History 323: The Holocaust Prof.
J. Popkin
Hitler: Essential Background
Information
Adolf
Hitler (1889-1945) is unquestionably the central figure in the story of the
Holocaust. It was the combination of his
virulent hatred of Jews and his success in creating a political movement that
was able to seize control of Germany
that made the campaign to exterminate the Jews possible.
Hitler’s origins:
Hitler was born in a small town in Austria
in 1889. He was the son of a local
customs official and his much younger third wife. Hitler’s father was an illegitimate child and
it is uncertain who his father was, but there is no evidence for the legend
that this unidentified grandfather was Jewish.
Hitler’s father was harsh and distant. He had a closer relationship with
his mother, and her death from cancer when he was 17 was traumatic for him.
Hitler had
a normal education. As a young man, he
showed no special talents. He wanted to
study art, and moved to Vienna
after his mother’s death in hope of being accepted to art school, but was
turned down for lack of talent.
Sources of Hitler’s anti-semitism: Because we have very little reliable
information about Hitler’s early life, it is hard to determine exactly when he
became a confirmed anti-semite. His own
account, in his book Mein Kampf, is not entirely accurate: by the time he wrote it, he wanted to make it
appear that he had adopted anti-semitic ideas quite early in his life. Prejudice against Jews was widespread in the
early 20th century, but there is no
evidence that Hitler’s family was particularly anti-semitic. Discussions of Hitler’s antisemitism focus on
three periods in his life:
- The
Vienna years
(1909-1913): Hitler later
claimed this was when he developed his antisemitic outlook. Vienna
had a large Jewish minority (about 10% of the population when Hitler lived
there). It was also a hotbed of
ethnic conflict, as members of all the different populations of the
Austrian Empire (Czechs, Poles, Croats, Hungarians)
migrated to the rapidly growing capital.
Hitler observed the success of the city’s popular mayor, Lueger,
who was regularly re-elected on a virulently anti-semitic program. He also probably read some of the widely
circulated racist and anti-semitic literature that was easily available in
the city. Many of these pamphlets
also claimed that Jews were the main architects of modern capitalism, and
that they lived off the sweat of honest non-Jewish workers. On the other hand, Hitler was a regular
visitor in at least one Jewish family’s home, and his efforts to support
himself by selling paintings were made possible primarily by Jewish art
dealers. In other words, Hitler had
not yet made anti-semitism the center of his life during this period,
despite his later claims.
- The
war years and the defeat of Germany
(1914-1919): although he was an
Austrian citizen, Hitler volunteered to serve in the German Army at the
start of World War I. He served
through all four years of the conflict, although he rose only to the rank
of corporal. He identified
completely with the German cause, and was deeply disturbed by the defeat
of 1918. Like many disappointed
soldiers, he believed that the army had been “stabbed in the back” by
traitors. Although German Jews had
loyally supported their country during the war, they were more likely than
other Germans to welcome the new, democratic Weimar
Republic
established after the defeat. This
led to accusations that Jews were responsible for Germany’s
defeat. In addition, the war had
led to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the establishment of the Bolshevik
or Communist regime there, devoted to the overthrow of
capitalism. In 1919, there was a
short-lived attempt to create a Communist government in Germany
as well. Enemies of the Communists
pointed to the role of a few Jews in this movement and labeled Communism a
Jewish conspiracy. Modern scholars,
particularly Hitler biographer Ian Kershaw, tend to see these years,
rather than the Vienna period,
as the time when Hitler’s ideas about Jews really became fixed. This focuses attention on the impact of
the war, rather than the ethnic hatreds in pre-war Austria.
- The
first years of the Weimar
Republic (1919-1923): After the war, Hitler lived in Munich,
a city overrun with bitter ex-soldiers and others angry at the new
democratic government in Berlin. He began to associate with some of the
many groups formed to agitate against all the evils affecting Germany: capitalism, Communism, the unpopular
Treaty of Versailles, democracy, and the Jews. By September 1919, Hitler had clearly
come to see the Jews as the organizing force behind these problems. He also began to speak of Germany’s
need to conquer additional territory—Lebensraum or “living
space”—for itself, at the expense of the “Jewish Bolsheviks” in Russia. There was nothing original about his
ideas. He did begin to make a name
for himself, however, because of his unusual speaking ability. By 1920, he had become one of the most
popular agitational speakers in Munich. He took over one of the many small
ultra-right-wing groups, the German Workers’ Party (later renamed National
Socialist German Workers’ Party, or Nazis for short) and built it up into
a larger group, although its support was still mostly limited to Munich
and surrounding areas. Anti-semitism
was a regular part of Hitler’s message throughout this period. By 1923, he thought anger against the Weimar
Republic was widespread enough
to make the overthrow of the government possible; he wanted to set up a
right-wing government, but did not yet imagine himself as its leader. This Beer Hall Putsch (Nov. 9,
1923) failed when the army and the police refused to support it. Hitler was arrested, and his movement
seemed to have failed. During this
period, Hitler became an effective propagandist for anti-semitism, but his
ideas on the subject had formed earlier.
The Stages of Hitler’s Rise to Power (1924-1933)
After
the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, Hitler was tried and sentenced to prison. Most observers assumed that his political
career was over. The extreme economic
problems that had weakened the Weimar
Republic in its first few years
eased starting in 1924, and fewer people were attracted to political extremism.
- 1924: In prison, Hitler writes Mein Kampf,
setting out his ideas. In his
absence, it becomes clear that no one else can create a successful
ultra-right-wing movement
- 1925-28: Hitler, released from prison,
reconstitutes the Nazi Party under his exclusive leadership. The Party does very poorly in elections,
but this period allows Hitler to recruit a small but devoted group of
followers, including many who would be leading figures in the Nazi regime
after it came to power.
- 1929-32: the start of the world economic
depression following the crash of the United
States stock market in October 1929
gives Hitler a chance. As
unemployment skyrockets in Germany,
voters turn against parties associated with the Weimar
Republic. The Nazis score a series of successes in
state elections. Hitler benefits
from the deep divisions among the other German political parties. The Communists hope to profit
from the Depression. They blame Germany’s
problems on capitalism, call for a revolution, and refuse to cooperate
with any of the others parties. Conservative
nationalist parties blame parliamentary democracy and the Versailles
treaty for Germany’s
problems. They hope to use the
economic crisis to overturn the constitution and restore an authoritarian
system similar to the pre-war monarchy.
They see Hitler as a potentially useful ally. The Social Democratic Party is
the strongest defender of the democratic system, but blames the
“bourgeois” pro-capitalist parties for the economic crisis. The Catholic
Center party has
the greatest weight in the government, but has no remedy for the
Depression. By contrast, the Nazis
offer a simple explanation of the crisis—it’s the fault of the Jews—and a
simple program for ending it. In
national parliamentary elections in September 1930, the Nazis score an
unexpected success, winning 18% of the vote and becoming the second-largest
party (after the Social Democrats).
In 1932, Hitler runs for president against the celebrated war hero
Hindenburg and wins 37% of the vote.
- 1932-1933: An unpopular coalition government
led by the Center Party fails to gain support, and new parliamentary
elections are called in July 1932; Hitler’s party wins 37% of the vote,
while the Communists get 16%. No
majority coalition in favor of democracy can be established any more. Various right-wing politicians compete
with each other to create a government that will rule by decree. Hitler is offered a place in one of
these schemes, engineered by von Schleicher, in August 1932, but refuses
because he would not have full control.
New elections are held in November 1932 to break the deadlock. For the first time since 1929, the
Nazis’ share of the vote goes down, to 32%. Fearing that his moment may be about to
pass, Hitler becomes more conciliatory to Schleicher. On January 30, 1933, an agreement is announced: Hitler will be named Chancellor (prime
minister). Despite the broad
support for the Nazis, the party will have only four seats in the
cabinet. Schleicher and other
conservatives expect Hitler’s extremism to undermine his popularity; they
will then be able to dismiss him and keep power themselves.
Significant points about
Hitler’s rise to power: (1) Hitler’s success owed a great deal to the
weakness of democracy in Germany; (2) it took the Great Depression to create
the conditions in which Hitler could come to power; (3) although his party did
become the largest in Germany, Hitler was not elected to office; the Nazis
never won an absolute majority of votes, even in the final elections held after
they came to power in March 1933; (4) Hitler became Chancellor thanks to the
calculations of right-wing nationalist politicians who thought they could use
his popularity to destroy the Weimar system.
The best biographies of Hitler: historians rely on the three serious and
thoroughly researched biographies of Hitler.
There are other good books about Hitler, but there is also an enormous
literature of very dubious quality dealing with him, which often relates rumor
as if it was fact. The three essential
books about Hitler are:
Alan Bullock, Hitler: A Study
in Tyranny. Originally published in
1952, this book is now somewhat dated but still very readable and essentially
accurate on the stages of Hitler’s rise to power.
Joachim Fest, Hitler. Originally published in 1973, this is the
most important examination of Hitler’s life by a German scholar.
Ian Kershaw, Hitler (2 vs.,
1999 and 2000): Even longer and more
detailed than Bullock and Fest, Kershaw’s recent biography incorporates the
latest research on topics such as Hitler’s early life, and shows why many of
the stories about Hitler included in earlier biographies are no longer
considered reliable. This will
undoubtedly be the standard biography of Hitler for many years to come.