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Adolf Hitler
Hitler
Historical Figure
Nationality: Germany (born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire)
Year of Birth: 1889
Year of Death: 1945
Cause of Death: Suicide by firearm
Religion: Unclear (raised in Catholicism but later lapsed)
Occupation: Failed Artist, Author of Non-Fiction, Politician, Soldier, Revolutionary, Dictator, Mass Murderer,
Parents: Alois and Klara Hitler
Spouse: Eva Braun (married by all accounts, hours before their respective deaths)
Children: None
Relatives: Alois Hitler, Jr. (half-brother)
Angela Hitler (half-sister)
Angela Raubal (half-niece)
Military Branch: Imperial German Army
(World War I)
Political Party: German Workers' Party (1919-1920)
NSDAP (1920-1945)
Political Office(s): Chancellor of Germany
(1933-1945)
Führer of the Greater German Reich
(1934-1945)
Fictional Appearances:

Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 - 30 April 1945) was chancellor of Germany from 1933 until his death, and, from 1934 until his death, he was the Führer (Leader) of Germany. He was also the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP), better known as the Nazi Party.

Hitler gained power during Germany's period of crisis following World War I. He pursued an aggressive foreign policy with the intention of expanding German Lebensraum (living space). This policy saw the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia before the invasion of Poland forced the Allied Forces to act in 1939, touching off World War II. However, Germany was able to subdue France and the Low Countries in 1940, and force Britain off the continent. The following year, Germany invaded the Soviet Union. This proved to be Hitler's ultimate undoing, as German forces were not able to subdue the country before the onset of winter. The next three years saw the slow grinding down of Germany's military.

Concurrently, after Japan, Germany's ally, attacked the United States in December 1941, Germany also declared war on the US. The United States followed a policy of Europe first, engaging Germany militarily, in concert with Britain, in North Africa and then Italy. In 1944, a joint British-American-Canadian expeditionary force invaded Normandy on the north coast of France. Germany was now caught in a vice, as the Anglo-Americans pushed from the west, and the Soviets pushed from the east, until 1945, when Germany was defeated. Hitler then committed suicide.

The concept of race was central to Hitler's world view. Hitler believed that the Aryans were the master race, and all others were inferior. Slavs would become subservient to German Aryans. Jews would be destroyed. To this end, Hitler initiated the Holocaust, which would eventually claim nearly 6 million Jews, along with the lives of other groups deemed inferior.

Adolf Hitler in "No Period"

"No Period"
Fiction
Type of Appearance: Posthumous reference

A Jewish-American writer contemplated his failed first marriage, and wondered if it might have worked in some alternate timeline. Inspired by the television series The Man in the High Castle, the writer wondered if the marriage would have survived if Adolf Hitler and Germany had won World War II. He realized that, as a Jew, he'd have been murdered in such a scenario, and so changed the thought-experiment.[1]

Adolf Hitler in After the Downfall

After the Downfall
Fantasy
Type of Appearance: Posthumous references

Adolf Hitler was the Führer of Germany during World War II. Hasso Pemsel, a loyal German who served in the Wehrmacht throughout the war, respected Hitler's rank, but began to think that the Führer was not using his best judgment. Pemsel observed how Hitler's obsession with eradicating the Jews (a group Pemsel regarded with indifference) was weakening the war effort, as it diverted resources which could have been used to defeat the Russians. On one occasion, Pemsel's unit had to wait impatiently for a railroad car, which was carrying Jews to the slaughter, to pass by before they could use the railroad to ride to the front and do their duty.

Pemsel witnessed the final disastrous fruit of Hitler's hubris in taking on Russia, when the Russians invaded the German heartland and occupied Berlin. In April 1945, Pemsel was transferred out of the rational world. During his days in the world of magic, Pemsel often wondered whether Hitler had been killed in action, committed suicide, or been taken prisoner by the Russians.

Adolf Hitler in "In This Season"

"In This Season"
Set in OTL
Type of Appearance: Contemporary references

Adolf Hitler's Germany cooperated with Russia to partition Poland between them in 1939.[2] Berel Friedman, a Jew from Puck, found that he yearned to be ruled by the Poles again, a notion unthinkable under any other circumstances.[3] As Chanukah began, Friedman bitterly reflected that God had helped the Jews against Antiochus during the original Chanukah, but was doing nothing about Hitler, whose venom was enough for 20 Antiochi.[4]

Adolf Hitler in Crosstime Traffic

Adolf Hitler in Curious Notions

Curious Notions
POD: August, 1914
Type of Appearance: Posthumous reference
Date of Death: Unknown

In Alternate 3477, where Imperial Germany won a shortened version of World War I, Adolf Hitler lived out his life in total obscurity. When Lawrence Gomes commented that Hitler's irrelevance in that particular world wasn't a bad thing, his son Paul reflexively responded that this alternate still wasn't a pretty place.[5]

Adolf Hitler in The Gladiator

The Gladiator
POD: Mid-20th Century
Earliest Known POD: October-November, 1962
Type of Appearance: Posthumous references

After the Soviet Union triumphed in the Cold War, Adolf Hitler was held up by the communist states as a proverbial historical bogeyman.

Gianfranco Mazzilli was given a homework assignment to write a canto imitating Dante's Inferno. One canto was to be devoted to a fascist; Gianfranco chose Hitler, placing him at the center of Hell, as Hitler had betrayed several parties. He privately noted that almost everyone in the class would probably choose Hitler, and discovered his father had also chosen Hitler when he had the same high school assignment.[6]

Adolf Hitler in The Hot War

The Hot War
POD: November, 1950
Type of Appearance: Posthumous references

Adolf Hitler remained something of a boogeyman in Europe, six years after his death. With the outbreak of World War III in 1951, many participants on both sides found parallels between the new war and World War II.[7]

Rolf Mehlen was a Hauptsturmfuhrer in the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, turned West German militiaman. Mehlen would often tell anyone who would listen that Hitler was the greatest thing to happen to Germany, for his rearmament of the nation in the 1930s. The fact that Hitler was also responsible for turning the Allied Forces against Germany in the 1940s, leading to its utter defeat and the mass slaughter of its civilians, somehow invariably failed to register in Mehlen's cognitive abilities.

Adolf Hitler in The Man With the Iron Heart

The Man With the Iron Heart
POD: May 29, 1942;
Relevant POD: May, 1945
Type of Appearance: Contemporary and posthumous references

Adolf Hitler adamantly refused to consider the possibility that Germany might lose World War II, even after Germany's crushing defeat at Stalingrad in 1943. SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Reinhard Heydrich- whom Hitler had once referred to as "the Man With the Iron Heart"- never approached Hitler about his idea to continue fighting after Germany was defeated. Instead, Heydrich presented it to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler and the two worked without Hitler's knowledge or permission to prepare the Nazi state to carry on its struggle after its impending defeat in World War II.

Hitler refused to ever concede defeat and committed suicide in his bunker in April 1945 as the Red Army drove on Berlin. The world believed for a time that the Nazis were finished, but men loyal to Hitler carried on in his name as the German Freedom Front began to make itself known.[8] Hitler's lasting legacy was further assured when, in early 1948, the United States and the United Kingdom withdrew forces from their occupation zones in western Germany, leaving the Nazi Party free to reemerge.

Adolf Hitler in "Ready for the Fatherland"

"Ready for the Fatherland"
POD: February 19, 1943>
Type of Appearance: Direct
Date of Death: 1943
Cause of Death: Shot to death
(World War II)

Adolf Hitler (1889-1943) met on 19 February 1943 with Field Marshal Erich von Manstein in Zaporozhye in the Ukraine. After unreasonably demanding that the general launch a doomed offensive against the Russians, Hitler accused Manstein of cowardice and suggested that the Generalfeldmarschall had secret Jewish blood. Without thinking, Manstein shot Hitler dead. Manstein and his supporter, Field Marshal Paul von Kleist, concocted a "suitably heroic" story of Hitler's death in action, to feed to the general public.[9]

Adolf Hitler in "Cayos in the Stream"

"Cayos in the Stream"
POD: c. July, 1942
Type of Appearance: Contemporary references

Ernest Hemingway's profound hatred for Adolf Hitler was a surface reason for his decision to patrol for, and ultimately sink, a German U-boat.

Adolf Hitler in Worldwar

Worldwar
POD: May 30, 1942
Appearance(s): In the Balance
through
Striking the Balance
Type of Appearance: Direct
Date of Death: Mid 1950s
Cause of Death: Natural causes (presumably)
Political Office(s): Führer and Chancellor of Germany

Adolf Hitler (1889-195?) had led Germany to its zenith from 1939 until 1942. By the time of the arrival of the Race's Conquest Fleet, Germany was engaged in wars with most of the other great Earth powers, including the Soviet Union, the United States, and Britain. Hitler was also supporting Japan in its wars against the United States and China. Though Germany had made great strides early in the war on most fronts, it was outnumbered and in all likelihood would have found it harder and harder to defeat the Allied Forces as the war progressed.

Axis

Hitler and Benito Mussolini announce the founding of the Axis.

This all ceased to matter when the Race invaded Earth and World War II was aborted. At this point Germany joined all other human powers in resisting the alien invasion. For the next two years, Hitler led Germany through a period of military desperation during which German physicists, led by Kurt Diebner, developed the atomic bomb. This invention forced Fleetlord Atvar to include Germany in a summit meeting called in Cairo.

Hitler sent Joachim von Ribbentrop to represent Germany at this meeting with orders to make very aggressive demands of the Race. These included the restoration of all territories conquered by Germany early in World War II except Poland; recognition of the German right to annex Italy; and recognitions of the sovereignty of Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania, all of which became German client states.

Hitler continued to serve as Führer and Chancellor until his death, at which point he was succeeded in that position by Heinrich Himmler. He did not live to see the arrival of the Race's Colonization Fleet.

Although Hitler's leadership saw both the restoration of Germany's military might lost in World War I and its recovery from the economic catastrophes which marked the Weimar Republic, he was a cruel and brutal dictator. Perhaps his greatest crimes were a series of genocides against those deemed Untermenschen, most famously the Jews. These were made to suffer a wide variety of atrocities, from loss of citizenship and property, to imprisonment, to extermination in concentration camps. Though other humans allied with Hitler out of necessity when the Race invaded, it is safe to say that he was the most despised man on Earth when he lived.

Hitler, along with Joseph Stalin, most closely resembled of all the Tosevite "not-emperors" the Race's conception of a true "emperor". However, neither man had any hereditary claim to their position, which explained, from the Race's perspective, why both ruled through terror and force.

Quotes

“We shall have vengeance! Our strength lies not in defense but in attack. Mankind has grown strong in eternal struggles. We shall once more make the heroic decision to resist. Our idea - our people - is right, and so is invincible; every persecution will lead to our inner strengthening. This war is one of the elemental conflicts which will usher in a new world era. At its end, Deutschland will either be a world power or will not be at all! If the Deutsch people despair now, they will deserve no better than they get. If they despair, I will not be sorry for them if God lets them down.
"We shall have vengeance, I say again! For every bomb the Lizards use against us, we shall use six, eight, ten, a hundred bombs against them. We shall destroy them so completely, it shall be as if they never were. They have dared test themselves against the master race, and they shall fail!”
--Radio speech in 1943, responding to the explosive-metal bombing of Muenchen.[10]

Adolf Hitler in "News From the Front"

"News From the Front"
POD: December 8, 1941
Type of Appearance: Contemporary references

Adolf Hitler was Führer of Germany during World War II. On May 28, 1942, the Honolulu Advertiser claimed that the "fats cats" in Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, who believed they had a monopoly on the truth, were worse enemies of freedom than Hitler and Tojo put together.[11]

Adolf Hitler in Days of Infamy

Days of Infamy
POD: March, 1941;
Relevant POD: December 7, 1941
Type of Appearance: Contemporary references

Adolf Hitler was seen by many Americans as the greatest threat to freedom in the world. However, the United States was unable to pursue the planned "Germany first" policy, due the Japanese conquest of most American territories in the Pacific, and Japanese attacks on the West Coast. Consequently, Hitler's forces straddled much of Europe, threatening the British in North Africa and the Russians in their motherland.

Adolf Hitler in "The Last Article"

"The Last Article"
POD: c. 1940
Type of Appearance: Contemporary references


Under Adolf Hitler's leadership, Nazi Germany conquered all of Europe, the Soviet Union and India by 1947. Although Mohandas Gandhi regarded Hitler as a madman, he nevertheless did not believe the refugee Simon Wiesenthal's claims of the destruction being visited upon the European Jews as he felt that such behavior would be to a country's ruination. Events proved Gandhi wrong.  

Adolf Hitler in In the Presence of Mine Enemies

In the Presence of Mine Enemies
POD: c. 1940
Type of Appearance: Posthumous references
Date of Death: Mid 1960s
Cause of Death: Natural causes (presumably)


Hitler2

Hitler's ability to inspire the people and speak directly to a crowd showed a charisma that would not be seen again in Germany for almost a lifetime after his death.

Adolf Hitler (1889-196?) was the first and greatest Führer of the Greater German Reich. He led his country to victory in the Second World War, expanding Germany's empire throughout Europe, including the conquest and defeat of the Soviet Union and Britain. All of the major government offices and buildings in Berlin lined Adolf Hitler Platz.

While Hitler was responsible for the largest empire the world had ever seen, he inadvertently planted the seeds for that empire's demise. In the First Edition of his political tract, Mein Kampf, Hitler espoused the virtues of the party democratically electing the Führer. After World War II, Hitler oversaw the revision of Mein Kampf to remove that language. Nonetheless, in 2010, upon the death of the third Führer, Kurt Haldweim, the British Union of Fascists harkened back to the First Edition. Fourth Führer Heinz Buckliger espoused the virtues of the First Edition.

Hitler was also responsible for the Reich's policy of eradicating the Jews. For seven decades, Germany and its allies slaughtered any Jews they could find within and without their borders. Despite Hitler's best efforts, Jews survived, hiding in plain sight, long after his death.[12]

Many Germans emulated Hitler's type of mustache. However, in time this came to be considered a bit old-fashioned. By 2010, such mustaches were seen mainly among old, white haired men, though they were undergoing a revival among young men.[13]

One of Hitler's favorite films was Gone with the Wind. Consequently, it was re-released in the cinemas of the Greater German Reich every few years into the early 21st Century.[14]

Adolf Hitler in "Shtetl Days"

"Shtetl Days"
POD: c. 1940
Type of Appearance: Posthumous references
Date of Death: After 1945 (presumably)
Cause of Death: Unrevealed

During and after the War of Retribution, Adolf Hitler, the first Führer of the Greater German Reich, oversaw the destruction of the Jews and other undesirables. Over a century later, actor Veit Harlan reflected that Hitler's works were still present in the Thousand Year Reich he'd built.

Adolf Hitler in The War That Came Early

Adolf Hitler (1889-1944) was chancellor of the German Reich from 1933; from 1934, he was also the Führer (Leader) of Germany. He led Germany into a global war in September, 1938 with the intent of restoring Germany's prestige. Instead, after six years of fighting, Hitler's hubris led to his own downfall, and very nearly to that of Germany's.

The War That Came Early
POD: July 20, 1936;
Relevant POD: September 29, 1938
Appearance(s): Hitler's War
through
Last Orders
Type of Appearance: Direct (POV in one scene of HW)
Date of Death: 1944
Cause of Death: Assassinated by a bomb

On 29 September 1938, Hitler was holding diplomatic talks with Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain, Edouard Daladier of the French Republic, and Benito Mussolini of Italy at the Munich Conference. Hitler was actually very unhappy with this turn of events; he'd wanted to provoke a showdown with Germany's enemies, but Chamberlain's decision to hand over the Sudetenland left Hitler with no alternative but to accept it. Privately, Hitler was also disappointed with Mussolini, who'd been critical in assembling the Conference. Only Marshall José Sanjurjo, Hitler reflected, truly understood the need for aggressive actions.

However, fortune soon went Hitler's way, when came news of the murder of Konrad Henlein on German soil by a Czech citizen named Jaroslav Stribny. Though he had nothing to do with the crime, and as far as he knew no one else under his orders did either, Hitler took advantage of it to declare war on Czechoslovakia on the spot, in front of his distinguished and horrified foreign guests.

Germany attacked Czechoslovakia on 30 September. In response, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union declared war on Germany. French forces did invade Germany, but the response of the Western Allied Forces was hardly aggressive. The Soviet Union, which had been engaged in a proxy war with Germany in Spain, did actively aerial bomb German positions in Czechoslovakia, but did not share a border with its ally. Czechoslovakia fell within a month, and was carved up by not only Germany, but by Poland, Hungary, and Romania. Germany also encouraged the creation of a vassal state, the Slovak Republic.

Hitler next turned his attention more fully west. He ordered the invasion and occupation the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium. By the early months of 1939, the three countries had fallen, and German forces were pounding France itself. Concurrently, the Soviet Union pressed territorial demands on Poland throughout the Winter of 1938. In desperation, the Polish government concluded an alliance with Germany. German forces entered Poland.

Despite these successes, a group of generals were discovered to have been contemplating a coup against Hitler in 1939. The extent of the plot was kept from the German people, including the Wehrmacht. While the apprehension of these generals did not overtly impact the German offensive, it did heighten Hitler's paranoia, and he gave the SS free-reign to investigate the military.

In the Spring of 1939, the German advance into France was halted outside of Paris. Soon, German troops were beginning to fall back. In the east, the tenacity of the Poles stymied the Soviets. Despite this, Hitler remained defiant, and ordered an invasion of Denmark (which, completely taken by surprise, fell in days) and then Norway (which immediately fought, with help from Britain and France). By the end of the year Scandinavia and the East were more or less secure, but the situation continued to worsen in France where the German troops were pushed almost to the border with Belgium. Another coup attempt was launched, prompting the SS to conduct a second, more violent crackdown on the Wehrmacht that took the shooting to Germany itself and made civilians reminisce about the collapse of the Kaiserreich in 1918.

Hitler still stood defiant, and conducted a massive rally in Münster despite being aware that the city was a recurrent target of the RAF and the French Air Force.  He refused an offer from United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt to negotiate an end to the war with a return to the status quo ante bellum, but he was careful not to anger the U.S., no mean task, as a German U-boat had sunk the luxury liner SS Athenia in January, 1939. While Germany was able to successfully blame Britain for the sinking, Hitler took additional steps, including helping American tourist Peggy Druce, trapped in Europe since the outbreak of war, to go first to Denmark and then on to neutral Sweden after Denmark fell.  

In 1940, Hitler's fortunes changed dramatically (albeit temporarily) for the better when he sent his deputy, Rudolf Hess into Britain. Here, Hess was able to convince the governments of both Britain and France to end their war and arrange a new alliance where in Britain and France joined Germany in its war against the Soviet Union. Hungary and Slovakia also joined the alliance, as did Romania early the following year. Concurrently, Hitler announced plans to force the Jews in the former Czechoslovakia into ghettos.

While the coalition made substantial gains into Soviet territory in the following year, discontent in the British military led to an unprecedented coup d'état the Spring of 1941 which deposed the appeasement government of Horace Wilson. Britain then withdrew from the Soviet Union. As France remained a German ally, the British could not return ground troops to Europe, and concentrated on aerial bombings. Britain also engaged Italian forces in North Africa. As Britain gained the upper hand in the closing days of 1941, Hitler decided to aid his ally, opening a new front. In December 1941, France, which had been seeking to exit the German alliance, completed negotiations with Britain and the USSR, and withdrew from Russia. Now Germany was again fighting in both the east and the west.

Discontent with Hitler began to grow throughout 1941. Münster was a center, led in part by Bishop Clemens August von Galen, who was critical of the Nazis' euthanasia programs. Finally, Hitler overplayed his hand when the government arrested von Galen, prompting a round of demonstrations in Münster. In the spring of 1943, another demonstration in the square outside of Münster's cathedral erupted into violence when police officers fired on the crowd. While several protesters were shot, other were able to charge the line of police, inflicting damage in return.[15] In response, German government sent the SS into Münster, who fortified the cathedral.[16] While the people of Münster publicly accepted martial law, resentment boiled just below the surface.[17]

Hitler also grew more reckless with regards to the U.S., which had been attacked by Japan in January 1941. Despite this war, the U.S. continued to ships arms to Britain, France, and the USSR. Hitler issued an ultimatum that the U.S. would suffer consequences unless it ceased aiding the Allies. He further ordered that German troops were no longer to retreat.

Things continued to go poorly for Germany throughout the remainder of 1943 and into 1944. Münster continued to fester. Despite fortifications in the Low Countries, the Allies continued to press German positions in Belgium, and Soviet troops continued to move into Ukraine and Poland. Marshal Sanjurjo was killed by a sniper in Fall 1943.[18] Despite efforts to maintain his cult of personality, Hitler's popularity waned.[19]

Hitler's downfall came after a series of blunders. In the Winter of 1943, Münster erupted into open revolt, prompting marshal law.[20] Further, after months of tension, Hitler decided to initiate war with the United States when U-boats attacked several American merchant ships in March 1944.[21] This prompted several military leaders to form the Committee for the Salvation of the German Nation, with General Heinz Guderian as their leader. When Hitler decided to broadcast a speech from Münster in April, in an attempt to regain the country's trust, the group successfully assassinated him with a bomb, despite the heavy security measures the SS put into place.[22]

A civil war broke out almost immediately. Several of Hitler's would-be successors were arrested or killed. Ultimately, Guderian and the Committee triumphed.[23] Ironically, while Germany withdrew from the Low Countries, Denmark, Norway, France, and the USSR, Guderian was able to keep many of the territorial gains Hitler had made in 1938, including Austria, the Sudetenland, and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.[24]

Adolf Hitler in Or Even Eagle Flew

Or Even Eagle Flew
POD: July 2, 1937
Type of Appearance: Contemporary references

Amelia Earhart's disdain for Adolf Hitler Joseph Stalin and her belief that they could only be stopped by force prompted her decision to volunteer for the Allied Forces in May, 1940.[25] In June, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union, which eased Germany's attacks on the United Kingdom. Earhart relished the opportunity to fight the distracted Germans.[26]

Earhart did not live to see Hitler's defeat.

Adolf Hitler in "The Phantom Tolbukhin"

"The Phantom Tolbukhin"
POD: c. 1937
Type of Appearance: Contemporary references

By 1947, Adolf Hitler had led Germany to victory in the Second World War, but the Reich still faced resistance movements in its occupied territories.

Adolf Hitler in Joe Steele

Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany was concurrent with the rise of US President Joe Steele. The two shared a deep and abiding hatred of each other for most of the 1930s. For Steele, the conflict was political: he hated the ideology of Nazism and the threat it posed to order in Europe.[27]

Joe Steele
POD: 1878;
Relevant POD: July, 1932
Novel or Story?: Both
Type of Appearance: Contemporary references

Ironically, Steele used a number of tactics used by Hitler as part of his own reign. Steele used Hitler and Nazism as tools to denounce his enemies; investigations of Steele's critics very often turned up "ties" to Hitler. This was the case in with the Supreme Court Four,[28] Huey Long,[29] Father Coughlin[30] and a number of other supposed enemies.

For his part, Hitler paid little attention to the U.S. until March 1936, when Steele condemned Hitler's decision to remilitarize the Rhineland.[31] In addition to Hitler's actions, Steele condemned France's failure to respond. Hitler thumbed his nose at Steele, proclaiming that Steele had never been told that the U.S. did not have the right to fortify its own borders. Steele, clearly enjoying the essentially meaningless back-and-forth, reminded Hitler (and the world) that the U.S. border with Canada was 3000 miles long and completely unfortified, proving that trust counted more than fortifications.[32]

In March 1938, Hitler ordered the annexation of Austria,[33] and immediately began making claims on the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia.[34] Despite loud support from Steele and Soviet leader Leon Trotsky (who loathed each other more than either loathed Hitler), France and Britain, rather than fight Hitler, brokered a deal in which the Sudetenland was granted to Germany in September 1938.[35] Six months later, Germany annexed Bohemia and Moravia and created the independent Republic of Slovakia; Germany was now positioned to move on Poland, a situation the world at large was painfully aware of.[36]

Hitler now turned his attention to the Polish Corridor. Leon Trotsky, realizing that France and Britain could not be counted on, sent his foreign commissar, Maxim Litvinov to Berlin to negotiate a non-aggression pact with Litvinov's German counter-part, Joachim von Ribbentrop.[37] (Some found it ironic that the Jewish Trotsky had sent the Jewish Litvinov into the "world's capital of anti-Semitism."[38]) Germany invaded Poland a week later, setting off World War II.[39] The Soviet Union attacked Poland from the east a few weeks after that.[40]

Steele grew alarmed by Hitler's substantial successes from September 1939 through May 1940. When Germany defeated and occupied France, and forced British troops off the Continent, Steele realized that now only Britain stood between the U.S. and Germany in the Atlantic Ocean. He decided to supply Britain with arms and money, and pushed legislation through Congress. The American people accepted this plan, although they were still wary of entering the war directly.[41]

In early 1941, Hitler expanded Germany's military operations by invading North Africa, Yugoslavia and Greece in order to save Italy's floundering efforts.[42] In June, Hitler ordered the invasion of the Soviet Union, shredding the previous non-aggression pact. While many predicted the Soviets falling out of the war in six weeks, instead, they dug in and fought.[43] With prodding from Churchill, Steele began aiding Trotsky. While Hitler protested, he did not go to war with the U.S.[44] The German advance captured Kiev and Smolensk, but the fall rains reduced Russian roads to mud, effectively halting the advance.[45]

On 7 December 1941, Japan, Germany's nominal ally, attacked the U.S., prompting the U.S. to declare war on Japan on 8 December. Three days later, Hitler declared war on the U.S.[46] Germany began seeing a series of reversals the following year. The Soviets met German forces at Trotskygrad, held them, and were able to cut those forces off in the fall, prompting Steele to commend the Soviets on striking the Nazis a heavy blow.[47]  A few days later, U.S. General Omar Bradley led landing of US and British troops in North Africa, driving the German forces out of Egypt through Libya. While the plan had called for a complete capture of German troops, the Afrika Korps were able to fall back to Tunisia.[48]

Things were even worse for Germany in 1943. The remaining German troops in Trotskygrad surrendered. However, the German military decided to let the Soviet advance exceed its supply line, and launched a counter-attack, again putting the Soviets on the defensive.[49]

In 1944, the end of the war was in sight. General Bradley oversaw the successful invasion of Normandy, thereby opening the long anticipated second front in Europe.[50] Paris fell to the Allies quickly thereafter. The Soviets' drive prompted Finland and Bulgaria to exit the war, and Romania to change sides. While Germany was able to overrun Slovakia and Hungary, and to hold a line in Italy, the writing was on the wall.[51]

Germany was able to hold out until May 1945, when, with two armies bearing down on Germany, Hitler committed suicide (it was initially reported that Hitler had died fighting the Russians). Shortly after his death, Germany surrendered unconditionally.[52]

Literary comment

Hitler's role in the both the novel and the short story parallel OTL. The novel details the antagonism between Hitler and Steele more fully.

Adolf Hitler in "Christmas Truce"

"Christmas Truce"
POD: December 25, 1914
Type of Appearance: Direct POV
Date of Death: 1914
Cause of Death: Shot to death
Military Branch: Imperial German Army (Great War)

Gefreiter Adolf Hitler was a runner with the 16th Bavarian Infantry Reserve Regiment on the Belgian front of the Great War in 1914. The regiment which had taken horrific casualties while trying to force the British out of Ypres. Hitler and the remaining German troops made due with Messines as a billet, despite the extensive damage the town had taken.[53]

On Christmas Day, 1914, an informal truce broke out between the German and British troops in the trenches outside of town. Hitler, who was generally anti-social anyway, preferred to sequester himself in town and paint pictures rather than drink and celebrate with his comrades. However, an Unteroffizier named Oskar found him, and sent him to Leutnant Rombach, who in turn sent Hitler to the trenches to inform Ludwig Schnitzlein's company commander that he'd been granted compassionate leave. Hitler accepted the order without complaint, but did express frustration with the truce. Rombach promised to leave Hitler alone once he returned from his run. Hitler collected his Mauser and headed out to the trenches.[54]

As he walked, he considered the political situation broadly while taking in the devastation of the war. When he saw that the truce was indeed holding, he grew more disgusted still, especially as every other soldier he encountered was perfectly happy with the truce. After quizzing several Landsers, he was directed to Hauptmann Franz Wormser, and was apoplectic to learn that he'd gone out to meet with British officers.[55]

When Hitler finally found Wormser, the Hauptman was indeed talking to a pair of British officers. Moreover, he saw Germans and British troops kicking a football around and laughing. The laughter was too much; Hitler unslung his Mauser and began firing at the British officers. The first round missed, but the second found its mark, killing the officer. However, the other officer drew his gun and fired, killing Hitler.

The British officer and Wormser quickly re-established the truce. The British officer mourned his friend. For his part, Wormser had to look at Hitler's identity disk to even remember his name.[56]

Adolf Hitler in "Zigeuner"

"Zigeuner"
POD: c. 1914
Type of Appearance: Contemporary references

Adolf Hitler served on the Eastern Front of World War I. During his rise to power in Germany, Hitler claimed that while his division was fighting the Russian Empire, they also had to contend with the Zigeuner people. Hitler claimed that the Zigeuner stole horses, boots, and telegraph wire, helping to cause unnecessary German casualties.[57] At the same time, Hitler also saw how badly the Russians treated the Jews they found in the Austro-Hungarian provinces they overran. Hitler already hated the Russians, and their anti-Semitism left him sympathetic to the Jews. The Nazi Party adopted these racial positions.[58]

Upon his ascendancy, Hitler declared Zigeuner to be Untermenschen, along with Bolsheviks and homosexuals, and began persecuting them.[59] With the outbreak of World War II, Hitler directed the SS to round up and eliminate the Zigeuner they found in the areas Germany occupied. Hitler also directed Germany's allies to do the same thing. Thus, even as the Soviet Red Army had entered eastern Hungary in October 1944, SS Hauptsturmführer Joseph Stieglitz oversaw the capture and deportation of a Zigeuner village near Nagylengyel in western Hungary.[60]

Adolf Hitler in "Uncle Alf"

"Uncle Alf"
POD: c. 1913
Type of Appearance: Direct narrator
Occupation: Military Police Officer
Military Branch: Imperial German Army (Great War);
Feldgendarmerie
Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1974-082-44, Adolf Hitler im Ersten Weltkrieg

Hitler and his comrades from the Feldgendarmerie.

Feldwebel Adolf Hitler of the German Feldgendarmerie was sent to Lille, in occupied France in May 1929, with orders to capture communist agitator Jacques Doriot. He shared his experiences in letters to his niece, Geli Raubal. In Hitler's view, the French were a degraded race, and deserved their defeat in the Great War of 1914. But Hitler was also disgusted with how complacent and corrupt the local German officers in Lille had become. Under the guise of Koppensteiner, a traveling merchant from Antwerp, Belgium, Hitler was able to get a lead on Doriot. Nonetheless, he had to overcome the laziness of a fat sergeant, and convince Brigadier Philipp Engelhardt (whose life Hitler had saved during the war) to raid a meeting at the residence of fortune-teller Madame Lea. Hitler fanatically believed Doriot would be there, although he had no direct evidence of this, but willingly put his career on the line. Hitler's confidence in himself was justified; Doriot was present, and Hitler was able to arrest the subversive gathering nearly single-handedly.[61]

Adolf Hitler in "Must and Shall"

"Must and Shall"
POD: July 12, 1864
Type of Appearance: Contemporary references

Adolf Hitler led Germany during the Second World War. His plan to plunge the United States into a second civil war was foiled by the FBS in 1942.[62]

Adolf Hitler in Southern Victory

Adolf Hitler was a sergeant in the Imperial German Army. He served in the Great War and was awarded the Iron Cross, First Degree, which was rarely given to enlisted men. He accompanied Lt. Col. Heinz Guderian to Canada in February 1927 and met U.S. Army Colonel Irving Morrell. During his brief visit to Morrell's office, he expressed virulent hatred for the Jews. He alienated Morrell's Jewish aide, Ike Horwitz. He reminded Morrell of Jake Featherston, the leader of the Freedom Party down in the Confederate States.[63]

Southern Victory
POD: September 10, 1862
Appearance(s): The Center Cannot Hold
Type of Appearance: Direct (unnamed)
Occupation: Soldier
Military Branch: Imperial German Army
(Great War)

Literary comment

While Hitler is not named in the text, Harry Turtledove has confirmed that the character is indeed Hitler.[64]

See Also

References

  1. https://www.tor.com/2020/11/30/no-period-harry-turtledove/
  2. See, e.g.,Counting Up, Counting Down, pg. 255.
  3. Ibid., 242.
  4. Ibid., p. 243.
  5. Curious Notions, pg. 24.
  6. The Gladiator, pgs. 140-141.
  7. See Bombs Away, generally.
  8. The Man With the Iron Heart, generally.
  9. See, e.g., Counting Up, Counting Down, pgs. 86-88, TPB, 87-89, mmp.
  10. Upsetting the Balance, p. 426-427, HC.
  11. See, e.g., Atlantis and Other Places, pg. 112.
  12. In the Presence of Mine Enemies, generally
  13. Ibid., pg. 9.
  14. Ibid., pg. 251.
  15. Two Fronts, pg. 358.
  16. Ibid., pg. 386-387.
  17. Ibid., pg. 387.
  18. Last Orders, pg. 144-146.
  19. Ibid., pgs. 108-109.
  20. Ibid., pgs. 116-119.
  21. Ibid., pgs. 269-70.
  22. Ibid., pg. 300.
  23. Ibid., pg. 382.
  24. Ibid., pgs. 318-320.
  25. Or Even Eagle Flew, pgs. 1-2, loc. 48-53, ebook.
  26. Ibid, pg. 107, loc. 1183.
  27. Joe Steele, pg. 98.
  28. Ibid., pg. 88.
  29. Ibid. pg. 106
  30. Ibid.
  31. Ibid. pg., 87.
  32. Ibid., pgs. 134-135.
  33. Ibid., pg. 195.
  34. Ibid. pg. 196.
  35. Ibid., pg. 202-203.
  36. Ibid., pgs. 205-207.
  37. Ibid, pg. 212.
  38. Ibid.
  39. Ibid. pg. 214.
  40. Ibid., pg. 215.
  41. Ibid., pgs. 223-224.
  42. Ibid., pg. 234.
  43. Ibid., pgs. 235-236.
  44. Ibid., pgs. 239-242.
  45. Ibid., pg. 243.
  46. Ibid., pgs. 248-249.
  47. Ibid., pgs. 265-267.
  48. Ibid, pg. 268.
  49. Ibid, pgs. 270-271.
  50. Ibid., pgs. 290-292.
  51. Ibid., pg. 295-296.
  52. Ibid. pg. 299.
  53. Asimov's Science Fiction, November/December, 2019, Vol. 43 Nos. 11 & 12, pgs. 46-47.
  54. Ibid., pgs. 47-48.
  55. Ibid., pgs. 49-50.
  56. Ibid., pgs. 50-51.
  57. Asimov's Science Fiction, September/October, 2017, Vol. 41 Nos. 9 & 10, pg. 94-95.
  58. Ibid., pg. 100.
  59. Ibid., pg. 99.
  60. Ibid., pg. 92-99.
  61. See, e.g., Atlantis and Other Places, pgs. 335-369.
  62. See, e.g., Counting Up, Counting Down, pg. 65.
  63. The Center Cannot Hold, pgs. 170-171.
  64. See, e.g. https://twitter.com/HNTurtledove/status/963162319311142912
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