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Hitler attempted to cover up the fact that he had no original philosophies or solutions for Germany by portraying himself as a hero with anti-Semitic propaganda. His philosophies on economics, religion and education were not his own new ideas, just recycled ideas to either help bring him into power or improve the military. Although Hitlers main ideas were about race and the state, the anti-Semitism that is part of racism also pertains to religion, and the economic and educational philosophies were to perfect the Nazi state. Hitler came to power by propaganda. When he was bouncing around Europe trying to find something to do with himself, he noticed a lot of anti-Semitism around him. He may not have actually even believed in it, but he did know that he could sway the people by using it to his advantage.
Hitler of course joined the German Workers Party, then used his propaganda and speaking techniques to his advantage, eventually taking over the party when he threatened to quit and they realized they couldnt get on without him. Many people today still wonder why the German people would buy into the program of this seemingly obviously evil man. At the time of Hitlers ascent to power, there was a collapse of order and people were having difficulties adapting to new forms of state. Also, much of the population was losing economic and social status and were almost afraid to go on the way things were going. All this caused irrationality and exhaustion of a people and led them to renounce reason and accept the myth that Hitler was a saviour.
What we call National Socialism is inconceivable without Hitler. An average man lent the masses his voice and through him the masses spoke. (Fest, Joachim C. , The Face of the Third Reich, Ace, 1963). Another way Hitler was able to influence people was the fact that he seemed like a pretty average guy at first that people thought they could relate to. But the main thing he used was anti-Semitism.
This idea was already popular among the upper classes, not his own, and he used it to his advantage. Really, anti-Semitism was just about his only idea. In the early 1920 s, Hitler and his party attempted a coup unsuccessfully and Hitler was sentenced to prison. Life was not to rough for him here. He had used his case to put himself into the spotlight and out of his comfortable jail cell he wrote about his famous struggle in his book Mein Kampf. In this book, Hitler is obviously influenced by and / or has borrowed pre-existing common philosophies in Germany, such as anti-Semitism, of course.
This idea is really the backbone of his whole program, which is what made it saleable to Germans. Hitlers struggle in Mein Kampf can be divided into three separate struggles, two of which remained central through his entire rise and fall. One is the struggle of the perfect Aryan race against inferior people. The Jews were especially dangerous to the perfect superior people. This basic idea is also known as social Darwinism, basically the survival of the fittest, if the Aryan race mixed with a lower race, they would become weaker so it just couldnt happen.
And anyone who felt sorry for those lower races must also be of a weaker breed. Another struggle in Mein Kampf is the leader principle. The stupid masses needed a heroic leader to lead this struggle, because most people were too stupid so only the brave hero could make their decisions for them. The last struggle was the struggle against capitalism. This is another example of Hitler taking advantage of trendy ideas, getting himself elected by making socialist promises. Once Hitler came to power, he realized he was going to need money from capitalists to improve his military, which is basically all he cared about.
Hitler eventually abandoned this struggle and ended up giving capitalists favour in exchange for money. Officially, the Nazi philosophy was summed up in The 25 -Point Program of the National Socialist German Workers Party, released on February 25, 1920 (See Appendix). Some of these points are actual philosophies of the party, others just empty promises to get votes. The first three deal with nationalism, then the next four have traces of anti-Semitism. The perfect race will have privileges, others will live in the country as guests and take last priority, also no new inferior people could immigrate.
The rest contain some racial elements and empty socialist promises, but mostly concentrate on improvement of the military or things that will lead to it such as mandatory exercise. These 25 points are some indication of Nazi intentions but were never intended to be closely adhered to so one can not base their entire opinion of Nazi philosophy on them. Once the Nazis took power, they took complete control of the economy. Unemployment was eliminated but turned into exploitation through mandatory military service, public works, and slave labour camps.
Debt was eliminated by simple refusal of payment, or barter agreements negotiated in heavy favour of Germany. Capital was increased by forced loans from banks, industries and insurance companies. Germany was now in a war economy. Everything that was going on was supplying the army with either goods or men.
The significance of Hitlers economic reforms is the fact that he was elected by socialist problems and ended up totally regulating the economy. Nazi religious philosophies are perhaps the most important. Hitler was able to unite the party emotionally and ideologically with anti-Semitic propaganda, and became the party leader on July 29, 1921 with it. Hitlers reign is sometimes called the anti-Jewish revolution because of the fact that he didnt make up any ideas but just relied on his recycled propaganda to help him politically. Hitler blamed all of Germany's problems on the Jews despite the fact that they comprised only about 1 % of the population (Snyder, Louis L. , Basic History of Modern Germany, Anvil, date between 1955 and 1973). Everything negative at this time was directed at the Jews.
Anti-Semitism was so abundant that it just sort of became an accepted way of life. To aid his cause, Hitler depersonalized the image of the Jew so no one could feel sorry for one. He said Jews were generally evil, had no feelings and no soul, had an unethical and outdated religion, in fact these anti-governmental lying cowards werent even human. The Jews, said Hitler, are parasites on the bodies of other peoples; they make states within the state. (Snyder). At the time, burning a German house could be punished with death and burning a synagogue would be praised. How could anyone feel sorry for someone like that?
Its no wonder nobody felt sorry for them because everyone believed what Hitler fed them. The Jews were, of course, persecuted for years by the Nazis leaving about 8 million of them dead. This violence started back in 1921 when Hitler proclaimed Juda, Verrecke. , meaning Jews, drop dead. Violence against Jews was made to seem alright by Hitler, the Nazis, even in the media. Movies and literature of the time encouraged violence and persecution of Jews. In 1934, the Nuremberg Laws of Jewish exclusion were passed, basically making it acceptable to be violent towards Jews.
Hitler wouldnt just deport them, he had to be violent towards them. Some people may say that the torture and genocide that occurred in this period was an unplanned accident, but Hitler had this cruelty in mind for a long time. Anti-Semitism was the basis of just about everything Hitler did. As far as his acts towards other religions, Hitler kept them under close surveillance. He changed the Bible to include certain Aryan elements, made Christ an Aryan, and deleted the entire Old Testament. Hitler said any religion was fine as long as it was anti-Jew and wasnt anti-Nazi, even signing an agreement with the Protestant and Catholic churches not to attack them.
Eventually he did, trying to take over the Protestants, and attacking Catholic churches. Again, he didnt meet much resistance. He was the countrys saviour, surely they could just endure a few bad things until greener pastures came along. The church usually just obeyed or tried to go along with the Nazis, overlooking the bad to see the good. The educational system of the Folks-State, said Hitler, finds its crowning work in burning into the brains and heart of the youth intrusted to it an instinctual and understanding sense of race and race feeling. The education system was a strait jacket of cultural uniformity, with everything co-ordinated and subordinated to the Nazi philosophy.
In fact, the whole function of education, said Hitler, is to create a Nazi. (All quotes, Snyder). Hitler wanted to groom young people to be future leaders and soldiers, breaking down old institutions while creating new ones. He wanted youthful leadership. And he wanted total school conformity.
Such ideas as a Platonic disciplinary and educational state. (Kick), Political or German community schools (Butler) or a Vol kish ideological school were, again, being talked about before Hitler started pushing them. (Quotes from Bracher, Karl Dietrich, The German Dictatorship, Praeger, 1970) In 1933, the re-organization of schools began. An important step in this was the conforming of teachers and curriculum, for the teachers were to be the leader and educator of the nation (Bracher). The schools stressed important Nazi ideas race, nationalism, politics with teachings of history, German philology, biology, geography, and sports slanted with race lore and military ideas. Another important development in the education system was the Hitler Youth, a system of elite schools to train the future leaders of Germany and the Nazi Party. Baldur von Schirach, a German philology student, was appointed Reich Youth Leader.
His job was to absorb or dissolve all existing youth organizations. By December 1, 1936, all non-Nazi youth organizations were eliminated, and membership to the Hitler Youth was compulsory for those between the ages of 10 and 18. The history taught in these schools was changed to benefit the Nazis or the German elements of history were over-glorified. The Jews were blamed for all Germany's problems, and the current state was taught to be the culmination of all German history. These youth were easily influenced by Hitler the hero and his propaganda. They were engaged in big shows, parades, ceremonies, propaganda, trips, etc.
to make the glorification of Hitler fun. The teachers participated in this because they were afraid not to co-ordinate for fear of losing their jobs or worse, their lives. The Hitler Youth was divided into 4 types of schools, although only 3 were really put into practice. The National Political Educational Institutes, or Naples, were boarding schools for boys aged 10 to 18 which concentrated more on military Nazi ideas encouraging loyalty, courage and faith. Expected to come out of these schools were the future SA and SS secret police. Another type of boarding school was the Adolf Hitler Schools, for 12 to 18 -year-olds.
The focus of these schools was more on leadership, they were the training schools of the party. Subjects taught were military and gymnastic drills, political propaganda, especially in biology, folklore, and foreign countries. The students were preparing to become Nazi officials. Elite 12 -year-olds were chosen every year based on leadership ability, healthy stock, and had to be racially pure (All quotes, Bracher). Educational abilities were not a big factor, perhaps because the intelligent would be harder to brainwash. An example of one of the aforementioned parades was the admission ceremonies of the Adolf Hitler Schools that took place every year on April 20, Hitlers birthday.
Both these schools were prep schools for the next level of elite training, the Order Castles. They consisted of a three-year program. One year concentrated on race, biology, and ideological propaganda. The second year was mostly sports and physical training.
Then they were sent to Marienburg in Western Prussia for one more year of political propaganda. The fourth school was to be the Supreme School, the Nazi university, but only one was ever built. There were big plans for Supreme Schools but they actually did little. The significance of this elite program is that the Nazis were brainwashing the youth into believing their philosophies and using them to prepare for war.
In conclusion, it is obvious how Hitler manipulated existing ideas to his benefit and that his philosophies on economics, religion, and education were all either dedicated to bringing him into power or somehow improving his military. He created a total war economy under state control, used anti-Semitic propaganda to his advantage, and brainwashed the youth, anything to achieve his ultimate goal of world domination which, fortunately, was never achieved.
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