Hitler: The Man Behind The Hate Essay, Research Paper
Hitler: The Man Behind the
Hate
hate (h?t), v., hat/ed, hat/ing, -v.t. 1 to dislike very much; Detest: 2 to
be very averse or unwilling: dislike
One word. One word that is more powerful than any weapon. One
word that can spread fear through everyone. One word powerful enough to
control a man. One man powerful enough to control millions. Adolph Hitler
did not have hate in his heart all of his life, but when he was exposed to it, he
gained it fast and furiously and eleven million dead bodies is what he had to
show for it.
April 20, 1889 was the day in which Adolph Hitler was born. On this
day, a seed was planted, a seed of hate. The seed by itself was harmless, but
it was up to Hitler from this day on if he would let this seed grow.
As a boy, Adolph went to church often and sang in the choir. One day
he carved a symbol very similar to a swastika in one of the benches at his
church.(htcl.org) Who would know that this boy?s carving in a bench would
some day represent the ultimate hate. During elementary school, Adolph got
very good grades and showed the signs of being a very intelligent individual.
However, he got poor grades in high school and this made his
easily-tempered father, Alois Hitler, very angry. Alois wanted his son to be a
civil servant, but Adolph did not want this. He wanted to be an artist.
Alois Hitler died in 1903. Two and a half years after his father?s death,
Adolph dropped out of high school. At this time he was sixteen. His mother
drew a widow?s pension and owned some property. Because of this, Adolph
did not have to work. Instead, he spent his time reading books, drawing
pictures, and simply daydreaming.
To fulfill his dream of becoming an artist, he moved to Vienna, Austria
where the Academy of Arts was located. In 1906 he tried out for the
Academy and failed. He tried out again a year later, really thinking that he
would make it. To his surprise, he failed again. The dean of the academy even
told Hitler right to his face that he would never make it as an artist. This
crushed him and left him at a dead end. Because he had no high school
diploma, there were no real jobs for him. He survived by selling pictures he
had drawn of famous landmarks and selling them as postcards.(Granger, p.
45) Just imagine, if Hitler had a little bit more talent, eleven million lives
could have been spared.
From what I have told you so far, you are probably thinking that this is
a pretty normal guy. But you have to remember, Hitler?s seed of hate has yet
to have been exposed to the things that will make it grow. Well it is now
where society helps Hitler?s seed grow. Just as Hitler influenced society
while he was in power, society influenced him before he was in power. The
only thing that influenced society was ignorance. Therefore we can say that
Hitler, himself, was influenced by ignorance. And when a man as powerul as
Hitler was gains a thing like ignorance, it can only cause destruction.
Hitler was now starting to read a publication which claimed that the
Aryan race was superior and that the Jews and communists were the causers
of all problems. How convenient. He now had someone to blame for all of his
misfortunes. It was the Jew?s fault he did not make it to the Art Academy. It
was the Jew?s fault he was poor. He was Aryan, therefor he was superior.
What facts or logic did this publication have? None. All it brought was hate.
Hate that was fueled by ignorance. Hate that made some of the Aryans feel
better, one of those Aryans being Adolph Hitler.
In 1913, he moved to Munich, Germany. He was now starting to show
a lot of loyalty to Germany and the Aryan race. For all of the loyalty he
showed to the German/Aryan race, or in Hitler?s eyes the ?superior race?, he
showed even more disloyalty to anything that was not German/Aryan. In
1914, World War I broke out. Hitler saw this as a great opportunity to show
his loyalty towards his country, ?the fatherland?. Hitler was a good soldier
and received two awards of bravery.(htcl.org) However, in 1918, Germany
surrendered. Hitler was very upset about the loss and believed that it was the
Jews and the communists who betrayed ?the fatherland?. We now see Hitler
blaming others not only for his mistakes, but a whole country?s. You can see
that his hate is now on a whole new level.
Because there were not many employment opportunities, Hitler stayed
in the army. He was assigned the job of going to meetings of groups that
sprang up and report on them. Hitler was not really excited about the
assignment, but on September 12, 1919, he was sent to investigate a small
group which called themselves the ?German Workers Party?. The group
mainly talked about the country?s problems and how the Jews, communists,
and others were threatening the ?master race?, the Aryan race. A man then
claimed that Bavaria should separate from Germany. Hitler immediately stood
up and argued that Germany and Germans must unite to survive. His natural
ability to speak impressed the leader of the group.(Granger, p.80)
joined the group and quickly became its leader. The name of the group
became the Nazis and they quickly began to gain members. He was now
spreading his hate through other people. Hitler also organized a private army
called the storm troopers who used the swastika as their symbol.(Hoffmann,
P.254) On November 8, 1923, Hitler and the Storm Troopers tried to take
over the Bavarian government but they were stopped and Hitler was sent to
prison for 5 years.
While in prison, he wrote his book called Mein Kampf (My Struggle).
The book spoke of how the Aryans must stay ?pure? and not marry Jews or
Slavs and other prejudice ideas. Many people bought the book. Many people
started hating.
When Hitler got out of prison, he quickly started to get the Nazi party
back together. In 1932, the worldwide Great Depression was hitting
Germany and its leaders struggled to give the nation political stability. Since
the country was in chaos after the war, and was forced to pay billions in
damages, the Germans saw hope in Adolf Hitler. In that year?s elections, the
Nazis were the strongest party. Hitler told the people what they wanted to
hear. Only a few people could see through his elaborate speeches and his
big blue eyes. Those few were not enough. On January 30, 1933, Hitler
became the chancellor of Germany.
Hitler in his speeches blamed the Jews and Communists for their
misfortunes and many listed. Unemployment was very high at that time
standing at about 25%. Hitler also spoke out against the unfairness of the
Versailles treaty. Germany lost a lot of its territory. The Empire was no
more. He believed the pure Aryan race is destined to rule the world and
wanted to build an Empire that would last a 1000 years. He preached that all
Germans must unite in order for this goal to succeed.
After he came into power, the Nazi party took control over every
aspect of every day life. Hitler ordered the creation of a special police force
to make sure that all opponents would be elimanted, the Gestapo. He also
gave orders to set up a special force which would be used to transport and
take care of all political prisioners and people thought to be inferior. The
name of the force was the feared SS. Mass propaganda was used to persuade
the German people that the “Fuhrer” would make the country strong and
powerful again. They also used propaganda against the Jews and other
minority groups which were considered enemies. Teachers had to belong to
the Nazi party, and children were taught that Jews very the source of all their
problems.
On February 27, 1933, Hindenburg, the president of Germany, signed a
document which gave the government almost unlimited powers. Hitler now
took over the press and a law was made that allowed people only to be Nazis.
Another words, a law was made that forced people to hate Jews, communists,
and others. The Nazis used the press as a complete tool for propaganda.
They were brainwashing the German people. In 1935, German Jews were
declared citizens of lesser rights. He also set up the Hitler Youth which taught
kids from the age of six to hate and they did. These kids were not bad for
they did not know any better. They had just fallen to Hitler?s devious plan of
hate and prejudice.
November 9, 1938 is said to have been the first day of the
holocaust.(Aroneanu, p. 13) The word Holocaust means widespread
destruction and that is exactly what it was. Eleven million men, woman,
children, and infants were killed in the holocaust, every single one of them in
cold blooded genocide. Six million of these people were Jewish. The rest of
the five million people were from assorted groups of people including
Communists, Gypsies, and homosexuals.
What makes me so upset is that if the president were killed today, it
would probably be more noticed in the media than those eleven million
people dying. We see people being put on death row for murdering one
person and we wonder how someone could ever kill someone. We see a
serial killer kill sixteen people and wonder how a person could be so sick.
How are we supposed to react to someone who killed eleven million people?
People just don?t realize how horrible the holocaust was. Imagine losing a
loved one. Now imagine feeling that pain eleven million times.
On April 30, 1945, Hitler killed his last person, himself. The hate
inside of a man had finally died, but the hate he spread onto others is still
seen today. The scar of Hitler?s hate is still seen today. But if the world were
to look at each of those eleven million as people and not as numbers, the scar
would be so much deeper. However, to society, if you kill one man it is a
tragedy, but if you kill a million men it?s just a statistic.
1: Hoffmann, Peter. ?Hitler, Adolph?. World Book Encyclopedia. World
Book Inc. 1990.
2: http://www.htcl.org/isu_fr/135/holocaust.html
3: Aroneanu, Eugene. Inside the Concentration Camps, Eyewitness Accounts
of Life in Hitler?s Death Camps. Praeger Publishers, 1996
4: Granger, Charles. Hitler: The Life of One Man. Landon Publishing, 1989