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Adolf Hitler was the driving force behind the Holocaust. Many people think he was insane to torture the human race that way. Others praise him for attempting to exterminate the Jewish people. Some wonder what was going on inside his head when he had the first thought and/or plan of the Holocaust. A majority of the world just want to know what drove him or what made him hate the Jewish race so much. Studying Adolf Hitler’s beliefs can give the world history because he gave the world an insight as to why one would want to deliberately exterminate a race, political party, nationality, or culture.
Hitler killed over six million Jewish people in the Holocaust. He strongly disliked the race. He was trying to kill all of the Jewish people simply because of their beliefs, and because in his opinion, Jewish people were not as good as Germans. (Hoffman, 2001) These were racist thoughts, and Hitler believed they caused Germany to lose WWI. Why did Hitler hate Jewish people? The roots of his hatred developed in his life around 1908. He stored up all his life problems in his head with the racism he had learned and twist it into a way he could blame the Jewish race for ruining his life.
When Hitler was younger (a little after 18) he attempted to get into an art school, but was rejected. He believed it was a Jewish professor that had rejected his art work. (Trueman, 2010) Then when Hitler was 18, he felt as if his life fell apart. His mother, whom he was so close to, died of cancer. According to some people who saw Hitler at this time, he just spent hours sketching her dead body. The doctor who was helping his mother while she was sickly was Jewish. Hitler convinced himself it was a Jewish doctor’s fault his mother had died. Trueman, 2010) Hitler plowed the walkways in Vienna, where rich people live; Hitler convinced himself that only Jewish people lived in these homes. He plowed walkways as a way to get money and to support himself. Mostly people in the neighborhood seemed to have good lives, and since Hitler himself did not, he was upset by this, and to make himself feel better he blamed the Jewish people. (Trueman, 2010) Hitler wrote the book Mein Kampf, in which he made it clear that he completely blamed the Jewish people for his bad time in Vienna.
In his book he also clearly said, “I began to hate them”. He was having a bad time because he got rejected from art school, and was having trouble finding work at first. (Trueman, 2010) Also in Hitler’s book he talks about his point of view and how the Germans were not responsible for losing the war. Hitler was convinced that it was all the Jewish people and Communists fault. Why?? He declared that the Germans were a “master race” and it was their destiny to rule the world. Farah and Andrea, 1997) To do that Germany had to be “purified” of the treaty that caused them to lose WWI. This loss led to the collapse of the German government and economy. By 1910, Hitler was very sure of his hatred towards Jewish people. This is known as anti-semitism. Hitler tried to find a way to blame every single one of his problems on a Jewish person or group in some way, shape, or form. (Trueman, 2010) How could a man with such a sickly mind become a leader of Germany and manage to turn his own personal hate into a public discrimination, one might ask?
One might also wonder why anyone would let him obtain such power. Hitler obtained this power during the worldwide depression of 1929. After the people of Germany listened to Hitler and how he blamed the Jewish people completely for three years straight, most of the Germans began to believe him and began to agree with him. Hitler’s Nazi party won 229 seats and became the largest party in the German parliament during 1932. Then January 30, 1993, the president of Germany, Paul von Hindenburg offered/preferred that Hitler become chancellor.
Thus, the Nazi came to power legally. (Farah and Andrea, 1997) Hitler not only impacted a society or race, but the world. By allowing his anti-semitism to carry on throughout his years of power and forcing and/or convincing people to share his feelings on the issue, he impacted the lives of so many people. When Adolf Hitler decided to carry out with the Holocaust he changed and ruined the life of most if not all Jewish people. He put Jewish people through the worst possible torture thinkable.
Some were not strong or healthy enough to make it through, but those who were strong and healthy now suffer from the memories and what they had to witness and experience. They have been scarred for life. (Wiesel, 1986) By Hitler taking these actions and deciding to carry out the Holocaust he killed 12 million Jewish, disabled, and communist people.. Also by carrying out the Holocaust he changed the way many saw the world, it made some realize how cruel the world can be.
Although this is not the only genocide in history, it is usually the most thought about and sympathized about. Also this was the first time the term “Genocide” was used. Hitler decided to carry out the Holocaust because of his hatred toward Jewish people. His hatred is based on the thoughts he conjured up in his head about what the Jewish people did and how they ruined his life. (Trueman, 2010) Physically, one is no longer affected by Hitler’s actions, but mentally, one will be affected forever by the scars of the stories, reports, or first person accounts of his victims.
Due to what Hitler did by carrying out the Holocaust, he will never be forgotten, and no matter how hard one who experienced the Holocaust tries, they will never ever be able to fully forget the pain, suffering, and loss. There are many life lessons one can take away from this historical event and impact. One can remember that stereotypes can be very wrong. Hitler felt that the Jewish people were all the same, cruel and did not deserve to live. That may have been true for few Jewish people, but it also may have been true for some Germans. Hitler felt Jewish people were not as good as Germans. ” (Hoffman, 2001) This was only an opinion. One can also learn not to be influenced. Hitler influenced many people to follow his beliefs and he talked them into helping him follow through with the Holocaust, but if a majority of those people who originally followed Hitler, stopped and really thought about what they were going to do; then decided not to do so or follow through, then this entire cause may not have been carried out.
Adolf Hitler was the driving force behind the Holocaust. He manipulated people to follow his beliefs. He followed through with the Holocaust not alone, but with much help by the public, he was a very good public speaker so many ended up following him. Adolf Hitler was significant to world history because he gave the world an insight as to why one would want to deliberately exterminate a race, political party, nationality, or culture: pure hatred and power. This sad event is known as Genocide.