Anti-Semitism In Mein Kampf's My Struggle

Although the systematic murder of Jews had not yet begun until 1941, there was still a practiced discrimination, which had come into practice years earlier in Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler was elected democratically in the year 1932. He had always pitched a unified German party that would reignite the power and might of Germany, which they had lost after the Treaty of Versailles. Although his official rhetoric may not have included visions of an anti-Semitic state initially, people knew he had an exclusionary agenda. Hitler published Mein Kampf while in prison in 1925. In Mein Kampf, which literally means My Struggle, Hitler had already published his anti- Semitic rhetoric. Paradoxically, he equates all Jews as being Marxists, and the creators

of Marxism, but at the same time he decries their religion. Interestingly, Jews in America in 1935 provided records showing that Hitler’s assertion was, in fact, false. (Jews Reply To Hitler’s Charge) In 1933 there were no Jews included in the eighty-one Communist delegates in the Reichstag. Even three years earlier, there was only one Jewish Communist on the Reichstag. And statistics proved that the majority of Jews actually voted for liberal democratic parties. (Jews Reply To Hitler’s Charge) Hitler, however, would not let the facts get in the way of his agenda.
Hitler helped stir hatred of the Jew by blaming them as the antagonists who had forced Germany into the dreaded Treaty of Versailles. (Hitler 121) Hitler wrote, “They would not listen nor understand that Versailles was a scandal and a disgrace and that the dictate signified an act of highway robbery against our people.” (Hitler 121) Hitler later wrote, “The disruptive work done by the Marxists and the poisonous propaganda of the external enemy had robbed these people of their reason. “ Germany was never losing the war, but instead had been “stabbed in the back” by the Jews and Marxists, which he equated as one when it suited him. (Hitler 121) The Jewish and Marxist propaganda had convinced the Germans to sign the treaty, and be robbed of their dignity and land.
Already in 1932, the Jewish community visited the German Minister of the Interior; General Groener to protest what they felt was Nazi agitation causing “considerable unease.” (Jews Ask Gen. Groener to Curb Nazi Attacks) The General responded that the German government condemned the attacks, and would “protect the constitutional rights of all her citizens…by all constitutional means.” (Jews Ask Gen. Groener to Curb Nazi Attacks) Of course, both of those assertions were lies, but it is telling that in 1932, the German government was still reluctant to fully endorse and push the anti- Semitic agenda. They had not yet gained the popularity, or proper cause to begin a genocidal attack against the Jews. It’s also interesting that already in 1932 the outside world was beginning to hear of German aggression against the Jews. It’s commonly thought that most Westerners had no idea of the true nature of the German atrocities, and yet, they certainly had some idea, just not the full scope. This was rather depressing to discover, and only adds to the horror of the Nazi discrimination. Additionally, as far back as 1930, General Erich Ludendorff claimed that Jews were planning the “doom of the Fatherland.” (Foss) It is these actions that set the precedent for increased Nazi hostility towards the Jews later on.
Sadly, the nature of the attacks progressed. Whereas, once they were causing “considerable unease,” they advanced into a heightened stage of fear, looting, and even laws restricting their rights. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were a crucial step in the Nazi progression of anti-Semitism. Upon announcing the Nuremberg Laws, which defined the parameters of being a Jew or German, Hitler flew in Bernard Loesener, the Jewish expert at the Ministry of the Interior. (Stoltzfus 378) Stoltzfus describes how Hitler had no need for Loesener, but instead wanted him there to make it seem as if “he were still relying on the traditional German method for lawmaking.” (Stoltzfus 378) At the same time, he also read out the laws in front of Parliament. Although Parliament had ceased to have any power in the Germany governmental system, it still existed to show that Hitler did have some sort of democratic backing.
Although there had been laws made against the Jews, including the Nuremberg Laws, most Jews did not take the threat of Nazi anti-Semitism that seriously. That changed on Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass. Kristallnacht was officially in response to Herschel Grynszpan shooting the third secretary at the German embassy in Paris, Ernst vom Rath. Although that may have been the official response, it was likely that the Germans were merely looking for an excuse at that point to carry out the pogrom. Grynszpan shot the ambassador in response to his parents being exiled from Germany to Poland, another example of German anti-Semitic aggression. Between November 9th and 10th in 1938, approximately one hundred Jews were killed, synagogues were burned, and thousands of Jewish businesses were destroyed in large pogroms throughout the German Empire. Of course, this pales in comparison to the eventual strike forces and death camps, but it is an important step in the genocidal path of Hitler. Hermann Graml argues that the Night of Broken Glass was a crucial step in the eventual path to the Final Solution. Graml argues that each step in the anti-Semitic scheme of Germany was imperative in not just inciting fervor from the citizens, but also seeing what they can get away with. (Housden)
This theory of Graml transcends the German discrimination and genocide of the Jews. There must always be some sort of buildup to an ethnic cleansing, and fierce discrimination. That is why in many ways it is important to study genocides and compare them. It’s not to rate their respective level of atrocities, but instead a means of seeing the trends that led to such a fierce discrimination in order to better prevent future genocides.
Nazi aggression began its turn into genocide in the year of 1941. There are many who link the Final Solution to Operation Barbarossa, or the German invasion of the Soviet Union, particularly Russia. Graml, of course refutes this notion by citing the gradual increase in German aggression, saying that there was always the plan to exterminate the Jews, regardless of whether they would have invaded Russia. (Housden) Jews were sent to concentration camps, with many being sent to the six death camps of that were built between December 1941 to December 1942 Chelmno, Belzec, Treblinka, Sobibor, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek. The official estimate of Jews murdered were six million, a truly horrifying number.
In contrast to the systematic genocide of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union’s anti-Semitism may seem less serious. Stalin’s regime, however, marked an increase in hostility towards the Jews. Nikita Khrushchev wrote in his memoirs that although Stalin did not show any outwardly signs of anti-Semitism, he and his inner circle definitely harbored concealed anti-Semitic ideologies that would sometimes manifest in anti-Semitic practices. (Khrushchev 47) In an article written in 1926, The New York Times noted how there were those that felt that the increasing anti-Semitism within the Soviet Union had led to a “handicapping of the government.”(See Anti-Semitism Reviving in Russia) The hostility was said to have been ignited by the Black Hundreds under the Czars. Seemingly though, the Soviet government was attempting to maintain control, and end the rampant anti-Semitism. Ukraine had even reserved land exclusively for Jews. However, amongst the citizens themselves, a correspondent said that the Soviets are convinced of Jewish domination within the party, and he classified Moscow as being an example of entirely “Soviet anti-Semitism.” (See Anti-Semitism Reviving in Russia)
The correspondent continued saying that Stalin himself, in contrast to Lenin, had done his utmost to exclude the Jews from the Communist party, first by removing Trotsky, Zinovief, and Kaminief, and also not allowing Unschlicht and Frumkin to become commissars.

(See Anti-Semitism Reviving in Russia) On its own that may seem entirely innocuous. Stalin was a paranoid man, who was attempting to consolidate power by removing all possible enemies, not just the Jews. However, when combined with the rampant anti-Semitism that was found in the hearts and minds of the Soviet citizens, one begins to wonder whether Stalin did indeed hope to exclude Jews entirely from the Communist party. Ironically, Hitler had decried the Jews as being Marxists, and Stalin would not even allow them to join the actualized Marxist party. Furthermore, middle class students were beginning to get expelled from colleges, and Jews were reported as being 90% of the affected students. (See Anti-Semitism Reviving in Russia) Perhaps, Stalin and the education ministers were hoping to curtail any future Jewish resistance by insuring that they could not be properly educated. That theory retains credence when the author of the article cites how Soviet citizens had felt threatened by the Jews being well educated. (See Ant-Semitism Reviving in

Russia)
Similarly, Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith wrote of his three years in Moscow. Smith described how although there were Soviet laws prohibiting anti-Semitism, there was a systematic removal of Jews from influential positions within the government, armed services, and diplomatic positions. Smith also wrote of the many pogroms that took place in Ukraine during the war, and that the government was helpless to stop it. (Smith)
Stalin and the Soviet Union were initially in favor of a Jewish State in Israel. However, in 1948, after witnessing Golda Meir, then the Israeli ambassador to Russia, arrive in Moscow, the notions of nationalism and Jews chanting “Am Yisrael Chai,” or the nation of Israel (Jews) lives, perturbed Stalin. Stalin began to see the Jews as a possible fifth column. A fifth column is a group of people who undermine a nation from within. Stalin viewed the bourgeois Jewish nationalism as a danger that subverted the authority of the Soviet state. (Figes 227) In November of the same year, Stalin began his strike against the rest of the Jews. He began to arrest members of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. Stalin arrested them on charges of bourgeois nationalism and planning to set up a Jewish republic in Crimea to serve American interests. The Museum of Environmental Knowledge of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, and The Jewish Museum in Vilnius were closed down in 1948. Both had been opened just a few years earlier. The Historical-Ethnographic Museum of Georgian Jewry, established in 1933, was shut down at the end of 1951. (Pinkus 205)