what political party was hitler the leader of?
Nazi Party
entailment
 Hitler made a prominent appearance at the trial of two Reichswehr officers , Lieutenants Richard Scheringer and Hans Ludin , in late 1930 . Both were charged with membership in the NSDAP , at that time illegal for Reichswehr personnel . The prosecution argued that the NSDAP was an extremist party , prompting defence lawyer Hans Frank to call on Hitler to testify . On 25 September 1930 , Hitler testified that his party would pursue political power solely through democratic elections , which won him many supporters in the officer corps . 

entailment
 The Nazi Party 's rise to power provided Himmler and the SS an unfettered opportunity to thrive . By 1933 , the SS numbered 52 @,@ 000 members . Strict membership requirements ensured that all members were of Hitler 's Aryan Herrenvolk ( " Aryan master race " ) . Applicants were vetted for Nordic qualities — in Himmler 's words , " like a nursery gardener trying to reproduce a good old strain which has been adulterated and debased ; we started from the principles of plant selection and then proceeded quite unashamedly to weed out the men whom we did not think we could use for the build @-@ up of the SS . " Few dared mention that by his own standards , Himmler did not meet his own ideals . 

entailment
 The Nazi Party won the special federal election of 1932 . After a series of unsuccessful cabinets , Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany in 1933 . After the Reichstag fire , a decree abrogated basic civil rights and within weeks the first Nazi concentration camp at Dachau opened . The Enabling Act of 1933 gave Hitler unrestricted legislative power ; subsequently , his government established a centralised totalitarian state , withdrew from the League of Nations following a national referendum , and began military rearmament . 

entailment
 Adolf Hitler ( German : [ ˈadɔlf ˈhɪtlɐ ] ; 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945 ) was a German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party ( Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei ; NSDAP ) , Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 , and Führer ( " leader " ) of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945 . As dictator of Nazi Germany , he initiated World War II in Europe with the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and was a central figure of the Holocaust . 

entailment
 Hitler was born in Austria , then part of Austria @-@ Hungary , and raised near Linz . He moved to Germany in 1913 and was decorated during his service in the German Army in World War I. He joined the German Workers ' Party , the precursor of the NSDAP , in 1919 and became leader of the NSDAP in 1921 . In 1923 , he attempted a coup in Munich to seize power . The failed coup resulted in Hitler 's imprisonment , during which time he dictated the first volume of his autobiography and political manifesto Mein Kampf ( " My Struggle " ) . After his release in 1924 , Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting Pan @-@ Germanism , anti @-@ Semitism , and anti @-@ communism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda . Hitler frequently denounced international capitalism and communism as being part of a Jewish conspiracy . 
