Hitler's Anti-Semitism Idea - Essay Example

Religious Conflict Fundamentalism Hitlers anti-Semitism idea Introduction: The Office for Democratic s and Human Rights working definition on anti-Semitism reads as “a perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred towards Jews” (Working Definition on AntiSemitism). Hatred directed towards Jews is not a recent development and the roots of classical anti-Semitism were founded in Christianity, with the belief that Jews were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ (Working Definition on Anti-Semitism). In spite of the long history of anti-Semitism, at no time in its history were the Jews to experience such terrible consequences that at the time of Adolph Hitler’s rule of Germany. There was intense hatred of the Jews demonstrated by Hitler, as he blamed them for all the problems that were experienced in the world. As a consequence they were put to severe suffering under Hitler, and thousands of them put to death in an attempt to exterminate the Jews in what the world still remembers as the Holocaust during the days of Hitler. Anti-Semitism was one of the driving forces behind Hitler. Anti-Semitism in Hitler was founded on personal prejudice and political opportunism, rather than on classical Christian anti-Semitism. Rationale: Most of the literature on Hitler and his anti-Semitism attempts to lay the basis of this characteristic in Hitler at the doors of psychological and religious reasons. From a psychological perspective it is blamed on his megalomania and the Aryan supremacy belief that he had. From a religious perspective it has been laid at the doors of classical Christian anti-Semitism and the Christian faith Hitler was born into. This paper attempts to give my simpler understanding of the anti-Semitism in Hitler by attributing it to more common failings in human beings, in the form of personal prejudices and the yearning for power which may be satisfied through political opportunism. Personal Prejudice: The Christian roots of Hitler are a rationale provided for the anti-Semitism demonstrated by Hitler. It was not his Christian upbringing that his anti-Semitism was founded on, but rather the personal prejudice against Jews that developed in his early attempts to make a mark for himself. In the years from 1917 to 1913, Hitler lived in Vienna that was to prove the most traumatic years of his life. He wanted to become an architect or establish himself in the field of arts. He applied twice to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, but was rejected on both occasions. The second time he was rejected it affected him deeply, for he made no more attempts to join the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. He discovered that out of the panel of seven professors that rejected him, the majority were Jews. He believed strongly that the Jewish majority was responsible for the failure to secure admission to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts (The Rise of Adolf Hitler) Hitler’s life in Vienna was not an easy one and he endured very difficult times. He was without any proper livelihood, suffering from the cold, facing hunger, and no proper place to stay. He had to resort to begging to get some money to augment the meager resources came through selling postcards that he painted on. His experiences of hard times in Vienna finds mention in his book Mein Kampf terming it “saddest period of my life” and “the darkest sides of my new life” (Kimel). Though Hitler suffered in Vienna, not all the others in Vienna were as unsuccessful. Dazzling wealth and prosperity were demonstrated by the successful and among them were the prospering Jews. Successful and prosperous Jews were to be encountered in all walks of life, including culture, business and politics. In Hitler this success of the Jews compared to his failures turned to hatred. He believed that they were responsible for the failures in his life. (Kimel). Hence it was personal prejudice that formed the basis of anti-Semitism, which he was to convert through his political opportunism into a hell for the Jews. Political Opportunism: Anti-Semitism was nothing new to Germany. The strong bonds between the German populace and Christianity ensured that classical anti-Semitism was deep rooted in most of the Germans. Medieval anti-Semitism that derived from the teachings of Christianity that held the Jews responsible for the crucifixion of Christ had become a firm component of the German culture. Transition into the modern era was beginning to bring about a transition in the classical anti-Semitism. Unfortunately the change was for the worse and not the better, for within anti-Semitism in Germany there evolved a strain that of anti-Semitism that was not averse to the elimination of Jews. The hard times that befell Germany due to their defeat in the First World War, fueled the fires this new brand of anti-Semitism in the Germans. During the days of the Weimar Republic anti-Semitism had turned into a radical and vicious brand of anti-Semitism in some of the Germans, the demonstration of which evoked hardly any protest in Germany, for the vast majority had no love lost for the Jews. Hitler was politically mature enough to observe this common thread of anti-Semitism that wove itself in German society, that was practiced by some overtly and the rest covertly. He simply took this thread and used it to weave his political success and then on to converting the ideology of extermination of Jews of the more radical strain of anti-Semitism into reality to maintain his political success (Birn, 1997). Hence anti-Semitism provided Hitler with a means to seize the political initiative in Germany, which he did gladly with both his hands, and then went on to use it to continue to weave his magic over the German people. The multi-party political system that existed at the time of the Weimar Republic called for political strategies of the party or individual trying to dominate the political scene to be seen as representative of the views of as many segments of society as possible. The groups that Hitler needed to ascend into political power were disparate and representative of differing political perspectives, like the Liberals, Marxists, and Nationalists. Hitler was an unprincipled political opportunist. He employed the common thread of anti-Semitism to get the support of all these disparate groups. The tactics he employed were simple but extremely effective. His anti-Semitic plank strategy was to that all the problems of the land would be removed through anti-Semitism. He advocated that agitations would cease when Jewish agitators were proscribed; exploitation of workers could be brought to an end by curbing the activities of Jewish capitalists; unfair competition that the small shop owners faced could be removed by confiscating Jewish department stores; there would be no foreclosing of farm mortgages with the doing away of all Jewish land speculators; and similar anti-Jew measures (Needler, 1960). The measures that Hitler advocated as the means to solve the issues faced by the German population was appealing to the different political hues for there was something in it for all of their different supporters. Hitler employed the anti-Semitism that was founded in his failures to weave a web of destruction for the Jews, by making them central to all the woes of the nation that was appealing to all the different political groupings and their mass of supporters. To put it simply Hitler painted Germany as a sick country, the cause of which were the Jews, and the treatment for the illness was the removal of Jews from every sphere of activity (Musolf, 2007). That this succeeded in him rising to power in Germany is history. Hitler and Christianity: There exists a perspective that the ideas for Hitler’s anti-Semitism stemmed from his Christian faith. This is hardly true. The world view of Darwinian struggle for existence between races and the supremacy of the Aryan race was at total loggerheads with Christianity. Yes it is true, that Hitler was a born a Christian, but was not a practicing Christian and did not go to Church. He had only scorn for Christianity and the Church (Weikart, 2001). His lack of any sympathy for Christianity and its followers is reflected in his deportation of converts to Christianity of Jewish origin from Holland, which condemned them to death (David, Mitchell & Penner, 1999). Were his Christian faith so strong this would never have taken place. He never expressed his anti-Christian stance for it would have been political suicide in a country so strongly aligned to Christianity (Weikart, 2001). The Christian basis of Hitler’s anti-Semitism is often linked to the perceived coziness between Hitler and Pope Pius XII. This is a misconception and remarkably a further example of the political opportunism that Hitler was capable of. He hid his contempt for Christian as it was politically opportune in Germany with its strong Christian links and turned this into a political opportunity by appearing to have good relations with the Catholic Church. He claimed his pound of flesh from the Catholic Church for this feigned relationship by getting the Catholic Church to disband the German Center Party and remaining neutral and silent with regard to his political acts. Pope Pius XII had a reason for maintaining this relationship with Hitler. Hitler was viewed as a bulwark against communism, which to the Catholic Church was a far greater threat than Hitler in Europe. The basis of the relationship between Hitler and the Catholic Church was political and not on the basis of Hitler’s faith in Christian world views, nor did it have anything to do with anti-Semitism (David, Mitchell & Penner, 1999). Thus any claim that the Hitler’s faith in Christianity lay at the root of anti-Semitism of Hitler has no validity. Conclusion: The founding of the ideas of anti-Semitism in Hitler were the experiences that he went through during his failures and hard times in Vienna. Anti-Semitism was politically opportune in Germany and Hitler a political opportunist expanded his anti-Semitism ideas to vault him to political power in Germany. There is no basis for any clams that his roots in Christianity had anything to do with the development of anti-Semitism in Hitler. Thus anti-Semitism in Hitler was founded on personal prejudice and political opportunism, rather than on classical Christian anti-Semitism. Literary References Birn, R. B. (1997). REVISING THE HOLOCAUST. Historical Journal, 40(1), 195-215. David, V. B. Mitchell, E. & Penner, M. (1999). The Pope And der Fuhrer. Time, 154(12), 61. Kimel, A. HITLER AND THE JEWS. Retrieved March 19, 2008, from, Online-Holocaust-Magazine Web Site: http://www.kimel.net/hitjew.html Needler, M. (1960). Hitler’s Anti-Semitism; A Political Appraisal. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 24(4), 665-660. Musolf, A. (2007). The function of antisemitic imagery in Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Patterns of Prejudice, 41(1), 20-43. The Rise of Adolf Hitler. Retrieved March 19, 2008, from, The History Place Web Site: http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/homeless.htm Weikart, R. (2001). The Root’s of Hitler’s Evil. Retrieved March 19, 2008, from, California State Univ., Stanislaus Web Site: http://web.csustan.edu/History/Faculty/Weikart/hitler-evil.htm Working Definition on Antisemitism. Retrieved March 19, 2008, from Web Site: http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_holocaust/holocaust_antisemitism/Working_Definition_on_Antisemitism.pdf Read More