The Justification Of Hitler And The Idolization Of Adolf Hitler

Improved Essays
Justification was a moral theology that Germans used to validate their actions, or lack thereof. After Hitler’s appointment to chancellor, an internal purge of political opposition destroyed any possible objection to Nazi policies. The Nazis began implementing the “Fuhrer-myth,” to spark the idolization of Adolf Hitler by citizens. This myth served as a justification for the Germans and their actions against racial minorities any verbal or physical assault was done in the honor of Hitler and the national community. Civilians supported the National Socialist’s idea of social and economic betterment. Furthermore, Hitler’s ability to restore Germany to her former, pre-Weimar status gained him widespread notoriety. On the eve of World War II, …show more content…
Unlike the Weimar Republic, Hitler successful reclaimed the territories that had been lost as a result of the post-World War I’s Treaty of Versailles. It was obliterated by Hitler and the Nazis. The Fuhrer’s ability to follow through with his political and economic promises increased his power as a great leader. Germans were thrilled and became willing to implement Hitler’s policies, regardless of their moral conscience. However, Hitler would exploit their support and convert it into destruction. During the Second World War, Germans would become perpetrators, accomplices or bystanders. With propaganda portraying Hitler as a godlike figure, citizens began worshipping him for his political prowess. In order for the Nazis continued success, citizens were required to execute Nazi policies. Everyone was working towards the goal of a national community and sacrifices were necessary. Koonz articulates, “The emerging solidarity did not so much render victims’ suffering invisible as make them marginal to the larger purpose of an ethnic renaissance,” (Koonz, 3). Paired with seven to eight years of indoctrination and propaganda, Germany evolved into a murderous state, populated by collaborators and willing …show more content…
After years of indoctrination, supporters became willing participants in Hitler’s war against the Jews. By the Second World War, the Nazi aims evolved, much like their supports, from mere segregation to actual extermination. The process of racial extermination expanded beyond bureaucratic legislation and societal discrimination evolved into mass murder under the war circumstance. Despite the claim that every German was a Nazi and that they were “exceptional pathological killers,” a more frightening conclusion becomes evident (Szejnmann, 38). Tens of thousands of ordinary German citizens advocated for the Nazi ideology and fought for it throughout the war. Furthermore, this unwavering support allowed the genocide of millions of Jews and other minorities to occur. Persecution of the German Jews, a small demographic in the state, began the in 1933 and gradually escalated because ethnic Germans were so conditioned into the Nazi ideology. Because of intense propaganda and desensitization, German citizens could not object without facing certain death. While some individuals were forced to take up arms on the battlefields, others were willing perpetrators in administrative positions or concentration camp jobs. In the eyes of the national state, every ethnic German had to make sacrifices in the name of their Fuhrer and the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Hitler was a new face to Germans and people thought they could trust him. Citizens started to fund him with their money over businessmen they didn 't know if they could trust or not. One of the ways Hitler was able to make people trust him was through his speeches. He was a "powerful and spellbinding speaker who attracted a wide following of Germans desperate for change." Hitler 's power grew in collaboration with the German people.…

    • 1868 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Holocaust, which was the systematic persecution and murder of over six million Jews during World War II, is often cited as one of the worst atrocities committed in the history of human civilization. People speak of it in hushed, mournful voices as they wonder at how the German Nazis could be so malevolent as to annihilate a whole generation of Jews. Hundreds of eminent scholars have eloquently explained the horrific nature of the Holocaust and its effects on the modern world (Gerstenfeld). Yet, it can be said that emphasis should be placed on understanding why Adolf Hitler decided to exterminate so many Jews. Only by looking through the perspective of the Nazis can one begin to understand that the Nazi Party and its leader, Hitler, brutally…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    A.Plan of Investigation (Word Count: 125) To what extent were German citizens responsible for what happened during the Holocaust? Although German citizens were somewhat aware of what Hitler was doing, they were not ultimately responsible for his actions. This paper will discuss how responsible German citizens were for the events of the Holocaust caused by Hitler. Primary and secondary sources will be used to view different ideas people had during the Holocaust, and ideas historians have now of the Holocaust.…

    • 1932 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Dehumanization of the Jews Essay The genocide of the Jews during World War II is probably the most well-known terror in world history. Many question how this could have happened, how could millions of people be exterminated so thoroughly without resistance? What begin as a simmering hatred of a people group progressed in a systematic execution of the Jews not only physically, but it took every ounce of their human rights until they had nothing left; they were ground into the dirt. With the help of Elie Wiesel’s personal story in his memoir Night, he gives us insight on the physical and psychological terror that they endured at the hands of Hitler that dehumanized the Jews in a systematic, step-by-step process.…

    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Because of the harshness of the Treaty of Versailles, the failures of the Weimar Republic, and the peoples’ suffering during the Great Depression, Hitler and the Nazi Party came into power. After he became the “Fuhrer”, or dictator, of Germany, he pursued the ethnic cleansing of the “Aryan race”. From 1933 to 1945, over 11,000,000 people were annihilated in the Holocaust. Six million of those murdered were Jewish. Although the Nazis focused on eliminating Jews, those who were killed included Roma, Slavs, Poles, Jehovah’s Witnesses, communists, political enemies, homosexuals, and disabled peoples.…

    • 1921 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “For us there are only two possibilities: either we remain German or we come under the thumb of the Jews. This latter must not occur; even if we are small, we are a force. A well-organized group can conquer a strong enemy… We will be victorious over the Jews,” were Adolf Hitler’s words in his speech in Munich. To a certain extent, audience in today’s society would characterize his words to be on the more extreme end of identification, where it allowed his listeners to “dissociated from the others” (Jews) and grant them the permission of “symbolically kill those with whom they do not identify with.”…

    • 198 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay Question: Was Hitler’s totalitarian rule one of great achievement or one of great depression and force. Ever since the treaty of Versailles on the 28 June 1919, Germany was left in a state of humiliation and despair with its society wanting of a dictator to bring them back to their former Glory. Adolf Hitler was the answer they were looking for and with Germany’s government struggling along with the great depression the people were eager for anything.…

    • 1310 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Atrocity of Obedience The Holocaust included the most heinous acts ever recorded in history. Under the leadership of Nazi-Germany president Adolf, Hitler over six million Jews were systematically captured, imprisoned, and murdered. But the Holocaust could not have been carried out by government alone, it required a unilateral effort from all segments of German society. How could the murderous, anti-Semitic ideals of a government compel so many everyday citizens to be complicit with such horrendous acts?…

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ian Kershaw’s article “Hitler and the Germans” analyzes the approach used to assert Hitler’s position in German politics. The main theme of this article is the creation of the “Hitler myth” and its spread throughout German society. This critique will discuss Kershaw’s argument and how effective it was. Kershaw argues that Hitler’s personality was not the key to his success and neither was his own personal Weltanschauung. He believes that it would be more accurate to study the popular image of Hitler, what the average German would have experienced.…

    • 1700 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Analysis Of Defying Hitler

    • 1063 Words
    • 5 Pages

    People of today abhor the doings of the Nazis. It is widely accepted that what they have done was a terrible deed. However, the Nazis, and Adolf Hitler, were not always looked down upon as badly as today. The people of Germany feared the Nazis, however, the people of Germany did not resist the Nazis coming into power in the early 1900s. Rather, they joined in with the Nazis due to them promising the people of Germany that they would make Germany a great place again.…

    • 1063 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Over the course of World War II, forces such as the Gestapo and the SS carried out Hitler’s cornerstones of ideology. One of Hitler’s ideas included the methodical and industrial extermination of peoples not considered “Aryan,” or the “master race.” Groups targeted by the Nazi Party included the Roma, the disabled, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses. However, the group arguably targeted the most harshly, were those of the Jewish faith. An estimated 6 million Jewish people died as a result of “the Final Solution.”…

    • 1815 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    German civilians feel as though they are unfairly attached to the events of the Holocaust, especially those “who were either not in positions of power in the Third Reich or who belong to succeeding generations” (Bartov 793). Because of this, the Nazi has become “the new enemy of postwar Germany,” meaning much like the Jew during World War II, the Nazi “lurks in everyone and, in this sense, can never be ferreted out” (Bartov 793). At the same time, the Germans believe the Nazi and all Nazism stood for is vastly different from the beliefs of contemporary Germany and individual Germans that some choose to entirely ignore the historical significance of that portion of their nation’s history, regarding it as myth more than…

    • 1909 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hitler Myth The Fuhrer of Germany is depicted as one who holds great heroic leadership. Adolf Hitler fit the title of the Fuhrer through his policies, ideologies and institutions that created an influential third regime. Through mass support of the German people, Hitler took action to restore the greatness of Germany. In attempt to improve the country, Hitler became a slave to his power and what it signified.…

    • 1157 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Nazi Nationalism Introduction The Nazi nationalism is unforgettable historical phenomenon in Germany and the world over. The events that surrounded the conceptualization and the maturity of the Nazi nationalism were felt in and outside Germany. The Holocaust was the climax of the Nazi propaganda. The account of the Holocaust was established through a systematic chain and combination of events that resulted in the realization of the nationalism agenda.…

    • 1543 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dictator Adolf Hitler is one of the most powerful charismatic leaders of all time, however his actions and deeds were not morally right, but his leadership skills were matched only by few in the world. Dictator Adolf Hitler was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and also served as a dictator from 1934 to 1945. He rose up to power in Germany as a leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, also known as the Nazi Party. Hitler served in world war one earning himself some bravery badges a long with it. He then became embittered over the downfall of the war effort, making a reinforcement over his passionate patriotism on Germany.…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays