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“Why did Hitler hate Jews?” is a question that has long been asked by many, both laymen and historians.

why did Hitler hate Jews?

Looking at the horrible way Jews were treated during the Holocaust, Hitler’s hate for them must have been really extreme and apparently there were enough Germans supporting his notion that Jews needed to be eradicated. But what caused all of this?

Historians today still debate the reasons for the Nazi hate for Jews, as there are many factors that might have played a role.

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Why Did Hitler Hate Jews?: Here Are Some Factors That May Have Contributed-

  • Religious Conflict –  Conflicts between Christianity and Judaism have existed for years, which partly helped create an atmosphere of antisemitism in Europe.
  • Anti-semitism in Vienna – Hitler spent a part of his youth in Vienna, Austria, where antisemitism was very prevalent and highly advocated. He may have been influenced by some of the ideological ideas of that environment.
  • Jewish Economic Power – At the time when World War 1 broke out, a majority of financial institutions, banks, and large companies were controlled by Jewish people. Hitler blamed the loss of the war, the economic downfall of Germany, and the bad decisions of the Weimar Republic on Jewish capitalism.
  • Conspiracy theory – Hitler believed that the Jewish had some conspiracy to control the world and that they would stab Germans in the back whenever it would suit them.
  • Biological differences – Hitler and many Nazis believed in the superiority of the Aryan (German) race and that Jews were inferior to such an extent that they were almost non-human in his eyes. He felt that he would be doing the world a favor by wiping out the Jewish race.

But fundamentally, why did Hitler hate Jews? These factors only explain part of the answer to the question. For more information on this topic, we recommend listening to an interview with European History Richard Weikart, who discusses the religious beliefs of Adolph Hitler. A cursory look at Hitler’s value system goes a long way toward explaining why he thought it was in the best interest of the German people to murder millions of its own fellow citizens.

The answer to the question of why did Hitler hate Jews in many ways is quite complicated with no one size fits all answer.

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In many ways, Hitler did deal in many flavors of deception, perhaps chief among them, however, was self-deception. Why did Hitler hate the Jews? Another reason that branches off point #3 is that “During the First World War (1914-1918), Hitler was a soldier in the German army. At the end of the war he, and many other German soldiers like him, could not get over the defeat of the German Empire. The German army’s command spread the myth that the army had not lost the war on the battlefield, but because they had been betrayed. By a ‘stab in the back’, as it was called at the time. Hitler bought into the myth: Jews and communists had betrayed the country and brought a left-wing government to power that had wanted to throw in the towel.”

So, this could certainly serve as a more than decent answer to the question of why did Hitler hate the Jews.

This article is part of our larger selection of posts about Adolph Hitler. To learn more, click here for our comprehensive guide to the life of Adolf Hitler.

This post is part of our collection of resources on Nazi Germany. Click here for our comprehensive information resource on the society, ideology, and key events in Nazi Germany.


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"Why Did Hitler Hate Jews? We Have Some Answers" History on the Net
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March 27, 2024 <https://www.historyonthenet.com/why-did-hitler-hate-jews>
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