Hitler and followers in 1926 photographed by Heinrich Hoffmann. Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 - April 30, 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the Nazi Party. In 1923, he attempted a coup d'矇tat in Munich, known as the Beer Hall Putsch. The failed coup resulted in Hitler's imprisonment, during which time he wrote his memoir, Mein Kampf (My Struggle). After his release in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting Pan-Germanism, antisemitism, and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda. The Sturmabteilung, or Brownshirts, functioned as the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Their main assignments were providing protection for Nazi rallies and assemblies, disrupting the meetings of the opposing parties, fighting against the paramilitary units of the opposing parties and intimidating Slavic and Romani citizens, unionists and Jews.