Adolf Hitler Case

Adolf Hitler was a dictator, who desired to free Germany from the Jews. To many Hitler was a genius, who had an evil, but accurately written plan of creating a world of blond haired and blue- eyed people, others saw him as a tyrant with no morals or sense of humanity. His ideas and thoughts strongly favored one particular race- Aryan over others. Hitler was one of the most powerful and interesting figures of 20th century, he has left his legacy. While Nazi ideology is partly based on Hitler's ideas, many of its aspects such as Social Darwinism, racism and anti-Semitism date back to the 12th century.

To be able to investigate the roots of Nazi ideology, it is necessary to have a general idea about the different aspects of the credo. According to BBC National Socialists (Nazis) believed that it was necessary to expand country's territories, to have a single ruler with the complete power rather than democracy, or to control the present form of media during that time. Nazis also believed that all representatives of Aryan race were superior and Jews were 'subhuman', thus feeling the need that all Semites had to be destroyed ("Nazi beliefs", 1-2). Many of the aspects described above were the initiatives of Adolf Hitler, but the dictator's ideas were often influenced by different philosophers or groups of people.

"Racism (the discrimination of people that look different than others) is as old as human society itself (Selfa Lance). As long as human beings have been around, they have always hated or feared people of a different nation or skin color. In other words, racism can be qualified as the part of human nature. Most often the target group of racists are mainly the people who live in different parts of Africa and have a darker skin color than Europeans, Asians, Americans, or Australians. The hatred towards these people has developed during the Atlantic slave trade in 17th century. According to the online newspaper Socialist Worker "it (racism) emerged in its roughest form in the mouths of the plantation owners who wanted to justify their treatment of the slaves" ("The Beginning of Racism"). The article later argues that the planters were the ones who suggested that their slaves were not human beings, but a form of animals. The history is full of famous racists, for example a famous Enlightenment philosopher David Hume wrote: "I am apt to suspect the negroes and in general all the other species of men (for there are four or five different kinds) to be naturally inferior to the whites" ("The Beginning of Racism"). Adolf Hitler himself was a famous racist because he thought of non-German people as a threat to the empire he was trying to build. The stereotype adopted from 1600s of a white man being superior to others was the most important component of Nazi ideology and the Fṻhrer's (German: leader) beliefs. During his rule many black people have been sterilized to avoid their reproduction, but the most representatives of a non-German race present in the country were the Jews and that's why they have become the main target point for the leader's hatred.

Social Darwinism, another part of the Nazi ideology is simply the belief that all personal problems were inherited. Mike Dowling argues that "The proponents of social Darwinism believed that poverty and other social defects were the result of people's bad genes" ("Social Darwinism"). The theory of evolution of a famous English biologist Charles Darwin argued that the supreme race in the case of Germany Aryan race would slowly take over and defeat other weak races. The movement was very popular among intellectuals in 19th century, many hoped to improve the human genes and create a world free of poverty and illness while others dreamt of the abolishment of other races. The theory also known as Darwinism can be viewed as a turning point in the way of thinking of humans or as an evil and unjust statement towards the races that may seem weak to one. Surprisingly to many Adolf Hitler's theories and ideals were built on Social Darwinism, he may not have referred to it openly but his view on the world, exposes his inspiration and the source of motivation. "The Stronger has to rule and must not mate with the weaker" Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf "Only the born weakling can consider this cruel". (Mein Kampf, 48).

Racism and Social Darwinism easily link together, but there is a third constituent element in the system of the Nazi ideology. Anti-Semitism which is a clear branch of racism, can be seen as the most violent factor of the ideology. One of the most popular online dictionaries Merriam- Webster suggests that Anti-Semitism is "hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group" ("Anti-Semitism"). The roots