I was once told that the best way to understand the opposition is to
watch them. However, since I could not watch Hitler, I decided to read him. 700
Pages of Madness; that was Mein Kampf. Hitler begins by telling people who he is,
his story. He speaks of himself as a child, as a cute little boy wanting to
paint and not being allowed to.
At Hitler’s time in history, in 1918, Germany had lost World War I, and
the country was in massive turmoil. They were falling apart. The parliament was
doing nothing, and the government was little more than a joke. But then, Hitler
promised something new. The National Socialist Party. They were new, they were
interesting. Hitler looked around, and the found an enemy for himself to latch
onto.
Charles Darwin prepared Germany for Hitler. In his book On the Origin of Species, Darwin says
that there are different levels of people, and then states that only the best
must survive. Hitler then states in his book that he has found that master
race: the Arians.
All who are not of the good race in
this world are chaff.1
However, there must always be something to attack,
without an enemy, there is no reason for a war. Hitler gave his people an
enemy. Racked with hate he stated: If the
Jews were alone in the world, they would stifle in filth and offal…the Jew is led
by nothing but the naked egoism of the individual.2
Hitler may have been a mad man, but if he was or not,
he was a brilliant propagandist. I wish I could say he was insane, but I believe he knew what he was doing. He knew how to present, he knew how to
convince people to his way of thinking, and he knew how to gain power. The
party started with 7 men. Within less than a decade, they were a national
party. They began with no money. And they took over Germany and began World War
II. Small groups of men can, through planning and persistence, take over a nation.
Hitler did it all the wrong way, he was wrong on every single things except
one-persistence conquers resistance.
Hitler seemed to forget the Scriptural statement that all men are of one blood. However, what he did was not new, nor has it entirely gone away. Hitler was an idiot and a fool, wicked, wrong, dumb...
That such a man could go so far towards realizing his ambitions, and-above all-could find millions of willing tools and helper: that is a phenomenon the world will ponder for centuries to come.-Konrad Heiden.
Through His Strength We Will Conquer,
Andrew C. Abbott
Notes:
1: Mein Kampf: pp. 296
2: ibid: pp. 302
I do not think Hitler's book, nor his actions were mad. I think they were utterly rational, consistent, measured, and effective. Please hear me out; I have spent years studying Hitler and National Socialism.
ReplyDeleteHitler was motivated by idolatry. His actions were the expression of the humanist state played out to an extreme, and opposing him was another state just as -if not more- evil, that had US backing. The USSR and Godless Marxism was the real winner of WW2.
Hitler's god was his vision of a state. His only "use" for Christ, rather than submission, was to use what there was of a church in Germany (which was heavily influenced by various damnable German theological ideas, such as two kingdoms theology) as far as He could for the benefit of the state. He had the support of much of Germany's clergy as a result, and the Reichskonkordat with the Popish church.
There were many factors that led to his ascent to power- a failing and weak democracy, a people crushed under unjust WW1 reparation requirements, internal strife, the real and impending threat of militant Marxism, and, most tellingly for me, the near-absolute absence of opposition from the German church, with a few isolated exceptions when it was too late.
Hitler was a very intelligent, calculating, and, I am convinced, utterly sane man who carried out all of his actions to further his cause- that of his idol.
Hitler is not an exception in humanity. Hitler is in all of us, but for the grace of God.
Hitler was a dedicated idolater, and the ruin he left in his wake lies partly at the feet of the German church, German 2k theology, and this false idea that the Church has nothing to say to the state.
I am glad you read Mein Kampf. So many people talk about it, but so few make it all the way through. It is an important book, because I feel that in many ways, the preliminary groundwork is being laid for a repeat of this sort of state-as-god idolatry. If you want deeper understanding of the man, I would recommend John Toland's biography. It is balanced, and does not devote itself to distorting him as so many others do. You can usually find Toland's two volume work used for fairly cheap online through Alibris, ebay, or biblio.com
Hitler is a cautionary tale for all of us, but especially for believers and the Church as it interacts with the state.
Hitler is nothing other than secular humanism carried out to its logical end.
I know my "comment" was long, but this is a subject that interests me greatly.
As if you could not tell. ;-)
Thank you sir, for your comment. If you will notice, in the artical I did state "I wish I could say he was insane, but I believe he knew what he was doing. He knew how to present, he knew how to convince people to his way of thinking, and he knew how to gain power." The sense that Hitler was mad was that he was a fool, for, even if he said he did believe God existed, he certianly did not act as if he did.
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