Why did Hitler hate the Jews? Dr. Geoff Waddington

[Music] my name is Jeff Waddington and I'm a senior lecturer in international history and the university of leeds and today i'm going to address a simple but crucial question and the understanding of National Socialism and my question is why did Hitler hate the Jews given the wealth of literature the Holocaust understandably has given rise to it might be the case that sometimes we do miss some obvious questions there have been some fabulous investigations the mindset of the Einsatzgruppen for instance of the search for the so-called unwritten order when did the decision the decision made to implement the Holocaust fascinating studies of Nazi propaganda against the Jews during the Second World War there have been studies of the relationship of the course of the war and Soviet Union and to the onset and course of the Holocaust but do we sometimes miss the question of why Hitler hated the Jews Hitler was of course central to the Holocaust any attempt to deny that is ludicrous and central to Hitler himself was anti-semitism but this was no ordinary anti-semitism if I can put it in those terms this was a vicious vituperative murderous anti-semitism and it's really essential that we should probe where that came from uhm yeah sometimes to start on an uncomfortable note and this is no exception what did I again I'm afraid have to start on something of an uncomfortable note and that is that in some senses Hitler was no different to URI Hitler was flesh and blood he was a product of his time he was a reflection of his environment he was affected by experience as we all are it was open to the influence of others there are some clearly seminal factors in the origins and development of Hitler's anti-semitism for instance the years that he spent in Vienna between 1908 and 1913 the experiences he had during the First World War there's also the impacts of the Russian Revolution and the impact of defeat in 1918 and also the influence of outsiders who influenced Hitler's view of Jewry and world during its relation to Bolshevism and Marxism and but let's start with with Hitler's background and possible influences it was born in 1889 a small town but I know I'm in in the austro-hungarian I was effectively a Central European he was born into a place where anti-semitism was the rule exception the late nineteenth century and the early 20th century anti-semitism was on the increase in Australia I was also on the increase in Germany um and the kind of anti-semitism that Hitler may have been exposed to saying may because none of this obviously can be can be definite but may have been exposed to was a different kind of anti-semitism wasn't an semitism which was determined by tradition or culture it was an anti-semite which was determined by race was a biological anti-semitism it had a lot to do with some kind of pseudo scientific theories of the supremacy of certain races over others and Aaron's been the obvious candidate as far as Hitler's concerned Hitler was also born and grew up in a world in which there was a kind of harking back to romanticized visions of the German past it's referred to in German as foolish sentiment means from the people and focus and philosophers and theorists [Music] decreed really that there was no place for foreigners in this romanticized vision of the German must you put these two two things together and you have biological anti-semitism which is determined not by physical characteristics so much as by the blood which is coursing through ones veins couple of that with the idea that in the in the focus scenario there's no room for foreigners Outsiders such as Jews and you can see where the origins of a kind of different kind of anti-semitism might've had there might have been felt but what we do know I think is that the time that it was spent in Vienna was crucial to the kind of anti-semitism the eventually espouse crucial in a few ways firstly because in Vienna in doubtedly had more exposure to Jews and it had even put on a line Lintz weight-lift previously there was something like 200,000 Jews live in 1919 so it probably wasn't that much different a decade earlier um Hitler secondly drew a crucial distinction while he was in Vienna he was disgusted with Vienna call the places of Babylon of races um he made a crucial distinction that distinction was that the Jews were not Germans the Jews were separate entity separate people in themselves they were effectively a race but they were a race without a state yeah a nation without a country that's crucial element of Hitler's anti-semitism it's not religious it's racial unless I said before biological the third point that reference I suppose is the influence of the Christian socialist mayor of Vienna Karl ooga-booga used anti-semitism to promote his own political interests he wasn't by all accounts a committed antici might you see what I mean but his relations had a particular effect on Hitler and to the extent that Hitler mentioned you in mind camps so by the outbreak of the first world war Hitler's attitude towards the Jews was different than most content principle probably was in terms of the fact that he had imbued the ideas of this biological racism and servile is called anti-semitism and also identified the Jews not as a religious group of Germans or Germans with a with a distinct religious persuasion but you identified them as a race of effectively Outsiders aliens living within German communities well the outbreak of World War one thrilled Hitler because he thought this would be the opportunity for Germany German nationalism the German race to demonstrate its superiority over the Flemmi club' Democrats in the West and also specifically over the Slavic hordes to the east when things didn't transpire that Hitler saw dance as they found them not in the bungled military decision-making or in the clumsy diplomacy of the bill have minor leaders found them on the home front he found an enemy within if you like and that enemy was on the one hand social democrats and on the other hand it was the Jews the Jews he perceived as guilty of working against the state of working effectively conniving are the demise of the state for their own personal gain and in order to inherit that state so Hitler was perfect ammunition if you like for a perfect target rather for the dos dos Maguindanao stab-in-the-back theory that Germany had lost the war not due to military factors not due to economic factors but due to the fact that it had an enemy within at home and this culminates obviously in November criminals who signed the Armistice the Jews as far as Hitler was concerned were essential to that development Germany losing the war there were also external influences acting upon Hitler and just after the first world war on of these we need to really mention three the first is D thick Eckart's who was an alcohol dependent publicist and poet who deeply impressed Hitler Eckhart was the author of anti-semitic pamphlets most famous one is called alpha touch means in in good German and Eckhart was very much of the persuasion that the Jews were to blame for Germany's defeat in the First World War a card also got a mention in mine camp the second was a Baltic German called Alfred Rosenberg he went on to become kind of a philosopher of the Nazi Party Alfred Rosenberg had fled Estonia in 1918 from the advancing Red Army and his contribution to Hitler's anti-semitism if you like was to persuade Hitler that the October Revolution in 1917 that's they've been orchestrated by Jews and this kind of fed into Hitler's idea that the Jews were effectively a race living amongst communities which was which had as its as its main goal the overthrow and decimation of that community um the third individual is Gottfried Feder again mentioned favorably in mancome Gottfried Feder came from the other end of the spectrum if you like Gottfried Feder argued in light Rosenberg that the Bolsheviks would use the Phaedrus argument was the capitalists were controlled by Jews and the capitalism was effectively an extension statewide of Jewish supposed usury in 1920 Hitler made a speech in Munich house it's very useful for this presentation the speech was simply entitled why are we anti-semites and in this speech he pointed to a series of irreconcilable differences between Germans on the one hand or Aryans or in Lacombe and Jews these differences whether the Germans had a strong work ethic they accepted the responsibility of work as a service to the welfare and communal good maintenance of the community but Jews were exploitative Jews were materialistic they wished only to profit from the labor of others secondly and crucially Hitler argued that the Germans respected notions of racial hygiene they were committed to the purity of the blood the purity of race whereas on the other hand the argued the Jews were pernicious racial polluters they deliberately set out in their attempts to decimate communities and to dilute and weaken superior races through systematic crossbreeding thirdly Hitler argued that the Germans had creative ability this doesn't mean just simply in the arts music literature art accept support the creative ability to construct administration's to construct States whereas the Jews didn't do that the Jews lived as a people in others sorry in other people's states and connived against that state structure from within it in order to be able to take it over one day most importantly relating to that point Hitler argued that the Jews were simply parasites they lived off others with the ultimate intention of inheriting what was not theirs well from this brief review we can probably discern about five conclusions five crucial elements in Hitler's attitude towards the Jews the first is that Hitler's anti-semitism was not religious religion as far as it was concerned was unmasked for the Jews behind which they sought to promote the interests of the Jewish race as opposed to the Jewish religion so biological racism again thing we need to end this secondly Hitler believed that Jews constituted a threat to all national states Germany in particular there were parasites feeding off healthy communities making them ultimately unhealthy their ultimate aim was to achieve domination over these superior racial groups and this to displace the racially pure core thirdly and this really ways where rosenberg comes in and fader hitler believed that the jury was a sophisticated well-organized well-oiled international machine a movement which was closely coordinated engaged in a worldwide conspiracy engaged in internationalism in order to bring down national states it wasn't a case of isolated pockets of jews these jewish communities were connected in an international conspiracy in order to promote ultimately the goal of jewish world domination fourthly for these reasons Jewry could neither be tolerated not going to be accommodated in national communities because if they were tolerated in these communities those communities would effectively be conniving at their own downfall fifthly and finally it's important to understand the marriage that was made in Hitler's mind certainly by the early 1920s largely encouraged by the likes of Rosenberg and Fader between Jewry on the one hand and Bolshevism and capitalism this is particularly the case in relations of Bolshevism anti-semitism and auntie Bolshevism became crucial so the understanding both Hitler's domestic and international policies during the international era the domestic policy the history explains itself in terms of the increasing radicalization of policies against the Jews from the boycott in 1930 three s the Nuremberg Laws the Reich's Kristallnacht - the prophecy speech in 1939 internationally you can observe an attempt to configure the international system against the Soviet Union in the first instance that was the purpose of things like the anti comments in writing etc so these are to my mind the essential points understanding why Hitler's anti-semitism so the form it did and why Hitler hated the Jews so much and why it be had became such a central feature a dominant feature really of his political activities [Music]

Channel: The Faculties

Views: 607,491

Keywords: A-level, A-level history, history revision, History, Documentary, Lecture, The Faculties, The History Faculty, GCE, GCE History, Ww2, Jewish People (Ethnicity), Adolf Hitler (Military Commander), Holocaust, Wwii

Id: 9X3dfFz1l70

Length: 17min 59sec (1079 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 28 2015