Rarely in time is there a man whose very name sparks the same hatred and passion over sixty years after he has come and died like Hitler’s does. Even rarer is a book that dialogues the struggle that such men go through to find the ethics that they base their life on like Hitler’s Mein Kampf, which can also be translated to My Struggle[i]. Mein Kampf is an accurate view of the Past, Present and the Future of Germany in Hitler’s eyes, and accurately depicts Hitler’s beliefs on race and politics. It also is an outline of the history of the National Socialist German Workers Party, better known as the Nazis, up to the year 1924. This book is a prime example of the very thing Hitler was best at, propaganda.

Overall, the book is written in an oratorical style bouncing from thought to thought with a very thin web connecting thoughts together. There are instances when Hitler tries to coherently collect his thought, but they are usually few and far between.  Hitler fills in the gaps in his thought process with worthless, unintelligible phrasing of words and sentences. Often, it takes Hitler a whole page to say what it would take most people a sentence or two to say. There are two explanations for this. One is because Hitler never actually wrote the book, but spoke it oratorically, or ranted, during a jail sentence. The second is due to the translation from the German language where it is common to have run on sentences and paragraphs, to the English language where it is not.

One possible reason for his disjointed writing was that Hitler was heavily influenced by the Viennese newspapers[ii], although he would probably deny it. The arguments he makes are usually backed with little or no evidence, yet they are stated like well known facts that everyone knows and agrees with. Many of the arguments in the books are based off of illogical assumptions and misinformation. Much of this is caused by Hitler’s love of propaganda, which he used so frequently that it was naturally embedded in everything he did and lived for, including the writing of this book.

Ironically, Hitler talks in depth about the use of propaganda in several parts of the book. He explains how propaganda should be used to totally destroy every good idea about the enemy, leaving no room for anything good to be said.[iii] This is the very technique he uses throughout the book. He pictures Jews as money-driven, hate-filled creatures whose main goal is to destroy all other nationalities, particularly Germans, and replace them with their own culture[iv].  To illustrate this point he uses words, concepts and ideas, like syphilis and prostitution of the soul, to give the reader a bad image of the Jews.[v] He tells you everything he thinks is bad about the subject, and mentions nothing good. From this example, it can be said that Hitler is not just talking the talk in this book, but is truly living out what he says.

Often there is no subject or clear person Hitler is arguing against. It is as if he is just shouting his mind to the whole world as if everyone is against him, and he is the only one who knows what is right. His view of the world is unusually skewered, obscure, and unrealistic. To him there are no friends, only enemies who need to be taught a lesson on various points of politics and racial hygiene for almost seven hundred pages.

It is doubtful that many of the points he makes are really even necessary to the main goal of the book. His main goal of the first volume of the book is to convince the reader of the supremacy of the Aryan race, that the Aryan race should be united under one mother country, and that he should be the only leader of this country It is also to put blame on the Jews and Marxists for the loss of World War I and of the collapse of the German economy that happened afterward. The main goal of the second volume of the book is to outline in detail a party and “philosophy of life”[vi] that would create an entirely German state aimed for semi-global conquest, allow the Aryan race to take power once again, and name him as sole supreme ruler. He also describes a “program of blood and terror[vii]” whose sole purpose is to subjugate the Jews and all others he sees unfit. In between these goals, there are many topics which are often unrelated, or at least unneeded, but included in the book nonetheless.

From the very first page of the book Hitler starts preaching of his love for Germany and hatred of the Austrian state, and how even as a kid growing up he longed for Germany to be united as one nation.[viii] He stresses strongly the idea that one people with one blood should be united, particularly when they are as great as the Aryan race.[ix] He says frankly that Germans in different places must be united no matter the cost, which could be taken as an early foreshadow of his future conquest of a good chunk of Europe during World War II[x].  These rabbit trails and his childhood cover the first chapter of the book.

The second chapter delves into Hitler’s years in Vienna, which he considered a “melting pot of nationalities”[xi] and how he came to “know” Marxists and Jews during his time there[xii].  He begins to see Jews everywhere, including behind trade unions, social democracy, and the press[xiii]. These things apparently ruined the national pride of the nation during this time which makes Jews the enemy of Germany[xiv]. Eventually, he admits his anti-Semitism and how by ridding Germany of the Jews he will be doing the Lord’s work[xv].

From here, he rants about how parliamentarianism is wrong because it excludes individual leadership and allows the Jews to hide behind their bad decisions[xvi]. Jews also influence the public opinion of the people through the press with lies about how parliament is great and the Hasburg state is perfect, while it slowly ruins the elements that make up German life[xvii].  Jews are ruining German culture and it’s the humans right to break state laws to fight for existence and culture, which foreshadows Hitler’s attempted illegal takeover of Germany[xviii]. This leads Hitler to go over several different movements including the Pan German movement and the Away from Rome movement, and explain why they failed to stop Jews from destroying culture and bring the German element back to Germany[xix]. Basically, the first section of the book (pg 1-125) can be summarized as Hitler’s dealing with the “social question”[xx], which is Jews and how they ruined the Germanic motherland with their “Jewish problem”[xxi], which is Marxism.

The next section of the book (pg 125-282) basically puts blame on the Jews for the loss of the war and the collapse that came afterwards. Basically, he blames it on what is called the “racial problem”[xxii]. Although there are many specific things that caused the loss of the war and the collapse, they were all caused by the Jews. Hitler says one of the greatest reasons for the loss is that Germany had an unsound alliance policy[xxiii]. Instead of acquiring new land, Germany turned towards economic policy which Hitler strongly disagreed with.[xxiv] Austria also made mistakes with alliance policy, and allowed Marxists to slowly take control of public opinion.[xxv]

According to Hitler, Jews slowly took over Germany during and after the war by confusing the German people with propaganda.[xxvi] He says that Jews lied about the true causes of the war, and that Jews are liars naturally[xxvii]. The reason they were able to do this was because there was no true replacement philosophy out there that showed the Jews for who they truly were[xxviii], and that nobody noticed the “symptoms of decay” that were happening throughout Germany.[xxix] The symptoms of decay included sexual diseases like syphilis and prostitution, blood sin and desecration of race.[xxx] He claims that the biggest factor of the collapse of the German economy is that good Germans were mating with Jews, which was desecrating the healthy blood of the German people.[xxxi]  These claims are ridiculous to the point that it is totally disgusting.

The third section of the book (pg 284-373) deals in detail about the “racial problem[xxxii]” This is, in essence, a long, disturbing rant displaying lie after lie about a group of people that Hitler blames everything he hates on. Basically, it is the biggest section of propaganda in this book. He begins by claiming that everything “admired by earth was created by one race”[xxxiii] and that great races die out by blood poisoning.[xxxiv] He relates blood poisoning to mocking nature, and that nature responds with “distress, misfortune, and diseases”[xxxv].

According to Hitler, the Aryan is the counterpart to the Jew[xxxvi]. Culture is created solely by the Aryans, and the culture is destroyed by the Jews[xxxvii]. He says that “all who are not of good race are chaff”[xxxviii]. Aryans are self sacrificial and idealistic, while Jews only care about themselves and lack any idealistic attitude[xxxix]. He claims that this is why the Jews have never had any state of their own, when in fact they have, the nation of Israel[xl]. He says that all culture of the Jew is really just a sham, but that they are actually parasites who feed off of others cultures while hiding behind their religion[xli]. They learn the German language to act German until they have enough power to show themselves for who they truly are. Then they use their power to influence public opinion and fight for civil rights and liberalism so that they can appear equal to Germans in the state and in culture[xlii].

Hitler thinks that the goal of the Jews is to create a Marxist world that will destroy the German economy and culture, which would allow the Jews to rule like dictators[xliii].  The reason they are being able to do this is because Germany has failed to recognize them as the enemy, and has allowed them to desecrate the holy German blood with their Jewish women[xliv]. According to Hitler, the only way to fix this is to create a philosophy that will change the status quo and bring back German’s lost “will of self preservation”. He must also destroy all of the enemies. To do this, Hitler proposes a program and philosophy that will use propaganda to nationalize the masses into a spirit of Germanism, and cleanse the German blood by “fixing” the Jewish racial problem. [xlv]

The fourth section of the book pertains to the aims and beliefs of the program/philosophy that Hitler believed would fix all of Germany’s problems, the National Socialist Movement.[xlvi] To begin with, the movement would be anti-parliament. There would be one ruler who has the final say in all decisions. [xlvii]

The main goal of the movement would be to create a Germanic state, by force if necessary. [xlviii]The state would use the folkish philosophy, as Hitler believes all states should. The folkish philosophy is that races should be taken into consideration when forming a state, giving the highest races the most freedom and the lowest races no freedom. Hitler talks in detail of the goals of a folkish state, which includes that a state must promote the German people and put them into a dominant position over everyone else[xlix]. The Germans should be on top ruling with an iron fist. There would be no state people based on language because any non- German can learn the German language. The people are a part of the state if they bear culture[l].

According to the folkish philosophy of the movement, there would also be a reorganization of the laws of marriage, and laws determining who is allowed to have children. Handicapped or sick people would have fewer rights than people who are healthy because they are apparently worthless, and their kids would be sick and handicapped too[li]. This, of course, is an overgeneralization. There would also be required physical training for girls and boys and changes in rights of citizenship. Boys would get citizenship after military training and girls would get citizenship after getting married[lii]. The main goal of a woman in a folkish philosophy would be to become a German mother. It would, obviously, be a patriotic education.[liii] The state would make all decisions based on what is best for Germany. The state would also make sure only the best minds would come into power or leadership[liv]. Although this by itself is fine he makes the assertion that these people could only be Germans because only Germans have personality[lv]. This is a totally false assumption. He also asserts that Marxism ruins personality, which is actually a true assertion[lvi]. There would also be no compromising of any points in the philosophy[lvii]. He uses the example of religion to back this which was actually quite profound[lviii]. All of these things would be characteristics of the National Socialist Movement’s state.

He also asserts once again that there should only be one leader that should be picked the same way citizens are, by supremacy[lix]. It is no surprise that Hitler assumed that all authority should go to him. He says it is due to his personality and oratorical skills[lx], which he says all leaders should have. However, if he had been a horrible orator and had no personality, he would have made up some other things that all leaders should have. No matter what, Hitler would always consider himself the epitomy of supremacy.

Much of the later book deals with the answering of the questions that were brought up in the first sections of this book. These questions include Marxism, trade unions, and Germany’s alliance policy. When it came to trade unions, Hitler found them indispensable, but he felt that instead of serving Marxists, they should solely serve workers and owners[lxi]. This makes sense for the most part. There is also many other small things he talks about around this area of the book, but most of them are unimportant and badly written anyway. They could have easily been edited out of the book.

The biggest part of this section is by far the German alliance policy. He concludes that France would most likely be an enemy because Jews are too involved in their government[lxii]. He says that many of the problems of past regimes of Germany were caused by dealing to much with the French[lxiii]. From here, he concludes that the best allies to Germany would be England and Italy[lxiv]. He comes to these conclusions because although most countries have screwed Germany and sided with the Jews, with the exception of Fascist Italy, Germany still needs alliances to survive[lxv]. So, Germany should make alliances based on who has screwed them over less[lxvi]. He also claims that Jews run the United States, and intend to destroy Japan, which could possibly make them an ally to Germany too[lxvii]. In between talks of foreign policy, there are also many times when Hitler talks about how boundaries are set by man[lxviii] and that Germany is entitled to as much of the world’s land as they want[lxix]. Also, Germany will keep good relations with Russia, but will not create an alliance with them[lxx]. Eventually, he states that Germany must become a world power by acquiring more land, and that is the main goal for the National Socialist Movement[lxxi].

The last and final pages of the book deal mostly with Marxism. He states in various ways that Marxism must be destroyed before Germany can finally be totally free again[lxxii]. There must be no submission, but an all out war against Marxism and all other possible enemies. Hitler ends with saying that all this will be accomplished by the National Socialist Party[lxxiii].

Throughout the book, Hitler also tells about bits and pieces of his childhood, years in the military during World War I, and how he first became a part of the organization that would become the National Socialist Party[lxxiv]. He also tells about some of the major meetings of the early party, and some of the early members[lxxv]. Much of this is honestly unneeded information in a book that is mostly about politics and opinion. The most probable reason Hitler included it is that most of the stories make Hitler out to be a hero that took a worthless party and made it great. It also depicts him as a man who did everything himself, with noone else’s help. It is doubtful that this is the truth.

Many of the theories in this book also depict Hitler as a man who thought he knew everything, when truthfully it just means he has an opinion about everything.  The clearly lunatic thesis of this book, that the cause of all of Germany’s problems is the Jew and that the Aryan race should take back what is theirs and kill everyone who tries to stop them, truly shows just how wrong opinions can go. Especially when one thinks he is always right, as Hitler most definitely did.

            Lunatic thesis or not, there is power in Hitler’s words. The thesis of this book is not what gave Hitler his power, because other people have come to many of the same conclusions and never even got close to fulfilling them. It might not have been his oratorical skills either, great though they may have been. Most likely, it is the uncontrolled dominating anger that slowly builds up throughout the book that gives his words the power they have. What made this anger dangerous and led to all the things that happened in World War II is that to Hitler everything comes back to violence and lies. If anyone disagrees with his views, or his claim to supreme power, or if he simply didn’t like him, it was enough to condemn him to death. Also, everything he did had a propagandist agenda. Even this book itself was just another piece of propaganda to sway the German intellectuals. This is what distinguished Hitler from many of the other’s who held the same views as he did. It can be said that Hitler was not just talking the talk in this book. When he says he wants to kill all the enemies of Germany which to Hitler are the Jews and Marxists, he means it.  When he says propaganda is the best way to sway the masses, he means it. He was not just talking the talk in this book; he was walking the walk in real life too, walking all the way into infamy.

Bibliography

Hitler, Adolf. Mein Kampf. 4th ed. Translated by Ralph Manheim. 2 vols. 1927. Reprint, Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1971.

[i] Introduction to Mein Kampf-1

[ii] Introduction to Mein Kampf-2

[iii] Hitler-182

[iv] Hitler-303, 308

[v] Hitler- 246,249

[vi] Hitler- 373

[vii] Introduction to Mein Kampf- 1

[viii] Hitler- 1, 6-7, 10

[ix] Hitler- 1, 3

[x] Hitler- 6,7

[xi] Hitler-24

[xii] Hitler- 21

[xiii] Hitler- 39, 47-51

[xiv] Hitler- 30

[xv] Hitler- 63, 65

[xvi] Hitler- 75-80, 81

[xvii] Hitler- 85-91, 92-95

[xviii] Hitler- 96

[xix] Hitler- 103-107, 109-117

[xx] Hitler- 125

[xxi] Hitler- 125

[xxii] Hitler- 284

[xxiii] Hitler- 149-150

[xxiv] Hitler- 139-140

[xxv] Hitler- 155-156

[xxvi] Hitler- 187

[xxvii] Hitler- 232

[xxviii] Hitler- 170-174

[xxix] Hitler- 233

[xxx] Hitler- 247, 249

[xxxi] Hitler- 249, 250, 283

[xxxii] Hitler- 284

[xxxiii] Hitler- 288

[xxxiv] Hitler- 289

[xxxv] Hitler- 289

[xxxvi] Hitler- 300

[xxxvii] Hitler- 290-296

[xxxviii] Hitler- 296

[xxxix] Hitler- 297, 301

[xl] Hitler- 302

[xli] Hitler- 303, 305

[xlii] Hitler- 308, 312-313

[xliii] Hitler- 316, 321

[xliv] Hitler-316, 321, 327-329

[xlv] Hitler- 332, 338

[xlvi] Hitler- 343

[xlvii] Hitler- 353

[xlviii] Hitler- 346, 373

[xlix] Hitler- 378-384

[l] Hitler- 388-389, 391

[li] Hitler- 402-404

[lii] Hitler- 437-442

[liii] Hitler- 407, 409, 411, 425

[liv] Hitler- 416, 418-422, 425

[lv] Hitler- 442-446

[lvi] Hitler- 447

[lvii] Hitler- 454

[lviii] Hitler- 455-456

[lix] Hitler- 509

[lx] Hitler- 469

[lxi] Hitler- 598, 601

[lxii] Hitler- 614, 624

[lxiii] Hitler- 625

[lxiv] Hitler- 620

[lxv] Hitler- 636-637

[lxvi] Hitler- 636

[lxvii] Hitler- 639-640

[lxviii] Hitler- 653

[lxix] Hitler- 652

[lxx] Hitler- 662-663

[lxxi] Hitler- 654-655

[lxxii] Hitler- 682

[lxxiii] Hitler- 668-669

[lxxiv] Hitler- 3-18, 161-166, 217-224

[lxxv] Hitler- 365-370, 463-477