FREE ESSAY ON THE MEANING OF HITLER

THE MEANING OF HITLER

The Meaning of Hitler was written by a German journalist by the name of Sebastian Haffner.
In this book, Sebastian Haffner probes the historical, political, and emotional forces
that molded Adolf Hitler's character. Sebastian Haffner also examines closely Hitler's
rise to power as Fuhrer of Germany, as well as his great achievements.
Adolf Hitler began by making a mess of his life. He dropped out of school at the age of
14, failed his entrance exam at the Vienna Academy of Arts twice, and spent the time from
his eighteenth to his twenty-fifth year in Vienna and then in Munich doing nothing and
aspiring to nothing. Then, in 1914 when World War I broke out, Hitler volunteered for the
Bavarian army. Hitler was a good soldier and received a couple of awards for bravery but
never ranked higher than corporal. In 1918, when Germany finally surrendered, Hitler was
very upset. He believed that it was the Jews and the Communists who betrayed the
fatherland, and it was at this time that his hatred for the Jews most likely began.
In 1919, Hitler joined a small radical Right-wing party, which called itself the National
Socialist German Workers' Party, or Nazi party, where he soon became the leader. The
party was small at first but Hitler's great skill at deliberating speeches attracted more
and more listeners, and it soon became a major political party with many followers. Since
the country was in chaos after World War I and was faced with the Great Depression, the
Germans saw hope in Adolf Hitler. Unemployment was at about 40% and rising and people
were starving and poor. In his speeches, Hitler blamed the Jews and Communists for their
misfortunes. So why did so many Germans follow Hitler? When he took power, Germany and
all of Europe was suffering from the Great Depression and were looking for answers and
hope. Hitler was their answer. No factor contributed more to Hitler's success than the
economic crisis. He promised to bring economic recover and national unity. Soon,
factories started putting out weapons and
now had jobs. To the German workers this was a very good sign.
In 1933, when Hitler became Reich Chancellor, the Nazi party took control of every aspect
of every day life. Hitler's goal was to eliminate the Jewish race from the European
continent and to take control of Germany and turn it into a national socialist nation. He
created a special police force called the Gestapo to make sure that anyone who opposed
him would be eliminated. He took away the Jews' civil rights. Soon, Jews, communists,
homosexuals and others who were viewed as "inferior" according to the Nazi racial theory
were thrown into concentration camps for extermination. In those camps, the Nazis killed
6 million Jews and many others. Hitler was unstoppable.
World War II began in 1939 when German armies and warplanes attacked Poland. Two days
later Britain and France jumped in and declared war on Germany. The Polish army was no
match for the German army, and Hitler's armies crushed Poland in four weeks. In the
meantime, German armies occupied Denmark and Norway and trapped the British army on the
beaches of Dunkirk. France was now taken by the Nazis. Next, Germany attacked Britain by
air, but Britain would not back down and eventually Germany backed off. Then, in June
1941 Germany turned and attacked the Soviet Union. However, the Germans completely
underestimated the Soviet Union's ability of its government to control and mobilize the
country's resources and were defeated in 1943. By June 1944, the war was going very badly
for Hitler. A series of losses to the Allies and failure to defeat the Soviets had left
Hitler's armies severely weakened. Germany had also changed a great deal. British and
American bombers were devastating its industries and cities. Underestimating the
Americans, Hitler launched his last reserves west into Belgium and Luxembourg in the
Battle of the Bulge. He felt that a hard blow would cause popular support for the war in
America to collapse, and would lead to the breakup of the coalition arrayed against him.
All he accomplished, however, was to draw away troops needed in the east, allowing the
Soviet army's winter offensive to push forward all the way to the gates of Berlin. Hitler
decided to remain in the city, hoping to inspire its defenders and anticipating a breakup
of the Allies' alliance. When neither of these hopes was realized, he appointed Karl
Donitz, the head of the navy and a devoted Nazi, as his successor. On April 30, 1945,
Hitler married his mistress, Eva Braun, in his underground bunker in Berlin. The next day
Hitler and Eva both committed suicide. Finally, on May 7, 1945 Germany surrendered
unconditionally.
When we think about Hitler and his role in Germany, we usually think about the horrible
mass murder of the Jews and oftentimes overlook the other influences Hitler had on
Germany. In this book, Sebastian Haffner also discusses Hitler's major achievements and
successes which brought him to power. The two achievements he focuses on are the economic
improvement of Germany and the re-militarization and rearmament of Germany.
Hitler's economic improvement of Germany was considered an economic miracle. In the 1930s
when Hitler became Reich Chancellor, there were six million (approximately 75%)
unemployed in Germany. A mere three years later, in 1936, there was 100% employment. The
economy of Germany had turned from helplessness and hopelessness to confidence and
self-assurance. Even more miraculous was the fact that the transition from depression to
economic boom had been accomplished without inflation. This miracle made many of the
German workers switch from the Social Democrats to Hitler. The view of those former
Social Democrat and Communist voters who in 1933 had still represented the great mass of
Hitler's opponents was that 'the man may have his faults, but he has given us work and
bread again'. But was the economic miracle really Hitler's achievement? According to
Sebastian Haffner, Hitler should be credited for this miracle. However, I have to
disagree. Yes, Hitler was a powerful speaker and dictator, but he was not at all a
political economist! In fact, Hitler never thought he would rise to power by way of
economics. Instead, Germany's economic success should be credited to Hitler's "financial
wizard", Hjalmar Scahact.
Hitler's second achievement, the re-militarization and rearmament of Germany, was also
successfully accomplished during the first six years of his rule and was by far an
incredible achievement! As an example, when Hitler became Reich Chancellor, Germany had
an army of 100,000 men without modern weapons, and it had no air force. By 1938, it was
the strongest military and air power in Europe. However, although Hitler was in charge of
the German army, this would not have been possible without the help of another party, the
military establishment. Although one would think that the increase in employment is due
to the rearmament, Sebastian Haffner disagrees. He claims that the rearmament "removed a
few hundred thousand of potential unemployed from the streets, and the mass production of
tanks, guns and aircraft provided wages and livelihood for a few hundreds of thousands of
metal and engineering workers" (Haffner, The Moral Society 216). However, the bulk of the
some six million unemployed found re-employment in normal civilian industries.
The Meaning of Hitler is an interesting book and Sebastian Haffner does an excellent job
at examining Hitler's every motive behind his astonishing career. However, one problem
with this book is that it is difficult to read. Because the book is translated into
English by another person, I often found myself reading sentences over and over in order
to understand what the author is trying to say. However, it is a very stimulating book
and I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning about Adolf Hitler. 
Bibliography
Work Cited
Haffner, Sebastian. The Meaning of Hitler. New York: Macmillian Publishing Co., Inc.,
1979