Page 93 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

912 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

Battle not with monsters lest ye become one; for when you look into the Abyss,
the Abyss looks into you. • Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

Germans by the late 1930s. Most historians consider gable speaker (and reader), Hitler discovered at age
Hitler to have been the key person who caused World thirty that he could rivet people’s attention, be it in a
War II and the Holocaust. In consequence, his very name beer hall or in a salon. Recognizing the emotional power
is associated with evil. of the spoken word over the printed word, he pioneered
Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau, a provincial Aus- in using new electronic media such as the microphone,
trian town near Germany, to a minor customs official of radio, and film.
uncertain parentage. The Hitler household was not Hitler’s formula for political success was as potent as
happy, and Hitler was an undisciplined schoolboy who it was lacking in subtlety.The very name that he chose for
envisaged grand goals for himself as a loosely defined his party was indicative.The National Socialist German
artist, perhaps as architect, set designer, or music critic, Workers Party was ultranationalistic (“National...Ger-
but his accomplishments fell far short of reality. Reduced man”) but also spoke for “the little guy” (“Socialist...
to vagrancy, Hitler found relief from his frustrations in Workers”). Ergo, the Nazis were Germans first, but they
extreme German nationalism, rabble-rousing politics, and came from the same bedrock class of little people whose
growing anti-Semitism. Only Europe’s call to arms in unrecognized talents had made their nation great, that
1914 “saved” him. He joined a Bavarian regiment, pre- is, they were just like Hitler. He played masterfully on
ferring to render military service to Germany. Soldiering the public’s fears and resentments, which were numer-
became his first real job. ous after Germany’s defeat. Hitler’s message was built
A rarity among 1914 volunteers, Hitler survived four on absolutes: Those who oppose us are traitors; those
years of trench warfare, winning the German Iron Cross who support us are patriots.
as a lowly corporal-runner (he was not considered offi- Armed with this self-assuring message, Hitler dom-
cer material). This decoration allowed him to campaign inated his own party, whose unruly members were com-
freely in postwar German politics.The wounded veteran pelled to recognize his charisma. Outside events also
Hitler returned to Munich in 1919, working undercover helped him to build his political base.The Weimar Repub-
to assess the myriad political movements that had lic’s first blow came in 1923 when French and Belgian
emerged after Germany’s defeat amid revolutionary tur- troops occupied the Ruhr industrial area of Germany.
moil. Hitler casually entered politics by joining one of Industry came to a standstill, and rampant inflation im-
the obscure parties to which the army had assigned him poverished the nation overnight. Opportunistically, Hitler
for surveillance. struck at what he thought was the right moment, but his
From its outset Germany’s Weimar Republic reeled Beer Hall Putsch of 9 November 1923, ended in his
under the harsh conditions imposed by the Versailles arrest, trial, and a five-year jail sentence.
Treaty, especially its reparations clauses. Numerous Phoenix-like, Hitler turned his trial into a political
extremist political parties arose, among them Hitler’s forum and gained national recognition. During his re-
Bavarian movement, which in 1921 took the name duced sentence of one-year fortress arrest, he wrote his
“National Socialist German Workers Party” with Hitler memoir-cum-political statement, Mein Kampf (My Strug-
as its spokesman.The party adapted its unwieldy name gle). In turgid prose Hitler envisaged a rejuvenated Ger-
to everyday usage by shortening the word National to many that would expand into an empire comprised of
Nazi, and Hitler personally chose the swastika, a hooked pure Aryan Germans, one in which Jews, Slavs, and
cross that became the movement’s central icon. Yet, other unwanted peoples would be banished. Fortunately
demagoguery won Hitler his central role. Prewar pas- for him, few people outside his party took his statement
sions and prejudices that had existed in embryonic form seriously. Upon his release Hitler reasserted control over
within him came to the fore. An animated and indefati- his unruly following and plotted future campaigns.