Anti-semitism

Adolf Hitler and the Jews
Reasons for hatred leading to mass extinction

Why did Adolf Hitler hate the Jews? It's a question that has confounded historians for a long time. Did he hate only the Jews? Or was it others too such as gypsies, the handicapped, homosexuals, Russians (communists) and Poles?

 The beginnings

Hitler’s hatred for the Jews seems to have been sparked by a number of causes. Some historians believe that during the early years of his struggle, Hitler lived in a state of poverty in Austria. He wished to become an art student, but the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts rejected his application. They did not want a landscape artist. He was further rejected by the Vienna School of Architecture because as he did not have a school leaving certificate. Hitler believed that 4 out of the 7 members of the board who rejected his application were Jewish and were responsible for his failure.

Historians also suggest that his mother’s death fueled the hatred, as she was not treated well by a Jewish doctor. Her death left an ineffaceable mark on the then 18-year-old Adolf. Although she died from breast cancer, Hitler could never forgive the Jewish doctor as he held the doctor responsible for his mother’s death.

The years from 1907 to 1913 were the most difficult for Hitler. As the eldest child of the family, he inherited some money from his father’s will and his father’s civil service pension to live on. He stayed in Vienna making postcards and clearing snow from the pathways of the beautiful town houses. He believed that rich Jews lived comfortably in these homes while he was on the streets. And by 1910, his mind was full of hatred.

Strengthening of views

 Another theory is that Hitler’s hatred was a result of his experiences after World War I. At this time, Jews not only dominated but held high-ranking positions in the textile industry, commerce, crafts, medicine and legal practice; they owned almost half of the newspapers, banks and stores. With such governance, they nearly ran the markets. In Europe, many believed that Jews were communists and gave rise to the Judeo-Bolshevist conspiracy (anti-Semitic conspiracy which states that communism is a Jewish conspiracy). Hitler at this time was living in Munich when Jews played an important role in the revolution against the German monarchy in 1918. He blamed the Jews for the revolution in Russia, for the collapse of the German economy, and for its poverty and suffering. He also apparently believed that the Jews had deceived Germans (stab-in-the-back theory) in World War I. As Germany lost World War I and its economy was in ruins, Jews were held responsible for capitalism and the rise of Bolshevism. Amid the rumors and the middle class sentiment regarding Germany’s defeat in World War I, Hitler felt that it was normal to blame Jews, and he believed that they needed to be trodden upon.

After the Great Depression, Germany was in ruins. Anti-Semitism was deeply rooted in the European and American culture as Christianity initially blamed Jews for the death of Christ (In 1960, the Catholic Church stated that Jews were not to be blamed for the death of Jesus).

Anti-Semitism had set in Hitler’s mind.

Final Solution by the ‘prime mover’ of the holocaust

Hitler had been devastated by Germany’s loss and his already-poisoned mind led to further conflicts and frustrations. As Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, “My views with regard to anti-Semitism succumbed to the passage of time, and this was my greatest transformation of all. Gradually, I began to hate them (the Jews)....For me this was the time of the greatest spiritual upheaval I have ever had to go through.. I had ceased to be a weak-kneed cosmopolitan and become an anti-Semite. As I recognized the Jew as the cold-hearted, shameless and calculating director of this revolting vice traffic in the scum of the big city, a cold shudder ran down my back...”

Jews had become the scapegoats.

Hitler and many Nazis were also influenced by the notorious anti-Semitic book called "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion." In a speech on anti-Semitic racism on July 1922 in Munich, Hitler said, "His is no master people; he is an exploiter: the Jews are a people of robbers. He has never founded any civilization, though he has destroyed civilizations by the hundred...everything he has is stolen. Foreign people, foreign workmen build him his temples, it is foreigners who create and work for him, it is foreigners who shed their blood for him." Hitler declared, "The war is to be a war of annihilation". His henchman Heinrich Himmler declared: "All Poles will disappear from the world. . . . It is essential that the great German people should consider it as a major task to destroy all Poles." Majority of Poles were Jews during Hitler’s supremacy and had become the mere victims of mass annihilation.

Hitler had begun to believe that only through bloodshed and brutality could the societal problems be solved. He was obsessed with hatred towards the Jews and he had utmost faith in his beliefs. He believed that if Jews were eradicated, there would be a new and united Germany. All these beliefs led to the horrible brutality of the holocaust during World War II (when the real Holocaust started in 1941). He built extermination camps and killed thousands of people at one time. He considered Jews, Poles, gays, gypsies, Russians and mentally challenged people as lower class and made them work as slave laborers. He considered them sub humans and gassed them. Hitler believed only he knew what was good for his country and everyone had to follow his orders.

Historians give a number of reasons for this hatred which led to genocide. But his irrational and fanatical behavior against the Jews and others still leaves people disturbed and wondering.