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Hitler and the Jews . . . . Why?

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  Posted by LauraLooo (U3354659) on Thursday, 2nd March 2006

  This is something that bothers me. I understand that Hitler had a immense hatred towards the Jewish community and I understand that anti-semitism was not by any means uncommon at the time. However, what reasons provoked Hitler's intense hatred? Did he have an unpleasant encounter with a Rabbi? Was he jealous of what he saw as a wealthy community of Jewish people? Was he turned down by a Jewish girl?
  It is said that on his travels he encountered Jewish peole and was taken aback by their wealth. It is also said that when he was at his poorest, he created the Jews as an evil he could blame. But this still does not seem enough to me.
  
  Any light that can be shed on this would be much appreciated.

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  Posted by Italophile (U2460529) on Thursday, 2nd March 2006

  Apart from the endemic anti-semitism of the time, I believe that Hitler's particular hatred of Jews stems from his time in Vienna as a struggling artist. I think it was something to do with the fact that his entry to Art School/University was blocked by a Jew. Not absolutely sure though.

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  Posted by spud-man (U3355318) on Thursday, 2nd March 2006

  i watched a documantery that said he didnt personally hate the jews.He was influenced by henrick himmler(who hated all religions)and other leading nazi's who all had a deep hatred of the jews because they were wealthy and Hitler went along with it to stay at the head of the paty and keep his control over people.Hitler was helped by the jews when he was a struggling artist in Vienna.the public hatred kept the spotlight off other important issues

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  Posted by Grand Falcon Railroad (U3267675) on Thursday, 2nd March 2006

  Hi Spud-Man,
  
  there is an element of truth in your statement but what made me think that Hitler did really hate the Jews was his account in Mein Kampf of him meeting a Kaftan clad Jew in Vienna when in his twenties and in his "artist" phase. Whether or not this happened we can't be sure but to be so graphic in describing the "meeting" must mean something.
  
  However I know that a lot of people are suggesting as Hitler was a "weak dictator" and he was surrounded by blazing anti-semites like Heinrich Himmler, Alfred Rosenborg et al. this must have coloured his judgement. When you see what kind of things people like Julius Streicher got away with shows this up well I feel.
  
  However you could say that the Jews had the last laugh in some respects - the fact that the Nazi's persecuted the Jews alike no matter what they did for a profession - farmer and scientist alike meant the Nazi's couldn't utilise the Jews undoubted excellence in certain fields to produce weapons of war that might have won the war for the Germans - i think to an extent this is the legacy of the Holocaust that is overlooked and a symbol of the ultimate sacrifice that a lot of Jews made (forced and unforced). Just think of all the resources used to commit "the holocaust" that might have otherwise been used to fight the real war.
  
  All those that perished be at peace and we will do justice in your memories.

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  Posted by rjetrafford2006 (U3362664) on Friday, 3rd March 2006

  This is a very interesting topic and one which I am sure will never be answered with one straight and cohent argument. In my opinion Adolf Hitler's actions in later life were in reponse to his childhood and formative years. Hitler was very close to his mother whom he deeply loved and respected - indeed throughout some of his writings has stated that one of the reasons he was so desperate to become an acclaimed artist in Vienna was that he could then ensure the financial stability of his mother. When she died suddenly when Hitler was still relatively young it proved to be a tragic loss to Hitler and much has been said about the fact that the Doctor who pronounced her dead was Jewish. There is only so far you can go with this argument but I would suggest that this certainly made Hitler more likely to listen to anti semitic rhetoric which was already present in German society before the First World War.
  
  Much has also been written about the conclusion of WW1 and the peace treaty which was termed in Germany - "diktat". The average German in the street needed a scapegoat to blame their defeat on and instead of searching for the real facts in relation to German military situation. The Jews were a prime target as for many they seemed to have used the war for their own financial gains. This of course was not the case and a result of demagraphic factors rather than calculated deceit. It was also not considered how many Jewish lives were lost in the war in defence of the fatherland.
  
  Following the 1917 revolution in Russia, anti-semitism in Germany could add another racist stereotype to their bow and state that Jews were all anti-monarchy revolutionnaires. Many of the leading Russian revoultionnaries at the time were Jewish and for many this proved reason enough to add these wild assertions to their catalogue of hatred.
  
  Once Hitler came to power and launched his legal revolution to consolidate it things changed as Germany now had an openly anti-semitic party at the helm. It is important however to remember that laws are one thing put how they are put in to practice is another. By that I mean that many ordinary German citizens supported anti-semitic measures and it is essential to remember that there was an acceptance in kind of most of the discriminatory laws which were passed. The exceptance however is the launching of Kristallnacht in 1938 which even Hitler himself admitted went too far.
  
  In terms of the Final Solution, it is my opinion that the Nazi regime stumbled in to this. Concerntration camps were not initially designed as places of killing - rather places of work and after the Nazi invasion of Poland, further camps were set up in a bid to resettle inhabitants who worked against the German ideal of Lebensraum.
  
  The Nazi hierachy pursued a policy of cumulative radicalisation in that each leader wanted to be more effective and therefore more in favour with the Fuhrer than the other. In my view this is the fundamental reason why the Final solution was eventually launched and over 6 million Jews tragically murdered.

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  Posted by cossigula (U3363438) on Friday, 3rd March 2006

  I do think you're right that Hitlers hatred towards Jews began when he was blocked from entering an art university by a Jew. I also think that the fact that Hitlers mother was pronounced dead by a Jewish doctor made him resent them more. Hitlers hatred grew increasingly when he was working as a struggling artist in Vienna and all around him, all he saw were wealthy Jews. I think these reasons as well as Hitler following the role of Heimrich Himmler made his hatred of the Jews grow.

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  Posted by JIMBOB52 (U3286524) on Friday, 3rd March 2006

  I firmly believe that Hitler was a raging anti-semite directly responsible for the final solution. the idea he was somehow influenced by those around him does not hold true of his character. He made innumberable speaches castigating the jews, his writings castigate the jews, in the midst of a total war he freed up massive resources for the industrial extermination of 6 million jews which even if you subscribe to his perverse thoughts on the world may have been better used in say saving the 6th army.
  I am suspcious of those who try to dissasociate Hitler form the holocaust, the 3rd Reich was his baby, the holocaust the natural culminaiton of his policy.

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  Posted by Backtothedarkplace (U2955180) on Friday, 3rd March 2006

  ITs a while since I 've read mein kampf. but im fairly sure theres a passage were he says he had to work hard at being anti semetic. cant remember in what context to the rest of the book though.
  
  I remeber thinking at the time that it was as if he'd picked the jews as victims without any particular provocation. Which I found quite chilling.

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