Mein Kampf

Mein Kampf (German for "My Struggle") is a book written by Adolf Hitler, combining elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology of Nazism.

Contents

The book outlines major ideas that culminated in the horrors of World War II. Particularly prominent is the violent anti-Semitism of Hitler and his associates, drawing among other things on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. For example, he claimed that the international language Esperanto was part of a Jewish plot, and makes arguments towards the old German nationalist idea of Drang nach Osten: the necessity to gain Lebensraum ("living space") eastwards, especially in Russia.

Related Topics:
World War II - Anti-Semitism - Protocols of the Elders of Zion - Esperanto - Drang nach Osten - Lebensraum - Russia

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Much of the material was distorted or fabricated by the author. Hitler used the main thesis of "The Jewish peril," which speaks of an alleged Jewish conspiracy to gain world leadership. Overall, however, it does explain many details of Hitler's childhood and the process by which he became increasingly anti-Semitic and militaristic, especially during his years in Vienna, Austria. In one early chapter, he wrote about how he noticed Jews in the city streets for the first time and then asked himself "Was that a German?"

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There are two particularly uncanny passages which mention the use of poison-gas:

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"At the beginning of the War, or even during the War, if twelve or fifteen thousand of these Jews who were corrupting the nation had been forced to submit to poison-gas... ...then the millions of sacrifices made at the front would not have been in vain."

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(Volume II, Chapter 15 : The Right to Self-Defence)

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"These tactics are based on an accurate estimation of human frailties and must lead to success, with almost mathematical certainty, unless the other side also learns how to fight poison gas with poison gas. The weaker natures must be told that here it is a case of to be or not to be."

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(Volume I, Chapter 2 : Years of Study and Suffering in Vienna)

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In terms of political theories, Hitler announced his hatred in Mein Kampf toward what he believed to be the twin evils of the world: Communism and Judaism, and he stated that his aim was to eradicate both from the face of the earth. The new territory that Germany needed to obtain would properly nurture the "historic destiny" of the German people; this goal explains why Hitler invaded Europe, both East and West, before he launched his attack against Russia. Since Hitler blamed the parliamentary government then ruling Germany for much of the ills against which he raged, he announced that he wanted to completely destroy that type of government.

Related Topics:
Communism - Judaism

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In regards to foreign policy, Hitler states that a National Socialist foreign policy would go through several stages. In the first stage, Germany would, through a massive program of re-armament, overthrow the "shackles" of the Treaty of Versailles and form alliances with the British Empire and Fascist Italy. The second stage would feature wars against France and her allies in Eastern Europe by the combined forces of Germany, Britain and Italy. The third and final stage would be a war to destroy what Hitler saw as the "Judeo-Bolshevik" regime in the Soviet Union that would give Germany the necessary Lebensraum. The German historian Andreas Hillgruber labelled the plans contained in Mein Kampf as Hitler's Stufenplan (Stage-by-stage plan). The term 'Stufenplan has been widely used by historians, through it must be noted that the term Stufenplan was Hillgruber's, not Hitler's.

Related Topics:
Treaty of Versailles - British Empire - Fascist Italy - France - Eastern Europe - Andreas Hillgruber

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Hitler presented himself as the "Übermensch", frequently rendered as the somewhat ambiguous "Superman" (superhuman would be a more correct translation, but "superman" has certain cultural associations in English), that the basically apolitical Friedrich Nietzsche had referred to, especially in his book, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. It is doubtful that Hitler read any Nietzsche beyond a superficial level, as Nietzsche did not refer to his overman in the way in which Hitler would refer to him. The nationalism and anti-Semitism that was indeed growing in Nietzsche's time was something which Nietzsche despised and wrote about continuously: there is probably no other writer from Germany that insulted the Germans more than Nietzsche. Hitler's self-identification as such may have stemmed from his association with Nietzsche's sister, who was an early member of the Nazi party, and a commited anti-semite. While she became the owner (and editor) of his works after he went insane, Nietzsche had often, during his sane years, criticized her for having no understanding of his work.

Related Topics:
Übermensch - Friedrich Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra

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Mein Kampf makes clear Hitler's racist worldview, dividing up humans based on ancestry. Hitler stated that German "Aryans" with blonde hair and blue eyes were at the top of the hierarchy (Hitler himself had brown hair and blue eyes), and assigned the bottom of the order to Jews and Gypsies. Hitler went on to say that dominated peoples benefit by learning from the superior Aryans. Hitler further claimed that the Jews were conspiring to keep this "master race" from rightfully ruling the world, by diluting its racial and cultural purity and by convincing the Aryans to believe in equality rather than superiority and inferiority. He described the struggle for world domination as an ongoing racial, cultural, and political battle between Aryans and Jews.

Related Topics:
Racist - Aryan - Master race

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In 1928, Hitler went on to write a second book in which he expanded upon these ideas and suggested that around 1980, a final struggle would take place for world domination between the United States and the combined forces of Greater Germany and the British Empire (read more about this sequel below).

Related Topics:
1980 - United States - British Empire - Below

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