Adolf Hitler

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Adolf Elizabeth^[1] Hitler (1889–1945) was leader of the German Nazi Party from 1921 and chancellor, and eventually dictator, or Führer ("leader"), of Germany from 1933 until his suicide in 1945 during the last days of World War II. Hitler was Austrian by birth, and came to power by way of a series of legal and extralegal manoeuvrings. His decidedly toxic message of racism and antisemitism is summed up in his manifesto, Mein Kampf ("My Struggle")^[2], written while imprisoned in the 1920s after trying to lead a coup d'état against the Weimar Republic.

At the time of his rule, there were rumours that Hitler was a quarter Jewish because the paternity of his father was questionable and his grandmother had worked in the house of a Jewish man. However no evidence has been uncovered which would substantiate this rumour. He was raised a Catholic and apparently professed Catholicism throughout his life. He was also famously a vegetarian, but this was apparently not so much a matter of principle as a result of his doctor's attempt to cure him of a flatulence problem.

Contents 1 Most evil human ever? 2 Hitler's war 3 Religious beliefs 3.1 Self-hate? 4 Mein Kampf 5 Henry Ford 6 See also 7 Vandalism 8 Footnotes

[edit] Most evil human ever?

As the perpetrator of a huge and destructive war, and for his role in the murder of six million European Jews, several million ethnic Slavs (among others), gypsies, homosexuals, and communists, he is viewed by some as being the most evil person ever to have lived. In total, it is believed the Holocaust killed 12 million people. Remarkably, this evil lunatic still has some admirers. The hive of unrelenting racists known as Metapedia likes to refer to him "uniting Europe against the evil Communist menace".

Although the Holocaust was hardly the first genocide in human history, and it may not even be the one with the most victims,^[3] it is special for one reason: the creation of a whole industry (Industrialisierter Massenmord, or "industrialized mass-murder") with the sole purpose of exterminating an entire "race" is a unique event in the history of mankind.

[edit] Hitler's war

Hitler got off to a good start in World War II by taking over most of mainland Europe, but bit off more than he could chew by trying to simultaneously fight Great Britain (along with her colonies and dominions, such as Canada, Australia, India, etc.) and invade Russia. Were he to have left Britain alone (reducing the motivation for the U.S. to declare war on Germany), and to have made a peace with Stalin, it is likely he would have held his European mainland conquests for some time - perhaps even until the current day. It is quite likely that Hitler never played the board game "Risk" as a child.^[4]

His early campaigns against Poland and France were overwhelming victories for the Wehrmacht, but the reason was not Hitler's strategic insight, but rather a combination of bad planning on the French side, some reckless but eventually successful actions of a few German officers, and a huge amount of luck. As the years passed, an apparent megalomania gripped him and his later mistakes (including the hubris of invading Russia, and pissing off the United States, which at the time had a great many German sympathizers) cost him all his "gains".

One overlooked fact, however, it that Germany's petroleum reserves were running low, and the Romanian oil fields could not provide enough petroleum to keep the countries war machine going. This was the motivation for attacking Russia, because at that time the Baku oil fields (in modern Azerbaijan) were one of the most important oil fields outside of the United States. Moreover, the British navy had effectively removed any chance of Germany acquiring oil from anywhere else.

[edit] Religious beliefs

See also: Religion in National Socialism, Positive Christianity and Hitler and evolution

Adolf Hitler's religious beliefs are often a matter of much dispute. Theists, primarily Christians such as Ann Coulter^[5] (along with the general consensus on Conservapedia) have claimed that he was an atheist and have tried to use this as proof of how they (atheists) are completely devoid of morals. It is true that Hitler was not deeply Christian, but although he never attended church, he most definitely called himself a Christian - though other Christians would presumably maintain he was a very bad Christian.

He was born into a Catholic family, and possessed a deep religious affiliation during his early years. For a while he was seriously considering becoming a monk. This was mainly a passing phase, though, and there is no evidence to suggest he considered this beyond high school.^[6]

As an adult, Hitler often spoke positively about Christianity, and about how Jesus Christ was an Aryan (the race of humans Hitler believed to be superior). The following statements have been attributed to him:

"Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord." - Adolf Hitler from Mein Kampf^[7]

"My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter." - Adolf Hitler, speech in Munich on 12 April 1922 ^[8]

"It matters not whether these weapons of ours are humane: if they gain us our freedom, they are justified before our conscience and before our God." - Adolf Hitler, Munich 01 Aug. 1923 ^[9]

"I may not be a light of the church, a pulpiteer, but deep down I am a pious man, and believe that whoever fights bravely in defense of the natural laws framed by God and never capitulates will never be deserted by the Lawgiver, but will, in the end, receive the blessings of Providence." - Adolf Hitler, speech July 5, 1944 ^[10]

A speech he gave in 1937 also contained numerous references to God, in which he also quite explicitly refers to 'God's work' in talking about human beings and their characteristics.^[11]

Hitler was also an anti-atheist. Once appointed to the Chancellorship of Germany, Hitler banned freethought organizations and launched an “anti-godless” movement. In a 1933 speech he declared: “We have . . . undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out.”

[edit] Self-hate?

It has been rumored for many years that Hitler was himself of Jewish descent on his father's side. While the only evidence of this is rather sketchy and circumstantial, it is known that of the Hitlers (and etymologically related Hiedlers) in pre-WWII Europe, most were Ashkenazi Jewish. (Hitler's nephew Patrick, an Irishman by birth, changed his name after the war and died in much-longed-for obscurity. There are believed to be no families named Hitler left in the world (except Edward Elizabeth Hitler, of course) though the name has been adopted by a couple of the more theatrically nuts neo-Nazis out there.)

[edit] Mein Kampf

Mein Kampf ("My Struggle") was written by Hitler whilst imprisoned for 2 years after the Munich Putsch in 1923. Apparently it was edited with the help of a Roman Catholic priest, who was subsequently assassinated on the "Night of the Long Knives". It is a rambling, seemingly unedited, account of Hitler's personal difficulties. These he attributed to the Jews who were running the capitalist system; to the same Jews who were also simultaneously running the Bolsheviks trying to overthrow the capitalist system; and to the Jews who had been responsible for the surrender of Germany in 1918. The book is best read aloud before an audience of thousands in a very loud and hysterical tone, since the more subtle nuances of meaning and emphasis are lost on the armchair reader who will find it a difficult book to finish.

A particularly poignant struggle was young Adolf's rejection from Art School in Vienna, where they advised him to try to become an architect, but the registration date had gone by, so he opted to try his hand at World Domination instead.

In the controversial The Jew of Linz, Kimberley Cornish suggested that Hitler's animosity against the Jews developed when he met one in his class at school, who was smarter than everyone else and generally irritating. His name was Ludwig Wittgenstein, who later became a philosopher. Wittgenstein, with uncharacteristic practical wisdom, fled to Oxford in the 1930s, where he proved smarter than everyone else and threatened Karl Popper with a poker.

"Mein Kampf" didn't exactly sell badly until 1933, but with about 220.000 copies sold, it wasn't a real bestseller, either, and in fact, was looked at critically by most of the national conservatives and right wing extremists. It wasn't until 1933 that millions of copies were printed and handed out for just about any major or minor event in the life of a German (marriage, childbirth, entry into the NSDAP) as a gift.

[edit] Henry Ford

Although Hitler in Mein Kampf is not inclined to share the spotlight with other people, especially living, non-German ones, he does single out Henry Ford as being a person who "still holds out independently" against the international Jewish conspiracy. The use of the word independent is no doubt a reference to the Dearborn Independent, Ford's racist rag from which some of Hitler's "reflections" are copied.^[12] Hitler also utilised sections of Ford's book, The International Jew, (earlier circulated by the Nazis, and translated by them into a dozen languages), verbatim in writing Mein Kampf.^[13][14] Ford had been one of Hitler's principal financial backers since at least 1922,^[15] and a portrait of Ford hung behind Hitler's desk in his private office. Ford's funds were used to finance the Beer Hall Putsch, and at the subsequent trial in February 1923 vice president Auer of the Bavarian Diet testified: "The Bavarian Diet has long had the information that the Hitler movement was partly financed by an American anti-Semitic chief, who is Henry Ford. Mr. Ford's interest in the Bavarian anti-Semitic movement began a year ago when one of Mr. Ford's agents, seeking to sell tractors, came in contact with Diedrich Eichart, the notorious Pan-German. Shortly after, Herr Eichart asked Mr. Ford's agent for financial aid. The agent returned to America and immediately Mr. Ford's money began coming to Munich. Herr Hitler openly boasts of Mr. Ford's support and praises Mr. Ford as a great individualist and a great anti-Semite."^[16]

In August 1938 Ford received the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, the highest Nazi decoration for distinguished foreigners.^[17]

[edit] See also

• Hitler and evolution
• Hitler and Christianity
• Godwin's Law
• Pol Pot

[edit] Vandalism

• See: Talk:Adolf Hitler/vandalism

[edit] Footnotes

1. ↑ The Producers says so
2. ↑ Complete text of Mein Kampf in English at Gutenberg Australia (1939 Murphy translation). The copyright is owned in the US by Houghton Mifflin through 2015; access may be illegal depending on your local copyright and censorship laws.
3. ↑ The death counts of historical atrocities such as the Atlantic slave trade, the crimes against humanity perpetrated by Stalin or Mao, and European imperialism are not fully known and quite probably never will be.
4. ↑ Because, frankly, if you can't figure out how to squat on Madagascar the whole game, you just shouldn't be playing.
5. ↑ American Atheists article on Ann Coulter
6. ↑ Spartacus Educational
7. ↑ Ralph Mannheim, ed., New York: Mariner Books, 1999, p. 65.
8. ↑ Norman H. Baynes, ed., The Speeches of Adolf Hitler: April 1922-August 1939, Vol. 1, New York: Oxford University Press, 1942, pp. 19-20.
9. ↑ NoBeliefs.com
10. ↑ Charles Bracelen Flood, Hitler: The Path to Power, Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1989, p. 208.
11. ↑ http://history-world.org/Hitler%20Speech.htm
12. ↑ Hitler, Adolf, Mein Kampf, Reynal & Hitchcock, New York, 1940, pp. 929 - 930
13. ↑ Sward, Keith. The Legend of Henry Ford (New York: Russell & Russell, 1968) ISBN 0-8462-1084-3
14. ↑ Sutton, Antony C. Wall Street and The Rise of Hitler. (Pasadena: G S G & Associates, 1976) ISBN 0-9450-0153-3
15. ↑ Berlin Hears Ford Is Backing Hitler New York Times 20 December 1922.
16. ↑ Leonard, Jonathan. The Tragedy of Henry Ford (New York: Putnam, 1932). Also see U.S. State Department Decimal File, National Archives Microcopy M 336, Roll 80, Document 862.00S/6, "Money sources of Hitler," a report from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin.
17. ↑ Logsdon, Jonathan R. Power, Ignorance, and Anti-Semitism: Henry Ford and His War on Jews. The Hanover Historical Review (1999). Hosted at Stock Maven.