Was Hitler
consistent in his
ideas?
Ines, Jasmine, Crosby
Background
Information
• “Evil” man
• Nationalist
• “Very disorganized structure of demand” – Ian Kershaw
• Mein Kampf
• Policies were “cheap promises”
• Intense historical debate
Volksgemeinschaft
Based on Hitler’s idea of a strong sense of
community and nationalism, his support of the
peasantry and attempted consolidation of “pure”
elements within the community were consistent
with his ideas.
Traditionalist
theory
• Supported by Peter Fritzsche
• Peasants were purest elements of völk
• Preserved traditional values
• “One of the few consistent principles of Nazi life”
• Mobilized volunteers to assist the “racially worthy”
• Successfully enfranchised middle-class women
• May Day: workers are patriots, oppressed under
economic liberalism
Counter Claim
Although Hitler’s actions to acquire a “pure
race” were consistent with his aims, his other
ideas of rearmament conflicted with, and
eventually trumped, the preservation of a preindustrial peasant class.
Revisionist Theory
• Nazi thinking: Germany’s past, nationalism, tradition
• Some historians see FP as continuity of predecessors
like Bismarck (“blood and iron”)
• Hitler believed that this expansionism could not be
realized in the scope of Imperial Germany
• Though he went against the ToV, he looked east
instead of west
• Prioritized rearmament, says George Kennan
Conclusion
• Revisionist Theory
Though early attempts to realize Hitler’s support
of the “purest class”, the peasantry, showed
consistent policymaking, the idea of preserving a
pre-industrial class was forgotten in the name of
rearmament. Therefore, with regards to
Volksgemeinschaft, Hitler was inconsistent in his
ideas and policies.
INCONSISTENT!!!!
Racial Superiority of
the Aryans
The vague descriptions of the Aryan race,
ultimately mythical, lead the vast majority of
historians to believe that this area of Nazi
ideology was “confused and contradictory”.
Traditional Theory
• 1936: “Let him be physically as blond and mentally as
unemotional as Hitler, physically as long-headed and
mentally as direct as Rosenberg, as tall and truthful as
Goebbels, as slender and gentle as Goering, and as
manly and straightforward as Streicher.” – Biologists
• Attempt at mass sterilisation and euthanasia was
abandoned due to public hostility
• Propaganda began to influence peoples’ racial opinions
Conclusion
As the Nazi plight for a “racial revolution” lay at the
centre of their ideology, the idea of Aryan superiority
was strong. It proved to be unfeasible because of the
vagueness of the Aryan race, thus an inconsistent policy.
It can be argued, however, that it was consistent when
the same methods of eradication were transferred to
concentration camps in an attempt to rid the world of
Jews.
INCONSISTENT!!
Anti-Semitism
• What is it?
• What was Hitler’s view on antiSemitism and possible reasons?
Common beliefs why
hitler hated jewish
people
• Lost WW1
• Jews controlled the economy, politics, and culture of
Germany
• Jews were a large population in Germany
Traditionalist
Theory
• Ralf-George Reuth
• “With World War One lost and Germany in
financial ruin, with revolution threatening, he came
to see the Jews as solely responsible for stockexchange capitalism, which caused acute poverty and
suffering when it faltered, and Bolshevism These two
events were pivotal in shaping his views of Jews and
his subsequent plan to murder them all.”
EVIDENCE
Statistics
• Total of 4 to 4.5 million Jewish people were sent
to concentration camps
• But this number varies since some were killed
or died before arrival at the camp
• Total of 6 million Jews died by the end of the
Holocaust
• 1919 Genocide letter publicized
• "The final goal must be the removal of the
Jews. To accomplish these goals, only a
government of national power is capable and
never a government of national weakness.”
Revisionist Theory
• David Irving
• Holocaust did not happen
He states
“I do not think there were any gas chambers or any
master plan. It's just a myth and at last the myth is
being eroded....eyewitness evidence is a problem for
psychiatrists.”
“The holocaust of the Germans of Dresden was real.
The holocaust of the Jews in the Auschwitz gas
chambers is a fabrication.”
"The Jews are very foolish not to abandon the gas
chamber theory while they still have time.”
Conclusion
Hitler hated Jewish people, and is proven through
traditionalist theory such as from Ralf-George.
Hitler’s idea was consistent on killing the Jewish
people was SUCCESSFUL, because Hitler killed
6 million people. The revisionist theory is just
false INFORMATION, there is proof of gas
chambers and deaths of many Jewish people
shown in museums and photographs worldwide.
Hitler did kill a significant amount of Jewish
people!!!!!
Lebensraum
“Habitat or living space”
reasons WHY HITLER WANTED TO
EXPAND Germany
• Concerned that Germany was small in size compared to
other European countries
• Threat towards Germany was from the East, and because
of the East had unlimited power they can overpower
Germany
• Food supply would increase
• Security could only be met for Germany if more LAND
was given
Traditionalist
Theory
H.R. Trevor-Roper
• 1923
• “with absolute clarity and logic.”
• “Focuses on Hitler’s insistence that Germany
could secure its future by economic
development and by overseas colonization in
Eastern Europe.”
Revisionist theory
•
Alan John Percivale Taylor
• “Hitler did not make plans—for world conquest
or for anything else. He assumed that others
would provide opportunities and he would seize
them.”
Conclusion
Hitler was inconsistent with his idea of expanding
Germany in the East. Hitler, although planned his idea
and publicly spoke about it, he soon realized that if
expansion continued it would mean war with Russia,
who Germany was in alliance with.