Did Hitler Have Anything of Worth to Say?

For many of us it's difficult to find anything of worth on the pages of Mein Kampf. For one, we know that its autobiographical aspects are largely unreliable. Additionally, its style is often sloppy and rambling and its message immensely distasteful, not to mention completely delusional at times. But, remarkably, while reading last week's assignment, I actually found myself agreeing with certain sentiments. I think by exploring these we may come to understand, at least partially, what it really was about Hitler that led to his success.

To begin with, I found his musings on the differences between a politician and theoretician quite compelling. He writes: "The work of such politicians, by and large, is unimportant for posterity, since their successes in the present are based solely on keeping at a distance all really great and profound problems and ideas, which at such would only have been of value for later generations" (211-212). The politician, Hitler proposes, does this in order to gain support from the masses, who, understandably, are more concerned about the day-to-day than farsighted goals. I think these observations still ring true today. It takes a unique person to leave a legacy (this person would be the marriage of the politician and theoretician for Hitler) and it does, in fact, seem that "the greater a man's works for the future, the less the present can comprehend them; the harder his fight, and the rarer success" (212-213). We have only to look at figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi to validate such a thought.

This, I believe, demonstrates Hitler's genuine grasp on the mechanics of politics and the masses. On page 231 he speaks of how the masses are lied to by their government (ironic, of course, coming from him) and that, even when the lie is revealed to them, they refuse to believe otherwise so that they never have to acknowledge the monstrous nature of those leading them. On page 232, he explains how "diseases of national bodies" will gradually become the norm if they never "take the form of catastrophe". I find these ideas to be quite true. The masses seem liable to accept most anything (an idea Hitler addresses again on pages 240-241), and, over time, even the worst of circumstances become acceptable -simply 'the way it is' - if no one draws sufficient attention to them.

In addition, he also mentions his thoughts on money as our new religion (pg 234) and social disorganization/decay as the result of poverty and frequent changes of address (pg 263), both of which strike me as true. These notions and the ones mentioned above are what really stuck with me in the end because I was surprised to find myself agreeing with anything Hitler asserted. And I think they might be important for understanding how he was capable of influencing millions; there were truths he understood quite acutely about the masses which, when coupled with his ability to speak, proved to be advantageous.

Of course, the next chapter of Mein Kampf ("Nation and Race") is batshit insane, demonstrating how Hitler put this knowledge to bad use.

One of the best marketing expert

Hitler was a wonderful marketing expert, based on his successful advertising on his party and himself. With opportunity offered by Karl Mayr, who was caught attention by Hitler’s talent, Hitler was assigned to be a official in charge of choosing propaganda agent. After becoming the leader of NSDAP, Hitler had always wanted to let everyone in the country know his party.

For example, in chapter The “Drummer”, Hitler’s party participated in the so-called “German Day”. Hitler hired a special train to take 800 stormtroopers to Coburg. “The Nazis were greeted at the station with shouts of “heil” by a sizeable gathering of nationalists and with a torrent of abuse from 200-300 socialists workers and trade unionists who had assembled at the same spot(178).” This was one of Hitler’s most notable propaganda success, and Hitler made his mark in Northern Bavarian.

Through Hitler’s several notable propagandas, we know that Hitler had an insight that was really different than anyone else. Hitler was good at finding opportunities. However, we can see that Hitler had changed a lot after he decided to become a soldier. Before he became a soldier, Hitler wanted to become an artist and then an architect, but none of these dreams were achieved because Hitler had drive but no determination. After becoming a soldier and subsequently becoming an official, Hitler eventually found out his talent and fully developed it.

There was no doubt that Hitler’s success was somehow depend on his advertising talent. In Hitler’s case, media had a huge influence on every step of Hitler’s plan. Imaging if there was no media, Hitler probably would never become the leader of Nazi Party, or even never be heard by anyone. Also, if Hitler was born in modern society like now, is it possible that he is going to be bigger that he was since the media nowadays is much more advanced than Germany after WWI or Hitler will be unknown under advanced media since too many people are good at advertising themselves?

A leader with a God complex

After having read some parts of Hitler's autobiography, it is becoming clearer, eventhough it was something that had already been obvious to me, that Hitler had a very strong God complex. When talking about his military past and his debut in politics Hitler tries to show us he always believed he was made for something better, for something more important and bigger than the role he had in the past.

His strong despise for some German soldiers who were wounded or had fled the war and the apparent acceptance of deserting soldiers made Hitler mad and brought out his sense of patriotism and his belief that more had to be made for this country. With this belief came that of him having to be a main actor of this change.

Part of Hitler's animosity towards the jews and towards some German citizens in general came from the fact that they had not served in the army. This represented apparently the most important aspect of standing up for Germany according to HItler. This argument is also shown at the end of chapter eight when Hitler expresses his satisfaction when being able to work for the army and gain more influence.

Finally when talking about politics, Hitler claims in his book that the credibility and stature of a politician came from the influence he could have on "the development of humanity". This is what Hitler thought he was doing. When building up his influence Hitler strongly believed he was there to develop humanity. He also claims that the fullfilment of an idea could not be correctly accomplished if it only depended of human beings. Reading this reasonning, I wondered what he meant by that. It seems to me his desire to make a change was more important than the belief that came from it. He claims an idea can only be judged by how it develops humanity but not on how "perfect" the idea is. Considering this, what can be made of Hitler's ideas? Did he know they were imperfect? Was his goal only to make a change?

Stroke(s) of Luck

As I progress through Kershaw's text, the already daunting task of making sense of the rise of Nazism becomes even more complex, as the author introduces a seemingly infinite number of factors that often intermingle to the point of near inseparability. For this reason, it is certainly wise to continue entertaining, if not fully supporting, both the structural and great man approaches simultaneously. We cannot hope to fully comprehend the Third Reich while ignoring one or the other.

With that being said, one thing that struck me from last week's reading was the immense role that luck played in Hitler's life. The mere fact that he was allowed to serve in the Bavarian army due to bureaucratic oversight when he should have been returned to Austria is an example of this (90). Another is, quite simply, his survival throughout the war. Early on, a whopping 70% of Hitler's regiment was killed within four days; also, his position -dispatch runner- was a uniquely dangerous one and typically promised a high number of casualties (90-91). There was yet another occasion when he left a structure moments before most of its inhabitants were either killed or wounded (though I can't recall the number of the page that describes this). Clearly, then, there were many specific opportunities for Hitler to have died (even after allowing for the fact that there were many opportunities for all soldiers to have died). Luck was on his side.

While it is true that Hitler's inherent skill of public speaking contributed to his success, luck undeniably played its part here too. Captain Karl Mayr (of the Bavarian army) happened to discover Hitler and his talent, and, subsequently, opened the door for him politically (122). I believe there is no way Hitler would have made it there on his own through sheer willpower or determination, because, as we've seen, he possessed neither of those qualities organically.

If the opportunity to influence the German Workers' Party hadn't presented itself through a series of lucky events, Hitler never would have gone on to become the leader of the Third Reich. There is sufficient evidence from his early life that proves just how delusional, irrational, and apathetic he was when it came to achieving his goals. It seems that only after he experienced some success as a political agitator did he begin to take his future seriously; it's unfortunate that luck allowed him to get there in the first place.

Motivation and Drive

Hitler’s life could have ended in many different ways. He could have been a successful customs official like his father, Alois Schicklgruber. However, he was a child that wanted his own path as a painter. After failing twice at Vienna and his mother’s death, he became inactive and unproductive with his goals. He traveled to Vienna again, this time aiming to become an architect. Shortly after his arrival, Hitler lost his drive again. Starting from his own dreams and imaginations, he almost always set about with an unusually high confidence and then quickly loses his drive in the end. Another example was when his friend Gustl bought a lottery ticket that once again, triggered his unusual confidence. He went as far as planning for the architecture of the house Gustl would likely share with him. When Gustl informed Hitler about the lottery failure, his temper drove him out of control. Hitler’s short-lived ambitions that he experienced and strived for, almost always failed for the reason that he did not think reasonably and most times, because of his lack of genuine drive for success. When Hitler joined the army, he learned how to become an excellent courier, thus received the Iron Cross twice. Hitler could have also chosen to stay in the army and lived a decent life. Looking back at his different possible paths in life, why was he ultimately successful in becoming the leader of Germany? Was it because he finally found what truly suited him, and therefore finally strengthened his motivation for his goals to the fullest? Or was it truly because of his pure hatred towards the Semites that he developed in his five years of Vienna? Why was becoming the leader of Germany, in actuality the most ambitious of all of his goals he had ever thought of, the one he would truly achieve?

Hitler as the Self Proclaimed Savior of the German People

Something that struck me with this week’s reading was the link between religion and war. These two notions have obviously been intertwined in the past (i.e. Spanish Inquisition, The Crusades, and many many others); however, in Hitler’s case, he seems to use religious “imagery” as a means of persuasion and to almost establish him as the new God or Jesus.

For instance, take Hitler’s hospitalization at Pasewalk. He recounts, “In the days that followed [hearing of Germany’s defeat], my own fate became known to me….I, for my part, decided to go into politics.” Kershaw goes on to explain how, “He told a variety of associates that as he lay blinded in Pasewalk he received a type of vision, message, or inspiration to liberate the German people and make Germany great again” (103). Although Kershaw goes on to explain how this was highly unlikely, he points out that this plays into the fundamental ideology of the Furher. This could be where Hitler’s talent for understanding manipulation and propaganda originate. It was like he awoke from a deep slumber and decided it was his job to take action, that he needed to save the German race. But why? Why did Hitler feel that it was his fate to do so? Why him?

Nature vs. Nurture

In this week's reading, we follow Hitler on his rise to power, progressing from the "drummer" to the "leader" of Germany. During his rise to power, we see the influence of both Hitler's nature and nurture. Through his life experiences, Hitler became a convincing person which helped him immensely in his quest for supporters of his cause. However, his nature as an impulsive is continually his drawback as he gains more supporters and more power.

As a "drummer", the Germans and Austrian-Hungarians become victims to Hitler's powerfully persuasive speeches. People of all intellectual levels fall behind him. Hitler has an amazing ability to not only garner the support of the masses, but also, to his advantage, rich, connected, and influential men such as Kurt Ludecke and Ernst Pohner. I would argue that while Hitler may have had some innate speaking/persuasive capabilities, his ability to convince people were refined throughout his life. In other words, his persuasiveness and ability to manipulate people to support his cause was a result of his nurture. The reason I would argue this is because as we progress through his life in Kershaw's biography, we see many instances where Hitler had to convince someone to support his cause. For example, in Hitler's teenage years, he had to convince his mother to allow him to move to Vienna. Additionally, in his time in Vienna, Hitler had to rely most heavily on his convincing ability for financial reasons. Since he never held a steady job throughout his entire stay in Vienna, he had to persuade his family, friends, and others for money. Since he had to convince and persuade so many people throughout his lifetime, naturally, he became better and better at it, to the point that he could even manipulate mere strangers to back his cause as we see in the chapter, "The 'Drummer'".

Despite his amazing persuasive ability, his impulsiveness was always something that held him back, but I find it amazing that he never learned to correct this flaw. There are multiple times before Hitler's failed putsch in which his impulsiveness caused a failure. For example, in his Vienna years, his lack of planning was what made him homeless for a couple years. If he had planned out his finances, he would have known when his finances would be depleted and when he would have to seek employment. Of course this was the first instance in which Hitler experienced such a disastrous outcome as a result of his inability to think into the future so he can be forgiven for that one. But, one would think that since Hitler experienced so many down falls due to his lack of planning, that for something as big as the attempted taking over of a government, Hitler would have planned more efficiently. It wasn't as though he didn't know that not planning things out before taking action could result in a very disastrous conclusion. Perhaps this is a prime example of how somethings that are innate within a person can never just be "corrected", or said in another way, sometimes nature is more powerful than nurture.