These two men are Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Who was worse? Who was better?

What did they have in common? These are some of the questions that will be answered.

These two men from two different places, from two different families, who grew up two

different ways, turned out to be the same. And that similarity is what brought down their

Adolf Hitler was born April 20, 1889, in Braunau-am-Inn, Austria, of German

descent. His father ,Alois, was the illegitimate son of Maria Anna Schlicklgruber. Alois

took the name Hitler from his paternal grandfather. When Alois Hitler's first two wives

died he married his foster daughter Klara Poelzi of Bavaria, who was 23 years younger

than himself. Klara would become the mother of the dictator Adolf.

Alois was a petty customs officer who wanted Adolf to study for a government position. Hitler wrote later "the thought of slaving in an office made me ill. . .not to be the master of my own time"(Mein Kampf). Hitler mostly spent his school hours daydreaming of becoming a famous painter. When he was paying attention in school he especially

1) "Hitler, Adolf" Compton's Encyclopedia Online. Compton's Learning Company

6) Man of The Year. Time Magazine. Time Warner Inc. 1999-2000

Stalin explained to his Politburo his reasons for signing the pact. Stalin said that a European war was necessary for communism to dominate Europe. The pact would cause Hitler to attack Poland, thus bringing England and France into war with Germany. When chaos prevailed in Europe, then the U.S.S.R could join in the war and sweep up the pieces. He also could have signed it because he had no alternative. The western powers denied his offer for an alliance so he went to the Germans. He might have wanted to return to the Rapallo (1922), a policy of friendship and cooperation between the two nations. He was trying to obtain security for the Soviet Union by any means necessary.

On September 28, 1939, the Germans and the Soviets signed the Treaty of Friendship and Borders. This treaty gave Germany more Polish territory than the secret protocol of August 23. Another new secret protocol was developed, which recognized the whole of Lithuania as part of the Soviet sphere of influence (later Stalin paid Hitler $3,000,000 in gold for Western Lithuania). And yet another secret protocol set mutual cooperation to repress all Polish "agitation". This meant that the Gestapo and the NKVD had to work together against any Polish resistance that might take place during the Soviet and German occupation of Poland. The German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact became a dead letter on June 22,1941 when Nazi Germany launched Operation: Barbarossa against the U.S.S.R.

His father died when Adolf was only 13 years old. At this time he soon began experimenting with watercolor painting but did not achieve much. Then 6 years later when he was 19 his mother passed away. Adolf then moved to Vienna and tried to get into the Academy of Arts. They rejected him saying that he was untalented. After this blow, Hitler struggled as a laborer in the building trades and by painting cheap postcards.

Some common words found in the essay are:
National Socialism, Joseph Stalin, Charles Darwin, Mein Kampf, Bolsheviks Stalin, Serbs Croats, Lenin Stalin, Italy Fascism, Nazis Germans, Stalin He's, german workers, joseph stalin, adolf hitler, german workers party, secret protocol, workers party, operation barbarossa, mein kampf, field marshall, nonaggression pact, commanded field, commanded field marshall, wrote mein kampf, read false confessions, german-soviet nonaggression pact,
Approximate Word count = 5567
Approximate Pages = 22 (250 words per page double spaced)