Failure and rejection: two most frequent consequences to Hitler’s actions. Reduced to a mere punching bag, Hitler’s confidence was low from a young age. At a time when one develops and learns one’s strengths and weaknesses, he was put down again and again by the one who is supposed to bring him up. His father, who should have been is biggest supporter was his very oppressor.
Not only was he a disappointment in his home, but he continued to disappoint himself later on when he was rejected from the art institute twice. How then, can all of these failures create one who could lead a nation? How did this weak young boy develop into the persuasive leader, one with so many followers? How was this boy, who was constantly let down by his own shortcomings, able to make others murder so many innocent? It seems unusual that someone with so many disappointments would have enough confidence to have the courage to lead an entire country. Yes, the abused are more likely to abuse, but to accumulate followers is a difficult task for someone with so many insecurities.
Before WWI Hitler was lost. He spent his days reading and fantasizing about being an artist and an architect. He dreamed but never did anything to reach his goals. Alone and lost, Hitler still felt deserving. He felt superior and was angered by his friend’s success. Somehow, he still was not completely shattered, but by no means could this man be a successful leader; at least not until the war. With world war one, came a purpose. Hitler now was part of a cause. He was part of an entity that accepted him and believed in what he believed in. This shared sentiment of German nationalism truly shaped Hitler’s capabilities. Being a part of the war was a much needed confidence booster.
WWI led to a newfound confidence in Hitler. The army was a place where he fought for a common cause. There was no rejection or failure. Now this disturbed man had the ability and the security to lead a people into causing horrible atrocities.
"With world war one, came a purpose." I completely agree with this idea. Clearly for Hitler, bring apart of something larger than him, actually doing something, being apart of a cause that was suppose to better his beloved Germany change him. I feel like this is also what he provided countless others with the nazi movement. His movement gave this same feeling to students and people all over. It gave people who felt hopeless in Germany a way to change things. Hitler gave people something to do to "better" their situation.
ReplyDeleteWe can apply causality and purpose to Hitler’s participation in WWI and his reaction to its aftermath, his failure with the arts, his antics in the trial following the failed Putsch, or his time spent in Landsberg where he solidified his ideology on Jewry and Lebensraum to find the origins of how Hitler became Germany’s leader. Yet I think when it comes to pride, it’s interesting to point to the transition, perhaps mostly self-justified on Hitler’s part, from mere ‘drummer’ whose prime allegiance lay with the nation’s leader (1922) to the point where Hitler justified his own calling – that he anointed himself as the savior to carry forward the “ ’living incarnation of [Germany’s] yearning’ ” (Kershaw 221). Perhaps pride isn’t the most apt term in this sense because Hitler’s pride for German nationalism, his allegiance, changed because of his own self-realization and self-proclamation. But Kershaw claims this predestined outlook developed during his imprisonment in Landsberg. It seems reasonable to think that the fallout of the Nazi Movement, coupled with time to strengthen his ‘world-view,’ and exposure to literature on attaining power led him to such a conclusion. But to think that this realization to save Germany, where Hitler was the rescuer, transitioned to become the roots for extreme egotism and self-indulgence is less tangible. Again, we cannot overlook circumstance. Yet maybe this is where failure comes in or where Hitler’s past lack of self-pride longs for that cult image; but even then, we can only speculate about that actual shift in his mental state.
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