Adolf Hitler is behind the worst genocide in history modern history. On his orders, millions of Jews were killed in gas chambers. Others died in concentration camps from hunger, hard work and disease.

This baffling chapter in German history left our reader Line Krüger wondering why Hitler hated the Jews so much.

Hitler created Nazism

According to historians, to find the origins of Hitler's hatred of Jews, one must understand his ideology. Adolf Hitler was a Nazi.

03/26/2015 “Nazism is built on the theory of racial hygiene. Fundamental Principle is that races should not mix,” explains Rikke Peters, a researcher of right-wing radicalism at the Institute of Communication and History at Aarhus University.

Nazism is a National Socialist ideology developed and described by Adolf Hitler in the Mein Kampf manifesto, published in the mid-20s.

In his manifesto, Hitler wrote:

- the world consists of people of different races who are constantly fighting with each other. It is the racial struggle that drives history;

- there are higher and lower races;

- the superior race will be in danger of extinction if mixed with the inferior ones.

The white race is supreme

“Hitler considered the white Aryan race to be the purest, strongest and most intellectual. He was sure that the Aryans were superior to everyone,” explains Rikke Peters. And he adds: “He hated not only Jews. This applied to both gypsies and blacks. But his hatred of Jews was especially strong because he saw them as the root of all evil. The Jews were the main enemies."

Historian Karl Christian Lammers, who studied the history of Nazism at the Saxo Institute at the University of Copenhagen, adds:

Hitler did not have mental illness

After World War II, many speculated that a man who, like Hitler, was responsible for a terrible genocide, must be mentally ill.

Rikke Peters argues that there is no evidence that Hitler was crazy or suffered from some kind of mental illness that made him hate Jews.

“There is nothing to suggest that Hitler was mentally ill, although he is often portrayed as a madman in constant delirium. You could say he had a manic and paranoid-narcissistic personality type, but that doesn't mean he was crazy or mentally ill."

But although Adolf Hitler did not suffer from mental illness, there is no doubt that he was an aberration. A psychiatrist might diagnose him with a personality disorder.

“Hitler was evil. He was a master at manipulating people and also had poor social skills. But this does not make him mentally ill. In Hitler's life, everything that normally gives meaning and weight to existence was missing - love, friendship, study, marriage, family. He didn’t have an interesting personal life outside of political affairs.”

Antisemitism was rampant even before World War II

In other words, Hitler's personality can be described as deviant and dissocial, but it is not the only reason the emergence of hatred towards Jews, which led to genocide.

The German dictator was only part of a long-term general trend. At that time he was far from the only anti-Semite. When Hitler wrote his manifesto, hatred of Jews, or anti-Semitism, was already quite common.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Jewish minorities in Russia and Europe were subject to discrimination and persecution, says historian Claus Bundgård Christensen, a lecturer at Roskilde University.

“Hitler was part of the anti-Semitic culture in Germany and other European countries. Many believed that the Jews had a secret global network and were seeking to seize power over the world.”

Rikke Peters adds:

“It was not Hitler who invented anti-Semitism. Many historians note that his hatred of Jews resonated with the population because Jews were already persecuted in many countries.”

Nationalism led to anti-Semitism

The rise of anti-Semitism correlated with the spread of nationalism across Europe after french revolution 1830.

Nationalism - political ideology, when a nation is perceived as a community of people with the same cultural and historical background.

“When nationalism began to spread in the 1830s, Jews were like a speck in the eye because they lived all over the world and did not belong to one nation. They spoke their own language and were different from the Christian majority in Europe,” explains Rikke Peters.

Among Christian nationalists in many European countries Conspiracy theories about the Jews' secret desire for world domination flourished.

False protocols fueled speculation

The theory is based, among other things, on some ancient texts called “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”

These protocols are late XIX centuries were created by the intelligence service of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II, in form they were similar to a real Jewish document.

According to these protocols, there really is a worldwide Jewish conspiracy to seize power. Russian Tsar used the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to justify the persecution of Jews, and many years later, Adolf Hitler did the same.

“Hitler believed that the Jews actually had a global network where they sat and pulled the strings in an effort to take over world domination. He used false protocols as a means of legitimizing genocide,” says Klaus Bundgaard Christensen.

German Jews were integrated into society

However, Jews were part of German society when Hitler wrote his manifesto in the 1920s.

“German Jews were perfectly integrated into society and considered themselves Germans. They fought on the side of Germany in the First world war, some were generals or held high public positions,” says Rikke Peters.

But Germany lost the war, and this defeat added fuel to the anti-Semitism of Adolf Hitler and his supporters.

“In World War I, Hitler was a soldier of the Bavarian regime. After the war, he blamed the defeat and subsequent unrest in Germany on the Jews. He said that the Jews stabbed him in the back German army", explains Karl-Christian Lammers.

The economic crisis benefited the Nazis

In the 1930s, Germany, like the whole world, plunged into the Great Depression. This economic crisis caused huge unemployment and social ills.

During this time of crisis, an anti-democratic Nazi party in Germany was formed - the National Socialist German Workers' Party, which was led by Adolf Hitler from 1921.

“Many Germans supported Nazism because they hoped that the new politic system will create Better conditions life. At that time, Hitler's racial theory was presented only in Mein Kampf, and until 1933 party members knew little about racial hygiene. It was only after Hitler seized power in 1933 that anti-Semitism and racial theory began to play a prominent role in public life", says Karl-Christian Lammers.

In the 1932 elections, the National Socialist Party and the German Communists together won a majority of the votes. Adolf Hitler demanded to be made chancellor and took this post.

The population was incited against the Jews

With the rise of the Nazi Party to power, Adolf Hitler and his associates began to spread anti-Semitic ideas among the population. Campaigns were carried out to represent Jews inferior people and a threat to the Aryan race.

It was proclaimed that Germany is for the Germans, and the purity of the Aryan race must be preserved. Other races, especially Jews, must be separated from the Germans.

“Hitler managed to turn most of the German population against the Jews. But there were also people who protested his brutal attacks on the Jewish minority. For example, many believed that on Kristallnacht the Nazis went too far,” says Klaus Bundgaard Christensen.

Hatred of Jews remained unchanged

During the evening and night, many Jewish cemeteries, 7.5 thousand shops owned by Jews, and approximately 200 synagogues were destroyed.

Many Germans decided that the Nazi Party had overstepped its bounds, but Jew-hatred continued to spread. In subsequent years, Adolf Hitler and his supporters systematically sent millions of Jews to concentration camps and exterminated them.

“During the Second World War, the policy of the National Socialist Party changed in some areas, but hatred of Jews remained unchanged. The destruction of the Jews and the creation of a non-Jewish Europe was a measure of success for Hitler and other members of the party elite,” says Klaus Bundgaard Christensen. “Even at the end of the war, when it became obvious that resources had to be saved, the Nazis continued to spend money on concentration camps and sending Jews there.”

The world community considers Adolf Hitler to be the greatest villain who ever lived on earth. And the most terrible ideology is considered to be Nazism, or its subtype - fascism.

There is a lot of debate about whether the Holocaust happened or not, or whether Hitler died in his bunker or fled to South America(Australia, Antarctica, to the Moon... whatever your imagination allows for). But one question remains without due attention. Why did Hitler choose Jews to be exterminated?

So what about the Jews? Modern science offers three options for the reasons why Hitler destroyed the Jews.

The first and most common version is that the very idea of ​​Nazism, as understood by Hitler, implied the division of nations into these three groups. The first, “ruling” group of nations includes, as you might guess, only the “true Aryans” themselves. The second group includes the Slavs. They were promised almost complete destruction. And those who were “lucky” to survive would become slaves. "Elite" slaves. A worse fate awaited the Jews and Gypsies. They, as "inferior" races, had to be destroyed. The rest of the nations were destined for the role of simple slaves. This is a completely reasonable version, since it is no secret that Hitler was a fanatic in his cause. “Performing in front of his soldiers was akin to making love for him,” adherents of this version are sure, which is also not without logic. To see this, you should watch one of the recordings of Hitler’s speech.

The second version is that Hitler’s people, quite a few of whom, as is known, were pumped with drugs and special medications. They were bloody, they felt practically no pain and wanted only one thing: to kill. An order that as soon as possible more people leaving (after all, the more slaves, the better) could greatly undermine the authority of such troops, which would lead to a significant weakening of the army due to the loss of the “elite” and, most likely, to riots by these madmen. It turns out that they had to give them someone to tear to pieces. These doomed were the Jews and Gypsies.

The third version implied fear. Hitler's fear of danger. According to the version, Hitler was afraid that the people of one of these nations could destroy him great army. There is no reasonable evidence for this version.

However, all these versions are not very plausible, the first version does not say anything about why Jews were chosen and not other peoples, according to the second version the Germans appear to be some kind of drug addicts. The truth is that it becomes unclear how the drug-addicted Germans conquered all of Europe, and the drug-addicted Chinese surrendered to the British with virtually no resistance. The third version does not stand up to criticism at all. This version is reminiscent of Freud's interpretation of a dream in which it was raining and people were walking under umbrellas.

So there are no more versions that modern science I would consider it plausible, although it seems to me that the answer lies on the surface. It is enough to draw parallels between Germany in the 1930s and Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.

Both Germany and Russia were worried at that time better times. Morale was undermined, in Germany by the loss in World War I, in Russia by the loss in the Japanese-Russian War. Due to the devastation and large indemnities, most Germans lived in poverty, although the German rich were drowning in luxury. In Russia at that time, a weak-minded tsar ruled who, instead of state affairs, preferred to walk around the city and kill crows and cats. Although the country itself was on an industrial boom, the majority of the population lived again in poverty. By the way, Nicholas II resembles Fyodor, the first son of Ivan the Terrible. Both were the last kings kind. Both of them were incapable of governing the state.

So we found out that the countries were in similar conditions at that time. What is happening in Russia: three revolutions take place, the Bolsheviks come to power, the Red Terror begins. Mostly the victims of the Red Terror were nobles, capitalists, church ministers, and those who fell under the hot hand.

What's happening in Germany. Well, there was no revolution here. After all, there were elections. I think if there had been elections in Russia at that time, Lenin would have won them anyway. Too much hard times was. So, after Hitler came to power, discrimination against Jews began, which then developed into the Holocaust.

So we come to the most interesting thing: what united the nobles, bourgeoisie and priests in Russia and the Jews in Germany. These were the powers that be. While their countries were in poverty and their inhabitants were poor, they held a feast during the plague. Yes, of course, we can say that in Germany not all the rich were Jews. But in Germany, according to various estimates, there were about 80%. Moreover, among bankers the figure was close to 100%. Naturally, they were chosen as the object of class hatred. But ordinary Jews have already been swept under the same brush. The ideology of social Nazism, like Marxism, also had to explain the victims of the regime.

The ideology of Marxism assumed the equality of all and had slogans: take away and divide, death to the exploiters, etc. justifying the Red Terror. The ideology of social Nazism assumed the supremacy of the Aryan race over all others. This means that it is no good for Jews to get rich when Germans are poor. But unlike the Bolshevik leaders, Hitler understood that the destruction of the economic elite would cause the collapse of the economy. He had before his eyes the experience of the Bolsheviks, who, having destroyed the top management and merchant class, destroyed the Russian economy. Therefore, even though there was persecution of Jews state politicians, many of them continued to own factories and banks of Nazi Germany and even survived the Second World War and the collapse of the Reich.

So the roots of the persecution of Jews must be sought not in Hitler’s paranoia, but in their exceptional greed, elevated to a character trait, which led to dire consequences for them.

Adolf Hitler was a very ambiguous and contradictory personality. He was a hardworking and witty man who knew how to capture the attention of the crowd and maintain interest in his person during his performance. But at the same time, Hitler went down in history as a man who killed millions of people. A very significant percentage of his victims were Jews.

Theories put forward regarding the origins of hatred

The biography of this historical figure has been covered in many books and scientific works. Of course, they gave a lot of reasons for reflection, although many historians are inclined to believe that the most vivid description Hitler can only serve as his own work - the manuscript “My Struggle”.

Turning to the pages of “Mein Kampf”, one can notice that the first mention of Jews is associated with the period of formation of the social democratic views of the future Fuhrer. It was during this period that Hitler turned his attention to representatives of the Jewish people. For the first time, young Adolf met a Jew while still at school: the silent boy aroused dubious feelings and interest in Hitler.

Later, during his youth, Hitler singled out Jews for himself only according to religious differences. In his manuscript he mentions "a figure in a long caftan with black curls" whom he met while walking along the main street of Vienna. Unusual appearance the passerby aroused such interest in Adolf that he turned to books in order to learn more about people wearing similar clothes. Influenced by reading large quantity anti-Semitic pamphlets, Hitler develops a strong sense of hostility towards representatives of the Jewish nationality, and he decides to completely separate himself from them in Everyday life.

Why Adolf Hitler viewed Jews with hatred

The fact of Hitler’s extreme hostility towards Jews is one of the fundamental ones in his biography, because it influenced not only the fate of the Fuhrer himself, but also world history. In the book he wrote, “My Struggle” (“Mein Kampf”), Adolf says that his hatred and the ideology that emerged from it were a natural result of the influence historical events since the First World War.

Meanwhile, historians this reason does not seem suitable: Hitler never participated directly in hostilities, he served as a liaison officer for the regimental headquarters. So the Fuhrer did not have the opportunity to become saturated with anti-Semitism in the heat of hostilities.

However, in the 16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment, where Adolf served, there was indeed a large percentage of radical anti-Semites who became ardent supporters of the ideology during their service.

When exactly did Hitler's hatred of Jews begin?

Regarding this issue, historians tend to relate this moment to 1921. Moreover, the decisive role in the emergence of Hitler as an anti-Semite was played by the events that took place in 1919 in the city of Munich. This point The personal biographer of Goebbels and Hitler, Ralph Reuth, is also inclined to consider the most likely view. In his work “Hitler’s Hatred of the Jews. Clichés and reality,” he mentions that the revolution that took place that year in the capital of Bavaria had a special influence on the Fuhrer’s worldview.

The Fuhrer's childhood

Before we begin to analyze those events from the young years of little Adolf, which left their mark on his worldview in his adult years, it is worth noting a number of nuances regarding that time, which are often not mentioned at all or are distorted:

• Hitler's family was not at all wealthy or wealthy;
• while ordinary people the word “tolerance” was not familiar;
• often the people were inclined to see representatives of national minorities as the culprit of all their problems;
• human life was valued much less than it is now;
• at that time there were no declared basic human rights.

It is not surprising that in such an environment Hitler absorbed a negative attitude, which subsequently greatly influenced his picture of the world. The knowledge base that is instilled in a person in childhood has a very strong influence on his further perception of information, and this influence cannot be underestimated.

Attitudes towards Jews in society

It is worth noting the fact that Jews were not only a national, but also a religious minority. Forced to wander from one country to another, they did not have their own state. As a rule, due to natural personality traits, when arriving in a new place, Jews quickly achieved career success.

Some areas of business were exclusively Jewish, because entrepreneurs of other nationalities were eliminated as soon as they reached the level of serious competition.

Often the Jews settled in a new place of residence very crowded and behaved in such a way that the native residents felt uncomfortable. There was especially a lot of negativity towards them in this regard during the years of crisis, when poverty and misery reigned everywhere. The united and wealthy Jews attracted many angry glances from the locals. It is worth mentioning that the first ghettos in which Jews lived were built in Italy in medieval times.

Taking into account all these facts, it is easy to understand that Hitler did not at all pull the idea of ​​anti-Semitic ideology out of thin air. She flew in the air, surrounded him with the conversations of his neighbors throughout his life. Anti-Semitic sentiments at that time were supported by most of the population.

Often, while listening to the speeches of various political speakers, he could hear accusations against not only Jews, but also the British, as well as communists. The period of Hitler's youth dates back to the revolutionary time, when new political parties, and the level of protest sentiment in society was very high.

Alternative versions of the reasons for Hitler's hatred of Jews

There are also quite original versions of the origin of hatred. According to one of them, Hitler himself was half Jewish, because... his father was a Semitic. There are rumors that Adolf's father drank a lot and behaved like a tyrant, periodically beating Adolf's mother and the boy himself.

For this reason, or because, against the background of general hostility towards Jews, Hitler’s own Semitic roots gave rise to complexes, he chose anti-Semitism as his ideology. It is not known for certain whether these facts are true or they are fictitious. In any case, such reasons are clearly not enough to instill in a person a fierce hatred of the entire nation and organize genocide.

Why did the Nazis exterminate Jews?

We'll never be able to find out the real reason events that took place during the Second World War, but we can highlight the main points that are most often mentioned when discussing this issue:

1. The Nazis, like Adolf Hitler, experienced strong feeling hatred of the Jews, reinforced by the impressive persuasion skills of his leader, which he used at rallies.
2. Hitler developed a theory about “superior” and “inferior” races, according to which all people were divided into “Aryans” and “subhumans.” At the same time, those who belonged to the lower race were subject to destruction. It was this program that the Nazis implemented by exterminating Jews in concentration camps.
3. The German fascists saw Jews as a threat not only to their country, but to the entire planet.
4. According to Hitler, the Jews were building an insidious plan to enslave the German nation and further use Germany as a springboard for their further conquests. He believed that by destroying the Jews he would save the world and create a healthy economy, and he convinced other government officials of this.
5. The Fuhrer saw no other way than the complete extermination of the Jews, because... believed that they were very resourceful and would easily seize power under other circumstances. His policy towards representatives of this nationality was uncompromising.

It is known that during his entire reign, Hitler never visited concentration camps in person. This gives a lot to think about.

Reasons for Hitler's hatred of the Jewish people

Hitler himself usually explained his extreme hostility towards Semites for the following reasons:

• he believed that for Jews the desire for profit was higher than moral principles;
• as a rule, all Jews occupied a high position in society, and their natural character traits allowed them to quickly achieve success in their work;
• the average Jew lived much more richly than German people, which was especially striking during the crisis;
• horrors of war times, psychological traumas of childhood and anger at the world aggravated the already existing hostility;
• a great desire to “save” the world and eliminate the Jewish threat.

View from the outside

Adolf Hitler, as a strategist, believed that the best defense is an attack. Since he saw a threat to the existing economic and political system in the person of representatives of the Jewish people, he decided to try on the role of a savior and take significant measures. Since hostility towards Jews among the German population was at its maximum in those years, Hitler's ideas were readily embraced by the masses, and Nazi ideology quickly spread throughout the country.

Open appearance, pleasant simple features and impressive speaking skills helped Hitler easily promote his idea to the masses. Citizens willingly listened to his speeches at rallies and immediately gained confidence in the leader. For this reason, racism developed very quickly in Germany, falling into the fertile soil of popular dissatisfaction.

The Germans saw in Hitler's calls for the extermination of the Jews an opportunity to build a better future, which seemed especially attractive in the conditions of poverty and unemployment in the present. That is why the Fuhrer’s ideology was received with a bang, and ordinary citizens quickly began building a “bright” future.

The personality of Hitler and his influence on the formation of fascism as an ideology have always been of interest to historians and biographers, as well as directors and screenwriters. In 2012, producers Nico Hoffman and Jan Moito began filming an eight-part film about the Fuhrer.

Director Thomas Weber noted the particular importance of careful attention when implementing the script to the process of formation of Hitler's personality, as well as his character traits, both coldness and inviting demeanor.

“Only if we try to preserve the energy inherent in Hitler, with which he influenced many Germans, will we be able to explain the relationship between Hitler and the Germans.” – he says in one of his interviews.

Why did Hitler carry out the Holocaust but leave Switzerland alone?

In this video, Valery Viktorovich Pyakin, a political activist and analyst, talks about what reasons prompted Hitler to actively promote the policy of anti-Semitism and mass extermination of Jews, despite the fact that initially many large businessmen of Jewish nationality helped him in the development of his political career.

A reliable reason for Adolf Hitler's strong hatred of Jews went with him to the grave. Despite the wide variety of versions of varying plausibility, we will never know which of them was real. It is quite possible that the rapid development of Nazi ideology in German society and the mass genocide of Jews was influenced by a whole complex of factors. Whether Hitler caused the Holocaust, or whether society created its own leader, the question remains open.

Adolf Hitler is behind the worst genocide in modern history. On his orders, millions of Jews were killed in gas chambers. Others died in concentration camps from hunger, hard work and disease.

This baffling chapter in German history left our reader Line Krüger wondering why Hitler hated the Jews so much.

Hitler created Nazism

According to historians, to find the origins of Hitler's hatred of Jews, one must understand his ideology. Adolf Hitler was a Nazi.

Context

Rising anti-Semitism in Europe

Israel Hayom 07/29/2015

Europe's Jews are in danger

Polosa 04/16/2015

Anti-Semitism: exacerbation of the disease

Israel Hayom 03/26/2015 “Nazism is built on the theory of racial hygiene. The fundamental principle is that races should not mix,” explains Rikke Peters, a researcher on right-wing radicalism at the Institute of Communication and History at Aarhus University.

Nazism is a National Socialist ideology developed and described by Adolf Hitler in the Mein Kampf manifesto, published in the mid-20s.

In his manifesto, Hitler wrote:

— the world consists of people of different races who are constantly fighting with each other. It is the racial struggle that drives history;

- there are higher and lower races;

- the superior race will be in danger of extinction if mixed with the inferior ones.

The white race is supreme

“Hitler considered the white Aryan race to be the purest, strongest and most intellectual. He was sure that the Aryans were superior to everyone,” explains Rikke Peters. And he adds: “He hated not only Jews. This applied to both gypsies and blacks. But his hatred of Jews was especially strong because he saw them as the root of all evil. The Jews were the main enemies."

Historian Karl Christian Lammers, who studied the history of Nazism at the Saxo Institute at the University of Copenhagen, adds:

Hitler did not have mental illness

After World War II, many speculated that a man who, like Hitler, was responsible for a terrible genocide, must be mentally ill.

Rikke Peters argues that there is no evidence that Hitler was crazy or suffered from some kind of mental illness that made him hate Jews.

“There is nothing to suggest that Hitler was mentally ill, although he is often portrayed as a madman in constant delirium. You could say he had a manic and paranoid-narcissistic personality type, but that doesn't mean he was crazy or mentally ill."

But although Adolf Hitler did not suffer from mental illness, there is no doubt that he was an aberration. A psychiatrist might diagnose him with a personality disorder.

“Hitler was evil. He was a master at manipulating people and also had poor social skills. But this does not make him mentally ill. In Hitler's life, everything that normally gives meaning and weight to existence was missing - love, friendship, study, marriage, family. He didn’t have an interesting personal life outside of political affairs.”

Antisemitism was rampant even before World War II

In other words, Hitler's personality can be described as deviant and dissocial, but this is not the only reason for the hatred of Jews that led to the genocide.

The German dictator was only part of a long-term general trend. At that time he was far from the only anti-Semite. When Hitler wrote his manifesto, hatred of Jews, or anti-Semitism, was already quite common.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Jewish minorities in Russia and Europe were subject to discrimination and persecution, says historian Claus Bundgård Christensen, a lecturer at Roskilde University.

“Hitler was part of the anti-Semitic culture in Germany and other European countries. Many believed that the Jews had a secret global network and were seeking to seize power over the world.”

Rikke Peters adds:

“It was not Hitler who invented anti-Semitism. Many historians note that his hatred of Jews resonated with the population because Jews were already persecuted in many countries.”

Nationalism led to anti-Semitism

The rise of anti-Semitism correlated with the spread of nationalism across Europe after the French Revolution of 1830.

Nationalism is a political ideology where a nation is perceived as a community of people with the same cultural and historical background.

“When nationalism began to spread in the 1830s, Jews were like a speck in the eye because they lived all over the world and did not belong to one nation. They spoke their own language and were different from the Christian majority in Europe,” explains Rikke Peters.

Conspiracy theories about a secret Jewish desire for world domination flourished among Christian nationalists in many European countries.

False protocols fueled speculation

The theory is based, among other things, on some ancient texts called “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”

These protocols were created at the end of the 19th century by the intelligence service of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II; in form they were similar to a real Jewish document.

According to these protocols, there really is a worldwide Jewish conspiracy to seize power. The Tsar of Russia used the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to justify his persecution of the Jews, and many years later, Adolf Hitler did the same.

“Hitler believed that the Jews actually had a global network where they sat and pulled the strings in an effort to gain world domination. He used false protocols as a means of legitimizing genocide,” says Klaus Bundgaard Christensen.

German Jews were integrated into society

However, Jews were part of German society when Hitler wrote his manifesto in the 1920s.

“German Jews were perfectly integrated into society and considered themselves Germans. They fought for Germany in the First World War, some were generals or held high public positions,” says Rikke Peters.

But Germany lost the war, and this defeat added fuel to the anti-Semitism of Adolf Hitler and his supporters.

“In World War I, Hitler was a soldier of the Bavarian regime. After the war, he blamed the defeat and subsequent unrest in Germany on the Jews. He said that the Jews had stabbed the German army in the back,” explains Karl-Christian Lammers.

The economic crisis benefited the Nazis

In the 1930s, Germany, like the whole world, plunged into the Great Depression. This economic crisis caused huge unemployment and social ills.

During this time of crisis, an anti-democratic Nazi party in Germany was formed - the National Socialist German Workers' Party, which was led by Adolf Hitler from 1921.

“Many Germans supported Nazism because they hoped the new political system would create better living conditions. At that time, Hitler's racial theory was presented only in Mein Kampf, and until 1933 party members knew little about racial hygiene. It was only after Hitler seized power in 1933 that anti-Semitism and racial theory began to play a prominent role in public life,” says Karl-Christian Lammers.

In the 1932 elections, the National Socialist Party and the German Communists together won a majority of the votes. Adolf Hitler demanded to be made chancellor and took this post.

The population was incited against the Jews

With the rise of the Nazi Party to power, Adolf Hitler and his associates began to spread anti-Semitic ideas among the population. There were campaigns that portrayed Jews as inferior and a threat to the Aryan race.

It was proclaimed that Germany is for the Germans, and the purity of the Aryan race must be preserved. Other races, especially Jews, must be separated from the Germans.

“Hitler managed to turn most of the German population against the Jews. But there were also people who protested his brutal attacks on the Jewish minority. For example, many believed that on Kristallnacht the Nazis went too far,” says Klaus Bundgaard Christensen.

Hatred of Jews remained unchanged

During the evening and night, many Jewish cemeteries, 7.5 thousand shops owned by Jews, and approximately 200 synagogues were destroyed.

Many Germans decided that the Nazi Party had overstepped its bounds, but Jew-hatred continued to spread. In subsequent years, Adolf Hitler and his supporters systematically sent millions of Jews to concentration camps and exterminated them.

“During the Second World War, the policy of the National Socialist Party changed in some areas, but hatred of Jews remained unchanged. The destruction of the Jews and the creation of a non-Jewish Europe was the measure of success for Hitler and other members of the party elite,” says Klaus Bundgaard Christensen. “Even at the end of the war, when it became obvious that resources had to be saved, the Nazis continued to spend money on concentration camps and sending Jews there.”

And of course we all know about his great hatred of Jewish blood. But why did Hitler not like Jews and what is the reason for this? Let's figure it out.

According to some sources, during the years of Nazi Germany, about 6 million Jews were exterminated. The ultimate goal was the complete extermination of an entire nation. This is confirmed by the famous book “My Struggle”, in which he explains his theory about the superiority of the Germans, belonging to the Aryan race, only whose representatives can be masters of the world.

The situation in the country.

WITH early years Adolf Hitler adhered to the idea of ​​​​the greatness of his own nation, this idea was planted in his young head by one of school teachers. But the beginning of the 20th century was not best period in German life, especially after the First World War. At the same time, Jews occupied most of the key positions in the financial and political sphere, during economic crisis many of them made huge fortunes.

The overwhelming number of bankers were representatives of the hated race, leadership positions in the field of commerce, culture was also occupied by them.

To be fair, it is worth noting that not all Jews were rich, but even with little income, they did not want to engage in heavy physical labor, preferring moneylending, tailoring and other activities. This did not please the Germans, most of whom had to work for pennies doing hard work.

In addition, the number of Germans in Berlin was significantly smaller than the size of the Jewish community. It was on hatred of representatives of this nation that the policy of Nazi Germany was built; in other words, an internal enemy was found, the culprit of all failures, because the economic ruin and political failures of Germany could most easily be explained by the greed of the Jews who profited from it.

This situation explains why the Nazi leader hated them so much, subsequently calling them the most useless and unscrupulous people on Earth, who sought to work less and live better than others.

Uncleanliness

Trained with early childhood to neatness and cleanliness, Hitler became irritated by people who were alien to personal hygiene skills. In his opinion, Jews did not like to wash, as a result of which they were very different unpleasant smell. Sloppy clothing was noted as an additional drawback.

Resourcefulness

Hitler couldn't help but notice high intelligence Jews, their innate ability for politics and trade. Thanks to the flexibility of the mind, this nation made the necessary conclusions, carefully observing what was happening around, adapting to environment. These abilities aroused in Hitler a simultaneous feeling of disgust and admiration; in his opinion, having such significant potential one should not act so basely.

Usury

The ability of Jews to profit from the misfortune of others was contrasted with the actions of other nations, which, unlike them, helped each other in difficult times and most often unselfishly. Jews made substantial capital through usury, taking advantage of the poor situation or naivety of citizens. Often this led to the complete ruin of honest people who were forced to use their services.

Whatever shortcomings are prescribed to this people, this is not a justification for their destruction. Therefore, many experts are inclined to believe that main reason why Hitler didn't like Jews is mental disorder, which the Nazi leader suffered.

That's all for us. Looking forward to your return!