Adolf Hitler Case Study

As one of the most infamous and controversial characters in history, Adolf Hitler remains to be an interesting case study in the field of psychology, politics, sociology, etc. Numerous attempts have been made to analyze the formation of Hitler’s ideology and the cause of Hitler’s rising power in Germany during the 1930s. Based on available research and information, it is evident that the rise of Hitler cannot be understood without analyzing the context and phase during which Germany was going through after the World War I since Hitler’s rise to power was facilitated by several economic, social and political factors. Post-World War I Germany possessed many internal and external issues that made it vulnerable to being manipulated by Hitler. The …show more content…
Hitler had a very strong negative view against the Treaty of Versailles and often referred to the people who signed the treaty as “November criminals” since the war ended in November. Aware of the Germans’ hatred against the treaty, Hitler stirred up people’s emotions by reminding them of the unfair treatments imposed upon them and how the treaty was purposely drafted by the Allies to destroy the German economy so as to weaken Germany. Then, Hitler promised that if he were to be elected he would not abide by the terms in the treaty. In desperation and rancor, the Germans turned towards Hitler. Additionally, the depression also played a major role in Hitler’s gain of popularity. During that time the German economy was in a dire state, which cause people to avert to extremism since they lost hope in ordinary politicians who failed them completely and they started to look for something radical to get them out of their financial problems. In the propaganda, Hitler promised to eradicate unemployment completely, resulted in a drastic influx of supporters. However, it was not just the lower-class people who voted for the Nazi party. Many votes were from the middle classes who were afraid of the spread of communism. With the resentment from the German people and the weakness of the economy, Hitler was able to exploit people’s …show more content…
Defeated and alienated after the World War I, the Germans needed a surge of hope and boost of confidence and Hitler provided both with his promise and the Jews, who were not “true” Germans, as the scapegoat. Since then, everything became black and white. The supposedly superior Aryan race was to control the world and the deviants or non-Aryan were to be prosecuted. In his autobiography Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote that “In the future we may be faced with problems which can be solved only by a superior race of human beings, a race destined to become master of all the other peoples and which will have at its disposal the resources of the whole world.” However, Hitler was also heavily influenced by the nationalism that was long rooted in the German culture, due to his zealous obsession of German heroic legends and history. Richard Wagner, a German composer who created passionate and controversial drama, had an immense effect upon Hitler. Joachim Fest, a German historian, claimed that “The Master of Bayreuth [Wagner] was not only Hitler 's great exemplar; he was also the young man 's ideological mentor. Wagner 's political writing... together with the operas, form the entire framework for Hitler 's ideology.... Here he found the granite foundations for his view of the world.” In other words, submerged in the culture of nationalism, Hitler imposed his radical fascism upon