Nazi Ideology and Mein Kempf - Essay Example

Nazi Ideology and Mein Kempf        The term Nazism originated from the ideologies and the then practices of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, which was led by Adolf Hitler. The particular set of aims and ideas followed by the party was officially termed as National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus in German) and the Nazi Germany was consumed by this mindset during the dictatorial government, which reigned the era from 1933 to 1945. (Raymond, 327) The concept of Nazism is frequently considered to be a particular type of Fascism by different scholars. The similarities between the two ideologies as explicated by them are that the followers of Fascism were believers in the formation of Single-Party state, and they also believed in the theory of ‘Survival of the Fittest’ i.e. the perpetual conflicts of the nations and the races needs to be tackled by being strong which is the main positive step that can be taken towards a healthy survival and to combat against the weaker mass. They efficiently managed to suppress or forbid any and every sort of opposition and criticisms against the authorities and their level of oppression by particular movement, which was adopted by them most popularly known as the Fascist Movement. The political upbringing of the party strongly incorporated the elements of both capitalism and communism, or neither ways as believed by many of the historians. They eventually became just like the Fascists as defined who were both Leftists and Rightists. The goals of these kinds of the authoritarian nationalists and radicalists were well against the class conflicts as they blamed the capitalist liberal democracies for that, as well as the communists who they aggressively term as the exploiters of these class conflicts. (Turner, 162; Staff & Welch, 57) Automatically the question comes in mind that why Hitler developed such approaches and developed the Nazi force on the foundation of such belief. Analysis of his autobiography gives several clues to us through which we understand that development of certain ideas since his very childhood and youth are actually responsible for generating such ideologies and their implication in the philosophical approach of Nazism.       In the year 1918, Germany was defeated in the World War I and the nation was compelled to sign the historical Treaty of Versailles; gradually the philosophy followed by the National Socialists was facing a total crisis. They had a preoccupied notion that the war efforts were being by the Jews of Germany and this was definitely a matter of concern and grafted the seeds of hatred within the minds of the several patriotic National Socialists against the Jewish community. (Dolchstosslegende (Stab in the back myth). Politically the Jews were being criticized by designating them as the ‘Non-Germans’ who were residing in Germany but having a sense of loyalty that was extra-national. The criticisms as they were being directed at the Weimar government and the Social Democrats raised waves of anti-Semitic sentiments against those who were accused for being responsible of selling the nation. Thereby, another that was initiated during the period out of sheer hatred and brimming patriotism was the Völkisch movement. On January 1919, the German Workers Party or the DAP was founded by Anton Drexler with his six associates. This party later became the infamous the Nazi Party. Adolf Hitler, who was a corporal at that time was sent to investigate the DAP. His prolific oratory skills impressed the party members during an argument with them and as a result he was absorbed in the party in September, the same year. He became the chief Propagandist of the party and in 1920, the name of the party was modified into National Socialist German Workers’ Party. But this was against the consent of Hitler who wanted the party to be renamed as the Social Revolutionary Party. In July 1921, Hitler overthrew Drexler and he became the leader of the party. (Pietersen, 151). In 1923, Hitler has been sentenced to a five years of imprisonment as because he took part in the Beer Hall Putsch. He was sent to Munich, in Landsberg Castle, where he was treated well. He was allowed to meet friends and party members, share views and frequent meets. Also he read a lot of books mostly related with the German political philosophy and history. He was quite influenced by the autobiography of Henry Ford, the American car manufacturer. In his book, My Life and Work, Ford shared the same views as of Hitler in against of the Jewish community, the trade unions and communism. Giving heed to the words of Max Amnan, his business manager Hitler decided to write his autobiography, while spending time in prison. At first he was not keen in this idea but later agreed to it. The original title of the book was ‘Four Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice’ which was later renamed by his publisher as My Struggle (Mein Kampf) and was ultimately published in 1925. The political philosophy as depicted in his book deeply concerned the German race, which was described by him as the most superior race of mankind. (Hitler)       The key components of the ideologies, that the Nazi movements were based on a set of principles, which can be deconstructed into several fragments of their beliefs and mindsets. Hitler always possessed a kind of hatred against the beliers of Marxist philosophy, “Democracy is exploited by the Marxists for the purpose of paralysing their opponents and gaining for themselves a free hand to put their own methods into action.” (Hitler, Mein Kampf) Marx himself was a Jew and it was one of the main reasons for his tremendous rage against the Jews. To relieve people out of the influence of Marxism, The National Socialist Program relied on the ‘folkish philosophy’ as the ultimate objective was to seek for the veritable struggle in order to become triumphant in the heap faltering capitalist or bourgeois movements suffering throughout the world. Though this term has not been clearly defined in his autobiography, but it seems that he actually emphasized over perceiving the diverse range of opinion of the common people or the folks. Thus, he wrote, “…meaningful content of a folkish philosophy can be easily interpreted in a thousand different ways.” (Hitler, Mein Kampf) The sole way to achieve the targets, those were determined and driven by the patriotic feelings and to eradication the ‘back-stabbers’, was to closely observe the ever rising Marxist movements which exploited the class differentiations and emphasized on the unity of a larger mass. According to Hitler, there must be a specific way traversing through which the communists were being able to raise the conviction among there followers to set upon a gigantic struggle arousing immense strength and confidence within themselves giving birth to a all new philosophy with a greater fundamental significance. Depending over his ideas and interpretation he also even attempted to alter the basic philosophy of Marxism, “The bourgeois world is Marxist….” (Hitler, Mein Kampf) The natural belief that engulfed Hitler was that the Germans came from the Aryans race, which was not actually true. With such a kind of believe he predicted that the distant future where humanity is ultimately leading will only witness some major difficulties and complicacies. Then the remedial measures will only be provided by a superior human race (he meant the Germans who supposedly descended from the Aryan’s race), which obviously will be the highest race known to mankind. This superior group of people will gather supports from the entire world by every means and chances and thereby master the people by rescuing them from each and every imminent danger as they will always be well-equipped to overcome any of them. Just like the Marxist party created the organization with such much grit and conviction towards with the aim traversing the free path leading to internationalism, the Hitler wanted the Germans also to adopt the critical instrument aiding the folkish world building up the essence to confront the Marxist forces. His supposition from the world view was that if the politically organized Marxists were being met head-to-head with equivalent levels of unity, strength, desire for achieving success, and boundless energy, then the victory must be on the side of the eternal truth (Germans will be the triumphant ones) (Hitler). His concepts regarding Racism pointed out the views in against of the Jewish community who were supposedly responsible for the loss of Germany in the First World War. The anti-Semitism was feeling of hatred or the prejudice against the Jews, “At a blow they would awaken the bourgeois world to see the madness of thinking that the Jewish drive towards world-conquest can be effectually opposed by means of Western Democracy.” (Hitler, Mein Kampf) It was also known as the Judeophobia and the aversions mainly played due to their ancestral, ethnic, cultural or religious backgrounds. This raging ideological force and mindset of the National Socialists eventually culminated in the mass holocaust. The concept as conceived by Hitler regarding the creation of a Master Race, known as the Herrenrasse (by the Lebensborn) conceptualized in the Fountain of Life which was a department belonging to the Third Reich. The anti-Slavery was notably an activist concept as depicted by Hitler since referred the Slavic masses of the Soviet Union as the Inferior Soviet people, in his book. He thought that these people should remain and be slaves for the centuries as they have become. The similarity can be noted again in this context as several Italian fascist powers targeted the Yugoslavs—specifically the Serbs accusing of “social-democratic, Masonic Jewish internationalist plot” (Burgwyn, 43). The belief regarding the Superiority of the Germans as mentioned before was another thought that ruled the mind of Hitler. His conviction towards the German, White, Nordic or Aryan races although lacking verity to a great extent were the major stimulants that propelled his ideologies to spread across the nation like wildfire. The work and thought process of Hitler revealed that he was very much particular about the Racial Hygiene. This frame of mind of his promoted his thoughts, which were later, followed as the Eugenics and the Euthanasia largely by the adherents of his propositions. Eugenics is the study improvements of human lifestyle and the up gradation of the human qualities of particular specie or population by some means like discouragement of reproduction by individuals who are having some sort of genetic defects or undesirable inheritable traits, better known as the Negative Eugenics, again encouraging the reproduction process by the persons who presumably possess desirable inheritable traits, which is known as the Positive Eugenics. This concept was widely used then in order to create a Master race. However, with the end of the Second World War, practice of the eugenic theories substantially went out of use (Black, 240). The concept of Euthanasia can be defined by the traditional Greek meaning as the practice, which involved ending one’s life in a quiet painless process. There can be two types of Human Euthanasia—voluntary and involuntary. This is known as ‘Mercy Killing’ in the modern times. Hitler and his supporters largely followed the controversial concept by widespread extermination of the people who were sick and disabled, as a mean to build up a superior human race. The operation was code named as the ‘Aktion T 4’ and it involved the elimination of the ‘life unworthy of life’ and primarily focused on the infants and young children showing any symptoms of physical deformity, mental retardation etc. and the information were collected by surveying the doctors and the midwives through questionnaire prepared by the Reich Health Ministry (Nazi Euthanasia). The theory postulated by Hitler by his book was tremendously anti-Bolshevism, anti-Marxist and anti-Communist. Sharing the same views with Henry Ford, Hitler was totally convinced and deeply believed that the Jews were the setters of the conspiracy with the Marxists and the Communists and they together were planning to get their grip over the whole world. Like ford, he also strongly opposed and had hostile views towards the procedures of communism and the trade unions. Hitler believed that at least three-fourth of all the Communists were Jews and he argued by bringing in the example of Soviet Union where as per him the Jews and the Communists proved to be brilliant combination and this was then threatening for the rest of Europe. The Jews were everything for Hitler that he did not like which included modern art, prostitution, pornography and of course succumbing and humiliation of Germany in the First World War. He had a pre-conceived notion that the Jews (who constituted only 1% of the total German population) were actually trying to take over the country by gaining political control of the German Social Democrat Party. The inferiority of the Jews was disguised by the Marxist revolution as an act of suppression. Hitler promised in his book that if he wins the power he will take over the whole of the Russian land to ensure security for the German people and their living space (Hitler). There was high correlation between the anti-Semitism and the anti-Bolshevism. The traditional and historical hounding of the Jews under the Nazi rule brought out the mindset of the Nazis and their belief that the Jews were the ‘Traitors of the fatherland’. Hitler, who was at that time so much active as an agitator successfully infused the anti-Semitic feeling into the fellow Germans and paved the way through the outbursts against the ‘Jewish Bolshevism’ or in other words ‘Jewish Marxism’ (The anti-Semitism and anti-Bolshevism of the German Nazis: a letter and reply). The era of the dictatorship began with the Rejection of Democracy and Hitler advocated a much more superior way than both the stringent control of the state communism and the unchecked individualism of capitalism which was unrestrained. This economic policies decisions thus undertaken was known as the ‘Third Way’. Being a follower of the Single-Party state which was in total opposition to the economic and political liberalism, Hitler strongly believed that democracy can give rise to very few loyalists but a number of enemies will be created especially at the same time of crisis. The values of liberal politics and democracies were very much weak in front of the prolific fascist powers like Stalin’s communism, so according to Hitler the Russian dominating campaign of Internationalism can only be fought by the abolition of the democracy (Nagle & Mahr, 22). The initiatives, which were suggested and then later implemented by Hitler, were eradication of the labor unions, the end of free press and total abolition of the political parties. These policies were essentially required as the presence of various political parties will accentuate the exposure of the citizens in multi dimensional views, which will in turn impede the progress towards reaching the actual target of the nation that is to become the most superior human race and then consequently the sole superpower of the world. The issue of internal conflicts was a must to be avoided. The presence of free press system would render unnecessary difficulties by highlighting the nature of stringencies that were being followed during that time and this definitely had a chance of arousal of discontent among the citizens. The proper understanding of the administrative system that was being followed under the dictatorship of Hitler required his citizens to be able to perceive all the policy decisions, however rigid or brutal that they might be. For the objective was so very crystal clear yet so much hard to achieve. The abolition of the trade unions was one of the most important steps to be taken that Hitler thought of since first of all it was against the ideologies that Hitler conceived and totally depicted the Marxian concepts. The trade union can eventually hinder the growth pace and also can be the root of formation of political parties, which was again not acceptable for extracting the appropriate yields through his ventures.       A true believe in the leader must be there and there must not be any lacking in this feeling. There must not arise any questions or doubts regarding the steps and the decisions that are being by the leader. Only a single view of faith and ultimate objective that is to be achieved will be in mind, as because the leader is the sole one with the help whose experiences and guidance the country will be reaching the zenith of prosperity and authority in view of the total world. Hitler visualized a structural administrative order of the nation by installing the institutional frame and political props for the horizon of this new world. A qualitative hierarchy was conceptualized about the nations in accordance to their racial compositions. The country is sure lead the world and will work together with the other Aryan nations and together they will segregate the interests and incentives among themselves. Eventually the races will be submissive in every respect and the common rights and duties will surely get differentiated due to the existence of the various small and big powers (Staudinger, 85). The social cultural grounds should be strong enough and presented with lots of grit and confidence to the world so that they are compelled to show their respect to the superior cultural stage of Germany that she surely deserves. The perseverance and the endurance of the nation must be carried forward through the concept of ‘Social Darwinism’ where the weaker population of the society must be eradicated, since the objective to build up a perfect and most superior nation cannot possess any sort of deformity in it (Nazi Ideology). Various capitalist politicians welcomed the rise of the Fascists and the Nazis since they strongly averted the growingly powerful Communism, and they considered Hitler to be the rescuer of the Western civilization against the Bolsheviks.                                Works Cited 1. Black, Edwin, War against the weak: eugenics and Americas campaign to create a master race, Thunders Mouth Press. 2004 2. Burgwyn, H. James, Italian foreign policy in the interwar period, 1918-1940, Greenwood Publishing Group. 1997 3. Dolchstosslegende (Stab in the back myth), n.d., retrieved on April 21, 2009 from: http://www.cdojerusalem.org/icons-multimedia/ClientsArea/HoH/LIBARC/LEXICON/LexEntry/Dolchsto.html. 4. Hitler, Adolf, Mein Kampf, avialble on: http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch01.html, retrieved on April 21, 2009 5. Mein Kampf: Nazi Germany, n.d., retrieved on April 21, 2009 from: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERmein.htm. 6. Nagle, John D. & Mahr, Alison, Democracy and democratization: post-communist Europe in comparative perspective, SAGE. 1999 7. Nazi Euthanasia, 1997, retrieved on April 21, 2009 from: http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-euthanasia.htm. 8. Nazi Ideology, n.d., retrieved on April 21, 2009 from: http://www.nazism.net/about/nazi_ideology/. 9. Pietersen, Pit, Kriegsverbrechen der Alliierten Siegermächte: Terroristische Bombenangriffe auf Deutschland, 2006, BoD – Books on Demand. 10. Raymond, Walter John, Dictionary of Politics: Selected American and Foreign Political and Legal Terms, Brunswick Pub. Co. 1978 11. Staff, Welch D. & Welch David, Modern Euro Hist 1871-2000, Routledge. 1999 12. Staudinger, Hans, The Inner Nazi: A Critical Analysis of Mein Kampf, Louisiana State University Press. 1981 13. The anti-Semitism and anti-Bolshevism of the German Nazis: a letter and reply, 2003, retrieved on April 21, 2009 from: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/dec2003/hohm-d23.shtml. 14. Turner, Henry Ashby, Reappraisals of fascism, 1975, New Viewpoints. Read More