10 Facts About Adolf Hitler

10 Facts About Adolf Hitler Among the world leaders of the 20th century, Adolf Hitler is the most notorious. The founder of the Nazi Party, Hitler is responsible for starting  World War II and unleashing the genocide of the Holocaust. Although he killed himself in the waning days of the war, his historical legacy continues to reverberate in the 21st century. Learn more about Adolf Hitlers life and times with these 10 facts. A Surprising Artistic Dream Throughout his youth, Adolf Hitler dreamed of becoming an artist. He applied in 1907 and again the following year to the Vienna Academy of Art but was denied admission both times. At the end of 1908, his mother, Klara Hitler died of breast cancer, and Adolf spent the next four years living on the streets of Vienna, selling postcards of his artwork to survive. Parents and Siblings Bettmann/Getty Images Despite being so readily identified with Germany, Adolf Hitler wasnt a German national by birth. He was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, on April 20, 1889, to Alois (1837–1903) and Klara Hitler (1860–1907). The union was Alois Hitlers third. During their marriage, Alois and Klara Hitler had five other children, but only their daughter  Paula (1896–1960) survived to adulthood. Soldier in World War I Hulton Archive/Getty Images As nationalism roiled Europe, Austria began conscripting young men into the military. To avoid being conscripted, Hitler moved to Munich, Germany, in May 1913. Ironically, he volunteered to serve in the German army once World War I began. During his four years of military service, Hitler never rose higher than the rank of corporal, though he was decorated twice for valor. Hitler sustained two major injuries during the war. The first occurred at the Battle of the Somme in October 1916 when he was wounded by shrapnel and spent two months in the hospital. Two years later, on Oct. 13, 1918, a British mustard gas attack caused Hitler to go temporarily blind. He spent the remainder of the war recuperating from his injuries. Political Roots Like many on the losing side of World War I, Hitler was furious at Germanys capitulation and the harsh penalties that the Treaty of Versailles, which officially ended the war, imposed. Returning to Munich, he joined the German Workers Party, a small right-wing political organization with anti-Semitic leanings. Hitler soon became the partys leader, created a 25-point platform for the party, and established the  swastika  as the partys symbol. In 1920, the partys name was changed to National Socialist German Workers Party, commonly known as the  Nazi Party. Over the next several years, Hitler often gave public speeches that gained him attention, followers, and financial support. An Attempted Coup Motivated by the success of Benito Mussolinis seizing power in Italy in 1922, Hitler and other Nazi leaders plotted their own coup in a Munich beer hall. In the overnight hours of Nov. 8 and 9, 1923, Hitler led a group of about 2,000 Nazis into downtown Munich in a putsch, an attempt to overthrow the regional government. Violence broke out when police confronted and fired upon the marchers, killing 16 Nazis. The coup, which came to be known as the Beer Hall Putsch, was a failure, and Hitler fled. Apprehended two days later, Hitler was tried and sentenced to five years in prison for treason. While behind bars, he wrote his autobiography, Mein Kampf  (My Struggle). In the book, he articulated many of the anti-Semitic and nationalist philosophies he would later make policy as German leader. Hitler was released from prison after only nine months, determined to build up the Nazi Party in order to take over the German government using legal means. The Nazis Seize Power German President Paul von Hindenburg (left) in a car with Nazi leader and Chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler in Berlin, 1st May 1933. Culture Club/Getty Images Even while Hitler was in prison, the Nazi Party continued to participate in local and national elections, slowly consolidating power throughout the rest of the 1920s. By 1932, the German economy was reeling from the Great Depression, and the ruling government proved unable to quell the political and social extremism that roiled much of the nation. In the July 1932 elections, just months after Hitler became a German citizen (thus making him eligible to hold office), the Nazi Party obtained 37.3 percent of the vote in national elections, giving it a majority in the Reichstag, Germanys parliament. On Jan. 30, 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor. Hitler, the Dictator On Feb. 27, 1933, the Reichstag burned under mysterious circumstances. Hitler used the fire as an excuse to suspend many basic civil and political rights and to consolidate his political power. When  German President  Paul von Hindenburg  died in office on Aug. 2, 1934,  Hitler took the title of fà ¼hrer and Reichskanzler (leader and Reich Chancellor), assuming dictatorial control over the government.   Hitler set about rapidly rebuilding Germanys military, in clear defiance of the  Versailles Treaty. At the same time, the Nazi government began swiftly cracking down on political dissent and enacting an ever-harsher series of laws disenfranchising Jews, gays, the disabled, and others that would culminate in the Holocaust. In March 1938, demanding more land for the German people, Hitler annexed Austria (called the Anschluss) without firing a single shot. Not satisfied, Hitler agitated further, eventually annexing Czechoslovakias western provinces. World War II Begins Adolf Hitler plans military strategy at the German Army Headquarters, circa 1940. Keystone/Getty Images Emboldened by his territorial gain and new alliances with Italy and Japan, Hitler turned his eyes east to Poland. On Sept. 1, 1939, Germany invaded, quickly overrunning Polish defenses and occupying the western half of the nation. Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany, having pledged to defend Poland. The Soviet Union, having signed a secret nonaggression treaty with Hitler, occupied eastern Poland. World War II  had begun, but the real fighting was months away. On April 9, 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway; the following month, the Nazi war machine crossed through Holland and Belgium, attacking France and sending British troops fleeing back to the U.K. By the following summer, the Germans seemed unstoppable, having invaded North Africa, Yugoslavia, and Greece. But Hitler, hungry for more, made what would eventually be his fatal mistake. On June 22, Nazi troops attacked the Soviet Union, determined to dominate Europe. The War Turns The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, drew the U.S. into the world war, and Hitler responded by declaring war on America. For the next two years, the Allied nations of the U.S., the U.S.S.R., Britain, and the French Resistance struggled to contain the German military. Not until the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944, did the tide truly turn, and the Allies began to squeeze Germany from both east and west. The Nazi regime was slowly crumbling from without and within. On July 20, 1944, Hitler barely survived an assassination attempt, called the July Plot, led by one of his top military officers. Over the following months, Hitler assumed more direct control over German war strategy, but he was doomed to failure. The Final Days In his last official photo, Adolf Hitler leaves the safety of his bunker to award decorations to members of Hitler Youth. Keystone Features/Getty Images   As Soviet troops neared the outskirts of Berlin in the waning days of April 1945, Hitler and his top commanders barricaded themselves in an underground bunker to await their fates. On April 29, 1945, Hitler married his long-time mistress, Eva Braun, and the following day, they  committed suicide together  as Russian troops approached the center of Berlin. Their bodies were burned on grounds near the bunker, and the surviving Nazi leaders either killed themselves or fled. Two days later, on May 2, Germany surrendered.

Centromere Location and Chromosome Separation

Centromere Location and Chromosome Separation A centromere is a region on a chromosome that joins sister chromatids. Sister chromatids are double-stranded, replicated chromosomes that form during cell division. The primary function of the centromere is to serve as a place of attachment for spindle fibers  during cell division. The spindle apparatus elongates cells and separates chromosomes  to ensure that each new daughter cell has the correct number of chromosomes at the completion of mitosis and meiosis. The DNA in the centromere region of a chromosome is composed of tightly packed chromatin known as heterochromatin. Heterochromatin is very condensed and is therefore not transcribed. Due to its heterochromatin composition, the centromere region stains more darkly with dyes than the other regions of a chromosome. Key Takeaways Centromeres are regions on a chromosome that join sister chromatids whose primary function is for the attachment of spindle fibers in cell division.While centromeres are typically located in the central area of a chromosome, they can also be located near the mid-region or at a number of different positions on the chromosome.Specialized zones on centromeres called kinetochores attach the chromosomes to spindle fibers in prophase in mitosis.Kinetochores have protein complexes that generate kinetochore fibers. These fibers help to orient and separate chromosomes during cell division.In meiosis, in metaphase I, the centromeres of homologous chromosomes are oriented toward opposite cell poles while in meiosis II, spindle fibers extending from both cell poles attach to sister chromatids at their centromeres. Centromere Location A centromere is not always located in the central area of a chromosome. A chromosome is comprised of a short arm region (p arm) and a long arm region (q arm) that are connected by a centromere region. Centromeres may be located near the mid-region of a chromosome or at a number of positions along the chromosome. ​ Metacentric centromeres are located near the chromosome center.Submetacentric centromeres are non-centrally located so that one arm is longer than the other.Acrocentric centromeres are located near the end of a chromosome.Telocentric centromeres are found at the end or telomere region of a chromosome. The position of the centromere is readily observable in a human karyotype of homologous chromosomes. Chromosome 1 is an example of a metacentric centromere, chromosome 5 is an example of a submetacentric centromere, and chromosome 13 is an example of an acrocentric centromere. Chromosome Segregation in Mitosis Prior to the start of mitosis, the cell enters a stage known as interphase where it replicates its DNA in preparation for cell division. Sister chromatids are formed that are joined at their centromeres.In prophase of mitosis, specialized regions on centromeres called kinetochores attach chromosomes to spindle polar fibers. Kinetochores are composed of a number of protein complexes that generate kinetochore fibers, which attach to spindle fibers. These fibers help to manipulate and separate chromosomes during cell division.During metaphase, chromosomes are held at the metaphase plate by the equal forces of the polar fibers pushing on the centromeres.During anaphase, paired centromeres in each distinct chromosome begin to move apart as daughter chromosomes are pulled centromere first toward opposite ends of the cell.During telophase, newly formed nuclei enclose separated daughter chromosomes. After cytokinesis (division of the cytoplasm), two distinct daughter cells are formed. Chromosome Segregation in Meiosis In meiosis, a cell goes through two stages of the dividing process. These stages are meiosis I and meiosis II. During metaphase I, the centromeres of homologous chromosomes are oriented toward opposite cell poles. This means that homologous chromosomes will attach at their centromere regions to spindle fibers extending from only one of the two cell poles.When spindle fibers shorten during anaphase I, homologous chromosomes are pulled toward opposite cell poles but sister chromatids remain together.In meiosis II, spindle fibers extending from both cell poles attach to sister chromatids at their centromeres. Sister chromatids are separated in anaphase II when spindle fibers pull them toward opposite poles. Meiosis results in the division, separation, and distribution of chromosomes among four new daughter cells. Each cell is haploid, containing only half the number of chromosomes as the original cell. Centromere Anomalies Centromeres play an important role by participating in the separation process for chromosomes. Their structure however, can make them possible sites for chromosome rearrangements. Keeping the integrity of centromeres intact is thus an important job for the cell. Centromere anomalies have been linked to various diseases like cancer.