Adolf Hitler Essay, Research Paper
For the past week I have been researching three men, Joseph Stalin, Mao, and Adolf Hitler for an answer to a question; who is the most evil? Which, means that I had to think about what exactly was evil for me. Now the dictionary they have a simple definition for it, which is: morally reprehensible, sinful, wicked. But there could be so many different meanings, because there are many different people in the world. So, these three men were judged on my definition of evil. Evil to me is someone who consciously knows what there doing but still doesn?t care, someone who purposely tries to cause destruction on other people, one who possibly thinks that they are somewhat of a messiah, and someone who manipulates people, especially children, into thinking that what they believe is what they are suppose to believe in a fight for. And after many articles, papers, direct quotes, and book scanning, I have come up with my answer. After getting into his mind, reading his thoughts, and listening to his speeches, I have to say Adolf Hitler. Killing people in it is evil but his manipulation, power, and demented thoughts, he acted on, terrified me. This man appalls me. Everything he represents and started repulses me. When I look at pictures of him I know in my heart that what I am looking at is pure evil, and that?s why I know it is him that I am going to write about.
Adolf Hitler was born at 6:30 p.m. on the evening of April 20, 1889; he was born in the small Austrian village of Braunau Am Inn just across the border from German Bavaria. His father was Alois Hiedler, who earlier changed his name to Hitler, and was a retired from the Austrian civil service by the time Adolf was 6. Alois was used to giving orders and having the obeyed and also expected this from his children. Adolf?s older brother was badly beaten by their father and by thirteen ran away, leaving Adolf to get the physical and mental abuse at the age of only 7. One day, Hitler went rummaging through his father?s book collection and came across several of a military nature, including a picture book on the War of 1870-1871 between the Germans and the French. By Hitler?s own account this book became an obsession. He read it over and over, becoming convinced it had been a glorious event.
?It was not long before the great historic struggle had become my greatest spiritual experience. From then on, I became more and more enthusiastic about everything that was in any way connected with the war or, for that matter, with soldering.? ?Hitler stated in his book Mein Kampf.
At age 21 Adolf Hitler was homeless in Vienna and somewhat of an artists. Even before he came to Vienna, Hitler had a personality notable for its lack of empathy. Many historians have concluded Hitler suffered psychological distress partly brought on by an unhappy childhood notably his relationship with his father, a domineering, at times cruel man. In Vienna, and later, Hitler suffered bouts of depression. Other times he experienced extreme highs, only to by followed by a drop back into the depths. One consistent personality trait was the hysteria evident whenever someone displeased him. Hitler?s personality has been described as basically hysterical in nature. This is where Hitler started to get thoughts about Jewish people. Hitler describes the transformation in his thinking regarding the Jews, as to begin with a chance meeting.
?Once, as I was strolling through the inner city, I suddenly encountered an apparition in a black caftan and black hair locks. Is this a Jew? Was my first thought. For, to be sure, they had not looked like that in Linz. I observed the man furtively and cautiously, but the longer I stared at this foreign face, scrutinizing feature for feature, the more my first question assumed a new for: is this a German?? -Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf.
To answer his own question, he immersed himself in anti-Semitic literature. Then he went out and studied Jews as they passed by.
? ?The more I saw, the more sharply they became distinguished in my eyes from the rest of humanity?? Hitler, Mein Kampf.
Even though, he continually did business and maintain friendships with Jews, Some say that the seeds of hate were planted and would be nurtured by events soon to come laying the foundation for one of the greatest tragedies in all of human history.
In the last few paragraphs I have explained some events that happened in Hitler?s life to maybe let you be educated a little more on him. Maybe these might be some of the reasons he hates or has problems. Maybe he really did have psychiac problems. But still it is not an excuse. From Point A to B, he knew what he was doing. He knew the pain and destruction he was giving to people and that was yet to stop him.
While spending time in prison for trying to overthrow the government, Adolf Hitler wrote his famous book ?Mein Kampf?, in which he describes many problems and where he states the Jews and communists were responsible for those problems. He also decided on the ?Final Solution? to the ?Jewish Question?. It was his goal to eliminate the Jewish race from the European continent. In his book Hitler divides humans into categories based on physical appearance, establishing higher and lower orders, or types of humans. At the top, according to Hitler, is the Germanic man with his fair skin, blond hair and blue eyes. Hitler refers to this type of person as an Aryan. He asserts the Aryan is the supreme form of human, or master race. And so it follows in Hitler?s thinking, if there is a supreme form of human, then there must be others less than supreme, the Untermenschen, or racially inferior. Hitler assigns this position to Jews and the Slavic peoples, notably the Czechs, Poles, and Russians.
??it (Nazi philosophy) by no means believes in an equality of races, but along with their difference it recognizes their higher or lesser value and feels itself obligated to promote the victory of the better and stronger, and demand the subordination of the inferior and weaker in accordance with the eternal will that dominates this universe.? ?Hitler states in Mein Kampf
He then states the Aryan is also culturally superior.
? All the human culture, all the results of art, science, and technology we see before us today are almost exclusively the creative product of the Aryan?Hence it is no accident that the first cultures arose in places where the Aryan, in his encounters with lower peoples, subjugated them and bent the to his will. They then became the first technical instrument in the service of a developing culture.?
Hitler goes on to say that subjugated peoples actually benefit by being conquered because they come in contact with and learn from the superior Aryans. However, he adds they benefit only as long the Aryan remains absolute master and doesn?t mingle or inter-marry with inferior conquered peoples. But it is the Jews, Hitler says, who are engaged in a conspiracy to keep this master race from assuming its rightful position as rulers of the world, by tainting its racial and cultural purity and even inventing forms of government in which the Aryan comes to believe in equality and fails to recognize his racial superiority.
?The mightiest counterpart to the Aryan is represented by the Jew?
Hitler describes the struggle for world domination as an ongoing racial, cultural, and political battle between Aryans and Jews. He outlines his thoughts in detail, accusing the Jews of conducting an international conspiracy to control world finances, controlling the press, inventing liberal democracy as well as Marxism, promoting prostitution and vice, and using culture to spread disharmony. Throughout all of these thoughts and ideas, Hitler, never once thought what he was teaching and spreading through Germany was wrong. To him this was not wrong but the way of life they were the masters and the Jews were the peasants. Which is evil enough, in a way.
Through out Mein Kampf, Hitler refers to Jews as parasites, liars, dirty, crafty, sly, wily, repulsive, unscrupulous, monsters, foreign, menace, bloodthirsty, avaricious, the destroyer of Aryan humanity, and the mortal enemy of Aryan humanity. This conspiracy idea and the notion on ?competition? for world domination between Jews and Aryans would become widespread beliefs in Nazi Germany and would even be taught to school children. Many of the children fought for the war and wear known as ?Hitler?s kids.? So not only did this man have hate but then use his hate, he also began to manipulate and put thoughts into young children?s mind to help him for battle.
Once Hitler became chancellor and eventually took over totally they changed their mind. The first thing he did was to take away the Jews right to vote. Soon they were not allowed to marry with a pure German, they could not hold positions such as teachers, doctors, lawyers, and so on. Many Jews only then realized that he was serious and many fled Germany. Hitler took over many places before the other countries did anything to stop him but then in 1939, they could wait no more. The Nazi?s were then told to round up Jews, Communists, Gypsies, Homosexuals and others which were viewed as ?Inferior? according to Nazi racial theory and enemies of the German people and put on trains. They were all sent to Concentration camps, which were set up to implement the ?final solution?. Camps such as Auschwitz, Treblinka, Bergen Belsen, were all equipped with gas chambers to make the killing process quick and efficient. In those camps 6 million Jews and the Nazis killed many others. Hitler?s army seemed unstoppable but in the end, the allies managed to win many decisive battles.
Then on the fateful day of April 30th, 1945 Hitler committed suicide in his bunker by shooting himself in the mouth. His body was burned, but no ones know what happened to the ?Fuhrer?s? ashes. On May 7th, 1945 Germany surrendered unconditionally.
This should all show why I think that Hitler is an evil man. To be cruel enough to get into people?s minds and make them think like you is appalling. To know that he took 6 million life?s in his hand and destroyed them, because they were not the perfect human, is awful. What he started really never was stopped. We still have white supremacist, Nazi?s, Klu-Klux-Klan, etc. These groups may say that they are different but in my eyes they are all the same and many of them looked to Hitler as a leader and someone to guide them through the racial battle they were causing. Even though I think that Hitler had an incredible mind and he also was a very powerful speaker, the way he used it is horrible. The world will never forget that war, and the people that?s family were in the concentration camps will never have those scars, it left, healed. He has caused pain, suffering, and hate all over the world, which is why I think this man, is so evil.