Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born Germanpolitician and the leader of the Nazi Party from 1933 until his death in 1945. He and his Nazi government are known for causing World War II and the Holocaust, which killed millions.
Hitler became the leader of the Nazi Party in 1921. In 1923, he attempted to seize governmental power in a failed coup in Munich and was imprisoned with a sentence of five years. In jail, he dictated the first volume of his autobiography and political manifesto Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"). He led them to become the most powerful political party in Germany after the 1932 elections. He began running the government when he became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933. The Nazis banned all other political parties and turned Germany into a dictatorship (meaning that the government was ruled by one person). Hitler's dictatorship is known as Nazi Germany, also known as the Third Reich (meaning "Third Empire" or "Third Realm"). Hitler called himself the Führer (meaning "leader") after the year 1934.