Understanding Hitler

[hippiedude94]

I consider Adolf Hitler the biggest mass-murderer in history. He was indirectly responsible for the death of millions of people. What would provoke a man to be this sadistic? Was Hitler insane? Was it something personal? Was Hitler homosexual and was ashamed of his own identity? Or was he just bored? What happened to make a man want to kill millions of people?
Hitler was born in 1889 to a customs official and housekeeper in Austria. Hitler's father often beat his wife and children. (Note:Hitler wasn't German, blond, or blue-eyed himself, which leaves me to believe he was mentally insane.) He was very controlling as a child and always wanted to be the leader in the games he played with his siblings. Hitler never did well in school and wanted to become an architect. He moved to Vienna to try to get in to art school, but was rejected twice. I wonder, if only he had become a harmless architect, would so many lives have been saved?
When WW1 came around, Hitler joined the military as a German. He was wounded in battle and was honorably discharged with a medal. Around this time was when Hitler's hatred of Jews developed.
In the 1920's, Hitler attempted to lead a military coup on the government. Fortunately, he failed and was arrested. Upon his release from jail, Hitler founded the National Socialist Party of Germany, which came to be known simply as the Nazi Party. Soon, one thing led to another and Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by his dying predecessor, Paul Von Hindenburg. This was when the terror began.
Hitler expressed hatred for all minority groups, but for some reason, he especially hated Jews and used them as a scapegoat for all of Germany's economic woes. Nobody knows even today why he hated Jews so much. Was it because his father was part Jewish and he beat his wife, Hitler's mother? Or was he just a completely insane and got it into his head that Jews were responsible for all of this? So Hitler and his followers started this thing called the Final Solution, which was the attempted systematic killing of all the Jews in the world. At the end of WWII, an estimated 6 million Jews had died. (Including some of my Great Aunts and Uncles.)
Thankfully, at the end of WWII, Hitler blew his own worthless brains out with a pistol. However, his terrible legacy still lives on, even today.
How can a madman who died more than 60 years ago still have followers and people that think he was right? That's utter madness! There are even still some uneducated fools who think that the Jews are trying to take over the world? WTF??!! I'm Jewish and taking over the world has never once crossed my mind. Also, Jews are now an even smaller minority thanks to Hitler.
Hitler was arguably the strangest human to ever walk the planet. No matter how hard we try, I don't we will ever understand him.

[Dimentio]

Understanding Hitler does not help in the understanding of the Second World War as we also must take into account the interests of the German bourgeoisie, the German army and the German bureaucracy, as well as the general ideological currents which made a character like Hitler possible.

Germany 1929 was basically similar to Russia today. A land with much revanschism, huge unemployment, inequalities and a leadership uninterested in quashing extreme right-wing opposition.

Even if Hitler had died prior to 1933, extreme nationalists would probably have won the power in Germany and started to re-arm. What Hitler brought in was his... personality. And that affected Germany quite much, but would'nt have done so if not Hitler had swayed over a large part of the German state apparatus and private capital.

What separates Hitler from other ultranationalists is that ultranationalists often wants to "restore a nation's greatness", and take the nation back in time. Most German nationalists would have been content with the borders of 1914.

Not Hitler.

Hitler wanted to establish a millennial empire, basically a new civilisation which he had invented himself. Colonisation of Russia, building projects, destruction of christianity and its replacement with neopaganism.

Yes, Hitler was probably insane. I don't think his insanity could be explained by closet homosexuality/bisexuality, but rather by some form of neurological disorder + abuse as a child.

What interests me so much is not the status of Hitler's mental health as to why the German military and bureaucracy followed the orders from a person who was basically deranged?

I mean, you just need to read "Mein Kampf" to see that the person in question had issues. I know there were unique circumstances in 1918-1933, but in the same time, there were numerous... less insane German ultranationalists than Hitler.

A lot of the other high-ranking party members of NSDAP would have been - and was - considered loons under normal circumstances.

How could a group of semi-intellectual madmen hijack an industrialised nation, and command the army, the bureaucracy and the capitalists into submission in a project which probably could not have ended in anything other than complete disaster?

But Hitler's brain was not worthless.

That he - despite his social position, and his probable mental illness - could make himself the dictator of Germany, says a lot about an extra-ordinary strategic mind.

[Dimentio]

http://ia300232.us.archive.org/3/items/TheYoungHitlerIKnew/TheYoungHitlerIKnewJr.pdf

I actually think this might be the best book to explain how Hitler worked.

[ComradeOm]

I'm Jewish and taking over the world has never once crossed my mindAh, but that's just what a Jew who was going to take over the world would say! ;)


Hitler was arguably the strangest human to ever walk the planet
I disagree (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3672047/Baron-Ungern-Sternberg-meteoric-nutter.html)


Most German nationalists would have been content with the borders of 1914No, they wouldn't. There was an extremely strong current of thought amongst German conservatives that favoured territorial expansion to the east, far beyond the borders of 1914, in the old spirit of the Drang nach Osten. This was true even before the Great War but that conflict, and the accompanying experience of administrating vast swathes of Eastern Europe, very much encouraged the perception of a great near-empty 'space' (hence lebensraum) to the east. This was also fuelled by the later loss of Germany's overseas colonies and the rise of Bolshevik Russia. Even relative moderates such as Stresemann were convinced that Germany needed to expand eastwards in order to compete with Britain and America

The Nazis placed the above within their framework of racial struggle but the argument of conquering the resources and land of the East would have already been both known and very much acceptable to the ruling class


How could a group of semi-intellectual madmen hijack an industrialised nation, and command the army, the bureaucracy and the capitalists into submission in a project which probably could not have ended in anything other than complete disaster?The obvious answer is that they did not. Despite Nazi propaganda there was no 'Brown Revolution'; rather Hitler was invited to power by a tottering bourgeoisie desperate to secure its own future. This is where focusing on Hitler the Great Man can be misleading

[Hoxhaist]

Hitler seems to have been obsessed with "restoring Germany to its rightful place in the world." He saw leftists as not German enough, traditional conservatives as impotent, Jews as foreigners bent on controlling Germans, and Slavs and Roma as parasites that plague the body of the German states. He was convinced of his own special role in history as the one who will eliminate all these groups and rule over a thousand-year empire. Long story, short he was the paradigm of megalomania, but we shouldnt focus too much on explaining Hitler away as crazy. If Hitler is understood as the product of centuries of bourgeois racial chauvinism mixed with genuine exploitation of Germans by aristocrats and plutocrats, fascist racism is the result when fascists hijack the revolt of the German masses.

[benhur]

I consider Adolf Hitler the biggest mass-murderer in history.

Your view, but it's patently false, though. He was a bad guy, but wasn't the biggest mass murderer.


He was indirectly responsible for the death of millions of people. What would provoke a man to be this sadistic?You can ask the same question of every other leader, dictator, even those who claimed they were trying to promote democracy and freedom had no qualms dropping the A bomb or illegally occupying territories, slaughtering native populations etc. etc.. This wasn't peculiar to Nazi Germany at all, all imperialist powers have done this, with Britain and Japan doing much worse. So why this obsession with Hitler/nazis, as if they were any different from other imperialists? Would it not be better to understand nazism/Hitler in the context of imperialism, and NOT in isolation?


Was Hitler insane? Was it something personal? Was Hitler homosexual and was ashamed of his own identity? Or was he just bored? What happened to make a man want to kill millions of people?All this is a matter of conjecture. Besides, you make it sound like the whole world was paradise before Hitler came along and destroyed everything.:rolleyes: This world has always had its fair share of maniacs, mass murderers, and the rest. In what way was Hitler different from other imperialists who also slaughtered millions, practiced racism as state policy etc. etc.? Again, why this obsession with Hitler to the exclusion of other 'bad boys?'


Or was he just a completely insane and got it into his head that Jews were responsible for all of this? So Hitler and his followers started this thing called the Final Solution, which was the attempted systematic killing of all the Jews in the world. At the end of WWII, an estimated 6 million Jews had died. (Including some of my Great Aunts and Uncles.)Again, you're looking at things in isolation. Man is a product of his circumstances, and Hitler was no different. Europe had always been an anti-semitic hotbed, and so it isn't all that surprising that Hitler grew up to become an anti-semtic himself.



How can a madman who died more than 60 years ago still have followers and people that think he was right?Why should it surprise you? There are many people who still believe in, and follow, 3000-year-old myths like Moses, Jesus, and all that.


That's utter madness! There are even still some uneducated fools who think that the Jews are trying to take over the world? WTF??!! I'm Jewish and taking over the world has never once crossed my mind. Also, Jews are now an even smaller minority thanks to Hitler.Jews have always been overachievers, maybe, that's why Hitler thought they were taking over the world. I don't know, I am just speculating here.


Hitler was arguably the strangest human to ever walk the planet. No matter how hard we try, I don't we will ever understand him.All humans are unique in their own way.

[nightazday]

he was a racist Napoleon, bigger atrocities happen all throughout history

to make him a representative for the right is like making Pol Pot one for the left

evil people are evil people

[Dimentio]

I don't think Napoleon would have liked what you said.

Napoleon was not that very messed up. He was arrogant and suffered from sense of inferiority. Hitler lived in his own little planet.

http://www.revleft.com/vb/hitlers-mental-health-t106227/index.html

[Louise Michel]

You can ask the same question of every other leader, dictator, even those who claimed they were trying to promote democracy and freedom had no qualms dropping the A bomb or illegally occupying territories, slaughtering native populations etc. etc.. This wasn't peculiar to Nazi Germany at all, all imperialist powers have done this, with Britain and Japan doing much worse. So why this obsession with Hitler/nazis, as if they were any different from other imperialists? Would it not be better to understand nazism/Hitler in the context of imperialism, and NOT in isolation?


This is of course right but the fascination with Hitler stems from how clear and how conscious and perverse his actions were. He had a project to eliminate the jews and beyond them the slavs (whoever exactly they are) and virtually the whole of east and west European peoples who weren't designated Aryan (another totally bizarre category)- as well as homosexuals and gipsys - he's a microcosm for the insanity of 20th century capitalism but also, as I think you imply, a soft touch for 20th century liberals who want to justify the actions of their politicians (who carpet bombed Germany and nuked Japan).

[Dimentio]

This is of course right but the fascination with Hitler stems from how clear and how conscious and perverse his actions were. He had a project to eliminate the jews and beyond them the slavs (whoever exactly they are) and virtually the whole of east and west European peoples who weren't designated Aryan (another totally bizarre category)- as well as homosexuals and gipsys - he's a microcosm for the insanity of 20th century capitalism but also, as I think you imply, a soft touch for 20th century liberals who want to justify the actions of their politicians (who carpet bombed Germany and nuked Japan).

Hitler was indeed a bizarre figure. Read August Kubizek's memoirs about his relationship with Hitler in 1904-1908.

http://www.revleft.com/vb/hitlers-mental-health-t106227/index.html

[Yazman]

he was a racist Napoleon, bigger atrocities happen all throughout history

to make him a representative for the right is like making Pol Pot one for the left

evil people are evil people

It is certainly wrong to advocate and do what he did, however I object to the term "evil." It isn't really a useful term to use imo, although that debate should really be saved for Philosophy so we probably shouldn't get into it I guess.