Adolf Hitler was born 135 years ago today, on 20 April 1889, in Braunau am Inn, Austria. A year ago on this date I posted an article specifically highlighting events from Hitler’s 50th birthday. This year let’s take a look at how this momentous occasion came to be celebrated annually across Germany both publicly and privately amongst Hitler’s close associates in this growing album of photographs that cover the years between 1932 to 1945.

The first of Hitler’s birthdays to be formally recognized and celebrated was Hitler’s 34th birthday in 1923. The occasion was observed with an official NSDAP celebration with speeches given in his honor. Bright red posters were hung all across the center of Munich announcing that ‘our Führer’ will be speaking at a massive gathering that evening at the Circus Krone. Several thousand people came out to hear Hitler speak. As Benito Mussolini had recently became the Italian prime minister, Hitler’s propagandists in Bavaria presented him as the ‘German Mussolini’ as thousands of jubilant men and women proceeded to witness his unfolding potential as the new ‘Bismarck’ or ‘Friedrich the Great’.

1932

Adolf Hitler began the day of his 43rd birthday in Königsberg, where his accompanying command gifted him with a new dog whip. As Hitler was deep in the midst of an aggressive campaigning schedule, he planned to travel on to several cities on his airplane in a final push to garner votes. First he took a flight to Schkeuditz, where he spoke to a small gathering 1000 people. A short drive to Halle followed for a speech at the racecourse at the Passendorfer Wiesen in front of 35,000 listeners. Another flight to Lohfelden and short drive to Kassel for a speech given in a tent on General-Scheffer-Straße in front of 40,000 listeners. A concluding flight to Cölbe and Marburg for a speech in a tent on the Bürgerwiese in front of 20,000 listeners. Hitler spoke to close to 100,000 people spanning across four different cities in just one day.

The following rare photograph also taken on Hitler’s 43rd birthday featured the caption: “The leader at the major rally in Marburg. Little well-wishers bring him congratulations on his birthday. April 20, 1932″. On his 43rd birthday, Adolf Hitler spoke to “40,000 comrades” in a giant tent that the SA had erected on Marburg’s Bürgerwiese because of the ban on outdoor rallies. The picture shows him before or after his speech in the marquee, when children gave him small bouquets of flowers for his birthday. On the wall of the tent is the slogan “Germany Awake! Vote List 8″. The Prussian provincial election was held four days later with the results making the NSDAP the largest party in Prussia, winning 36% of the vote and garnering 162 of the 423 seats in the Landtag.

1933

In 1933 Adolf Hitler’s Birthday was declared an official National Socialist holiday. Numerous street renamings occured to mark the occasion, and both Hindenburg and Hitler were appointed honorary citizens of Bavaria. Gifts poured in to the chancellory, and cake was served to children who had gathered for the days festivities in Berlin. Hitler’s only wish was that no German would go hungry on his birthday. To honor his request restaurants gave away free meals, beer houses gave out free sandwiches, and the kitchens of private homes were opened to the needy. The National Socialists had for days been collecting funds for the event, and they distributed bread, sausage and coffee at their numerous barracks and dining halls.

Meanwhile Adolf Hitler celebrated his 44th birthday at his holiday home in Berchtesgaden. Many well-wishers gathered just as they did each day outside the gates of his private residence to offer him gifts and large bouquets of flowers. Joseph Goebbels made a radio address from Berlin entitled “Our Hitler!” which lauded the “mysterious” and “indescribable magic of his personality“ towards which masses of people were drawn as “Germany’s hope”. Party members and Stahlhelms attended a special service held in the Berlin Cathedral where many hymns were sung in praise and gratitude. Buildings and homes flew Nazi flags in cities and villages all across Germany. President Hindenburg sent a personal message of gratitude for Hitler’s patriotic work. There were thousands of telegrams, wines, tobacco, flowers, and handywork sent by women to honor the Chancellor. Hitler’s favorite flower, the edelweiss, was sold everywhere, with all the proceeds donated to a children’s charity fund at his bequest.

1934

On Friday morning, 20 April 1934, Adolf Hitler departed from the Hotel Bube in Bad Berneck to head back towards his home in Munich. Often he would stop in the small town of Eichstätt on his frequent road trips between Berlin and Munich, especially to indulge in lunch or coffee at the Waldschlösschen. The Waldschlösschen restaurant was apparently swarming with brown-shirted party soldiers and an increasing assembly of well-wishers as Hitler stopped to enjoy coffee and cake for his 45th birthday. Once he had resumed his journey on back towards Munich, his car apparently got stuck in a traffic jam during road construction work near the Lohrmannshof. It was reported that the chancellor “was the subject of a hearty ovation from the construction workers.”

1935

The following year Hitler spent his 46th birthday in Berlin, and the days proceedings were much more official. Hitler began the day at the Reich Chancellery receiving guests of all ages bearing special gifts and well-wishes. Hitler was also presented with about 60 new war planes in honor of his 46th birthday. In the garden of the Reichs Presidential Palace he was treated to a musical repertoire performed by the Musikkorps der Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. In the evening he flew to Munich for a private reception amongst his inner circle and some time for rest and relaxation.

1936

Hitler celebrated his 47th birthday in Berlin with a massive parade at the Lustgarten. Loudly cheered on by tremendous crowds, Hitler took the salute as 14,000 troops marched past along with 400 tanks and dozens of trucks fitted out with powerful anti-aircraft guns. Heading back to the Chancellory by open car he accepted another parade of an SS battalion from the balcony and joined a reception of the Wehrmacht leadership. Werner von Blomberg becomes the first general field marshal of the Wehrmacht.

1937

An extensive military parade was held on the occasion of Hitler’s 48th Birthday in Berlin. In the afternoon an unveiling of a model of the “Great Hall”, an architecture project of Adolf Hitler and the architect Albert Speer in the course of the realization of a world capital “Germania”. The massive domed hall would offer space for 150,000 to 200,000 spectators. Hitler stated “Our large cultural buildings in Berlin and Nuremberg will ridicule all other domes in dimension.” Foundation of the National Socialist Air Force. The party-owned foundation of the NSDAP “Adolf-Hitler-Dank” is founded with the aim of supporting party comrades in need. Flight to Munich in the evening.

1938

At 10 a.m. on the morning of Adolf Hitler’s 49th birthday he accepted a parade of the SA down Wilhelmstraße in Berlin. Around 11 a.m. a troop parade commenced in front of the University of Unter den Linden. In the afternoon Ferdinand Porsche presented Hitler with a small model of the Volkswagen Beetle as a gift. Around 7 p.m. Hitler attended the world premiere of the “Olympia” films “Festival of the Peoples” and “Festival of Beauty” in the Ufa-Palast am Zoo. A reception followed in the Ministry of Propaganda.

During his term of service in WW1, Adolf Hitler had visited Berlin on three different occasions during his time in the 16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment. After his return to the Western Front from his first visit in 1916, he raved so much about the capital that his comrade Richard Arendt invited him to spend his first regular vacation in October 1917 with his parents, who lived in the Berlin working-class district of Prenzlauer Berg. The visit apparently fully met his expectations, as the postcards that the tourist Hitler wrote give this impression: “The city is great. Really a cosmopolitan city. The traffic is still enormous even now. I’m away almost all day. I finally have the opportunity to study the museums a little better. In short: I don’t miss anything,” is what he reported on 6 October in a letter to his war comrade Ernst Schmidt. Hitler also sent three postcards of this holiday to his superior Max Amann, the later managing director of the NSDAP. On the 8th In October he stated that he only regretted “that my days here are going so fast”. 

1939

Adolf Hitler arose at the crack of dawn on the morning of his 50th birthday, contrary to his usual habit of lying in until noon. As a national public holiday had been decreed, the day ahead of him was packed full of a series of events including a massive parade and several receptions to honor the occasion. Heinz Linge, his valet, recalled the Führer’s preparation for the festivities: “The Führer donned his brown Party uniform…[and] put on the golden dress belt of a German general as Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht. He stood before the mirror in his bedroom for ages, feasting his eyes on his own image like a peacock and repeatedly adjusting his jacket.”

Hitler’s presents, 1,000 in all, including marble statues, Meissen porcelain, tapestries and oil paintings, were laid out on tables in a massive hall in the Reich Chancellery. Awareness of the Führer’s propensity for consuming sweets, cakes also came pouring in, some in the shape of tanks, along with cookies and chocolate tarts in the shape of swastikas. Hitler’s 50th birthday bash was the most expensive party ever thrown in Europe’s history, with a cost (accommodating inflation) estimated at $300 million US dollars.

1940

Hitler spent his 51st birthday in Berlin. It was a very quiet and subdued affair compared to all previous years due to the crisis developing in Norway. Just one week prior, a British combat group had succeeded in sinking ten German destroyers in the Narvik Fjord. The day before, Hitler had held an emergency meeting with Gauleiter Josef Terboven about the evolving situation in Norway. A few days later Hitler would appoint the Essen Gauleiter Terboven as the Reich Commissioner for Norway.

1941

In the Führer mobile headquarters ‘Frühlingssturm’ Hitler celebrated his 52nd Birthday with congratulatory speeches given by Göring, Keitel and Himmler. A reception of the Foreign Minister of Italy Count Ciano followed. In addition to Ciano, Bulgaria’s King Boris III, Franz von Papen (then Germany’s ambassador to Turkey), Commander-in-Chief Walther von Brauchitsch, and Grand Admiral Erich Raeder were among many others who joined in the festivities. On the 24th of April, the Hungarian Reichsverweser Admiral Miklos Horthy visited Hitler in order to secure Hungary a territorial share in a division of Yugoslavia. Hitler also announced to the naval leadership his decision to accept the recently carried out checks carried out by sea patrols of the United States of America for the area of the Atlantic.

The movable Führer headquarters with the code name “Spring Storm” served Adolf Hitler from the 12th to the 25th of April 1941 as a place to lead the Balkan campaign. Located near the Austrian town of Mönichkirchen, a secure parking place was chosen for Hitler’s special train from where he could lead the campaign.

1942

It was at the Führer headquarters Wolfsschanze that Adolf Hitler’s 53rd birthday was celebrated. Around noon a solemn congratulations came from a large number of well-wishers, including young children that had arrived to sing for the Führer. A short drive followed that afternoon, heading east to the village of Partsch (now Parcz, Poland) for a demonstration of two new tanks of the “Tiger” type. Drive back to the Führer headquarters Wolfsschanze.

1943

Hitler’s 54th birthday took place quietly amongst members his private inner-circle on the Obersalzburg, without any public fanfare or celebrations. Hitler didn’t arise until well after noon and took a late breakfast just before a 1:35 p.m. situation lecture. After a 3 p.m. lunch he started looking through all the gifts set up for him in the dining room of the Berghof. Just after 4:00, Emmy Göring arrived for a visit with her daughter Edda, before Hitler took a 5:30 p.m. walk up to the Teehaus am Mooslahnerkopf. The day concluded with a 10:15 p.m. situation lecture followed by a very late dinner at 10:40 p.m.

“The embodiment of the German soul” … Himmler gifted a set of 18th-century Meissen porcelain figurines on Hitler’s birthday on 20 April 1943. The porcelain factory Allach was acquired by Heinrich Himmler in 1936 to produce works of art that would represent, in Himmler’s eyes, true Germanic culture. Himmler founded Allach Porcelain as he believed in art for every German home, but “first of all in the homes of my SS men”. Most of the figurines manufactured were white, per Himmler’s request.

1944

Adolf Hitler began his 55th birthday on the Obersalzberg. He took a car trip towards Kleßheim Castle to visit tanks assembled along the motorway, including a new development of the hunting tank “Hetzer”. A reception for General Hans-Valentin Hube followed as he was awarded the Diamonds to the Knights Cross. Hube was killed the following day when the Heinkel He 111 aircraft that was transporting him from Reichenhall-Berchtesgaden Airport in Ainring to the Eastern Front crashed shortly after take-off on 21 April 1944.

Below are two photograph of Adolf Hitler wearing his reading glasses and looking at a watercolor he received as a gift for his 55th birthday; in the background is Hermann Göring and the personal adjutant SS leader Julius Schaub.

1945

The 20th of April in 1945 was the 56th and the last birthday of Adolf Hitler. At midnight, General Wilhelm Burgdorf, SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein, Julius Schaub and others had gathered in the anteroom of Hitler’s bunker beneath Berlin. Hitler told them that he doesn’t have time for a situation meeting but eventually appears reluctantly. Colonel Hans-Ulrich Rudel concludes the meeting at 1 a.m. but at 9 a.m. Hitler is awoken to the message that the front between Guben and Forst has broken through. Around 11.30 a.m. grenades start falling across the city center of Berlin with birthday greetings for Hitler.

Up to this point there had been 400 Allied air raids on Berlin, more than on any other German city. Hitler passed the afternoon playing with his favorite puppy named Wolf. Reception in the study of the New Reich Chancellery for officers of the Army Group Mitte, officials of the NSDAP and others. Hitler accepts the birthday congratulations coolly and reluctantly. Statements “I leave it to fate whether I die in the capital or whether I fly to Obersalzberg at the last moment (…). I will never leave Berlin – never! The end is here, I can’t go any further, I’m left with death. I will fall on the steps of the Reich Chancellery.”

Last reception and last entry in the guestbook by the Thai envoy. Hitler is in the upper area of the New Reich Chancellery for the last time. He visits the hospital in the large bunker of the New Reich Chancellery. At 5 p.m. inspection of members of the tenth armored division of the SS “Frundsberg” as well as twenty Hitler Youth and a delegation of the Kurland Army in the garden. Hitler shakes everyone’s hand and talks with each individual. Then he gives a short speech “Our belief that the battle for Berlin can be won must remain unbroken! The situation can be compared to that of a terminally ill patient. (…). Now we have to be ready (…) to force the final victory! It’s important to persevere with an iron will! Hail yourselves!” For seconds it is completely quiet, no one returns Hitler’s greeting. Professor Dr. Hugo-Johannes Blaschke, Hitler’s personal dentist, meets Hitler on the stairs to the bunker. Hitler states, “Blaschke, these are difficult times, but we will prevail.”