Holocaust

Political and Ideological Background

Nazi ideology rejected the values of egalitarianism and the Enlightenment, replacing them with a hierarchy based on “racial value.” The Nazis saw the world populated by various races with greater or lesser value. At the top was the “Nordic” or “Aryan” race (blond hair and blue eyes), embodied in the German people, which was alleged to have been the most creative and politically and militarily capable throughout history. Individual people also possessed higher or lower racial value measurable by their bodily features. Consequently, the Nazis sought to increase procreation of those of the “highest value.” A mix of the “races” through intermarriage was considered to be detrimental, leading to a nation's decadence and decline. [Page 637]The pronounced Nazi belief in the inequality among people led to the justification of suppressing “lower races” and forcing them into perpetual servitude. According to the Nazis, eternal struggle between races and peoples, resulting in a “survival of the fittest,” was a law of nature. Non-nation-state-based groups, such as Jews and so-called “Gypsies,” were considered to be particularly pernicious. Indeed, the Jewish people were seen as the antipode and eternal enemy of the Aryans. Heinrich Himmler, chief of Nazi Germany's police, the Nazi Party vanguard SS, and one of the major perpetrators of the Holocaust, described “world Jewry” as intrinsically opposed to a racial hierarchy and, thus, having inspired Christianity, Freemasonry, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, liberal capitalism, and Bolshevism—all based on some concept of equality among people.

Within the state, the Nazis said that individual rights had no importance; only the overall interest of the “people” was important. What this consisted of was decided by a nation's leader, Hitler in the case of Nazi Germany. Linked to the concept of an overarching common good was the notion of the “health” of a nation, which was considered to be endangered by people with hereditary diseases or with disabilities and “nonproductive elements” such as criminals, prostitutes, and people refusing to work. Politically, Nazi ideology was antidemocratic, authoritarian, and violently opposed to the political working-class movement. Industrialization was considered to be dangerous because of the attendant social problems; in its stead, a return to a romanticized agrarian life was proposed. Because Germany did not possess the amount of land needed for a return to agrarianism, Hitler proposed the conquest of land in Eastern Europe (the quest for Lebensraum), which implied an attack on neighboring countries.

Both the racist and political convictions of the Nazis were based on views discussed since the late 19th century in Europe and even outside of it. During the period between the two world wars, fascist movements and regimes sprang up all over Europe and a number of countries turned from democracies to authoritarian systems. Thus, the Nazis were part of a larger political trend within Europe. In Germany, resentment over the sanctions imposed by the Versailles Treaty at the end of World War I, along with mass unemployment and massive economic problems, increased the antagonism toward the democratic system of the interwar Weimar Republic that was already prevalent among right-wing circles. The right wing was pitted against a strong left-wing movement (socialist and communist), which led to increasing political violence and further instability. The Nazi political platform appealed to Germans by its promises of stability, strong rule by a strong leader, and economic recovery, whereas the extent of the appeal of anti-Semitism is debatable.

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