Mein Kampf, Hitler’s Race and Ideology

Introduction 

The Mein Kampf book was an autobiography and political treaty written by German’s Adolf Hitler about his ideologies, early life and the plans he had for the Nazis. Referred by many historians as the dictator, Hitler wrote the first volume of his book “My Struggle” while he was in prison after his failed attempt to seize power in 1923. This was followed by the second volume of his book published in1926 which presents his overall worldview as well as his hatred for the Jews in what was referred to as anti-Semitism. Throughout the rest of the book, Hitler describes his ideology which dwells on race and racial discrimination. Hitler’s view is that there should be an identifiable racial hierarchy because of the opinion that not all races or religions are superior. According to Hitler’s perspective, some races are superior to others and thus must receive special treatment. As analyzed by many historians, Hitler’s ideology has been described as a way to promote racism and discriminate against the other communities. A clear view of the racial ideology by Hitler is his view of the Jews, whom he describes as being liars and people who are opportunistic and cold-hearted. After using his political tactics to rise to power in 1933, Hitler applies his ideologies throughput his rule as he continues to call the ejection of Jews from Nazis land. 

Hitler’s Ideology and Racism 

In his book which included two volumes published in 1925 and 1926 respectively, Hitler describes his ideology and political plans for the Germans. Hitler had the plans to expand Germany when he gets to power. While many who read his book took it less severe, what he had in store was to plan for the expansion of Germany across other European nations and expel certain races from Germany, with the Jews being the critical target ( Hitler, 2013 ). Racism is the ideology and a belief that people should be divided into distinct entities and given different treatments based on their biological origins. It is a worldview which creates a causal link between the traits that are inherited as well as the intellectual and cultural differences. Hitler views the Jews as people who are a threat and who are conspiring to take over the whole world and thus should not be tolerated in Germany. While comparing them with the Aryans, Hitler views Jews as cold-hearted while he describes Aryan race to be the most intelligent people who are superior and a master race. The ideology involves dividing people into various categories depending on their physical and biological appearance. The Aryan race (Germanic, fair-skinned, blond hair and blue eyes) is, according to him, the master race and culturally superior while the Jews are the most inferior. 

Another ideology that Hitler mentions in his book is that the way to help people of the lower class was through the conquering of their land. When the lower people are conquered, they can learn the culture of the superior races and develop a culture that can uplift them from their inferior position. This was in the target of the races that Hitler viewed as being inferior and should be conquered by taking away their lands. The superior races such as Aryans were not to marry with the low-class inferior races, a move that later led to the passing of the marriage laws barring people from marrying in individual races. This further demonstrates Hitler’s hatred for the Jews who were interacting with the Aryans, and he feared it could lead to intermarriage ( Hitler, 2013 ). As revealed in the book, Hitler had planned to expand the German territory and make the people live up to their historical destiny through the expansion of the land. In this plan, Hitler had eluded to invade and acquire more pieces of land in the Eastern parts of Russia. A move that never went well with the rest of the European nations and could have resulted in war. 

The other ideology that Hitler held was that of hatred for Judaism and communism which to him were the greatest evils of the world. These two factors are the most significant problems that had led to the slow development and demise of Germans. The parliamentary system was one thing that Hitler hated and viewed as a root cause of corruption which had dominated the previous governments in Germany. According to Hitler, the parliamentary system was an avenue that opportunists used to ascend to power and misuse the public resources for their own personal gain ( Hitler, 2013 ). 

Even though Hitler seemed to hate the Jews community, he presents himself in his book as someone who could kneel and pray. During the World War I, Hitler noted that “Overpowered by stormy enthusiasm, I fell down on my knees and thanked Heaven from an overflowing heart for granting me the good fortune of being permitted to live at this time.” The Christian ideology is further held on the 1936 speech where he says, “Let us fall down upon our knees and beg the Almighty to grant us the strength to prevail in the struggle for freedom and the future and the honor and the peace of our Volk, so help us, God!” ( Koehne, 2014 ). However, this was an intentional political strategy that Hitler cultivated to portray himself as being righteous before the people. In the run to this, it was a well-planned strategy to help him climb to power by making people sees him as a devout supplicant. While many historians still cannot agree on the specific religious ideology that Hitler held, some view him as an image and the weapon against religion. Other people also viewed Hitler as an enemy of humanity and one who is out to divide people along the ethnic line. 

There arose a divergent opinion on the issue of Hitler’s ideology concerning religion. While some viewed him as someone who is anti-Christian, he was seen as a stumbling block who was out to end Christianity in Europe. Even though Hitler never renounced his participation and membership in the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church had warned his members against joining the Nazi party because they viewed him as someone was against the Catholic faith. The conflict of faith continued to exist between those who viewed Hitler as anti-Christ and those who saw him as a Christian. Even though he demonstrated a lot of commitment to Christianity before he rose to power in 1933, historians still view this move as a strategy that he used to win the support of many and ascend to power. Much of his ideologies were established in his policies during his reign. For example, the anti-Semitism ideology was witnessed when Hitler suggested the ejection of the Jews from Germany because they were an enemy of the people ( Koehne, 2014 ). This was one of the ideologies that he had expressed in his book while serving his five-year jail term. 

More of the ideologies mentioned in Hitler’s book is the plans to take over power and expand the German territory. Based on the ideology of being racist, Hitler blames the current government for stalling the development of Germany by practicing naturalization were the citizenship was being awarded to several immigrants of diverse races. Germany is supposed to be for Germans, and they must be given priority. According to his ideologies, he was unhappy with the way many people of inferior racial groups were acquiring citizenship and increasing their control in Germany ( Koehne, 2014 ). German citizenship needs to be conferred upon the Aryans, who are the real owners of the country. All other residents of different race whether born in Germany or not can only be subjects and not citizens. This view shows the plans of Hitler to revoke the citizenship of other racial groups and only have Aryans as the real citizens of Germany. 

While Hitler mentions several ideologies in his book, all these ideologies revolve around racism and the need to have only the Aryans live and control Germany. He is of the ideology that German schools should be preserved purely for the Aryan children and that the rest of the ethnic groups should not be allowed to access education in these schools. This further shows the extent to which Hitler had a strong ideology about race and his hatred for the other ethnic groups. Intermarriage or even mingling with other races which were considered inferior was something that Hitler could not entertain. He held the vision of a pure Germany where the citizens share a universal value and work hard to develop and grow Germany. When he ascended to power in 1933, Hitler made some of his ideologies despite the criticism he continued to receive from every corner ( Koehne, 2014 ). The vision to eject Jews from Germany was never a threat as this was seen after he rose to power when he talked of plans to remove all the Jews in Germany. 

In the ideologies presented in the book by Hitler was also to expand the Aryan state to go beyond the borders of Germany. The thesis used in this conquer the “Jewish peril” which views the Jewish and other inferior races as being in a conspiracy to take over the leadership of the world. During the days in Vienna, Hitler became anti-Semitic and militaristic, and this is what he planned to use to acquire more land across the German borders (Hitler, 2013). Many analysts have always disagreed on the ideologies of Hitler with others seeing him as a person who was patriotic had cared for his people while others are seeing him as a dictator who never welcomes the foreigners. The intention to promote militaristic foreign policy and conquer more land towards the east in nations such as Russia and Poland was aimed at creating more space and land for the Aryans to cultivate and produce more food. However, this could have resulted in diplomatic war with the involved countries who could have accused him of cross-border interference. The proposed plan by Hitler was to have the occupants of those lands killed, enslaved or ejected to create more space for the expansion of the Aryan state. While the regime at the time was more cooperative to the foreign nations, Hitler blames this for the problems that the Germans were undergoing and criticized Weimar for accepting the conquest and to adhere to the demands of foreign nations through treaties. To Hitler, these foreign nations were the first enemies of Germany and must be stopped through the use of aggressive means including using the army. 

The main themes and ideologies held by Hitler emphasized the need to achieve racial purity and to keep the foreign nations out of control of Germany. By keeping the hopes that the National Socialist party would continue to fight for the liberation of the Germans, Hitler expresses his confidence of rising to power and implementing his ideologies of realizing the racial purity by ejection of the other races he viewed as inferior and opportunists. While Hitler accepts to the fact that he faces a lot of criticism from his enemies for his controversial ideologies, he still believes that the only way to strengthen German’s position in the world is to have him rule and implement his ideologies. After taking power in 1933, most of his controversial policies were derived from the ideologies described in his book. During Hitler’s rule, the German’s relationship with the foreign nations deteriorated, a reflection of one of the ideologies he wrote in his book that foreign nations are the enemies of Germans and are only out to prevent the country from rising to its world position (Hitler, 2013). Also in his policies was the racial purity which aimed at ejecting other ethnic groups from, a move which faced a lot of criticism and resistance. 

An analysis of Mein Kampf reflects a dictatorship leadership and how the ideologies later would become the policies that rule Germany. The themes that keep on recurring racism, anti-Semitism, German nationalism and militarism. Through the ideology of racism mainly against the Jews, Hitler’s rule led to the world’s most serious genocide that claimed the lives of millions of Jews. Through the militarism ideology, Hitler attempted to acquire land and expand Germany beyond the borders in what could lead to dangerous war with the foreign nations. Through his controversial ideologies, Hitler believed in the need to have Germany at the top of the world in terms of economic development and prevention of foreign interference. The existence of the other races such as Jews was seen as one of the reasons why Germany had lagged in the development as compared to the other European nations. 

Based on his book and the various speeches that Hitler gave during his reign, historians are yet to agree on what religion he belonged. Hitler rejects the idea of him being a religious reformer by claiming that Nazis was just a political party rather than a religious movement. He continued to remain neutral on the matters of religion and accepted all kinds of views within the Nazis party. Nazism was presented as a worldview upon which the ideologies and policies were founded. Any successful political movement has to be founded upon a coherent and well-coordinated worldview (Hitler, 2013). Hitler had the plan to transform the entire Germany culture into his Nazis worldview. This was evident in his speech which he stated, “A Christian era can only possess a Christian art, a National Socialist era only a National Socialist art.” After having attained power, Hitler had to implement his ideologies one by one, and this could focus on the four major themes of his ideologies. Even though he tried to remain neutral on religious matters, Hitler seemed to hold a specific religious viewpoint. Racial purity seemed to be his priority upon taking over the leadership. Jews were on the receiving end as they were ejected and millions of others killed through one of the most massive genocides in the world. Militarism also remained a key area for Hitler after he rose to power as he made efforts to expand the Germany territory beyond the border. Another way in which his ideologies were reflected in his policies was on the German nationalism where he wanted to see Germans become a great nation that could rise to the top ranks in the world. Using controversial means and policies, Hitler made efforts to expand German land and increase food production amongst the Aryans. Throughout his rule, Hitler’s ideologies were presented in most of his policies. 

Hitler’s Anti-Semitism 

Anti-Semitism refers to the hostility, racial prejudice or discrimination that was directed against the Jews. It was a form of racism that was directed towards the Jews who lived in Germany during Hitler’s rule. It is a political ideology that is used as a principle to create unity in the group that is opposed to particular liberalism. In his book, Hitler demonstrates his hatred for the Jews whom he considers as being cold-hearted, opportunists and people who are out to conspire and take over the leadership of the world. Hitler held that the Jews were an enemy and needed to be ejected from Germany. While historians understand that Hitler had a very extreme hatred for the Jews, understanding the reason for this hatred has not been accepted amongst many scholars. Religious conflict is one of the reasons that could have resulted to anti-Semitism. There had been the existence of the conflict between Christians and Judaism for many years which could have led to the development of the hatred of Jews in Europe ( Kershaw, 2014 ). Also, Hitler spent much of his time in Vienna where he was taught the culture of anti-Semitism that was very prevalent by then. This influenced him to develop the ideology which led to him ejecting Jews from Germany. 

An analysis of the Ideological viewpoint of anti-Semitism shows that during World War I, the majority of the financial institutions, banks, and other large companies were being controlled by the Jews. After the loss of the war, Hitler felt that it was the Jews who had contributed to the loss. A large number of businesses had been owned by the Jews, and this made Hitler felt they were the enemy of the Germans ( Kershaw, 2014 ). Hitler had also believed that the Jews were conspiring to take over the control of the leadership of the world. He thought that the Jews were planning to take over the control of the German territory. This made Hitler develop hatred towards the Jews in what then led to racial discrimination. There was also the belief that Aryans were more superior to the Jews and thus seeing them as people who are not valuable in the eyes of the other people. 

Historians have always disputed the exact date that the Jews people were ejected to Madagascar. In his book, Mein Kampf illustrates the ambitions of Hitler to eject the Jews whom he considered as enemies and to create a new order in Germany. Several passages in Mein Kampf shows a planned genocide against the Jews. As Hitler writes, "the nationalization of our masses will succeed only when, aside from all the positive struggle for the soul of our people, their international poisoners are exterminated” ( Baumgarten & Caimotto, 2016 ). This statement shows how Hitler had planned a genocide against the Jews where he blames them of several issues. Hitler further adds that, "If at the beginning of the war and during the war twelve or fifteen thousand of these Hebrew corrupters of the nation had been subjected to poison gas, such as had to be endured in the field by hundreds of thousands of our very best German workers of all classes and professions, then the sacrifice of millions at the front would not have been in vain." This further shows the hatred he had against the Jews and how he had planned for genocide against them. Hitler makes his ideologies based on racial discrimination against the Jews and feels that they should be destroyed. Even before he ascended to power, his plans were evident in his book, and it was an alert to the Jews of the impending genocide awaiting them. The intention was to destroy the people of other races and create racial purity where the Aryans could have enough space to live and do their business. Upon taking up the rule, he led into the ejection of the Jews into Madagascar and created one of the biggest genocides in the history of the world leading to loss of millions of lives. 

Hitler’s View on Aryan Supremacism 

Hitler had noted in his book the view on the eugenics that was to be based on the policies aimed at improving the welfare of the Aryan race. The ideology to improve the German race was built through the worldviews which were founded in Darwin philosophy. Hitler believed that it was the mission of the German people to come together and preserve the racial elements of the community. Hitler believed that the German culture was to remain dominant and keep occupying the central place in society. Living space was one of the most critical elements that come to play in Hitler’s ideology about the Aryans ( Koschorke, 2015 ). He felt that the Aryans living space had been dominated by the inferior races and thus the need to have them ejected to create more space for the Germans. Based on this, expansion is the crucial part of the racial purity that Hitler had set in his ideologies. According to this argument, the inferior races were struggling with the Aryans for existence, something which Hitler felt had been caused by the practice of the government to give citizenship to the majority of the foreigners. 

On the chapter, “Nation and Race,” Hitler explains the context of racial purity where he mentions that if the racial law does not exist, the superior species may succumb to the struggle for existence. This he meant that unless measures are taken to eradicate the Jews from German, they could soon take control of the whole land. Before World War I, the majority of the large businesses in Germany were owned by the Jews ( Koschorke, 2015 ). This alone made Hitler feel that unless they are ejected, they risk conspiring and taking over the leadership of the whole world. This was the ground used by Hitler to justify the racial purity ideology that he wrote in his book. Even though he remained neutral over religious matters, Hitler prioritizes science over religion by relying on Darwin’s theory of evolution and the struggle for existence. Most of his ideologies were based on this theory which analyses the way people can struggle for existence which he called racial struggle. The idea was to have the Aryans enjoy their free space and expand their economy which was being controlled by inferior races such as the Jews. While in the conflict with the Catholic Church over his racial purity policy, Hitler notes that his arguments are purely based on scientific research and that some religious ideologies had been outdated and needed to change. The racial purity ideology was pure to protect the Aryans from the threat to existence that they faced with the inferior races. 

Hitler’s Rise to Power 

The rise of Hitler into power took decades as he built himself. After the attempt to overthrow the government, he was jailed for five years during the period which he wrote the book, Mein Kampf.” Hitler worked himself as he actively participated in political events. After working himself through the party, Hitler rose to the limelight with his Nazi party. This was achieved through several dubious means including violence and cunning. The political instability that had existed in the mid-1930s had contributed to the rise of the Nazi party as people demanded a strong leader ( Stoakes, 2014 ). The present government had signed several treaties including treaty of versatile and the rise of depression which led to the suffering of the majority of the Germans. While writing his book, Hitler had expressed displeasure in the way government had handled several matters including dealing with foreign nations. Through the racial ideology, Hitler continued to criticize the government for issuing citizenship to foreigners, a move which he felt was mistreatment to the Germans. The right to citizenship should be preserved only to the Aryans and any other foreigner, whether born in German or not, ought to remain as subjects. This further led to the rise of the Nazi party which then took control of the majority of the seats in parliament. 

Hitler had felt that German was being run the wrong way and wanted to have his ideologies be implemented when he took power. Still focusing on his top four ideologies which included racial purity, militarism, German nationalism, and anti-Semitism, Hitler had confidence that he would take over power and led the nation to implement his ideologies. To rise to power, Hitler had formed a coalition with Hindenburg in which he was to be the chancellor. The final power grab took place when he negotiated to be given the temporary emergency powers where he was to act without the consent of the parliament ( Stoakes, 2014 ). He, however, used the military to grab the power with the threat of war, making him become the ruler. Following his rise to power, Hitler started implementing his ideologies through the introduction of controversial policies. The foreigners living in Germany faced a lot of discrimination based on their race. They were barred from receiving government services and their children blocked from attending the German schools. All these ideologies had been long written in the Mein Kampf before Hitler rose to power in 1933. Many foreign treaties and policies that had been signed by the previous government had been revoked leading to a deteriorating relationship between Germany and the other European nations. 

After the rise into power, Hitler made several changes and introduced many acts which could allow him to have absolute power and implement his policies. The Enabling Act gave the absolute powers to Hitler to allow him to implement many of his controversial policies. Upon being given absolute powers, Hitler began by implementing his ideologies which he had written in his book. The first in the list was anti-Semitism where the Jews faced the greatest rejection and discrimination that has never been seen before in the German land ( Koehne, 2013 ). Throughout his reign, Hitler had implemented most of his ideologies that he had written in his book, Mein Kampf. 

Conclusion 

Adolf Hitler, the Germany ruler between 1933 and 1945, remains one of the key figures in the history of Germany. Through his book, before he ascended to power, Hitler presents Darwin’s worldview in which he identifies his ideologies that he is confident of implementing when he ascends to power. The ideologies were based on the four significant philosophies which included racial purity, anti-Semitism, German nationality and militarism. Through these important themes, Hitler expressed his displeasure with the way the government was handling matters of citizenship and nationality. The hatred for Jews is evident in the passage which indicates what later came to be one of the largest genocides in the world history leading to the loss of millions of Jews lives. The ideologies that he presented in his book were later implemented through his controversial policies after he obtained absolute power. 

References 

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Koehne, S. (2014). The Racial Yardstick:" Ethnotheism" and Official Nazi Views on Religion.  German Studies Review ,  37 (3), 575-596. 

Kershaw, I. (2014). Ideology, propaganda, and the rise of the Nazi party. In  The Nazi Machtergreifung (RLE Nazi Germany & Holocaust)  (pp. 176-195). Routledge. 

Baumgarten, S., & Caimotto, M. C. (2016). Political and Ideological Translation Practice: Italian and English Extracts of Hitler’s Mein Kampf.  Translation und „Drittes Reich , 277-300. 

Koschorke, A. (2015). Ideology in Execution: On Hitler's Mein Kampf.  New German Critique ,  42 (1 (124)), 1-22. 

Stoakes, G. (2014). The Evolution of Hitler’s Ideas on Foreign Policy, 1919-1925. In  The Shaping of the Nazi State (RLE Nazi Germany & Holocaust)  (pp. 24-49). Routledge. 

Koehne, S. (2013). Reassessing the Holy Reich: Leading Nazis’ Views on Confession, Community and ‘Jewish’Materialism.  Journal of Contemporary History ,  48 (3), 423-445.