Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler was a German dictator who was the chancellor, founder, and leader of German fascism (Nazism). Making anti-Semitism a keystone of his propaganda and policies, he built up the Nazi party into a mass movement. Once in power, he converted Germany into a fully militarized society and launched World War II. For a time he dominated most of Europe and North Africa. He caused the slaughter of millions of Jews and others whom he considered inferior human beings. Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, on April 20, 1889, the son of a minor customs official and a peasant girl. A poor student, he never completed high school. He applied for ad