nazi movement.
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“The man who is born to be a dictator is not compelled; he wills it. He is not driven forward, but drives himself. There is nothing immodest about this. Is it immodest for a worker to drive himself toward heavy labor? Is it presumptuous of a man with the high forehead of a thinker to ponder through the nights till he gives the world an invention? The man who feels called upon to govern a people has no right to say, 'If you want me or summon me, I will cooperate.' No! It is his duty to step forward.”
Adolf Hitler— Munich District Court trial defense statement, April 1, 1924
Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for high treason. He served nine months at Landsberg Prison. There, he dictated Mein Kampf to Rudolf Hess. The trial got heavy news coverage across Germany and made Hitler nationally famous for the first time.
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“I aimed to become the destroyer of Marxism. I will achieve this task, and if I do, the title of 'traitor to the law' will be of no consequence to me. The goddess of the eternal court of history will smilingly tear in pieces the brief of the State Prosecutor and the verdict of this court; for she acquits me.”
Adolf Hitler— Munich District Court, closing statement, April 1, 1924
Newspapers across Germany reported the closing statement. The trial turned a failed local uprising into a national platform.
Speech 2: The Munich Race Speech (April 12, 1922)
Hitler gave this speech at the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich in April 1922. At the time he led the NSDAP, which had about 6,000 members. After World War I, Germany faced severe economic hardship, cultural tension, and political instability.
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“My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only by a few followers, recognized the Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth!, was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison.”
Adolf Hitler— Speech at the Bürgerbräukeller, Munich, April 12, 1922
The speech reflected the cultural and political tensions of Weimar-era Germany. In this period Hitler often used religious imagery and biblical stories in his speeches. NSDAP membership grew sharply in the months after speeches like this one.
Speech 3: Reichstag Address Declaring War on the United States (December 11, 1941)
Four days after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hitler spoke to the Reichstag on December 11, 1941 to declare war on the United States. The passage below is an excerpt.
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“I will pass over the insulting attacks made by this so-called President against me. That he calls me a gangster is uninteresting. After all, this term was not coined in Europe but in America, no doubt because such characters are not unknown there. Apart from this, I cannot be insulted by Roosevelt, for I consider him mad, just as Wilson was... As a consequence of the further extension of President Roosevelt's policy, which is aimed at the unrestricted world domination and dictatorship of the United States, we are now forced to answer the call of duty. For the sake of history, I therefore want to make the following statement: I have endeavored to avoid this conflict with the United States and will endeavor until the very last not to do so. But President Roosevelt has forced this decision upon me.”
Adolf Hitler— Reichstag, Berlin, December 11, 1941
The Tripartite Pact with Japan did not require Germany to declare war on the United States. Historians still debate why Hitler did it. The speech was broadcast live on German radio to the whole nation.
Speech 4: Sportpalast Speech — Total War (February 18, 1943)
Joseph Goebbels gave this speech at the Berlin Sportpalast on February 18, 1943, just after the Battle of Stalingrad ended. The passage below is an excerpt.
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“The storm flooding in from the steppes... is not a local phenomenon but a peril that threatens all of Europe... Do you believe, with the Führer and with us, in the final total victory of the German people? Do you, and does the German people, wish for total war? If necessary, do you want a war more total and radical than anything that we can even imagine today? I ask you: Are you determined to follow the Führer through thick and thin in the struggle for victory, no matter what fate may bring, even should this require the ultimate sacrifice?”
Joseph Goebbels— Sportpalast, Berlin, February 18, 1943 (delivered on behalf of Nazi high command)
About 10,000 people were in the audience at the Berlin Sportpalast. The speech was broadcast live on radio across Germany. The crowd answered the speaker's questions with loud approval and long applause.