JohnEngelman
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In Mein Kampf Adolf Hitler combines his autobiography with his commentary on the First World War, the current situation of Germany, and his plans for Germany’s future.
In his youth Hitler could have become a humanitarian on the democratic left. He attributed the moral chaos of the poor he observed to unjust laws and economic conditions. He favored strong labor unions. He approved of the activities of the German Social Democratic Party.
He was even sympathetic to Jews. In Volume I, Chapter II, “Years of Study and Suffering in Vienna,” he wrote, “The fact that [Jews] had been persecuted…turned my aversion against unfavorable remarks about them almost into abhorrence.”
When Hitler traveled to Vienna he wanted to become an artist. When he was rejected by a painting academy he was told that his talents lay in architecture. However, he lacked the academic background to get into a school for architecture.
In his The True Believer, Eric Hoffer wrote that fanatics often become that way when they fail at what is essential to their self image. He also wrote that hatred is often self contempt turned outward.
http://www.amazon.com/The-True-Believer-Movements-Perennial/dp/0060505915
After he failed in his goals to become an artist or an architect Hitler supported himself as a house painter. He earned a low income. His humiliation and poverty twisted his mind, and put him in the mood to hate. In Vienna he often saw successful painters and architects who were Jews. Antisemites do not claim that Jews are inferior. The complaint is that Jews are too successful, too powerful. Antisemitism is the socialism of fools, the right wing form of the politics of envy.
I have seen some of Hitler’s paintings. They are not profound. They are technically competent. He could have become a commercial artist. He should have been encouraged.
By the time Hitler left home for Vienna he had lost his Roman Catholic religious faith. Nevertheless, he wanted to believe in something. He was desperate for recognition. It would have been nice for Hitler and the world if a Jewish congregation had asked him to design their next synagogue.
Unfortunately for Hitler and the world that was not to be. When he finally found something he was good at that many people appreciated, it was oratory exploiting and promoting anger and hatred.
Hitler believed that the spoken word was more powerful than the written word. He believed that to reach a large audience one had to present simple arguments and one had to appeal to emotion, rather than reason. At times he expressed a low opinion of the intelligence of many of his followers. He acknowledged that German Gentiles tended to be less intelligent than Jews. He never really explained why he hated the Jews. He just hated them, and expressed his hatred.
Hitler’s efforts to justify his hatred for Jews are disproved by footnotes in my Reynal & Hitchcock edition. For example, German Jews did not shirk military service during the First World War. Their participation and their casualties were proportionate to their presence in the German population.
My copy of Mein Kampf was printed in 1940. The translators could not have known about Ann Frank. They could not have known that her father was a German lieutenant on the Western Front during World War I.
In Chapter IV of the first volume of Mein Kampf Hitler discussed the problem of population growth in Germany. However, he did not advocate birth control. He advocated territorial expansion at the expense of the Slavs. He wrote, “If one wanted land and soil in Europe, then by and large this could only have been done at Russia’s expense…
“For such a policy, however, there was only one single ally in Europe: England.”
In Hitler’s Table Talk Hitler makes it clear that he intended to treat the conquered Slavs harshly enough that the Slavic population would decline, making room for German settlers.
http://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Table-Talk-1941-1944-Conversations/dp/1929631057
In Chapter XIV of Volume II of Mein Kampf Hitler wrote, “The mortal enemy of our nation, France, relentlessly throttles us and robs our strength. We must undertake every sacrifice which may help bring about a nullification of the French drive for European hegemony.”
Hitler seldom mentions the United States. He obviously had no intention to conquer us. We and Great Britain could have avoided the Second World War. France and the Slavic countries could not have. Without the participation of Great Britain and the United States Nazi Germany would have conquered the mainland of Europe and killed all the Jews there. This would have been the most predatory empire since the one conquered by the Mongolians.
The Third Reich would not have lasted for a thousand years. It would have taken the world several centuries to recover. The Russians, the Chinese, and the Arabs never really recovered from being conquered by the Mongolians. They have been xenophobic ever since.
In his youth Hitler could have become a humanitarian on the democratic left. He attributed the moral chaos of the poor he observed to unjust laws and economic conditions. He favored strong labor unions. He approved of the activities of the German Social Democratic Party.
He was even sympathetic to Jews. In Volume I, Chapter II, “Years of Study and Suffering in Vienna,” he wrote, “The fact that [Jews] had been persecuted…turned my aversion against unfavorable remarks about them almost into abhorrence.”
When Hitler traveled to Vienna he wanted to become an artist. When he was rejected by a painting academy he was told that his talents lay in architecture. However, he lacked the academic background to get into a school for architecture.
In his The True Believer, Eric Hoffer wrote that fanatics often become that way when they fail at what is essential to their self image. He also wrote that hatred is often self contempt turned outward.
http://www.amazon.com/The-True-Believer-Movements-Perennial/dp/0060505915
After he failed in his goals to become an artist or an architect Hitler supported himself as a house painter. He earned a low income. His humiliation and poverty twisted his mind, and put him in the mood to hate. In Vienna he often saw successful painters and architects who were Jews. Antisemites do not claim that Jews are inferior. The complaint is that Jews are too successful, too powerful. Antisemitism is the socialism of fools, the right wing form of the politics of envy.
I have seen some of Hitler’s paintings. They are not profound. They are technically competent. He could have become a commercial artist. He should have been encouraged.
By the time Hitler left home for Vienna he had lost his Roman Catholic religious faith. Nevertheless, he wanted to believe in something. He was desperate for recognition. It would have been nice for Hitler and the world if a Jewish congregation had asked him to design their next synagogue.
Unfortunately for Hitler and the world that was not to be. When he finally found something he was good at that many people appreciated, it was oratory exploiting and promoting anger and hatred.
Hitler believed that the spoken word was more powerful than the written word. He believed that to reach a large audience one had to present simple arguments and one had to appeal to emotion, rather than reason. At times he expressed a low opinion of the intelligence of many of his followers. He acknowledged that German Gentiles tended to be less intelligent than Jews. He never really explained why he hated the Jews. He just hated them, and expressed his hatred.
Hitler’s efforts to justify his hatred for Jews are disproved by footnotes in my Reynal & Hitchcock edition. For example, German Jews did not shirk military service during the First World War. Their participation and their casualties were proportionate to their presence in the German population.
My copy of Mein Kampf was printed in 1940. The translators could not have known about Ann Frank. They could not have known that her father was a German lieutenant on the Western Front during World War I.
In Chapter IV of the first volume of Mein Kampf Hitler discussed the problem of population growth in Germany. However, he did not advocate birth control. He advocated territorial expansion at the expense of the Slavs. He wrote, “If one wanted land and soil in Europe, then by and large this could only have been done at Russia’s expense…
“For such a policy, however, there was only one single ally in Europe: England.”
In Hitler’s Table Talk Hitler makes it clear that he intended to treat the conquered Slavs harshly enough that the Slavic population would decline, making room for German settlers.
http://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Table-Talk-1941-1944-Conversations/dp/1929631057
In Chapter XIV of Volume II of Mein Kampf Hitler wrote, “The mortal enemy of our nation, France, relentlessly throttles us and robs our strength. We must undertake every sacrifice which may help bring about a nullification of the French drive for European hegemony.”
Hitler seldom mentions the United States. He obviously had no intention to conquer us. We and Great Britain could have avoided the Second World War. France and the Slavic countries could not have. Without the participation of Great Britain and the United States Nazi Germany would have conquered the mainland of Europe and killed all the Jews there. This would have been the most predatory empire since the one conquered by the Mongolians.
The Third Reich would not have lasted for a thousand years. It would have taken the world several centuries to recover. The Russians, the Chinese, and the Arabs never really recovered from being conquered by the Mongolians. They have been xenophobic ever since.
