Adolf Hitler used nationalism to slowly rise into power, and once he was at the top, he used political events to put forth racial policies that would eventually lead to the persecution of Jews. Hitler’s racial theories were put forth in a document called the Mein Kampf. The Mein Kampf glorified his racial policies and led people to believe that the persecution of the Jews was the only to have a stronger Germany.
Adolf Hitler was born in Austria in 1889 and raised as a Catholic. At first, Hitler wanted to become an architect, but he never had the opportunity to go to school and pursue his dream. At the start of World War I, Hitler enrolled in the German army and was put to run messages back and forth during the war. Hitler did an exceptional job and was given an award for bravery. After the war was over, Hitler was homeless and had no real direction in his life, but politics and the military served as a guide for him.
Adolf Hitler, the leader and founder of the Nazi Party was a front-line soldier in World War I, and after the war he truly believed that he was the chosen leader for his nation. Hitler used nationalism as the main reason for his political revolution. Hitler said that there was a need for a revolution because democracy and modern life had plagued the nation of Germany. Hitler had placed the blame on diversity of race for the detriment of society, and he made racism the central feature of his nationalist ideology (Brower 109).
Adolf Hitler created the Nationalist Socialist (Nazi) Party, and it was the foundation for his revolution. Hitler’s followers understood the term Nazi to mean someone “who knows no higher ideal than the welfare of the nation.” The first step that Hitler made was creating a special group within the party called the Stormtroopers, otherwise known as the SA. The SA was made up of mostly war veterans who were dressed in special uniform and were always prepared to defend the party at all costs (Brower 110). A short time later, Hitler created a group called the Schutzstaffel, which is also known as the SS. The SS was like Hitler’s personal bodyguards, they were dressed in black and needed to prove their racial purity so that they could take an oath to obey him unquestioningly (Brower 110).
Hitler stated that his Nazi party would only support the cabinet if he became the leader. The German government totally disregarded the violence that the Nazi Party used and they saw it as a large movement that was dedicated to nationalism. In 1933, President von Hindenburg chose Hitler to be chancellor of Germany and had unknowingly taken a large step towards Nazism. Eventually Hitler persuaded the President to give extraordinary powers “for the persecution of the people and the state.” The President gave approval to the Enabling Act, which granted Hitler the authority to rule without constitutional restraints (Brower 111).
The country of Germany had become a one-party dictatorship, and anyone who opposed him was sent to concentration camp. In time the SA began to show opposition towards Hitler and to end the threat, he secretly planned for their removal. In 1934, he sent the SS squads to execute over seventy political leaders who he wanted eliminated, that night was called “night of the long knives” (Brower 111). Hitler claimed that he was responsible “for the fate of the German people.” At the time of death of President von Hindenburg, Hitler declared himself head of the state and commander and chief of Germany’s armed forces. Each and every soldier in the army had to make an oath of “unconditional obedience” and “as a brave soldier, to stake his life at any time for that oath.” The SS group loved to exercise their unrestricted power to arrest and punish anyone.
The main law of Germany was “the will of the leader has the force of the law.” Hitler’s efforts and the support of his followers had created a new empire known as the Third Reich (Brower 112). The Nazi Party felt that there was no place for Jews