1Hitler assassination attempts
There were over 40 assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler.
2. After Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals in the 1936 Olympics held in Berlin, Adolf Hitler sent Owens a commemorative inscribed cabinet photograph of himself. Honors were not bestowed upon Jesse Owens by either President Franklin D. Roosevelt or his successor Harry S. Truman during their terms.
3. When coming to power in January 1933, the Nazi Party passed a comprehensive set of animal protection laws, with Hitler saying "In the new Reich, no more animal cruelty will be allowed."
4. A German author published his novel in 2012 called Er ist Wieder da (He's back again) in which Hitler wakes up in modern Berlin with no memories since 1945 and becomes a comedian.
5. The French Resistance cut the elevator cables to the Eiffel Tower to keep Hitler from visiting it during his visit when Paris fell. When faced with the prospect of climbing over 1500 stairs, he opted out.
Latest FactRepublic Video:
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
6Anti-Smoking movement
Hitler orchestrated what was the most powerful anti-smoking movement in the world during the 1930s and early 1940s.
7. Nearly all profits from Hitler’s "Mein Kampf", his image and his artwork go to charity. Bavaria owns the rights and sometimes has difficulty finding a charity to accept them, as they are widely considered "blood money."
8. One of Hitler's personal chauffeurs (Emil Maurice) and close friends was found to be Jewish and was targeted for expulsion from the SS by Heinrich Himmler. Upon hearing that Maurice was of Jewish descent Hitler made an exception for Maurice and his brothers calling them "honorary Aryans."
9. If Hitler's father hadn't changed his name in 1877, Hitler's name would have been "Adolf Schicklgruber."
10. After a total war economy was instituted in 1943, Hitler had the women's cosmetics industry gradually closed down rather than banned outright to avoid upsetting Eva Braun.
11Museum of An Extinct Race
Hitler planned to collect thousands of Jewish artifacts to build the "Museum of An Extinct Race."
12. To foster infighting and maximize power, Adolf Hitler used to intentionally give contradicting orders to officers whose duties he knew would overlap.
13. Hitler accidentally bombed his nephew's house in Liverpool, so the nephew moved to the United States to fight with the Allies.
14. Hitler grew to hate soccer because it couldn't be fixed to ensure German victory over non-Germans.
15. Hitler wrote a second book after Mein Kampf in 1928. In it, he describes why he would go to war in Europe and how he admired US eugenics programs. It was never published because he feared it would hurt already-low Mien Kampf sales.
16Eduard Bloch
Hitler had a Jewish-Austrian doctor who didn't charge Hitler's family during his childhood due to their economic hardship. Because of this Hitler showed his "Everlasting Gratitude" by never sentencing him to a concentration camp, had him protected, by the Gestapo, and referred to him as "Noble Jew".
17. The plans to assassinate Adolf Hitler were canceled because it was feared his successor would be a more rational and effective leader.
18. When the battle of Stalingrad seemed lost for the Germans, Hitler expected his General, F. Paulus, to commit suicide. His response was: "I have no intention of shooting myself for this Bohemian corporal". Paulus surrendered on Feb 2, 1943.
19. Adolf Hitler never regarded the Chinese and Japanese as inferior to the Aryans. He thought that "their past history was superior to our own."
20. Hitler banned the Nobel Prize and created his own German National Prize for Art and Science and awarded one to Ferdinand Porsche, who developed the world's first hybrid car, as well as the Volkswagen Beetle.
21German POWs
Hitler admired the Greek resistance to the invading German army so much that he ordered the release of all Greek POWs for "their gallant bearing."
22. The Nazi party tried to turn Christmas into a nonreligious holiday celebrating the coming of Hitler, with Saint Nicholas replaced by Odin the "Solstice Man" and swastikas on top of Christmas trees.
23. When the D-Day forces landed, Hitler was asleep. None of his generals dared send reinforcements without his permission, and no-one dared wake him.
24. A Jewish lawyer called Hans Litten put rising politician Adolf Hitler in the witness box and cross-examined him for 3 hours. Litten was later arrested when the Nazis came into power and was brutally tortured for 5 years until he committed suicide.
25. The stock broker hand signal for the Deutsche Bank is the index finger horizontally under the nose. Its origin: Hitler's mustache.