Hitler's Table Talk - Book Report/Review Example

Hitler's Table Talk Hitler’s Table talk is a book that gives details from Hitler’s confidential conversation. The world knowsHitler as a German leader whose regime saw the assassination of Jews and a contributing factor to the world wars. Hitler‘s conversations are in Germany, hence a translation was made by R.H Stevens and Norman Cameron. This book is an up-close encounter with the man himself and his views on issues concerning his beliefs, ideologies, philosophies and principles. This book details his conversations where Adolf Hitler is seen expressing his mind. The key focus of this paper will be his take on religion and personal habits and his reactions to these two subjects. In his view on religion, Hitler agrees that there are natural laws which govern the universe as a whole (Cameron and Stevens 8). He however does not know how these laws came into existence or how they will lead one towards the path of success. According to Hitler, human beings have discovered that a supreme being is the guardian of natural law and is called God. Priests and other religious leaders have taken this opportunity of the existence of God and now provide the natural laws to declare punishment for those who do not follow their ideas. He says that this has created fear among people giving an example of a child who is brought up with the fear of punishment if he does not follow the rules of God. Hitler’s view is that such a child will grow with that fear in him. He prefers a child who is brought up with intellectuals and a free will to choose right and wrong, hence citing that such a child is not likely to be crowded by fear of disobeying God. God does not exist and those who do not believe in him are not afraid of death as opposed to what the religious fraternity preaches (Cameron and Stevens 7). Religion is a matter of habit and traditions and not a place for refuge when one is unhappy or in need. Hitler’s views were that Germans did not have a God and therefore they were not afraid of death (Cameron and Stevens 68). The greatest devoutness can only be achieved by a man who is in harmony with nature and the things that surround him. National Socialism cannot exist together with religion and he hence prefers National Socialism. In the long run, he said that religion and Christianity would wither by themselves. In regard to this perspective, he was asked if this meant there was war because of religion. Hitler’s answer was that the religious would devour themselves with bolshevism hence; he did not need to persecute the Christians. To him, Christianity was the worst thing that humanity was subjected to due to the fact that it brought forth bolshevism. To Hitler, Bolshevism was a practice that promised humanity, freedom but practiced the opposite; which was slavery. He believed that man was not brought to life by any religion but by the natural order of revolution (Cameron and Stevens 97). Basing any government on the foundations of a religion or having a pact with a church would jeopardize the government’s future according to his views. It was his opinion that eventually science would disclose the harm of having such a compromise on the foundation of the government. Hitler was known for separating his party from religious glare and he implored his catholic and protestant followers not to form groups that fought each other. In the book, Hitler explains this would amount to his government being a subject to the church’s form of worship. His view was that there should be no interference from both sides, and the church had to know that the government was the master (Cameron and Stevens 71). Hitler’s personal habits were enshrined to reason, health and passion. He preferred uncooked to cooked food since this was more natural. To support his views on food, he gave an example of dogs citing that they ate meat all their life hence the reason why he saw them dying of cancer. In addition, he cited that there were people who lived in place where there little or no pollution and yet by the age of forty five they were already old, all because of their diet. It is for these reasons that he advocated for natural foods and dismissed advice that meat was part of a human being’s development. Ancient people followed this rule of taking natural foods and they lived for ages. Hitler had adopted a vegetarian diet and he told Germans that should have been thankful for having a leader like him who would live a long life and protects their prosperity. In page 120 of the book Hitler admits that we should be fair to others. He does this when paying tribute to Streicher who was a teacher. According to him, Streicher had fought for a good cause but was dismissed unfairly. He says he has a bad conscience whenever he got the feeling of not being fair to somebody. Hitler’s choice of clothes while young and during the winter were leather shorts since they upheld the German traditions and principles. He did not want to change this form of dressing but soon realized he was giving the impression that he was going to a carnivore. Before changing his mode of dressing tried out different outfits when receiving guests, especially the Northern Germans who could not take him seriously with what he was wearing. He later adopted a bourgeois trousers but said youth looked great in the leather shorts (Cameron and Stevens 241). He hated reading novels and his reason was that this kind of reading annoyed him. He also preferred reading the older version of newspaper issues. He also hated smoking and in his quest to stop the vice, he wanted to educate the youth not to emulate their elders like Marshal Goring, a soldier who was fond of smoking (Cameron and Stevens 140). He reduced the imports on tobacco and that which was given to German soldiers. Both his religious and personal habits have reason behind them. He ultimately gives reasons for doing things or giving his views. His reaction to these two subjects is clearly defined without much of the contradictions. His quest to see a better German state saw him go the extent of cleansing the population of the defects and in his view these defects were the Jews. For leader who believed in such inhuman views, had pride and vanity there was doubt that the state that he establish comprised of fearful leaders. Born a catholic and raised as one, any person would expect him to be tolerant towards other religious beliefs but his views are different. He did not believe in science, atheism or religion and he explained his reasons for doing so. Hitler’s personal confessions on the subjects were first recorded by a lawyer, only after Hitler was convinced to do so by his personal secretary. The original versions were later translated and edited by different authors and in different languages. Work Cited Cameron Norman, R. H. Stevens. Hitler's table talk, 1941-1944: his private conversations. New York City: Enigma Books, 2008 Print Read More