Random Freaky Coincidences That Aided Hitler's Rise to Power (10 items)

• 

  (#6) Hitler's First Suicide Attempt Was Thwarted by an American

  In the years following the First World War, Hitler maneuvered his way into the leadership position of the fledgling National Socialist Party, and on November 8-9 1923, staged the Nazis' first attempt at a coup d'etat of the Weimer Republic government. The infamous Beer Hall Putsch failed completely, making fugitives of Hitler and his followers, who were now wanted for treason.

  While many Nazis fled to Austria for refuge, Hitler experienced car trouble on the way and instead sought a hiding place at the home of his friends Helen and Ernst “Putzi” Hanfstaengl, in Uffing, just outside of Munich. "Putzi," the husband, had been involved in the Putsch and had fled to Austria with the other Nazis, but the wife, Helen, had remained home.

  A young American who had met and married Ernst in New York, Helen took her friend Adolf in and agreed to shelter him while he tried to find passage to Austria. But it wasn't long before Bavarian police caught up to Hitler and he found himself trapped in the Hanfstaengl house instead.

  When Helen informed him that the police were on the way to arrest him, Hitler proclaimed, “Now all is lost - no use going on!”... and snatched up his revolver from the nearby cabinet.

  Helen grabbed Hitler's arm and took the pistol away from him. She then gave him a pep talk and convinced him to carry on for the sake of his men and other followers.

  By the time police arrived, Hitler had regained enough of his self-confidence to berate them as he was being arrested. It didn't work, and he was taken away anyway, but Helen's quick thinking and inspiration had averted a possible Hitler suicide that could have spared the world years of horror and pain.
• 

  (#10) The Valkyrie Plot Failed to Kill Hitler

  On 20 July 1944, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg planted a bomb in Hitler's secret "Wolf's Lair" hideout in what should have been a flawless plan. After all, Hitler was going to be standing right next to the brief case containing the bomb when it went off. But at the last minute, one of the Nazi generals in the room, who wasn't involved in the plot, moved the brief case behind one of the table's thick wooden supports. As a result, when the bomb went off, Hitler escaped the blast with only an injured arm. Four other high-ranking Nazis were killed, of course, but not the main target of the attack.

  This lucky break by Hitler came at the end of a long string of logistical obstacles that plagued Col. von Stauffenberg over the course of the previous weeks. The colonel had attempted to kill Hitler several other times, but had always been thwarted by circumstances beyond his control.

  He'd also spear-headed a coup d'etat that was meant to follow the bombing, and might still have succeeded despite Hitler's survival had it not fallen apart due to a combination of bad timing, ineptitude by his co-conspirators, and simple cowardice.

  The plot's failure led to the executions of more than 5000 people and effectively ended the internal German resistance movement. Col. von Stauffenberg was executed the very next day, but his memory lived on, and his heroism became the subject of the famous Tom Cruise film Valkyrie.
• 

  (#8) Hitler Narrowly Escaped Death in a Car Accident

  By the start of the 1930s, Hitler was a popular right-wing leader heavily involved in political campaigning, already with his eyes on the prize of becoming Germany's ruler. But a car accident on March 13 of that year nearly ended it all.

  According to Major General Otto Wagener, who was at the time Hitler's economic advisor, a heavy tractor truck collided with Hitler's Mercedes and almost crushed the future Fuhrer in the resulting crash. Wagener was a passenger in the car at the time, and said that the truck's driver managed to brake just short of crushing the car. Just a split second later, and Hitler would have been killed, or severely crippled.
• 

  (#4) Hitler Survived a Lethal Gas Attack

  Another of Hitler's famous World War I run-ins with death occurred shortly after his encounter with Pvt. Tandey. Serving with the German army in the Ypres Salient in Belgium, Hitler was exposed to mustard gas launched in a shell from the British lines. Though mustard gas is usually deadly, Hitler walked away only with a case of temporary blindness.

  As a result of his injury from this attack, Hitler rode out the rest of the war at a military hospital in Pomerania, and ultimately learned of the war's end while convalescing there. The news shocked him so deeply it solidified his belief that Germany was being betrayed by all manner of secret conspiracies, and sent him on the path of political radicalism.

  Hitler used this attack heavily in propaganda about his war hero image, but years after his death, it was revealed that his blindness was likely the result of mental illness rather than a side effect of mustard gas. Hitler purged all the medical records he could find about the incident, to bolster his war hero image. But ultimately, the truth came out, though sadly not soon enough to damage the Fuhrer while he lived.
• 

  (#9) Fog Saved Hitler from Assassination

  On November 8, 1939, Nazi Party faithful followers and VIPs were gathering for an annual meeting at the Bürgerbräukeller, the beer hall from which Hitler had launched his first attempt to seize power in Germany. Security was assumed to be tight, but unknown to everyone, a bomb had been planted in a hollowed-out pillar behind the speaker's rostrum, where the Fuhrer was soon scheduled to make an address to the Nazi party's founders.

  Both the bomb and the hollowed-out column were the work of a lone would-be assassin named Johann Georg Elser, a leftist who'd spent months secretly staying in the beer hall after hours so he could hollow out the column. He'd set the bomb's timer to go off at 9:20 p.m., when Hitler was supposed to have been well into his remarks (the Fuhrer had been scheduled to speak for about an hour at 8:30 p.m.).

  But the weather interfered with Elser's plan. Heavy fog had forced Hitler to cancel his flight to Berlin and make use of a train instead. As a result of this last minute change of plans, he began his beer hall speech 30 minutes early, at 8 p.m., and had left the premises entirely by 9:07... 13 minutes before the bomb went off.

  Of course, the bomb still exploded, killing eight people and wounding 60. But Adolf Hitler was not among them. He was already on his way to the train station.

  Elser was captured at the Swiss border, and later confessed to his assassination attempt. He died in the Dachau concentration camp on 9 April 1945.
• 

  (#1) Hitler Was Rescued from Drowning by a Future Priest

  Believe it or not, Hitler was a kid once, too. And it was a childhood accident in winter of 1894 that may have been the first example of an evil supernatural guardian influencing others to protect young Adolf.

  In January of that year, then-5-year old Adolf Hitler was playing tag with some other kids near the shores of the Inn River in Passau, Germany. Running out onto the thin ice of the river, Hitler fell through into the freezing water flowing down from the mountains, and struggled to stay afloat in the fast and frigid current.

  He likely would have drowned or frozen to death then and there, were it not for the bravery of his parents' landlord's son, Johann Kuehberger. Young Johann spotted little Adolf struggling, and dove into the river to help him. Johann successfully pulled Adolf to shore, thus saving his life.

  Johann was about the same age as Adolf at the time, and became a renowned priest when he grew up. He told his successor, Max Tremmel, that he had saved Hitler as a boy, thus helping ensure the future Nazi leader's rise to power.

New Random Displays    Display All By Ranking