Hitler surrounded himself with young, energetic people that aided his rise to power in 1933 and helped him maintain it till 1945. How old were these people when Hitler took power in 1933?
That’s what we were about to find out.
Age in 1933 at a Glance
1. Adolf Hitler-43 Years
Adolf Hitler, the Führer of Nazi Germany for twelve years and three months, was born on April 20, 1889, in Austria.
By the time Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, he was 43 years old.
In contrast, Otto von Bismarck was 56 at his appointment in 1871, making Hitler thirteen years younger when assuming the chancellorship.
5 Past Weimar Chancellors’ Ages at the Period of Their Appointment:
- Kurt von Schleicher: 50 years old (1932)
- Franz von Papen: 53 years old (1932)
- Heinrich Bruning: 45 years old (1930)
- Hermann Müller: 51 years old (1928)
- Wilhelm Marx: 63 years old (1926)
2. Ernst Röhm-45 Years
Ernst Julius Günther Röhm was a native of Bavaria, born on 28 November 1887, and the only member of Hitler’s inner circle to be older than the Führer by two years.
In 1933, when Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, he was 45 years old.
In 1945, at the collapse of the Third Reich, he would have been 57 years old, but he was murdered at Hitler’s order in 1934 during the Night of the Long Knives at just 46.
3. Hermann Göring-40 Years
Göring was the second-in-command to Hitler for most of the Third Reich.
At the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, Göring was 40 years old, though his imposing presence made him seem much older.
Hermann Göring’s Age at the time of his major appointment:
- Chief of staff to the SA: 30 years old (1923)
- Reichsminister of Aviation: 40 years old (1933)
- Reichsminister of Forestry: 41 years old (1934)
- Reich Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan: 43 years old (1936)
- Reichsminister of Economics: 44 years old (1937)
He was stripped of all official titles just before the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945.
4. Rudolf Hess-38 Years
Hess was an ethnic German born in Egypt on 26 April 1894; that makes him five years younger than Hitler.
An early member of the Nazi Party and a participant in the failed beer hall putsch.
He was appointed Deputy Führer at the age of 38, following Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor in 1933.
He was the longest-living fanatical member of Hitler’s inner circle, who died in West Germany at 93 in 1987.
5. Joseph Goebbels-35 Year
Joseph Goebbels was the most devoted member of Hitler’s inner circle until the end of Hitler’s life in 1945.
Hitler appointed Goebbels as his successor before he shot himself dead in the Führerbunker.
Anyway, Goebbels was 35 when the Nazis came to power in 1933.
He was appointed Minister of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda the same year, making him the youngest minister in any previous German government.
6. Reinhard Heydrich-28 Years
Heydrich, the ultimate embodiment of the Aryan ideal, was born on March 7, 1904, in Germany.
He’s one of the youngest in Hitler’s inner circle, apart from Speer, who’s a year younger than Heydrich.
Heydrich joined the Nazi Party late and did not participate in the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923.
At the Nazi seizure of power, he was a high 28-year-old.
Reinhard Heydrich’s Age at the time of his major appointment:
- Director of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD): 27 years old (1931)
- Director of the Gestapo: 30 years old (1934)
- Director of the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo): 32 years old (1936)
- Commander of the Einsatzgruppen: 35 years old (1939)
- Director of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA): 35 years old (1939)
- President of the International Criminal Police Commission (Now Interpol): 36 years old (1940)
- Acting Protector of Bohemia and Moravia: 37 years old (1941)
During the Wannsee Conference of January 1942, Heydrich hosted a number of senior SS officers to discuss the final solution to the Jewish question, while he himself would be dead five months later at just 38.
If he were alive at the final collapse of the Third Reich, he would be 41, while Hitler would be 14 years older.
7. Heinrich Himmler-33 Years
Himmler’s age synchronized with the century in which he was born.
He was born on 7 October 1900 and joined the Nazi party early and participated in the failed Beer Hall Putsch as the flag bearer.
By the time Hitler took power in 1933, Himmler was 33 years old and already led the SS, commanding about 209,000 men.
Heinrich Himmler’s Age at the time of his major appointment:
- ReichsFuhrer-SS: 29 years old (1929)
- Commander of Army Group Vitsula: 45 years old (1945)
- Commander of replacement Army: 44 years old (1944)
- Commander of Army Group upper Rhine: 44 years old (1944)
He killed himself, like many others in Hitler’s circle, after Nazi Germany fell.
8. Albert Speer-25 Years
Speer was the youngest of Hitler’s inner circle, born on March 19, 1905.
He joined the Nazi Party in January 1931 and rose quickly through the party ranks.
When Hitler was appointed Chancellor in 1933, Speer was 25 years old, and he succeeded Fritz Todt as Armaments Minister at 34 in 1942.
He survived the Second World War and lived in prison until 1981 at 76.
He had a son who passed in 2017.
9. Martin Bormann-33 Years
Martin Bormann was born on June 17, 1900—the same year as Himmler—in Germany.
He joined the Nazi Party early in 1927 and rose quickly through the ranks. He joined Himmler’s SS with the number 278,267.
When Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Bormann was 33 years old, exactly Himmler’s age. He committed suicide after the Soviets overran Berlin in 1945.
