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.

Historical Debates

There are a number of historical debates concerning the material in Mein Kampf.

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Globalists vs Continentists

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One of the more important debates concerns the battle between the Continentists such as Hugh Trevor-Roper and Eberhard Jäckel who argue Hitler wished only to conquer Europe and the Globalists such as Gerhard Weinberg and Andreas Hillgruber who argue Hitler wanted to conquer the entire world. The chief source of contention between the Continentists and Globalists is the "Zweites Buch".

Related Topics:
Hugh Trevor-Roper - Eberhard Jäckel - Gerhard Weinberg - Andreas Hillgruber

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The Globalists argue that because Hitler states that after Germany defeated the United States, then Germany would rule the entire world, that is clearly proves his intentions were global in reach. The Continentists argue that because Hitler predicts the war between the United States and Germany as beginning sometime ca. 1980 and that because Hitler was born in 1889, that the task of winning this war in 1980s would presumably fall to one of Hitler's successors. The Continentists believe that Hitler for his own life-time would be content with merely ruling Europe.

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Intentionalists vs Functionalists

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Mein Kampf has assumed a key place in the Functionalism versus intentionalism debate. Intentionists insist that the passage stating if only 10, 000-15, 000 Jews were gassed, then Germany would have won World War One, proves quite clearly that Hitler had a master plan for the genocide of the Jewish people going all the back to at least 1924. Functionalists deny this assertion, noting that the passage does not call for the destruction of the entire Jewish people, and note that although Mein Kampf is suffused with an extreme anti-semitism, it is the only time in the entire book that Hitler ever explicitly refers to the murder of Jews. Given that Mein Kampf is 694 pages long, Functionalist historians have accused the Intentionists of making too much out of one sentence.

Related Topics:
Functionalism versus intentionalism - Germany - World War One - Genocide - 1924 - Anti-semitism

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Furthermore, Functionalist historians have argued that the memorandum written by Heinrich Himmler to Hitler on May 25, 1940, regarding the ?Final Solution to the Jewish Question?, whose proposals Hitler accepted, proves that there was no master plan for genocide going all the back to 1924. In the memorandum, Himmler rejected genocide under the grounds that one must reject ??the Bolshevik method of physical extermination of a people out of inner conviction as un-German and impossible? and went on to argue that the "Madagascar Plan" be the preferred ?territorial solution? to the ?Jewish Question?. In addition, Functionalist historians have noted that in Mein Kampf Hitler states the only anti-Semitic policies he will carry out are the 25 Point Platform of the Nazi Party, adopted in February 1920, which demands that only ?Aryan? Germans be allowed to publish newspapers and own department stores, the banning of Jewish immigration, the expulsion of all Ostjuden (Eastern Jews; i.e Jews from Eastern Europe) who had arrived in Germany since 1914, and stripping all Germans Jews of their German citizenship. Through these demands do reflect a hateful anti-semitism, in the view of the Functionalists they do not amount to a program for genocide. Beyond that, some historians have claimed through Hitler was clearly obsessed with anti-semitism, his degree of anti-semitic hatred contained in Mein Kampf is no better or worse then that contained in the writings and speeches of earlier volkisch leaders such as Wilhelm Marr, Georg Ritter von Schönerer, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, and Karl Lueger, all of whom routinely called Jews a "diasase" and "vermin"; and all of whom Hitler cites as an inspiration in Mein Kampf. .

Related Topics:
Heinrich Himmler - May 25 - 1940 - 1924 - Genocide - Madagascar Plan - February - 1920 - Eastern Europe - 1914 - Anti-semitism - Wilhelm Marr - Georg Ritter von Schönerer - Houston Stewart Chamberlain - Karl Lueger

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Furthermore, Functionalist historians have point out that there is no evidence linking Hitler to the decision to use poison gas to commit mass murder. The use of poison gas for mass murder began in 1939 for the T-4 program when the program?s directors were looking for a more efficient way of killing large numbers of people then merely injecting each victim with a needle. Through documentation proves that Hitler ordered the T-4 program in January 1939, there is no evidence that Hitler gave any orders for the use of poison gas. The mass murder of Jews began in the summer of 1941 with massacres committed by the Einsatzgruppen in the occupied parts of the Soviet Union. Until December 1941, the Einsatzgruppen always shot their victims. Ultimately, Heinrich Himmler decided in August 1941 that mass shooting was too inefficient, and so imported the experts from the T-4 Euthanasia Program to devise methods of gassing Jews, first with gas trucks, and later with gas chambers. There is no evidence that Hitler gave any orders for the SS to switch from mass shooting to mass gassing. Furthermore, all of the perpetrators who were brought to trial after the war such as Rudolf Hoess and Adolf Eichmann always stated the decision to use poison gas was something that the SS decided upon themselves as they felt it was more efficient then mass shooting. In view of these facts, Functionalist historians argue there is no connection between what Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf and the decision to use poison gas for mass murder starting in December 1941 starting with the gas trucks at the Che?mno death camp. In regard to the Che?mno death camp, the British historian Sir Ian Kershaw in his article ?`Improvised genocide'?: The emergence of the `Final Solution? in the Wargenthau?, published in the Transactions of the Royal Historical Society in 1992, has noted that the decision to use gas trucks was done in a highly ad hoc and makeshift manner, which does not support the Intentionalist view that the use of the poison gas was a part of an master plan going all the way to 1924.

Related Topics:
1939 - T-4 program - January - 1941 - Einsatzgruppen - Soviet Union - December - Heinrich Himmler - August - SS - Rudolf Hoess - Adolf Eichmann - Che?mno death camp - Ian Kershaw

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Intentionalist historians reject these arguments and believe that Hitler did indeed order mass gassings, but that the order has became lost, but the passage in Mein Kampf proves that there must have been one. Functionalists view this as convoluted argument without proof. The debate continues, through the majority of historians are inclined towards the Functionalist position in this matter.

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