In 1933, Adolf Hitler rose to power in Berlin, delivering speeches filled with hatred and obsession. His central target was the Jewish people. To understand why, one must look beyond simple madness and examine centuries of European prejudice, the trauma of World War I, and a mind that found purpose in hatred.
Anti-Semitism did not begin with Hitler. For centuries, Jews in Europe faced repression and were subjected to special laws. They were often labeled as usurers or a people condemned by God. However, the French Revolution and the spread of liberal ideas brought a wave of tolerance.
In Prussia, Jews were guaranteed equal rights in 1812. Austria-Hungary followed in 1867. For the first time, Jews could leave the ghettos and participate in society as free citizens. They embraced these new opportunities with enthusiasm.
Jews soon became prominent in the economy, culture, and politics. They prospered in the new capitalism, standing out in commerce and banking. They were also widely represented in science, journalism, and the arts. Some became extremely wealthy. They naturally supported the democratic and liberal forces that had granted them emancipation.
This success created resentment. The economic crisis of 1873 hit Germany particularly hard. Many in the old middle class felt cornered by industrialization. They blamed the Jews, who had become the personification of capitalist modernity, for the disaster. This gave rise to modern anti-Semitism.
Unlike the old religious anti-Judaism, this new hatred added a dangerous element: race. Jews began to be considered a separate biological unity. It was believed that from their blood arose all kinds of unpleasant traits. Hitler would later insist on this idea, claiming that a Jew’s character was determined by his blood and that he only thought of bringing his people to world domination.
This racial theory did not appear from nowhere. The concept of human races became fashionable in the 18th century during European colonial expansion. The white race was considered superior. Thinkers like Count Joseph Arthur de Gobineau became influential pioneers of this new racism. Social Darwinists applied Charles Darwin’s theories of natural selection to human society, arguing that races were locked in a battle for survival.
Anti-Semites used these ideas to attack the Jewish people. They claimed that Jewish behavior emanated from immutable racial characteristics. Everything a Jew did supposedly came from his biology.
Hitler lived in the strongly anti-Semitic city of Vienna from 1908 to 1913. He learned much about anti-Semitism during this period. However, the defeat of Germany in World War I and the revolution of November 1918 drove anti-Semitism to new heights.
New accusations were added to the old ones. During the war, many Eastern Jews fled to Germany. Their different appearance gave persuasive power to the racial cliché that Jews belonged to another race. The middle class, threatened by the war, fell into a fear of being dominated by strangers.
In 1916, the war ministry began an official investigation into whether Jews were avoiding the front. The statistics were never published, and the truth was that the number of Jews and Germans fighting at the front was proportionally equal. Still, the refrain was heard everywhere: Jews were smiling everywhere but not in the trenches.
The capitulation in November 1918 led to the "stab-in-the-back" myth. It was claimed that the brave German army had been brought down by traitors at home. General Ludendorff and Field Marshal Hindenburg encouraged this legend, blaming the Social Democrats. Accusations that Social Democrats were Jews or inspired by Jews increased.
The German völkisch movement saw this in a broader context. They claimed that Jews were trying to unleash revolution across Europe and Russia to establish their power. Once again, it was discovered that Jews aspired to global domination. In 1919, there was a rich anti-Semitic tradition in Bavaria that enormously influenced Hitler.
Hitler's early life was marked by instability. His father, Alois, was born illegitimate and later changed his name from Schicklgruber to Hitler. Adolf was born on April 20, 1889, in Braunau, a town on the border between Austria and Bavaria. His mother, Klara, was a kind and submissive woman who loved her son deeply.
Young Adolf was mischievous and did poorly in school. He wanted to be an artist, but he was rejected by the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. He sank into a life of poverty, living in homeless shelters. He had no friends or contact with his family. The world must have seemed very threatening to him.
During this time in Vienna, Hitler met Reinhold Hanisch, another vagrant. They worked together selling paintings. According to Hanisch, Hitler did not hate Jews at that time. He praised Jewish culture and called claims of ritual murder complete nonsense. He even sold his paintings to Jewish merchants, saying better business could be done with them.
Hitler’s greatest trauma was yet to come. When the First World War broke out in 1914, he was delighted. He enlisted as a volunteer in the Bavarian army despite being Austrian. He served as a messenger on the Western Front. He was lucky to survive several terrifying battles.
In October 1918, Hitler was a victim of mustard gas in Flanders. He was blinded and led from the battlefield. He was transferred to a military hospital. On November 10, 1918, he heard the unthinkable: Germany had lost the war. This was his greatest trauma.
From May 1919, Hitler developed a paranoid conspiracy theory to explain Germany’s defeat. The "weakening Jew" played a central role in this theory. He would never depart from this belief, which determined his subsequent political and military actions.
Hitler’s paranoia was a key factor in his anti-Semitism. The paranoid style in politics involves claiming a great conspiracy exists against the entire nation. The conspirators represent absolute evil. Negotiation is meaningless. A crusade must be launched against them.
Hitler saw a gigantic Jewish conspiracy against all humanity. He believed the Jewish conspirators represented absolute evil. He unleashed a crusade against this evil. His paranoia did not have opponents but enemies who must be destroyed.
Hitler’s anti-Semitism emerged mainly from his feelings, not reason. He praised himself for being an anti-Semite based on reason, but he was wrong. His feelings were closely linked to his paranoid traits. By translating these feelings into credible political ideas, he became a powerful agitator for the extreme right.
After the defeat, Hitler’s fears and insecurities diminished when he discovered the "hidden Jewish conspiracy." The enemy was no longer invisible. It had a clear face: the diabolical Jew. The world became increasingly black and white and predictable for him.
Hitler saw the work of the Jew behind every evil. Jews were behind the revolution of 1918, the Weimar Republic, Marxism, the Bolshevik dictatorship, international stock capital, and the leftist parties. Democracy, parliament, and the League of Nations were also Jewish. He believed Jews were preparing for global domination.
Hitler’s self-confidence increased with his successes. He became the star speaker of the Nazi party. In the early 1920s, he was known as the rhetorical phenomenon of Bavaria. After the failed putsch of November 1923, he considered himself the leader sent by God for future Germany.
The economic crisis of 1929 made the Nazi party a force to be reckoned with. In 1930, they gained 107 seats in the Reichstag. By 1932, they had 196 seats. On January 30, 1933, Hitler was confirmed as Reich Chancellor.
Hitler then obtained one peaceful victory after another in international politics. He reoccupied the Rhineland, annexed Austria, and took the Sudetenland. In the spring of 1939, he invaded Czechoslovakia. On September 1, 1939, he attacked Poland, and England and France declared war on Germany.
By 1940, Hitler controlled all of Western Europe. His self-esteem had become extreme, but his old fears still existed. In 1941, they resurfaced when he was about to lose the war in Russia. Then he initiated the genocide of the Jews.
Understanding why Hitler hated the Jews is not justifying it. It is looking straight at how an idea can destroy millions of lives. It shows how, in times of crisis, hatred can disguise itself as a solution.