Figure 1.--This poster epitomizes the NAZI Weltanschauung -- the fantacized intrrnational Jewish conspiracy which was behind not only the Soviets, but the Western democracies as well. While a cruel fantasy, it was central to Hitler's and thus NAZI thought. And it was one man, Adolf Hitler, that was central to launching World War II. The text, "Hinter den Feindmächten: Der Jude" which means, Behind the enemy powers: The Jew. We cannot read the name NAZI artist who produced this hateful work, but notice his signature. He was clearly proud of his work.

Axis partners Imperial Japan and Fascist Italy like NAZI Germany wanted to fundamentally change the world order. Neither would have launched a world war without Germany and its massive industrial economy and technological capability. Invading Ethiopia and China was one thing. War with modern industrial countries was a whole other matter. The same was true of the Soviet Union. Even for Hitler, possessing and expanded Reich with his successful territorials acquisitions (1935-38), war was a huge gamble. One has to ask, what were his objectives? Many have view him as basically one in a long line of extreme German nationalists. That is certainly how British Prime-Minister Neville Chamberlain and the other Appeasers saw him. This is also how the Anti-Appeasers, the tea with Hitler crowd, viewed him. Hitler was far more than a German nationalist. At Munich, he assured Chamberlain that he wanted 'no Czechs', only the Germans in the Sudetenland (September 1938). Only 6 months later, he ordered the German Army into what was left of Czechoslovakia (March 1939). By that time he had largely achieved the goal of uniting areas with majority German populations. And Chamberlain had agreed that Germany would pursue further minor border adjustments if done peacefully. Clearly more was involved in Hitler's mind than German nationalism. Which was on display only another 6 months later when he ordered the German Army to invade Poland, launching World War II (September 1939). This was also a major step in the Holocaust, the mass murder of the Jewish people. Poland had the largest Jewish population in Europe. Many World War II historians have viewed the Holocaust as a footnote, something largely separate from World War II. Some have even described the acquisition of Polish Jews as an inconvenience. In fact the destruction of the Jewish people was at the heart of Hitler's and thus the NAZI Weltanschauung (World View). Hitler had come to believe that the Jews were part of an international, conspiracy to destroy Germany. This is such an absurd idea, that we wondered if he really could have actually believe this. We thought for a long time that he cynically was attacking the Jews to gain popularity. There is every reason to believe, however, that he truly believed what he was saying. We have wondered how he came to believe such absolute nonsense. Before the War, Hitler does not seem to have exhibited anything more than run of the mill German antisemitism. We think his virulent antisemitism was largely the result of the War--his inability to accept that his beloved Germany Army could have been defeated militarily in World War I. A scapegoat was needed to explain Germany's surrender. And as so often in history -- it was the Jews. An international Jewish conspiracy was not an original thought with Hitler. German generals after the War needed an excuse for their failure and the suffering that they put Germany through. he Jews becasme their chiosen excuse. German Jews were involved in the Armistice and accepting the Versailles Diktat -- who were described as the November Criminals. Then Jews were involved in the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and the Communist (Sparticist and Munich) insurgency in Germany. All of this coalesced in Hitler's twisted mind into the belief that an international Jewish conspiracy was a very real threat. It confirmed the fiction of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and other antisemitic texts. And the fact that Western powers opposed him, convinced him that Jews must be behind their opposition. He was willing to risk war with Britain and France and ultimately with America because he believed that Jews had polluted the vitality out of the French, British, and American people. In the case of America he saw African-Americans as a further pollutant. Thus the War became in Hitler's view an apocalyptic showdown with the Jews. We have always viewed propaganda images depicting Churchill and Roosevelt as Jews or the tools of Jewry was just crude NAZI propaganda. In fact this is how Hitler actually viewed his Western enemies. Only the hated Jews, and not his behavior, in his mind could explain their unrelenting hostility. This is further confirmed by the extensive details available on Hitler's private conversations. [Hitler] This is where he spoke exhaustively with intimates and was free to openly express his true thoughts. Himmler mirrored Hitler's thinking. It was no accident that at the end of the War, Himmler deluded himself that he could negotiate an arrangement with the Western Allies. Hitler by this time had no illusions about his fate. Himmler actually believed he could save himself. In an effort to do so he contacted the representatives of the World Jewish Council in Sweden, thinking that it would enable him to treat with the Western powers. (He kept these efforts secret from Hitler.) This was how the famed White Buses rescuing Scandinavian Jews from the concentration camps was arranged.

Sources

Hitler, Adolf. Hitler's Table Talk, 1941-1944: His Private Conversations (Enigma Books: 2000), 746p. There are issues with this book, especially the English translation. There is every reason to believe, however, that most of the text conveys if not Hitler's precise wirds, the tenor of Hitler's private conversations. It generally comports with Mein Kampf and his second book.

Created: 1:06 PM 11/18/2022
Last updated: 1:06 PM 11/18/2022