Firstly, I wanted to discuss the “links” that Hitler associates in his mind and whether it appears to be true or an attempt at justifying his future actions. Hitler “marries” the two concepts of Social Democracy and anti-Semitism. This “marriage” becomes Hitler’s major ‘world-view.’ Hitler developed his hatred for Social Democracy because he was insecure about his social class and he read one-sided readings of Social Democratic literature, such as anti-Marxist articles. To summarize Marx’s view: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles" (The Communist Manifesto, 1848). This line is evocative because it truly establishes the reason Hitler disliked Marxism which was he didn’t believe there should be these class struggles but rather there is just one superior and dominant race above all others. Also Hitler believes the Jews were behind Marxism, which furthered his dislike for it. Hitler links Marxism and “Jewry” in what he calls “the Jewish doctrine of Marxism” (Kershaw 61). Not only did Hitler hate Social Democracy he also feared it. He saw it as a threat and rejected socialism as a solution to any of societies problems. The concept of equality to Hitler was unattractive and impossible. What confuses me is how this uneducated man adopts these concepts that he does not truly understand and instead twists them in order to fit into his perverted view of the world.
The second concept I wanted to look at is the initial introduction of “the Jewish Question.” It seems to me that Hitler tends to latch onto people or beliefs and twist them to his liking. For example, Karl Luegar, the German mayor, apparently helped to change Hitler’s attitude towards Jews. However, this speaks to the delusional status of Hitler’s mind because he was so influenced by people he had no real interaction or exposure to him. In fact, it appears as though Hitler read one quote from Luegar and suddenly his entire perspective of the world was changed. Seems somewhat implausible, no? Hitler’s view that Jews were not Germans but rather an individual people sheds light on how he pictures society. He singles Jews out because of the way they look and wishes to enhance the Arian race (talk about superficial). “Wherever I went, I began to see Jews, and the more I saw, the more sharply they became distinguished in my eyes from the rest of humanity” (Kershaw 61). Since this is a blog I am going to share the fact that I often associate this concept with Harry Potter. In my mind I have a strange association between Draco Malfoy and Hitler because Malfoy believes in this idea of the superior race. In the Chamber of Secrets, we learn that Tom Riddle is trying to kill off all “mudbloods” or “halfbloods” when thinking of this in an academic way can’t you also see how I could associate that with Hitler’s desire for a superior race? Just like Voldemort and his follower’s who believe that everything bad in the Magical society is caused by the pollution of the magical race, Hitler views Jews as ruining the society and being at the root of all evil.
My real opinion of Hitler’s younger period is that if someone had just accepted him to art school we probably would not have had the mass genocide of Jews.
As a side note: There was no really reliable confirmation of Hitler’s anti-Semitism during to or prior to the Vienna period.
It seems like throughout Hitler's childhood, including his time in Vienna, he would either blindly follow or defy others orders. He turned away from his Austrian roots to enrage his father, was completely enamored by Karl Luegar, and after being told he should be an architect he obsessed over how important it was that he fulfill that destiny. It seems like his bold charisma and personality were not really developed yet, and he absorbed other people's thoughts to craft his own "world-view" as you pointed out.
ReplyDelete-Sam Butin