Race And Space In Nazi Germany: Summary

In the Chapter discussing about the peak year of killing in the Holocaust, Bergen highlights Nazi’s recurring theme of “race and space.” During the most brutal period, Hitler promoted the territorial plan to provide living space for the superior “Aryan” race and constructing a strict hierarchy between the “inferior” and “superior” race. With this in mind, this essay is to explore how the Nazi military invaded Europe to annihilate the unworthy group. In the second part, based on Bergen’s discussion on the humanity destruction in the war, the essay attempts to examine the relation between social system and the individual. After Hitler and his empire crossing the line to annihilation, as Bergen points out, the Nazi regime’s intention to build a “new order” were more obvious. The Nazi Germans tried to convince the German public of the importance of the race,

Bergen further illustrates how Hitler developed his plan of “race and space” in the case of the “General Plan East.” First, the Nazi tended to manipulate language to conceal their intentions. The using of euphemisms is a kind of strategy to cover their ferocity, such as “remove” or “resettle,” meaning the expulsion or decimation of European people. Except for this, from SS leader Himmler’s speech, we can see how the Nazis delivered their self-interested opinion and superior attitude through public discourse. Second, it comes to Nazi’s vision of “creation” or “reproduction.” Bergen examines the long-term scheme of “Germanization” from two sides. On one side, Nazi regime increased members of the “Aryan race” by “Germanized” children who are “racially valuable”