Early Life

Adolf Hitler was born in the small town of Braunau, Austria in 1889. He was the fourth child in his family. His father was a minor customs official for the government, which required the family to move to a number of small towns in Austria. His mother always indulged Hitler as a boy, and they grew very close.

While in elementary school, Hitler was a good student, but later he did poorly in high school. He did not make many friends because the family moved so often. With the death of his father, he dropped out of school at the age of 14. Although left school, Hitler did not immediately look for a job. Instead, he stayed at home reading books, listening to music and painting pictures. It was during this period that he decided that his life ambition was to become an artist. At age 19, Adolf moved to Vienna, the capital of Austria-Hungary, to attend art school.

Upon arriving in Vienna, he immediately applied to the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. This was one of the most prestigious art schools in Europe. His application was rejected because the school felt that he lacked talent. Hitler had a number of technical problems in his painting, especially the ability to draw in perspective.

Upon his rejection from the art academy, Hitler was forced to take odd jobs in order to make a living in Vienna. Some of these jobs included working as a carpet cleaner, shoveling snow door-to-door, and painting postcards to sell on the streets.