Hitler example essay topic

"Every animal mates only with a member of the same species" (390). This observation made in Mein Kampf was what Adolf Hitler believed to be one of the most fundamental principles of Nature's rule. He illustrates this with examples, "the titmouse seeks the titmouse, the finch the finch, the stork the stork, the field mouse the field mouse, the dormouse the dormouse, the wolf the she-wolf, etc". (390). Hitler understands this to be "Nature's restricted form of propagation" (390) and only exceptional circumstances, such as captivity, can disrupt this mating pattern.

Mating outside of your own species - or at a different level - results in serious consequences: infertility of later offspring and decreased immunity to illness and attacks. The daily struggle to survive is described by Hitler as a tool to ensure that the healthy and strong survive and those who are weak or sick succumb. Hitler explains that this results in higher development for the species: improved health and increased resistance. It appears that this is his attempt to rationalize racial purification. Hitler illustrates the defilement of blood with the historical example of the settling of the Americas.

In Central and South America immigrants mixed with aboriginals on a large scale while North Americans mixed very little with the "lower coloured peoples" (391). Because of this racial purity, the North Americans of Germanic descent "rose to be master of the continent" (391) and this success will continue "as long as he does not fall a victim to defilement of the blood" (391). Hitler reached the conclusion that the mixing of races always results in the level of the higher race being lowered along with the deterioration of health and intellect. Hitler states that culture and creativity originate almost completely with Aryans.

Other former great cultures perished because of "blood poisoning" (392). He believed that the Aryans were responsible for "higher humanity" (392) and defined what man is to be. Hitler provided the example of the discovery of fire and the subsequent domination of all other creatures as proof of this. According to Hitler, the definition of self-preservation is the will to live. Although everyone possesses the instinct of self-preservation, the ways in which this instinct is expressed varies.

Primitive creatures are concerned only for themselves and only for that moment in time. If the beings are able to extend this concern beyond themselves and their family, then they become capable of forming communities or even states. Hitler indicates that Jews possess only a small amount of this instinct and, therefore, they are capable of forming families but rarely more than that. At the other end of the spectrum is the Aryan. He is willing "to put all his abilities in the service of the community" (393) and is willing to sacrifice his labour and life for others, if necessary.

The one trait that Hitler believed to prove superiority was idealism. To possess true idealism one is required to obey the fundamental principle of Nature's rule, that of maintaining racial purity. This in turn ensures that the individual is prepared and willing to sacrifice for the good of the community. Those who have "renounced their own happiness" (395) for the sake of their community are rewarded with posterity. Hitler justifies his claim that Jews do not possess this quality of idealism by recounting historical facts such as the limited change that Jewish people have experienced in the past two thousand years. Jews have also been subject to the greatest upheavals and catastrophes known to mankind.

Their lack of success as a community or state proves their lack of idealism. After the First World War and then into the Great Depression, the German economy was devastated and unemployment soared. The German people were ready to hear Hitler's promises of economic recovery. Hitler successfully used mass propaganda and simple slogans to excite his German followers. He down-played his racist nationalism and anti-Semitic beliefs, instead focussing his attacks on the ideologies of communism and liberalism. This aided in the recruitment of followers, specifically with the youth of Germany.

Hitler argued that communists - along with Jews - were plotting to take over the world. Hitler used Mein Kampf and its psychological influence to spread his beliefs about the Jews as a form of revenge for Germany's loss in the First World War. He strongly believed that Jews and Marxists had "stabbed Germany in the back". Hitler's ultimate retribution was realized when he executed the Holocaust and became the greatest mass murderer in human history.

Bibliography

Hitler, Adolf. "Mein Kampf", Sources of World Civilization. Volume II Since 1500. By Johnson, O.A., ed., (c) 2000.
Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River. 389-397. McKay, John, Bennett Hill, John Buckler, and Patricia Buckler Eb rey. A History of World Societies. Volume II Since 1500. Fourth Edition. Toronto: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.
Murray, Scott W., and Rebecca Chan Allen. Canadian Society and the Contemporary World [BACS 202]. University of Calgary, 1999.