# Hitler Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945. Hitler's military advances contributed to starting World War II. He is known for killing millions of Jewish people in the belief that they would contaminate the German people. In rising to power in Germany, he fortified his position through murder of real or imagined opponents and maintained police-state control over the population. He led Germany into World War II resulting in its nearly total destruction.