Everyone knows how evil Adolf Hitler was; the man was responsible for the most destructive, bloody war and the most evil regime in human history. His Nazis murdered millions of people on the basis of their heritage and race; the Jews and the Roma people were some of the major victims of this genocidal campaign. His armies conquered most of Europe; they only lost because of severe tactical mistakes, the might of American industry, and the Russian winter. And fortunately so, for Hitler planned to exterminate most of the people in Eastern Europe to make way for German settlers. He also supported the euthanasia of disabled children and adults as well, showing that he had very few boundaries he would never cross. The fact that people still talk about and villify him even today, and a whole industry of media and popular culture exists around him and the Nazis shows the depth of his evil.

But what about the man himself, what happened to him that made him this way? What did he do before he entered politics and started his journey to power and notoriety? He was an aspiring artist who got rejected from art school. That's right; he failed to get into art school. But wait, Hitler was an artist?

This was a painting of Hitler’s from 1914. As you can see, it’s not half-bad.

The guy had a talent for drawing and he wanted to be an artist as a child. His father opposed this at first, wanting Hitler to become a customs official like he was. Hitler hated this; he hated any kind of job that would involve menial labor and routine, thinking himself too good for that kind of thing. Once his dad died, Hitler felt free to do his own thing, free of his father’s strict rules and behavior. He was a rebellious teenager, interested in German nationalism and art. He went to operas and produced art; he also gave rambling political speeches to his musician friend August Kubizek. He also had an interest in a girl named Stephanie and wrote many love poems about her, but never talked to her at all or sent them.

Eventually he and his friend moved to Vienna where he wanted to apply to the Academy of Fine Arts and start his painting career. He studied hard and took the entrance exam, but they rejected him. The issue, however, was not lack of talent; Hitler had always been good at drawing and drew a lot. The issue was that his drawings didn’t show much consideration of the human form at all. He was really good at drawing buildings, and he seemed more interested in that type of thing; the art school people told him to focus on becoming an architect. But to do that, Hitler would have to go back and finish secondary school, which he didn’t want to do. He took the art school entrance exam again, but failed it. This, coupled with the death of his beloved mother, sent Hitler into a depressive spiral; he ran out of money and moved into a shelter for poor men. He subsisted by selling paintings and postcards. Ironically most of the people who bought his work were Jewish shop owners. The man who helped him sell his work was also a Jew.

Even though Hitler had become anti-Semitic by this point, he seemed to be on friendly terms with a lot of Jews, especially the ones he lived with. He never truly became a bigot until after World War 1, when he felt angry and blamed the Jews for Germany’s loss in the war. Hitler never made any serious attempt to become a professional artist; he was content with remaining bitter and angry for failing to get into school. He never tried to apply to another school in Vienna, even though there were many schools there(Vienna has been a vibrant cultural center for centuries). He never pursued a career as an architect either even though he was actually more interested in buildings than painting. He was lazy and preferred to blame other people for his failures and problems.

So don’t give up on your dreams, even if you face rejection. Hitler faced rejection, and he chose to gave up on his childhood dreams and became an evil dictator. Instead of becoming a famous, accomplished artist, he became an infamous, genocidal dictator who ruined his country and left it divided in two and shamed for decades to come. All because he couldn’t handle a little rejection.