Hitler's Persecution of Jews: the Influence of Christianity

by Veronica Clark

 

This thesis is an historical case study analyzing the question, why did Hitler persecute Jews? Hitler’s persecution of Jews was heavily influenced by his hatred for their religious beliefs, as espoused in the Jewish Talmud and the Old Testament.

There are two opposing hypotheses that also attempt to answer this question. The first is that Hitler was an occultist and was subsequently influenced by the anti-Semitic teachings he received from the occult members of the Thule and Vril Societies and their publications. The second is that Hitler was a completely abnormal person and subsequently carried out his crazed views against Jewry.

I will begin by defining the terms “occultist,” “anti-Semitic teachings,” “occult members,” “publications,” “abnormal,” “crazed views,” “Jewry,” “persecution,” “Jews,” “hatred” and “Jewish religious beliefs.” The first seven terms are based on definitions proposed by other scholars or definitions I have deduced from the sources I’ve analyzed during my research. The list of conceptual definitions for all these terms is as follows:

Occultist: Pagan believers with special emphasis granted to Ariosophy, the occult wisdom concerning Aryans. According to these occultists, the Aryan was superior to all other races and Madame Blavatsky’s theory regarding the ‘Root Races’ was an especially important aspect of this belief system. They believed that the Aryan was the Race of Hope and Aryans were encouraged to avoid miscegenation with “lower beings.” They also believed that the swastika was “the very act of creation” based on a Norse legend. Another very important aspect of Ariosophy is that it denies the existence of God, and is staunchly anti-Christian.[1]

Anti-Semitic teachings: The staunch anti-Semitic beliefs advocated by Ariosophy, which defined the Jews as a race of people, and viewed them as “an alien enemy race.”[2]

Occult Members: The members who had relationships with Hitler, adhered to the beliefs and practices of Ariosophy, as defined above, and may have influenced him in their beliefs. The member who had a known significant impact upon Hitler, as per documentation, was Dietrich Eckart.[3]

Publications: The books Hitler had read during his youth[4] were mostly related to Germanic legend and mythology. The only occult publication Hitler devoured on a regular basis was Ostara. This magazine contained occult teachings and beliefs and was published by Liebenfels.[5]

Abnormal: Hitler’s whole ‘world’ was based on his own delusional, “unnatural,” irrational beliefs.[6]

Crazed views: Hitler’s delusional beliefs that miscegenation was true original sin, that the Jewish race was bent on world domination, and that all non-Aryan races were inferior to the ‘master Aryan race.’[7]

Jewry: The Jewish ‘race’.[8]

Persecution: The forced removal of the Jewish ‘race’ from Third Reich territories.[9]

The terms contained in my hypothesis are based solely on Hitler’s interpretations, not necessarily what the terms might literally mean, or even mean today.

The Nuremberg Laws, which were inspired by Jewish racial laws in the Torah [Old Testament] according to Nazi Julius Streicher,[i] defined Jews as any person in the German Reich who practiced the Jewish religion, or any person who was approximately 50% or more ‘racially’ Jewish.[10]

According to Hitler, he had not always hated Jews.[ii] He said, “Gradually I began to hate them.”[11] It is possible as some hypotheses claim that his anti-Semitism stemmed from, or was enhanced by, the occult beliefs of the Thule Society. After researching quite heavily into this hypothesis and reading Hitler’s own words from five different primary documents, including Hitler’s own notes regarding anti-Semitism, I have found that his anti-Semitism most likely stemmed from the teachings of the Bible and how he interpreted those teachings. Subsequently, I am defining his “hatred” as his “dislike for” and “opposition to.”

Hitler believed that Judaism advocated four ideas he found perturbing 1) hatred for Jesus 2) domination of nature 3) materialism and 4) Bolshevism.[iii] All four of these ideas can be found in either the Talmud or the Bible, with the exception of Bolshevism. Even so, Hitler associated Christianity, as it was practiced by Catholics and alleged Christians—which he felt was in reality a gross distortion of what Christ’s teachings truly represented—with Bolshevism.[12]

Hitler had read or studied both the Old Testament and portions of the Talmud and appears to have based his perception of Jewish religious beliefs on what these two doctrines advocated—as well as his own observations of and experiences with— Bolshevism.[13] Hitler believed that these teachings were the teachings that Jewry subscribed to.

I should note here that when Hitler describes the religious beliefs of Jewry, he means the predominant beliefs advocated by Judaism. Hitler understood that Jewish law was inseparable from the Jewish religion, much like Islamic law and religion are one in the same. He perceived that there were not the two realms of secular and religious within Jewish society.

Many scholars argue that Hitler adhered to occultism.[iv] First-hand primary evidence does not support this claim.

Hitler told Martin Bormann, “It seems to me that nothing would be more foolish than to re-establish the worship of Wotan. Our old mythology had ceased to be viable when Christianity implanted itself.”[14] Hitler never made any statement that can confirm his non-belief in God, yet hundreds of statements exist confirming his belief in God.[v] What his interpretation of God was is clear. He called God “Lord,” “God,” “Destiny,” and “Providence.” Hitler’s interpretation of Christianity is unusual and can only be fully understood from the perspective of an open mind.

Hitler had studied both the Talmud and the Bible, which Hitler himself, Wagener,[vi] and Degrelle have confirmed for us. Thus, I can say with a high degree of certainty that Hitler’s “Aryanization” of Christ came directly from ‘holy’ passages of the Talmud and the Bible; that it was not something his ‘crazy’ mind contrived from a baseless—or occultic—foundation. Other scholars, such as Bryan Rigg, have presented problematic, non-testable explanations for Hitler’s “Aryan Christ” and “de-Jewified Bible.”

It is true that at some point Hitler was a member of the Vril Society—though never a member of the Thule Society—but it appears that he joined it solely for patronage.[15] He thought that their teachings were ridiculous and he disbanded nearly all of the secret societies and made them illegal once he came into power.[16] What is also clear is that Martin Bormann, a staunch anti-Catholic, was the culprit behind Church persecution.[17]

Even though Hitler had absolute power, he refused to launch a crusade against the Churches.[18] His sole aim was to unify all the warring Christian factions into a single Reich Church, which would probably have been Catholic, as opposed to Protestant.[19] When Hitler discovered that Bormann had closed down the convent of Eva Braun’s aunt he commented to Schaub afterward “he’s a bit pig headed,”[20] and he saw to it that no war was waged against the churches.

I have found that of all the evidence I have researched regarding Hitler’s beliefs, he undoubtedly belongs in a religious category.[vii] He was extremely committed to what he deemed his ‘calling,’ the path set before him by Providence, which was essentially to carry on the work of Jesus Christ, and Dr. Luther, against the Jews.[21] He believed that Christ was the greatest anti-Semite of all time and he venerated Christ as a socialist revolutionary.[22] Hitler’s thoughts about Christ’s life and His teachings are much like those of the late American President, Thomas Jefferson.[23]

Hitler had once stated “that what Christ had started, he would finish.”[24] Hitler’s hatred for Jews more than likely began with his Catholic education advocating that Jews were responsible for the murder of Jesus, which the Jews claim in the Talmud. He called the Bible “that Jewish artifact”[25] and the Old Testament the “arsenal of the Antichrist,”[26] regretting that it had ever been translated into German.[27] He had this to say about the materialistic teachings in the Talmud:

“And a religion in the Aryan sense cannot be imagined which lacks the conviction of survival after death in some form. Indeed, the Talmud is not a book to prepare a man for the hereafter, but only for a practical and profitable life in this world.”[28]

Here is a Talmudic excerpt, among many, which substantiates Hitler’s perception that Judaism advocated materialism:

“Since the Goim [Gentiles] minister to Jews like beasts of burden, belong to a Jew together with his life and all his faculties: The life of a Goi and all his physical powers belong to a Jew… It is an axiom of the Rabbis that a Jew may take anything that belongs to Christians for any reason whatsoever, even by fraud; nor can such be called robbery since it is merely taking what belongs to him… All things pertaining to the Goim are like a desert; the first person to come along and take them can claim them for his own… It is permitted, according to the Torah, to lend money to an Akum [Christian] with usury. Some of the Elders, however, deny this except in a case of life and death. Nowadays it is permitted for any reason.”[29]

Non-Jews are identified in the Talmud as murderers, fornicators, unclean, dung, “not like men, but beasts,” “children of the Devil,” “bound for hell,” evil, “worse than animals,” and “slaves of Israel.”[30] Upon his study of the Bible and Talmud—both of which contain virulent terminology regarding non-Jews and Christ—Hitler would have come into contact with this virulent terminology regarding non-Jews. This may explain the roots of Hitler’s virulent terminology describing Jews as “sick,” “usurers,” “vermin,” “evil,” “Satanic,” “liars,” “antichrists,” and “Godless Bolsheviks.” Notice how many of these terms are ‘religious’ in nature, and also how a few of them are quite comparable to the virulent terms used in the Talmud and the Torah describing non-Jews and Christians.[viii]

Hitler’s private conversations and handwritten notes indicate that he believed he was doing the highest thing [for Germany] by creating a German-led, united European bulwark against Communism, and forcibly relocating Jews—the propagators of that ideology[31]—from the Reich.[32] He perceived Communism to be a proponent of nihilism and an ‘atheistic Jewish threat.’[33]

In a conversation with Eckart, Hitler argued that the Jews had perverted Christianity,[34] and during a conversation with Bormann, Hitler acknowledged that even the Lord fought the Jews:

For the Galilean’s object [Jesus’s doctrine] was to liberate his country from Jewish oppression. He set Himself against Jewish capitalism, and that’s why the Jews liquidated Him.

Hitler made another statement to Bormann that suggests that the persecution of Christ was very likely one reason for his hatred for Jews; that the Jews had instigated Bolshevism—though he calls it “proto-Bolshevism”:

Originally, Christianity was merely an incarnation of Bolshevism the destroyer. Nevertheless, the Galilean, who later was called Christ, intended something quite different. He must be regarded as a popular leader who took up his position against Jewry. Galilee was a colony where the Romans had probably installed Gaelic legionaries, and it’s certain that Jesus was not a Jew. Christ was an Aryan, and St. Paul used his doctrine to mobilize the criminal underworld and thus organize a proto-Bolshevism.[35]

Furthermore, he told Bormann, “The Jews, by the way, regarded him [Jesus] as the son of a whore—of a whore and a Roman soldier.”[36] Here is the excerpt from the Talmud, which Hitler was more than likely referring to in this conversation with Bormann:

For this son of Stada was the son of Pandira. For Rabbi Chasda tells us that Pandira [also Pantera] was the husband of Stada, his mother, and he who, as it is said in Pumbadita, deserted her husband. But his mother was Stada, Mary of Magdala.[37] [38]

Hitler knew that the Jews regarded Jesus as “the son of a whore” and “the son of a Roman soldier.” Hitler called Jesus a “Gaelic legionnaire” because the Talmud claims that He is half Roman. The Romans are ‘Teutons’ according to the Catholic Holy Bible,[39] which Hitler grew up studying, therefore, he could consolidate the information in the Talmud with that in the Bible to ‘Aryanize’ Christ.

Also, Hitler certainly revered Christ and Christianity, or he would not have talked for many, many hours on the subject. Even his secretaries commented on how much he talked about the Christian religion.[40]

Hitler had once said, “There cannot be two chosen people. We are the people of God. Does that not explain it all?”[41] This quote implies that Hitler regarded the Jews as the antithesis of the Aryan race.[42] Perhaps he believed that Aryan superiority could come to the fore only after its antithesis was removed. He admired the Jews for their amazing will and incredible self-determination under the worst of conditions and catastrophes.[43] It is almost as though he may have admired them, as opposed to hated, and wanted the Aryan to take their place. He wanted Germany to rule side-by-side with Britannia,[44] and evidence suggests that he believed wholeheartedly that Jewry stood in the way being bent on world domination:

…the rulers of present-day Russia are…the scum of humanity which, favored by circumstances, slaughtered and wiped out thousands of her leading intelligentsia in wild blood lust…carrying on the most cruel and tyrannical regime of all time…In Russian Bolshevism we must see the attempt undertaken by the Jews in the twentieth century to achieve world domination.[45]

Hitler appears to have subscribed to the belief that the Jews serve no other god than money, and he supports this notion by giving Wagener the usual diatribe on the worldwide influence of Jewish usury, stockholding, banking, and media control.

If Hitler was sincere about these beliefs and comments, then they explain, at least in part, why Hitler associated Communism—which he believed was atheistic—and capitalism—which he felt was individualistic and profit-driven in nature—with Jewry.[46] He suggests that the Aryan reject the “smug individualism of the past” and “look to Nature” and “interpret Christ’s words anew.”[47]

Hitler felt that traditional Judeo-Christian doctrine was “an invention of sick brains.”[48] Hitler venerated nature and loved animals; thus he had qualms with the “Jewish” idea— advocated in Genesis—that man’s role was “conqueror of nature.”[49] The principle of ‘domination of the natural world’ was one of the few aspects of Christianity Hitler denounced. This belief goes against the Biblical verse that man has to “be fruitful and multiply” and “dominate nature.” Hitler advocated a dogma calling for “positive Christianity,” as evidenced in the Nazi Twenty Five Points.[50]

Hitler desired to “reform” Christianity, just as Luther had done, which would incorporate his ideas—regarding the Aryan, “Nature,” socialism, reason, and self-preservation—with those of Christian ideology. He called Jesus “the first socialist” and venerated him for making socialism a “divine” form of governance. It would not be far-fetched to conclude that he was also “inspired” by Luther, especially his views regarding Jewry;[51] thus Hitler advocated “reformation” by “unification” of the fractious churches in Germany to continue in Luther’s footsteps.[52] Hitler established the Institute for the Research and Elimination of Jewish Influences on Christian Living in Eisenach, which essentially “de-Jewified” the Bible.[53] Hitler admired Martin Luther, but condemned him for being far too soft on the Jews.[54] He claimed that the “clever Jew had duped Luther” and secretly utilized the Catholic Church and the Christian religion to propel his “proto-Bolshevism”:

[Martin Luther’s] predilection of many years toward the Jews is a bit misleading…Oh, had he only seen them there…Then he would not have attacked Catholicism…Instead of glorifying the Old Testament, he would have branded it as the arsenal of the Antichrist…[55]

The Old Testament was virtually the only part of the Bible Hitler condemned. He attacked it because it was a Jewish doctrine. Hitler never condemned the teachings of Christ, however he usually dismissed the pacifism[ix] Jesus preached. Though, he probably did so because Jesus did not always practice pacifism.[56]

My feelings as a Christian point me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter…to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized the Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God’s truth! Was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. How terrific was his fight for the world against the Jewish poison…As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have a duty to be a fighter for truth and justice…For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people.[57]

Hitler claimed that Jews were covertly involved with the “November criminals” and “Bolsheviks” in an early speech. Hitler went on by claiming that Germans needed to seek vengeance “in Holy hatred against those who have ruined us [emphasis added].”[58]

Hitler’s main ‘theories’ regarding Jews most likely stemmed from the Bible, not the occult. The majority of the evidence supports the argument that Hitler’s “hatred for Jewish religious beliefs” was based on the teachings in the Bible.

The very first item listed under the introduction to Hitler’s notes reads, “The Bible – Monumental History of Mankind.” Hitler notes that there are “two human types” in this world, “Builders and destroyers-----Children of God and Men.” This most likely refers to the tribes of Shem, one of which was the tribe of Judah, and Japheth. He goes on, “First people’s history (based on) the race law.” This refers to Israel, the first people, and how their history valued marriage laws, as per the Torah and Talmud. Obviously, this aspect of the Torah stood out to him. He goes on, “Arrogance ‘Man is Lord of Nature.’” This refers to the biblical passage regarding man’s domination of nature. He finishes with, “Racial purity the highest law. Miscegenation with inferior types means lowering the level of the whole [last word illegible].” He probably got this from the Bible,[59] yet it is remotely possible that he adopted it from Ariosophy.[60]

Genesis claims that the Jews are the descendants of Shem, and Hitler believed this teaching.[61] He seemed to have also accepted the teaching that Germans were descendants of Japheth.[x] The Catholic Bible refers to the descendants of Japheth as the “Teutons.” This would certainly explain where Hitler acquired his belief that the “Teuton conqueror” was the competitor of the “Jew.”[62] I believe Hitler thought these two Biblical ‘races’ had to compete to be worthy of the title of the ‘chosen’ race. This idea again comes to the fore when he claims that the Jew is the only enemy of deutschvölkisch (ethnic German nationalism).[63] Hitler’s version of the German Volk took on a religiosity of which the ethnic Jew could never be a part. Hitler would not allow most Jews to remain in the Reich because he felt that they would always revert back to their ingrained “religious beliefs” of “usury,” “Bolshevism,” “materialism” and the like, which he felt were alien to the Aryan concept of Volk.

Were these ideas the crazy ideas of a man trapped in a delusional world of abnormality?[xi] Upon researching Hitler’s ‘person’ quite extensively, I must say that the evidence portrays him as strikingly rational, spiritual, intelligent, kind, generous, honest, and clear-thinking. However, even Hitler admitted his inclination to abnormality.[xii]

The evidence does not portray him as irrational, crazy, unduly cruel, un-Christian, atheistic, occultic, or unnatural. Hitler never appears to be delusional or insane, but I cannot completely rule out his lack of sanity near the end of his dictatorship, because he may have been under the influence of methamphetamines. These were an acceptable treatment during his time for Parkinson’s-related symptoms.

The question of Hitler’s ‘motives’ really boils down to why he may have ordered—as this is still unresolved—the ‘Endlösung’.[xiii] This requires an analysis of Hitler’s ‘Christianness.’

If Hitler did indeed order the mass extermination of the Jewish race, then there are three ways of looking at this decision.

From a Christian perspective, if Hitler truly believed that the Jewish people were “the children of the Devil,”—as Jesus described them to be—and he really felt that he was doing “the work of the Lord,” he would have to be considered justified in his actions.

If, however, he did not really believe that Christ was “the greatest anti-Semite of all time,” and simply paid lip service to his people and the religious authorities— “faked” his Christian beliefs—then he would have to be considered unjustified in his actions.

Lastly, if Hitler and his decision­—to liquidate nearly all of Europe’s Jews—are to remain with the stigma of “evil” in non-Jewish society, then non-Jews—especially Christians­—really must question the validity and motives of the Christian religion.

They must question it if non-Jewish—better defined as “Western”—societies are going to continue to allow Jews to live within their borders; because the Jewish ethos is in complete contrast to the Christian ethos. The Jewish ethos perceives the non-Jewish world as a world of fools ripe for—and deserving of—enslavement, which is mentioned over and again in various sections of the Talmud,[64] as well as the Torah. Would Christ condone this treatment of his followers by those he named “Vipers” and “Children of the Devil?”[65]

Moreover, Luther vehemently denounced any and all cooperation and coexistence of Jews and Christians. He said, “Jews are young devils condemned to hell (E.32 p.276).”[66] Furthermore, he encouraged Christians to “deal with them [Jews] harshly,” because they commit all kinds of evils against Christ and His followers.[67] Indeed, Luther goes so far as to say:

Maybe mild-hearted and gentle Christians will believe I am too rigorous and drastic against the poor, afflicted Jews, believing that I ridicule them and treat them with much sarcasm. By my word, I am far too weak to be able to ridicule such a satanic breed. I would fain do so, but they are far greater adepts at mockery than I and possess a God who is a master in this art; it is the Evil One [Satan] himself (E.32 p.286).

Are Christians—as well as non-Jews—to believe that Luther was also “evil,” because he spoke of Jews in this way and advocated such atrocities as hanging Jews from gallows ten feet higher than any others?[68] Are we to condemn Luther—or better yet, Jesus Christ Himself[69]—for advocating anti-Semitism and violence against Jews?

Christ and Luther both openly advocated the killing of Jews. So, why is Hitler considered ‘evil’ by Christians—because he advocated or possibly ordered the mass killing of Jews—while Luther and Christ are not?

The Jewish people are certainly justified in their opposition to Luther, Christ and Hitler. However, the Christian opposition to Hitler’s measures is a blatant display of bigotry, since Christians apparently judge Hitler by different measures than Luther or Christ. I should probably also mention the unparalleled brutalities wielded against the AmerIndians by the Catholic Christians in the name of Christ. Are the Catholics, who killed for so many years, to be deemed ‘evil’ as well? In that case, the Jews are also ‘evil’, because they—at one time—committed religiously motivated genocide against various groups in Biblical times. One need only read the numerous accounts of mass murder in the Old Testament for verification.

The issue at hand here really is whether or not a Christian has Christ’s ‘permission’ to persecute Jews. After all, it was Christ, not Hitler, who said, “Bring the Jews before me and slay them.” Moreover, Jesus is the moral exemplar here, not Hitler, and if Jesus’ doctrine can be misconstrued, well then, what good is it?

God is supposed to be perfect, all-powerful, and omnipotent; so why is not His doctrine clear enough for Christians to ‘accurately’ understand and hence, follow? Even more confusing is the statement Jesus makes calling the Jews “the children of the Devil.” Was Hitler agreeing with Christ’s teachings when he said, “it [the Old Testament] should have been branded as the arsenal of the Antichrist?” What is a Christian supposed to make of the aforementioned statement uttered by Christ, if not to oppose the Jews?

If Jesus claims that Jews are the “devil’s people,” logistically, they would have to be the people ushering in the system of the Antichrist, as pointed up in the Book of Revelation. Who else is Christ’s enemy but Satan himself?

It is my hope that this brief analysis will help people to better understand that the only real requirements for being a good Christian—as per the New Testament—are to love your brethren and do goodly unto him, and do everything in Christ’s name. One need only study Hitler’s incredible social revolution for proof of his many good deeds. The only other requirement is to do everything in the name of Christ. Hitler claims and appears to have done this all too willingly.[70]

As far as “loving one’s neighbor,” well, even Christ admitted to disliking the Jews and forcefully drove them from the Temple with a bullwhip. This is clearly not an example, by the exemplar Himself, of “turning the other cheek.” How could any Christian be expected to follow Christ’s exact teachings when He did not even follow them Himself?

With all this in mind, it is very possible that if Hitler ordered the liquidation of nearly all of Europe’s Jews—exempting of course the Mischlinge in his service, which he personally exempted from liquidation—then it was ‘rightly so’ the “Christian” thing to do.

Perhaps this explains why the Catholic Church exonerated itself from the situation and why so many Germans, Christians, Poles, and various other predominantly “Christian” groups and individuals willingly participated in, or largely ignored the liquidation process. Among those who ignored it: the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and numerous eastern European countries, such as Poland. None of these countries tried to stop—or for that matter even thwart—the liquidation of Europe’s Jews. A good question to ask oneself right now is this: Were the Christians abroad as ‘evil’ as Hitler for not stopping the liquidation of Europe’s Jews?

Christianity was not the only ideology that caused Hitler’s negative attitude toward—and subsequent persecution of—Jews. However, it is almost certain that Hitler did not base his persecution of Jews solely upon the ‘racist’ philosophies of various occultists like the Ariosophes, or those of ‘racist’ philosophes like Gobineau.[xiv] Moreover, he certainly did not carry on his relentless persecution of Jewry merely for political expediency.

If Hitler had chosen the Jews merely as a scapegoat for Germany’s problems, then why did he continue—possibly diverting precious resources and human capital that might have better served the war effort—to persecute Jews by forcibly deporting and interning them in the east? After all, his measures against Jews—according to numerous sources—lessened support for him overall among many groups, not excluding wealthy Jews who may have offered or continued to finance him.

In fact, Hitler’s harsh anti-Jewish measures may have prompted “international Judea” to declare war on Germany, thus severely lessening his ultimate chances of victory, especially with regard to his eastern campaign.

The genuine belief that Hitler seems to have held—that he was doing his Christian duty by carrying on the persecution of Jewry, in spite of adversity—serves to explain his persecution much more solidly than the scapegoat or racial hypotheses. As aforementioned, Hitler talked about Jewish religious values and theories far more than he conversed about racial ones. Moreover, he seems to have believed that he was doing a holy Christian deed that Luther, and even Christ, would approve of, by persecuting Jews.

Evidence overwhelmingly suggests that Hitler viewed the Jewish religion as a sort of ‘cloak’ for their “evil,” anti-Christian,” anti-Western,” and “godless” motivations as a ‘race’ or ‘ethnic-religious group’. The evidence has also shown that Hitler did not view non-Germans as racially ‘inferior’—in the way that many modern scholars portray him to have done,—which exonerates him from the “occultist,” as well as the “racist,” stigma.[xv]

In closing, I would like to further solidify my conclusions by mentioning a few important concepts and observations I have been exposed to during my extensive research on this topic.

If God is so “colossally ham-handed”[71] in that He cannot even commit His intentions to be ‘correctly’ interpreted in His own Bible, then suffice it to say that He is not as all-powerful and omnipotent as He claims in the Bible, is He?
If one wishes to condemn Hitler’s Christianity on the grounds that he ‘misconstrued’ Christian teachings and bent them to his own ‘evil’ will, then people have been ‘misinterpreting’ the Bible since its inception; thus Hitler's ‘conception’ of Christianity and Jesus Christ is no more incorrect than Calvin's or Luther's. Moreover, Luther's ‘conception’ of Christianity played a crucial role in the Thirty Years' War, which subsequently led to the deaths of millions of Europeans and the dissolution of Christianity into warring factions—the opposite of what Luther had intended.
Are we to believe that Luther was also ‘evil’ because he misconstrued the ‘true’ teachings—which are clearly debatable—of Christ?

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29. Walker, Jim. “Hitler’s Christianity.” www.nobeliefs.com. http://www.nobeliefs.com/Hitler1.htm.

30. Weber, Mark. “The Jewish Role in the Bolshevik Revolution and the Early Soviet Regime.” Institute for Historical Review. Journal of Historical Review 14, no. 1 (1994): 4. http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v14/v14n1p-4_Weber.html.

31. Wiener, Peter. “Martin Luther: Hitler’s Spiritual Ancestor.” www.tentmaker.org. http://www.tentmaker.org/books/MartinLuther-HitlersSpiritualAncestor.html#hitler

32. Wikipedia. “Nazi Mysticism.” www.answers.com. http://www.answers.com/topic/nazi-mysticism.

End Notes

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[1] Wikipedia, “Nazi Mysticism,” http://www.answers.com/topic/nazi-mysticism.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid. See also: Adolf Hitler, Hitler’s Second Book: The Unpublished Sequel to Mein Kampf, trans. by Krista Smith, edit. by Gerhard Weinberg, (New York: Enigma Books, 2003), 204, 291. Note: Hitler dedicated Mein Kampf to Dietrich Eckart.

[4] August Kubizek, The Young Hitler I Knew, trans. By E.V. Anderson, (New York: Tower Publications, Inc., 1954), 161-169.

[5] Wes Penre, “Hitler and the Secret Societies,” Illuminati News, http://www.illuminati-news.com.

[6] Ron Rosenbaum, Explaining Hitler, (New York: Random House, Inc., 1999), 99-117.

[7]Adolf Hitler, Hitler’s Letters and Notes, transl. by Arnold Pomerans, commentary by Werner Maser, (New York: Harper and Row, 1974), 275-76, 362-65.

[8] Bryan Rigg, Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers, (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2002), 14-18.

[9] Martin Bormann, Hitler’s Table Talk 1941 – 1944: His Private Conversations, trans. by Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens, edit. by Hugh Trevor-Roper, (New York: Enigma Books, 2000), 235, 260.

[10] Ibid, 15.

[11] Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, translated by Ralph Manheim, (Boston: First Mariner Books, 1999), 63.

[12] Hitler, Letters and Notes, 282. See also: Dietrich Eckart, “Bolshevism from Moses to Lenin: A Dialogue between Adolf Hitler and Me,” Chapter VI, translated by William L. Pierce, Historical Review Press, http://www.ety.com/HRP/booksonline/mosestolenin/moses6.htm.

[13] Eckart, “Bolshevism from Moses to Lenin,” Chapter VI, http://www.ety.com/HRP/booksonline/mosestolenin/moses6.htm. See also: Mein Kampf, “the international Jew who completely dominates Russia today,” (p. 661) and Hitler’s Second Book: The Unpublished Sequel to Mein Kampf, “The victims of this Jewish fight for dominance in Russia totaled twenty-eight to thirty million dead among the Russian people” (p. 232). Hitler’s figure is considered quite accurate, possibly even an underestimate, by many scholars. See: Daniel Michaels, “Examining Stalin’s 1941 Plan to Attack Germany,” Journal of Historical Review, http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v19/v19n6p40_Michaels.html. See also: Mark Weber, “The Jewish Role in the Bolshevik Revolution and the Early Soviet Regime,” Journal of Historical Review, http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v14/v14n1p-4_Weber.html.

[14] Bormann, Hitler’s Table Talk, 61.

[15] “Nazi Mysticism,” http://www.answers.com/topic/nazi-mysticism.

[16] Ibid.

[17] David Irving, personal interview, April 17, 2005.

[18] David Irving, Hitler’s War, (London: Focal Point Publications, 2002), 181.

[19] D. Cajus Fabricius, Positive Christianity in the Third Reich, trans. from 1937 original edition by D. Cajus Fabricius, (USA: Preuss, 2003).

[20] Ibid., 184.

[21] See Hitler’s Table Talk, 79, 135-145, Memoirs of a Confidant, 57-65, and Hitler’s Letters and Notes, 282-83. Hitler goes into great detail with Wagener on this issue and says, “And the struggle which the world and those churches that falsely designate themselves Christian wage against National Socialism – against us, who want only the fulfillment of Christ’s lifework – is nothing more than the continuation of the crime of the Inquisition and the burning of witches, by which the Jewish-Roman world exterminated whatever offered resistance to that shameful parasitism” (p. 65).

[22] Otto Wagener, Hitler – Memoirs of a Confidant, trans. by Ruth Hein, edit. by Henry Ashby Turner, Jr., (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978), 140.

[23] Thomas Jefferson. The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, (Costa Mesa: Noontide Press, 1989).

[24] Rigg, Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers, 185.

[25] Irving, Hitler’s War, 182.

[26] Eckart, “Bolshevism from Moses to Lenin,” Ch. VI.

[27] Irving, Hitler’s War, 182.

[28] Hitler, Mein Kampf, 306.

[29] Rev. I.B. Pranaitis, “The Talmud Unmasked: The Secret Rabbinical Teachings Concerning Christians,” biblebelievers.org, http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/talmud1.htm.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Bormann, Table Talk, 79.

[32] Hitler, Mein Kampf, 382.

[33] Hitler, The Unpublished Sequel to Mein Kampf, 149. See also: Hitler, Mein Kampf, 379, 662

[34] Eckart, “Bolshevism from Moses to Lenin,” Ch. VI, http://www.ety.com/HRP/booksonline/mosestolenin/moses6.htm.

[35] Bormann, Table Talk, 76

[36] Ibid.

[37] Pranaitis, “The Talmud Unmasked.”

[38] Translator’s note: The meaning of this is that Mary was called Stada, that is, prostitute, because, according to what was taught at Pumbadita, she left her husband and committed adultery. This is also recorded in the Jerusalem Talmud and by Maimonides. Author’s note: Pandira, the Roman soldier, was Jesus’ father. In some translations of the Talmud he is referred to as Pantera.

[39] Holy Bible, Holy Trinity Edition, 1951.

[40] Irving, Hitler’s War, 182-184.

[41] Rigg, Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers, 15.

[42] Hitler, Letters and Notes, 279, 283.

[43] Ibid. Also mentioned in Mein Kampf on pp. 300-301.

[44] Hitler, The Unpublished Sequel to Mein Kampf, 8.

[45] Hitler, Mein Kampf, 660-661. Note: Here he is referring to the Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion referenced on pp. 307 and 308.

[46] Wagener, Memoirs, 185-192.

[47] Ibid., 139-140.

[48] Bormann, Table Talk, 142-144.

[49] Hitler, Mein Kampf, 287. See also: Hitler, Letters and Notes, 279-80.

[50] Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs by Albert Speer (New York: Galahad Books, 1970), 95.

[51] See: “Martin Luther: On The Jews and their Lies, Excerpts (1543),” Medieval Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/luther-jews.html

[52] Peter Wiener, “Martin Luther: Hitler’s Spiritual Ancestor,” www.tentmaker.org, http://www.tentmaker.org/books/MartinLuther-HitlersSpiritualAncestor.html#hitler

[53] Rigg, Jewish Soldiers, 185.

[54] Eckart, “Bolshevism from Moses to Lenin,” Ch. VI,

[55] Ibid.

[56] Apocalypse 2:18, Matt. 12:25-30, 15:10-14, 21:12-13, and Luke 19:45-48 (Holy Trinity Edition of the Catholic Bible, 1951). See also: Rev. 2:12-17, Luke 21:6-24, and Mark 13:7-8 (New International Version).

[57] Baynes, Speeches, 19-20. See also: Pranaitus, “The Talmud Unmasked.” The Talmud teaches that Jesus was illegitimate and was conceived during menstruation; that he had the soul of Esau; that he was a fool, a conjurer, a seducer; that he was crucified, buried in hell and set up as an idol ever since by his followers. Jesus condemns the Jews (Holy Trinity Edition of the Catholic Bible, 1951, John 2: 13-25) and calls them “the children of the devil” (John 8: 42-47).

[58] Adolf Hitler, “Munich Speech of September 18, 1922,” Hitler Historical Museum, http://www.hitler.org/speeches/09-18-22.html. Note: This speech might be fraudulent as per Mark Weber, personal interview, April 29, 2005.

[59] Gen. 9.18-28, 10.1-32 (Holy Trinity Edition of the Catholic Bible, 1951). Ezra 9.1-15, 10.1-44 (New International Version).

[60] “Nazi Mysticism,” http://www.answers.com/topic/nazi-mysticism.

[61] Wagener, Memoirs, 205-07.

[62] Hitler, Mein Kampf, 295, 324.

[63] Hitler, Unpublished Sequel to Mein Kampf, 234.

[64] Pranaitis, “The Talmud Unmasked.”

[65] Luther, Martin. The Jews and their Lies. York: Liberty Bell Publications, 2004.

[66] Ibid., 58.

[67] Ibid., 60-61.

[68] Walker, Jim. “Hitler’s Christianity.” www.nobeliefs.com. http://www.nobeliefs.com/Hitler1.htm. See also: “Martin Luther: On The Jews and their Lies, Excerpts (1543),” Medieval Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/luther-jews.html.

[69] And he said, “But as for these my enemies [Jews], who did not want me to be king over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence” (Luke 19:27). Christ also said, “If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews” (John 18:36 [NRSV]).

[70] Walker, Jim. “Hitler’s Christianity.”

[71] This quotation was taken directly from David Irving’s Hitler’s War. The author felt that this was a pertinent description for the argument being made.

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[i] Julius Streicher was the author of the Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer and a key support figure for Hitler. Streicher declared while on trial, “…I have repeatedly emphasized the fact that the Jews should serve as an example to every race, for they created the racial law for themselves—the law of Moses, which says, ‘If you come into a foreign land you shall not take unto yourself any foreign women.’ And that, Gentlemen, is of tremendous importance in judging the Nuremberg Laws. These laws of the Jews were taken as a model for these laws” (Julius Streicher, Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, 1945, Vol. 12). It must be noted here that Hitler condemned his subordinates for misinterpreting his ideas regarding race when Wagener brought up this subject during a conversation with him. See: Wagener, Memoirs, pp. 204-08. Hitler says, “The way these racial theories are usually understood, interpreted, and applied, they are actually quite wrong. To start with, quite primitive theories of biological reproduction and heredity are carelessly mixed up with racial theories and put through the grinder of this desire to get to the bottom of everything. Then this completely undigested porridge, disguised as scientific findings, is preached or even committed to paper, so that anyone can pick out whatever suits him. Small wonder, then, that truly cunning people go to great lengths to pick out the nonsense in order to reduce the whole racial rubbish to absurdity” (p. 204).

[ii] In the Wagener memoirs, Hitler converses with Wagener about the history of the tribe of Judah. He discusses their amazing solidarity as a ‘people’ and their triumphal ‘will’ throughout history. See: Memoirs, pp. 206-07. See also: Mein Kampf, pp. 300-01. He expresses admiration for Jews when he discusses their solidarity, self-preservation, and amazing will under the worst of conditions. The issue of whether or not Hitler truly “hated” Jews must be further examined. Army Adjutant Gerhard Engel wrote, on 13 August 1938, that Hitler felt empathy for many Jewish soldiers and said, “Regardless of what people nowadays say, there were brave Jewish soldiers, even Jewish officers during the Great War. With such individuals, one can make an exception, because the children cannot help it who their parents were” (Bryan Rigg, Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers, p. 189). The number of “racially” Jewish soldiers and officers in the Wehrmacht numbered at minimum 150,000 (Introduction, I). Hitler personally granted clemency to thousands of Jews. State Secretary Hans Lammers, a very reliable primary source, claimed upon war’s end that Mischlinge exemptions ran into the thousands, meaning Hitler exempted far more Jews than ever previously believed (p. 193). In fact, Hitler was rather humorous about this fact and at one point exclaimed, “they [Party members] seem to know more respectable Jews than the total number of Jews in Germany. That is scandalous” (p. 182)! Hitler’s hatred, and the actual implementation of racial laws against Jews, must also be called into question if we examine this passage from Wagener’s memoirs, “In the same way, the concept of keeping the race pure can never be transferred from the Jewish example to, for example, the Aryan. And what was right and possible there may and can be completely incorrect as well as impossible here” (Wagener, Memoirs, p. 208). It’s possible that Hitler was lying to Wagener, that Wagener is lying to his readers, that Hitler became hostile towards Jews as time progressed, or that Hitler was not aware of the extent to which the laws he was passing were being carried out against Jewry. In 1946 Ribbentrop had said, “the Führer was not at all uncompromising in those years and I thought he would go on in that direction” (Jewish Soldiers, p. 182). Field Marshall Milch, a Jew, stated in 1942, “The Führer has made similar exceptions in the arts all the way down to operetta level; he is all the more likely to make exceptions where really great projects or researchers are concerned” (Irving, Hitler’s War, xxvi). This may not be a completely honest statement however, because several Jewish scientists, including Einstein, were allegedly forced to flee Germany on Hitler’s orders (Adolf Hitler. Video. Documentary. 1987; United Entertainment, Inc., 2005). It’s also possible that Milch deliberately overlooked Hitler’s “evil,” as scholars like Bryan Rigg (Jewish Soldiers) claim, to secure his own safety and avoid personal persecution.

[iii] All of these issues are addressed extensively by Wagener and Bormann in their memoirs. Hitler talked for hours on end on the issue of religion, and two of his secretaries, Traudl Junge and Christa Schröder, have verified this (Junge, Until the Final Hour, p. 108 and Irving, Hitler’s War, p. 182-83). Hitler’s own notes establish these issues as ‘key issues’. Hitler writes, “Causes of the Decline/Bolshevism. Arrogance – ‘Man is Lord over Nature’/’He subdues Nature’ (Letters and Notes, pp. 279-80). “Oppression of the whole earth under the dictatorship of the World Stock Exchange and its Masters, Judah” (p. 245). To Bormann he says, “For the Galilean’s object was to liberate His country from Jewish oppression. He set Himself against Jewish capitalism, and that’s why the Jews liquidated Him.” See Table Talk, 76-77.

[iv] According to Léon Degrelle, Commander of the Wallonie Division of the SS-Sturmbannführer from 1943-1945: “Hitler believed deeply in God. He called God the Almighty, master of all that is known and unknown. He had a deep knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ. Propagandists portray Hitler as an atheist. He was not. He had contempt for hypocritical and materialistic clerics, but he was not alone in that. He believed in the necessity of standards and theological dogmas, without which, he repeatedly said, the great institution of the Christian Church would collapse. No one in the world has spoken to me so eloquently about the existence of God. Hitler’s faith transcended formulas and contingencies. God was for him the basis of everything, the ordainer of all things, of his Destiny and that of others” ( Léon Degrelle, “Friends of Léon Degrelle Cultural Association,” http://www.motstand.org/hitler.html).

[v] It is well known that Hitler wrote the book entitled Mein Kampf, but not many people know about his second unpublished sequel to Mein Kampf written in 1928. This book was not intended for publication because it contains Hitler’s complete foreign policy, which openly advocates war. Obviously Hitler would not have wanted this information to fall into the wrong hands. In this book Hitler makes it quite clear that he believes God has blessed England, the greatest nation on earth according to Hitler, as evidenced by its “national strength” and “intelligence” (p. 185). If he didn’t believe in God, or hated God as some claim, then why does he mention God in a book that he knows nobody will read? The following statement from Mein Kampf serves to assert with a high level of confidence Hitler’s belief that God exists and only blesses the strong. Hitler says, “…and as a matter of principle God does not make cowardly nations free…”

[vi] See Memoirs, p. 207: Hitler told Wagener, “I have read these concepts in even greater detail in one of the Prophets or in the Talmud, I don’t remember where.”

[vii] I have had the opportunity to read Wagener’s memoirs, Degrelle’s memoirs, Hewel’s memoirs, Bormann’s memoirs, which have been verified as completely accurate and legitimate by historians Hugh Trevor-Roper and David Irving (who revealed the ‘Hitler Diaries’ as fraudulent in 1983, which was presented on The History Channel), Eckart’s conversations with Hitler, and Hitler’s own private notes and outlines, as well as numerous secondary articles and books written by various scholars to substantiate this hypothesis and rule out potential threats to internal validity.

[viii] See Pranaitis: His translation of the Talmud reveals that it’s okay for Jews to lie to non-Jews, cheat them, and enslave them because they are “animals in human form,” Teachings regarding Christians, http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/talmud1.htm.

[ix] The pacifism of Christ is challenged not only in the Talmud, but also in the Bible. Christ made such statements as, “Do not think that I have come to send peace upon earth; I have come to bring a sword, not peace. For I have come to set a man at variance with his father, and a daughter with her mother, and a daughter-in-law with her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household” (Catholic Family Edition, 1953, Matt. 10:34-36). He said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my followers would have fought that I might not be delivered to the Jews. But, as it is, my kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36). Also, “If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews” (John 18:36 [NRSV]). And he said, “But as for these my enemies [Jews], who did not want me to be king over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence” (Luke 19:27).

[x] According to the 1951 Holy Trinity Edition of the Catholic Holy Bible, which is probably very similar to the version of the Bible that Hitler had studied, the three tribes of mankind descended from Ham, Shem, and Japheth. The peoples of Africa became the descendants of the accursed Ham (the slaves of the world), the Jews and Arabs descended from the blessed Shem (the Jews killed Christ), and the descendants of the blessed Japheth were the Teutonic conquerors of Europe. See: Gen. 10:1-32.

[xi] According to Lukacs, the impression that Hitler was mad or delusional, especially near the end of the war, which is the time frame most scholars utilize when arguing against Hitler’s sanity, is a wholly inaccurate one (1945: Year Zero, pp. 17-19).

[xii] Hitler told Bormann, “Probably none of us is entirely ‘normal.’ Otherwise we should spend all our days in the café on the corner. The Catholics, the bourgeois, everybody has accused me of being crazy because, in their eyes, a normal person is one who drinks three glasses of beer every evening. ‘Why all this fuss? It’s obviously the proof that he’s mad.’ How many men of our Party were regarded in their families as black sheep” (pp. 155-56)! Even Hitler acknowledged that he was abnormal, so this hypothesis certainly merits some attention concerning its validity.

[xiii] There are several revisionist historians, two of which I have personally interviewed during my research of Adolf Hitler this semester, who believe that Hitler has been wrongly attributed the guilt of what has been coined in English as the ‘Final Solution’ (Endlösung). It would be realistic to say that Wagener was the first ‘revisionist’ because he portrays a completely different Hitler than the one we know from our history lessons. Irving and Weber have both turned up primary evidence, in the form of intercepted telegraphs, Nuremberg testimonials, letters, diaries, and personal interviews of Hitler’s ‘inner circle,’ which serve to shed the direct responsibility of the ‘Final Solution’ from Adolf Hitler to another, or others. Himmler is extremely suspect and Irving has incredibly compelling evidence revealing Göbbels and Himmler to be the true criminals of the National Socialist regime. Wagener portrays Göring as a very diabolical man with his own interests being his top priority (Memoirs, pp. 117-124). It also must be noted here that even Hitler acknowledged the existence of the ‘Final Solution.’ He told Bormann, “It’s not a bad idea, by the way, that public rumor attributes to us a plan to exterminate the Jews. Terror is a salutary thing” (Table Talk, p. 87). It must also be noted here that Höss acting directly on Hitler’s order, ordered an immediate stop to arson attacks against Jewish businesses during Kristallnacht (1938) (p. xxvi). In addition, Reich Minister Lammers was informed by Franz Schlegelberger in 1942 that “the Führer has repeatedly pronounced that he wants the solution to the Jewish Question (Jüdenfrage) postponed until after the war is over” (Ibid.).

[xiv] Gobineau proposed many racial theories, but Hitler clearly dismissed them as nothing more than pseudo-science (Memoirs, p. 204).

[xv] Hitler did not have a problem with his own soldiers intermarrying with Slavs because it would speed up the Germanization of the eastern territories, which was ultimately his ‘racial’ goal. He wanted Nordic blood to infiltrate every territory occupied by the Reich, and nowhere does he discuss extermination or even persecution of Slavic peoples. He did however mention that the Poles were especially troublesome for him because they were so nationalistic and unwilling to allow Germany to reclaim Danzig and other ‘rightful’ territories lost under the Versailles Treaty. (Table Talk, pp. 471-476). He viewed the Slavic peoples in much the same way the British viewed Indians and Africans at that time. He said, “We’ll supply the Ukrainians with scarves, glass beads, and everything that colonial peoples like. We’ll find amongst them the human material that’s indispensable for tilling the soil. We’ll supply grain to all in Europe who need it” (p. 34). He also said, “The country we are engaged in conquering will be a source of raw materials for us, and a market for our products, but we shall take good care not to industrialize it. The peasant is the being least of all accessible to ideologies. If I offer him land in Russia, a river of people will rush there headlong. For a man of the soil, the finest country is the one that yields the finest crops” (p. 42). See also: Memoirs, pp. 204-05, 227-28. Hitler is clearly referring to conquered Eastern European peoples not only as a source of consumption for German goods, but also the source of farm labor for the Reich. These were the most derogatory passages I found regarding Eastern Europeans. Therefore, extermination and mass persecution would not be conducive to his policy, but if he was ‘crazy’ the question of what was conducive obviously didn’t matter to him and he would’ve ordered the liquidation of these peoples as many scholars argue. But primary evidence suggests that if systematic murder was carried out it was probably not on Hitler’s order (Irving, Hitler’s War, pp. 580-583, 585, 452-458, 496-99). Irving’s documentation includes such pieces of wartime evidence as Himmler’s handwritten order to Heydrich that there be “No annihilation of gypsies” (p. 551). He also cites Hitler’s October 1943 order forbidding the liquidation of Rome’s Jews (p. 451) and Hitler’s intervention to halt mass shootings of Jews when he learned of the situation via Vice-Admiral Canaris. Hitler promptly reprimanded Himmler and warned that punishment would be enforced for any further “arbitrary and disobedient acts” (p. 456).

 

Green Quotes: Adolf Hitler

 

Blue quotes: Hitler adjutants

 

Brown Quotes: Jesus Christ

 

Pink Quotes: Léon Degrelle

 

Red Quotes: Jewish Talmud

 

Purple Quotes: Martin Luther