Hitler and His Crime Against Humanity - Essay Example

? “The more I learn about Hitler, the harder I find it to explain,” (Schoenfeld 1998) These were the words of Alan Bullock, who finds it difficult tounderstand Hitler. The murder of 6 million Jews by Hitler remains a question unanswered for most of the people of the world(Schoenfeld 1998). In the past few years, David Irving’s anti-Semitism and Holocaust denials have become much more explicit. He is a non-Jew who lives in England. According to him, it was the lesser Nazi leaders such as Goebbels, who masterminded the Final Solution, without the knowledge of Hitler. The gas chambers in Auchwitz are a myth, exclaims Irving. He further argues that only 600,000 to 1 million jews were killed in the holocaust, and that 6 million is the incorrect figure (Wilson 1996). Ron Rosenbaum tried to clarify the mystery of Hitler’s psyche. He used an indirect approach to explain what other theologians and historians had to say about Hitler. George Steiner, in his book, The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H, presents Hitler as the one who has survived the war, and is permitted to make statement justifying his deeds. He asserts that the Nazi idea of a master race is nothing more than borrowing from the Jewish conception of the chosen people(Schoenfeld 1998). Rosenfeld writes a book on Hitler by the name of Imagining Hitler. In this book he does not write about Hitler, but rather choses to write about the ‘ghost of Hitler’. The reason behind looking at the ghost side of Hitler is the plethora of publications on the Nazi leader. By ‘ghost’, Rosenfeld referred to what he saw as a Hitler myth in Post Second World War popular imagination. It is seen as a myth, which seemed to be increasing and intensifying- from the fascination of the Nazi’s. This myth is evolving, and not static. The history of Nazism has become plastic- as to be whatever one would like it to be in the contemporary world. Film has been categorized as a new discourse, and Hitler, has been portrayed in this discourse. Many myths surrounding the Nazi leader have been created and sustained by the cinema(Macfarlane 2004). Ralf Georg Reuth argues in his book, Hitler’s Jewish Hatred- Cliche and Reality, that Hitler has blamed Jews for the collapse of the German economy, as well as the Russian revolution. During Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, almost half of the German private banks were owned by Jews, the stockbrokers who owned the stock exchange were also Jews, the nation’s newspapers were of Jews, also 80 percent of the chain stores were Jewish. In 1919, the Stab in the Back theory was growing popularity in Germany. The attributed to the Germany losing the war not to military defeat on the battlefield, but to the intentional sabotaging of the war effort by the Jewish financiers, socialists, and the International Bolsheviks. It was the left liberal politicians and supporters, who stabbed Germany in the back. This was done by signing the armistice on November 11, 1918. They were than referred as the November criminals. Hitler included the international Jewish bankers who financed and controlled the Weimar Republic in his list. These Jewish bankers operated outside of Frankfort-, which is famous as the mother city of Jewish Bankers The Germans, found it almost impossible to accept defeat when the ‘Stab in the Back’ theory became popular. However, during the war, Hitler became obsessed with his idea of laying blame on the Jews and the Marxists of Germany, because they undermined the war effort.Reuth writes how Hitler held the Jews responsible for losing the war and the growth of Bolshevism. In the growing communist movement, Hitler observed how the Jews of Germany were actively taking a part. He envied them because this was everything Hitler stood against. Hence, two events, which are the defeat of Germany and the Russian revolution, enraged Hitler against the Jews, and shaped his plan to get rid of them(Kapanel n.p). Another speculation made by the Historians regarding Hitler’s hatred for Jews is that ventured that he was partly Jew. Otherwise, his mother died at the hands of a Jewish physician who was inept. According to Reuth, it was the lower middle class bigotry, which was shared by many at that time, led to a murderous hatred for Hitler after 1919. Complaining about the lost battle because of the Jews- was like a fashion of that time. 'With World War One lost and Germany in financial ruin, with revolution threatening, he came to see the Jews as solely responsible for stock-exchange capitalism, which caused acute poverty and suffering when it faltered, and Bolshevism,' said Reuth(Hall 2009). Hitler was famous for having occult knowledge amongst some historians. However, the others simply ignored, rejected, or downplayed his relationship with occult knowledge. The only way to understand the true power of Hitler was through this connection- argued some of them. The first group of Historians who rejected the presence of any occult knowledge included some of the biographers of Hitler. They were Bullock, Toland, and Fest. According to Allan Bullock, Hitler was not at all fascinated with occult knowledge or practices. There was once a popular belief that Hitler resorted to astrology. However, Allan argues that there was no such evidence to substantiate such a belief. According to Hitler’s secretary, faith in the stars was pretty much common amongst the people of that age- however, categorically, Hitler had nothing but contempt for such practices.Moreover, Allan claims that Hitler was a materialist and rationalist instead. His belief in Providence or Destiny was only a projection of his own sense of power- what interested him was power. John Toland, unlike Bullock, documented some of the superstious beliefs and practices of Hitler. Hitler had broken a silver hammer of a modern art museum in Munich- after which there was an awkward silence because of the belief that the architect would die if the hammer broke. This wasn’t a joke for Hitler and he rather saw it as a bad omen. According to Pauwels and Bergier- who were of the belief that there was an undeniable connection between Hitler and the occult. The argue that Hitler wanted to introduce a system such that men, society and the Universe all obey the same Laws. Hitler is portrayed as an initiator of the Thule society. Eventually, Hitler became the ‘new imperial Messiah’, and the ‘ Master of the third Reich’- according to this work. Therefore, he was made proficient in black magic which had been initiated. Dusty Sklar contends Hitler to be a person with a ‘penchant for the occult’. Moreover, Hitler was introduced to consciousness-expanding drugs, aswell as to astrological and alchemical symobolism by Ernest Pretzsche(Sickinger p. 107-109). Joachim Fest is known for his biograohy on Hitler. He, controversially explained the rise of Hitler in the fear of the German middle classes of Bolsheivism. This was done in the shape of the large German Communist Party (KPD). The Hitler Youth Generation troubled the thinking of many people and they had plenty of unanswered questions, which Fest was trying to answer(Childs 2006). Hans Momsen writes how German are resopnsible for the Nationalist Social dictatorship and the crimes. The dictatorship which resulted was a logical consequence of the German History. Different social and political groups encompassed resistance to Hitler. It was not a unified movement in any strict sense. There were political quarrels to the extent such that the Social Communits and the Democrats were never able to overcome them. There were typologically two stages of resistance. First were those political organizations which included the Weimar Republic, and the other was sought, by means of Border offices. These were at a level to form contatcs with the resistance groups which were formed at a local level(Momsen p.112-127). Bety Glad ranks Hitler among the three tyrants who have engaged themselves in lawless behaviour and placed their personal interests above that of politics. She srgues how Hitler showed grandiosity, crutelty, underlying insecurity, and the ultimately flawed reality. Hitler thinks that he is the creator of the entire Germanic civilization- the Third Reich. Hitler’sgradiosity was more personalized and he was not modest, because he proclaimed his superioirity as genious. His grandiosity was to the extent that he once compared himself to Jesus, saying that he will complete what ‘Christ began’. Hitler viewed himself as an intellectual and creative giant apart from the best leaders of all times. He was of a belief that he was virtually an expert in every field. Hitler displayed a self defeating behaviour in the early days of his career. When his revolution in Munich failed, he refused to eat for 2 weeks and deserved to die because of his failure. He was prisioned after the putcsh. Hitler had a higher propensity in self defeating behaviour. This was evident during the World War II. In May 1940, during the invasion of France, he stopped his armored columns to advance for 2 days. This made the demoralized French forces gain recovery and counterattack the army of Hitler. Similarly, at Dunkirk, when the destruction of the British expeditionary force bottled up, he inexplicable stopped all the tank operations. He seemed unconcerned and lethragic about the British evacuations although his forces tried really hard to stop them. Hitker’s biggest mistake was identified as his decision to open up a second front with Russia, even though having a disastrous experience if Napolean. ‘Operation Barberossa’ recalls the failure of Barberossa in his military campaigns. Hitler had unlimited ambitions which he justified through the Jewish designs on the world. He explained his own vulnerabilities in the existence of Jews(Glad 2002). Hitler represented the ‘Personification of Darwinism’- as quoted by Richard Dawkins. Nazisim is seen to be a ractist theory. This is because from the beginning of his political career, to the bitter end of it, Hitler adhered to anti-Semitism, which is purely based on the race theory. All the Nazi’s believed in the Racist theory. The idea of forming a new cult was shown through various writings and speeches that were made by the party members. The tradition characterized by the secret society was something Hitler was not in favour of, because if which he quickly drew from the esteoric world of the volkisch movement. About the traditions of authority and dogma of the Catholic Church, he showed great support in his book. This was not done by Hitler out of any love for the content of church doctrine. He played with the Nazi’s emotionally because he knew that they can use such forms to create their own political confession(Koehne 2012). The nazi’s launched a war of unparalled barbarity. They had the intention of restructuring the whole of the European continent through genocide. When we talk about the World War or the murder of the Jews- it is Hitler only who evoke into everybody’s minds Ian Kershaw argues how Hitler made German people suffer for his mistakes. Almost till the end, his authority over his court remained intact. Any opposition was dealt efficiently by the apparatus of terror. Stragglers and deserters were ruthlessly executed by the fanatical commanders such as Field Marshal Schorner – within the millitary sphere. The same was done by Goebbels in the homefront, while the arnaments minister, Albert Speer, inflicted terrible suffering on slave and concentration camp, and performed miracles of improvisation. Many fuctions of the German state were led by Martin Bormann- who was part of the Nazi party. German equivalent of the Home Guard- Volkssturm, provided a further instrument of control, though it was a military useless. Hitler lost faith of many Germans by early 1945, because of devastating allied bombing and the cowardly selfish behaviour of the party leadership. This made them feel as unfortunate victims, rather than eager supporters of the regime. However, there was still no real opposition. The chronological approach adopted by Hitler involved much repition, but this led to the gradual collapse of the Nazi system and erosion of its support(Shephard 2011). With the beginning of the war, Hitler became more involved in the political and strategical calculations- which he thought will help him win. It was now infrequent that he appeared in public. Most of his time was taken in political and military conferences. All his private life sacrificed to the extent that he bore the responsibility of each and every decision that had to be taken. Hitler’s policies betrayed the same tension between his hate for the jew and its rational control for the sake of German expansion-during his 12 year dictatorship. His control predominated the first half of his rule. This started from the Havaara agreement of 1933 to the mision by Reichbank President Schacht to London in late 1938. Both of these treaties aimed at the facilitation of Jewish emigration financially. Most of the measures were originated by the lower authorities, however, Hitler might intervene. The Jewish policies of Hitler took an impolitic turn. The deal which was supposed to be signed regarding the sealing on jewish emigration was stopped by him. It rather took a turn and was switched to export anti-semitism rather than Jews. On January 30, 1939, the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe was prophesied. Hence, this obviously bought the war. This led to an increase in hate against Hitler(Binion n.p). In some ways, Hitler is also known as the incarnation of absolute evil, throughout different generations. Many people also regard him highly powerful Fuhrer of the criminal. Hitler, like many other great people knew how to char, please and impress his people, whenver he wanted support. In that way, he had a very contradictory personality, because at the same time, he terrorized his adversaries. While journalists and diplomats loved his charm, they also admitted to his temper tantrums. It is highly contradicory, because at one point, he was considered a savior, but he was the one who dragged them into such madness, with his facist ideplogies. Some also regard him as Satan. He also led his people to an extremely humiliating defeat, which left them hopeless and helpless. His political and strategic ambitions created a duge line of divide, which put the entire world into extreme fear. He also made the times difficult and turbulent to live in. Hitler is defined by what makes him inhuman. Life changed after Hitler. Hitler changed the course of lives of many indivduals (Wiesel, n.p) Hitler will forever be remembered for the evils he created in the society, for the splitting apart of Europe, for creating mass destruction, for the genocide, for the refugees camps and for the crimes he committed Bibliography (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,988156,00.html Binion, R. (1945). German Fuhrer, 1934 to 1945. Childs, D. (2006, September 14). Joachim Fest : Controversial biographer of Hitler. Glad, B. (2002). Why Tyrants Go Too Far: Malignant Narcissism and Absolute Power. 1-37. Hall, A. (2009, June 19). Has historian finally discovered real reason for Hitler's obsessive hatred of Jews? Retrieved May 2, 2012 Kapanel, B. N. (n.d.). ‘DID HITLER HAVE REASON TO HATE THE JEWS?’. Retrieved May 2, 2012 Koehne, S. (2012, April 18). Hitler's faith: The debate over Nazism and religion. Macfarlane, D. (2004). Projecting Hitler. 15-24. Momsen, H. (n.d.). The German Resistance against Hitler and the Restoration of Politics , 112-127. Schoenfeld, G. (1998, September). Explaining Hitler by Ron Rosenbaum. Shephard, B. (2011, August 21). The End: Hitler's Germany, 1944-45 by Ian Kershaw . Sickinger, R. L. (n.d.). Hitler and the Occult: The Magical Thinking of Adolf Hitler . 107-109. Wilson, J. K. (1996). David Irving: "Historian" for Hitler . Wiesel, Elie. "Adolf Hitler." Time Magazine U.S. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 1998. . Read More