Mein Kampf - Chap. 2 Part 1

Mein Kampf - Adolf Hitler

An Analysis Chapter 2 - Part 1

by Richard E. Noble

At this point I must stop and contemplate a number of things. First, how did a nice young German boy who respected his Father and loved his Mother; who aspired to be an artist, a painter, or possibly an architect; a boy who went to his mother’s side at her last moments; a seemingly sensitive boy who saw the plight of the poor and homeless so compassionately; a young man who obviously saw the beauty of things with an artist’s eye and insight; a boy who sacrificed food for the opera and theater, and music ... how could a young man like this turn into the plague of his century, and the enforcing hand of a vengeful All Mighty?
Secondly, why the Jews?
Well, as for the Jews, I know from previous reading that Adolf was born a Roman Catholic, as myself. Roman Catholics have traditionally had a problem with Jews. The Jews killed the Christ, you know. Could this Christ killer notion have played a part in laying the ground work for his anti-Semitism?
I also know that the propaganda about Jews, that is a constant part of Adolf s monologue, was not his creation. Different groups of people have hated and persecuted Jews all over the world for centuries. Henry Ford the American Industrialist hated Jews, and presented these views to the public and the world at large prior to Adolf‘s Mein Kampf. Henry self-published a book entitled “The Jewish Conspiracy” (The International Jew), which he disseminated at his own expense all over the world. He also published a newspaper out of Dearborn, Michigan that pronounced his anti-Semitism. Adolf had the Henry Ford book, and it is said, dispensed it to guests (William Manchester, “The Arms of Krupp”).
What was the real case against the Jews?
The Jews were powerful in banking. What had they to do with the collapse of the German economy, if anything? Could the notion of a Jewish conspiracy be seriously defended? Could the same accusations be made today? Could one develop a similar conspiracy theory as regards Italians, or Russians, or Communists, or Catholics, or Irish, or English, or ‘the male’ for that matter? How much of Adolf s actual complaints are truth and how much are fiction? These are questions for further investigation.
Another question that has plagued me all through the reading of this book is, where did Adolf get his financial support?
The fact of the matter seems to me that no one can do anything without money. Even revolutionaries have to buy bullets, and bombs, or material for their bombs. In politics, money is even more of a requirement. No one gets ahead in politics without financial backing, not George Washington, or Mao tse tung - even the pamphleteers of colonial times needed publishers, and money for paper and pens. Where did Adolf get his money? I look for signs of where this money might have come from as I read this book.
Adolf credits Jewish Marxism with the eventual destruction of mankind. What is he talking about? Who, how or what brought him to this conclusion? Why is he so violently opposed to Marxism in general?
I think a look at the period or times, and Adolf’s personal background will shed some light on some of these questions.
As stated earlier, Adolf is writing this in 1923. The First World War has ended just four years earlier, and Adolf was a soldier in that war. He fought on the Western Front. World War I was the biggest tragedy of the type up until that point in human history. Millions and millions, and millions of humans were killed or slaughtered at that time. Adolf saw the killing and destruction from a front row seat. And, as a soldier, must have had a personal hand in bits of it himself. We can presume that Adolf, in the midst of the war, was placed in the kill or be killed position. And he probably killed others, himself. He was blinded by something at one point in the war. He was decorated for heroism. Without any question, like millions of others, he had to witness vast amounts of human destruction. This, it goes without saying, must have an effect on ones personality and philosophy of life. Many people and soldiers come away from an experience like this with a deep hatred for the experience of War. Many books were written after World War One showing the horror of the experience, and the fruitlessness of such a course (Johnny Got His Gun, All’s Quiet on the Western Front). But for each of those who return from a war disenchanted, there seems to be others who return enthralled, invigorated, and filled with the heart for more of the same. I have never been able to understand this, and, of course, I have no desire to learn. It seems that for many humans, once committed to an action, they are forever confirmed in its defense - even if their part in the action is since declared fruitless or totally without merit or cause. (The War is not over until the last soldier has died.)
Adolf Hitler returned from the Western Front convinced more than ever of the righteousness of his cause. And his cause was the cause of his nation - a nation who had declared war on an enemy.
Upon returning home he found that his foreign war, a war against foreigners, had dissipated to an internal struggle among his own people. After years of fighting and deprivation, many of his countrymen, and even fellow soldiers, had turned against the war and its endeavors, and were in the process of tearing down the very foundations that Adolf had gone to war to protect. To say the least, he felt betrayed. It is at this point that I would guess that he divided the world up into ... fighters, cowards and traitors.
But this collapsing on the home front wasn’t peculiar to the German nation. France and England were having similar problems. The Russians had already collapsed. The Russian soldiers had walked from the battlefields of World War I in 1917 and returned to depose the Tzar and establish a new government - a government that would be truly of the people, by the people and for the people. They would call it a peoples republic. And it would be the first step in proving the predictions of the economic philosopher and social reformer Karl Marx.

To be Continued.

This is the second entry in a continuing series that will be featured on this Blog. If you are finding this stimulating, I would be interested in your comments. Thank-you.