What really struck me in the reading for this week was just slow build up Kershaw sets up about how Hitler was able to become what he became in what we see as a "modern society." In any history class in which I've studied Hitler and the holocaust, the question of how something so atrocious was permitted to take place is always brought up. I feel like Kershaw does a fantastic job of beginning to dissect this.
Kershaw points out significant facts about the government, political and social atmosphere to explain how Hitler came into power. Primarily, the fact that Germany's Reich Chancellor was appointed by the Kaiser and not elected by the people. Also, at that time Bismarck was dismissed and the people were in "need for a new Bismarck, new national hero" (77). Politically, Germany with at a time of great turmoil. "There was a "desire for national unity to supplant internal dissension..." (76). There were many parties and very differing opinions, with the wealthy being against Marxism and for Protestants. Because of this, it was very easy for someone like Hitler to come in and just take over everything and give Germany a scapegoat, blaming everything on Jews along the way. He made a relation between the Jews and Marxism, prostitution, and all the ails of the time.
A huge component is also Hitler himself. Again, in every history class I've had we've discussed his "charisma". But I feel like now after reading these chapters, there's even more to it than that. The fantasies he creates for himself and convinces himself of are incredible. From his infatuation with a girl he didn't know to his ability of convince himself that he was going to win a lottery. He seems like the ideal kind of person to be a pluralistic leader. Combining this with a system that made it easy for him to fall into the position, it seems like the perfect plan.
I think something interesting about the point raised here is Hitler finding his niche. In the first part of Kershaw’s work, looking at Hitler’s childhood until young adulthood, it is clear that Hitler is awkward and mediocre in most things that he does. He is a mediocre artist, a barely mediocre student, and is lacking in relationships with other people. As we can see by the second part of the book this doesn’t really seem to humble him. He in fact creates fantasies where he is the person he wants to be and believes them. Even when living in the Men’s House, he considers himself above the rest of the men living there. He separates himself from the working group and lives as an “artist.” Knowing his personality and sense of entitlement, it is not surprising that he would get wrapped up in anti-Semitism that was going around Vienna at the time, while also feeding into the German patriotism that existed during the time of Bismarck. While getting rejected and being unexceptional in most areas of his life, these beliefs made him feel important in some sense. It is also not surprising that when he found an area where he received attention and could use his natural ability (such as anger) that it would take over his life, as politics would. For Hitler, he really was in the right part of the world at the right time.
ReplyDelete-Katherine Carvin
I think it's also important to note the already-present social attitudes toward the Jewish minority in Vienna. He doesn't simply get wrapped up in the rampant anti-Semitism that surrounds him near the Men's House- he takes advantage of it and builds up and shares a delusion of superiority with those around him.
ReplyDelete- Mariliza Parker