Why did Adolf Hitler hate the Jews?

Answer 1

The earliest firm evidence of Hitler's antisemitism dates from 1916, when Hitler was aged 27, so stories about early experiences in his life should be treated with caution.

Hitler believed that the Jews were involved in a great conspiracy to control the wealth of Europe and to dominate and destroy the German or Aryan people. Whether that belief was the basis for his hatred or was a result of it is not something I think can be determined.

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The reasons most commonly given are that Hitler believed that the Jews:

1. Were Communists (and that Communism was a Jewish political philosphy).
2. Had deliberately caused Germany to lose World War 1 by wrecking the home front in Germany itself.
3. Had caused the Great Depression.
4. He believed a bizarre conspiracy that claimed that the Jews were planning to dominate the world.

The first of these views - of the Jews as Communists - was also widespread in many other countries, including Britain and the U.S. However, most people elsewhere seem to have taken this with a pinch of salt and certainly didn't get so worked up about it.

As for the conspiracy theory that the Jews were trying to dominate the world, Yehuda Bauer summarizes it neatly as follows:

"The basic motivation [of the Holocaust] was purely ideological, rooted in an illusionary world of Nazi imagination, where an international Jewish conspiracy to control the world was opposed to a parallel Aryan quest. No genocide to date had been based so completely on myths, on hallucinations, on abstract, nonpragmatic ideology - which was then executed by very rational, pragmatic means."

Yehuda Bauer, Rethinking the Holocaust, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2002, p.48. (Quoted in Wikipedia article on the Holocaust, accessed 31 March 2009).

Obviously, there is something nutty about such notions, but there is no evidence that Hitler was clinically insane.

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In the interwar period (1918-1939) it was perfectly acceptable to express racist, ethnic, religious and cultural prejudice loud and clear, both in Europe and the U.S. Most German Jews did not take the Nazis' antisemitism particularly seriously before 1933. Almost none had made any practical arrangements in advance to leave the country, for example.

Hitler's Jew-baiting was not particularly popular outside the beer-halls of Bavaria and a few other places and was not the vote-catcher that the above answer claims.

Please see the related questions.

Answer 2

Whole books have been written about this. Some historians think because he felt cheated by a Jewish art dealer when he tried to sell his art to him in his early years. There is even evidence he had Jewish members in his family. Some evidence also points that he thought the bankers after WW1 kept the German people poor and the country bankrupt. Despite the reparations that Germany had to pay because of WW1. People like Hitler often look for a group of people to blame in political situations. He tried blaming the Communists, but that didn't work so well, but the Jewish population had a long history of discrimination and prejudice. This was easy to tap into

reasons Jews were hated:

some were successful in business

they were accused of killing christ

they were blamed for many of evils in the world

and just for being born Jew are som e of the reasons

Answer 3

Hitler provided numerous rationales during that period as to why he believed that the Jews were worthy of hate. However, the only person qualified to answer this question fully and accurately, without speculation, (Hitler) killed himself on April 30, 1945. Various contributors have stated that the following were some of the reasons that Hitler claimed to hate the Jews:

1) Superiority of the German People: Hitler believed that the Germans as a "race" of Nordic of peoples were superior in all ways to all non-German people. Since the Jews were not a Nordic people, Hitler reviled them (as he reviled the Romani, Slavs, and other ethnic minorities).

2) Decay of the German State: During the 1800s, Jews began to become more integrated in German National Life. They served in its government, its military divisions, and its industry. As was typical of Western Europe, the Jews had more of a hand in the higher echelons of government than their population percentage would account for. The Nazis saw this increasing Jewish percentage in the government as a slow takeover of German policy and a corruption of the German people. They contrasted the great victories under Bismarck with the depressing failure of World War I and noted how a much larger percentage of soldiers in the latter war were Jewish. There was also the sentiment than in the early 20th century, values were beginning to ebb (this is similar to current politics in the United States) and the Jewish integration in the German apparatus (becoming teachers, lawyers, doctors, etc.) was to blame for this recession of values as opposed to modernity as a process.

3) Nationalism: Germany was brought together under the Nationalist conception that all peoples with German culture, history, and language should be united regardless of which principality currently held control. The German self-conception also had an ethnic component, holding that the perfect German was blond and blue eyed. Regardless of the fact that the majority of Germans were dark haired, Jews stuck out like a sore thumb because they overwhelmingly had darker hair. In addition, the idea of a German Jew was still rather new and both Jews and non-Jews tended to see the Jews in Germany as being part of a vast Jewish network and that these Jews just happened to be in Germany. The Nazis capitalized on this cosmopolitan sensibility by claiming that Jews' allegiances were not to the German State, but to secret Jewish Councils organizing world events.

4) Economy: Whether it was true or not, there was perception among Germans and the Nazis in particular that Jews were wealthy individuals and had a higher per-capita income than the Germans. In many ways (because of the above two reasons) Germans felt that the Jews were "stealing" their money while they were poor and suffering. Adolf Hitler blamed the Jewish population for the social and economic problems of the era. A popular anti-Semitic belief was that Jewish families were shrewd and sought to control the wealth of a community at the expense of other members in the community. This being the case he thought that the world would be a better place if the Jews were no longer in charge of finance.

5) Pseudo-Science: The late 19th and early 20th century was filled with radical new ideas concerning Social Darwinism. It was believed by the Pseudo-Scientific community (which was rather in vogue) that different groups of people or races exhibited different emotional traits that were linked to physical differences. This led to the belief that Jews were corrupt and thieving by their irreversible nature and that they could not be "cured" and brought up as proper Europeans. This formalized Racial Anti-Semitism in Germany and made the situation much more dire for German Jews.

6) Heresy/Christian Anti-Semitism: Although not as much an issue in World War II as it may have been 500 years prior, Jews were still considered the heretics who murdered the LORD and Savior. This helped to justify Anti-Semitism as the Jewish comeuppance for their accepting of the "Christ Bloodguilt". Jews were called Christ-killers by the Nazis, as they had by most Christian churches for centuries, and that was behind a lot of the hatred. This existed regardless of the fact that the Bible names the Jews as God's Chosen people first.

7) Hitler's Ambition: Adolf Hitler was very ambitious. His dream was to see Germany at the top. After the First World War he became more and more ambitious. He blamed the Jews for the misery and suffering of Germans. Moreover, he held Jews responsible for the loss of World War I. He claimed that they held high position and were very rich. This was one of reason for his hatred for the Jews.

8) Populism: Adolf Hitler's "hatred" of the Jews was one of the tools he used to convince the people of Germany that he knew the source of their economic problems and that he was the person who could correct the situation. He chose to use the long standing antisemitism in Germany to gain the people's support.

9) Anti-Semitic Childhood: When Hitler was studying Art in Munich as a teenager he was rejected from the academy he wished to attend and for some reason, he blamed it on the city's Jewish population. He was also brought up in an anti-Semitic family (at least some believe).

10) Foreigners: Hitler argued that the German Jews were not 'native' members of the country and should not be able to enjoy the benefits of citizenship. Their motives would be suspect as their loyalty was to something other than Germany. (Of course, this argument has been used against all minorities and is equally fatuous as concerns the Jews.)

11) Communism: Hitler alleged that the Jews were the primary supporters of Communists and thus also considered them in bed with his political opposition. (It should be noted that there is NO credible evidence the Jews were the main supporters of Communism, and this is yet another stereotype used by bigots for decades.)

Answer 2

He moved to Vienna when he was young and made a living by selling pieces or art. In Vienna there was a tradition of anti-semitism. Hitler saw Jewish people living lives of luxury while he lived a life of poverty. Hitler believed, due to various different influences, that the followers of Judaism were the cause of his every downfall. He was rejected from the Viennese art college by a Jewish man, he believe the Jewish were to blame for Germany's downfall in WWI. Hitler was against the Jews because he needed someone to blame for his every failure. Psychological reason or childhood trauma could be involved, but maybe he was just an evil man.

Answer 3

Hitler targeted the Jews because he blamed them for losing Germany world war 1 because during that time Hitler was just a foot solider but clearly he loved Germany and hated the Jews

Answer 4

Jews were a convenient target because they had already been persecuted in Europe for a thousand years, and there was a well established tradition of hating Jews. When Hitler announced that all of German's problems had been caused by Jews, there were lots of people who found that lie very easy to believe.

Answer 5

He blamed everything on the Jews. He thought that they were unpure. He had thought that the perfect race had blue eyes and blonde hair. No one was pure.

Answer 6

Adolf Hitler was serving in a strict military when he was young, and to them surrender was the worst embarrassment. Anyway, in the end the German army Hitler was serving for asked a high end Jewish society for funds to help them keep fighting, since they were flat broke, but the Jewish society refused, because they thought Hitlers army had no chance to win.

Therefore, with no funds, the German army was forced to surrender, the worse embarrassment.

When the war ended, Hitler was furious with the Jews for not giving them money, and forcing the army to surrender.

With this fury against the mainly innocent religion and people, Hitler set out for revenge, and the rest is History.

Because, Adolf Hitler had a lot of hatred against the Jews.

Answer 7

After World War 1 there were all kinds of conspiracy theories circulating about the Jews. They were widely regarded as Communists and subversives. In Germany and Austria there was a widespread view (for which there was no evidence) that they had engineered the defeat of Germany. This was also a conspiracy theory but was taken seriously by hardline nationalists.

There are many reasons. One was because he thought that they were taking the jobs of the Germans.
Hitler hated Jews ever since he was a young boy because when Adolf was young his mom had Breast cancer and the doctor Adolf's mom went to was Jewish. This doctor gave Adolf's mom some medication that would give here a 50% chance of living. So when Hitlers mom died Adolf blamed her death on the Jewish doctor. So he Killed all those Jews to get revenge for his mothers death.

However ...Hitler, aged 17, wrote the doctor a letter thanking him for having done his best for his mother. What's more, when Austria was annexed to Germany in 1938 Hitler ordered that the doctor should be allowed to leave without harassment. That doesn't sound like a desire for revenge.

Beware 'Hitlerology' - that is, urban legends that seem to offer simple, homely explanations ...

The first evidence of real antisemitism in Hitler dates from about 1916 when Hitler was aged 27.

The person who wrote the first answer deleted this:

The evidence suggests that his real hatred began towards the end of World War 1. His early letters from the Western Front in World War 1 contain no antisemitic comments and in places he even had some praise for Jews.

No, but he began to really dislike Jews when a Jew denied him acceptance to an art school (Vienna), and when his mother died in the presence of a Jewish doctor == ==
Hitler hated the Jewish people because he thought that they were mentally and physically disabled and he wanted to make Germany the best country in the world. He wanted only those persons who looked like pure blooded Germans , who had blue eyes, strong, physically and mentally fit.

He blamed the Jewish community for the ills that he saw growing up in his native Austria. Jews were mostly in charge of the newspapers, theatre and prostitution. Which he saw as lowering the moral standards. This initial hatred grew as he got older, he hated the idea that they thought they were God's chosen people, to such an extent, that he wanted their complete eradication.

Answer 4

Hitler certainly provided reasons why he hated the Jews. The problem is that all of his reasons are grounded in myth, superstition, conspiracy theories, or outright falsehoods. So while his analysis was rational, his premises were faulty. The below are the reasons that Hitler hated the Jews.

1) Superiority of the German People: Hitler believed that the Germans as a "race" of Nordic of peoples were superior in all ways to all non-German people. Since the Jews were not a Nordic people, Hitler reviled them (as he reviled the Romani, Slavs, and other ethnic minorities).

2) Decay of the German State: During the 1800s, Jews began to become more integrated in German National Life. They served in its government, its military divisions, and its industry. As was typical of Western Europe, the Jews had more of a hand in the higher echelons of government than their population percentage would account for. The Nazis saw this increasing Jewish percentage in the government as a slow takeover of German policy and a corruption of the German people. They contrasted the great victories under Bismarck with the depressing failure of World War I and noted how a much larger percentage of soldiers in the latter war were Jewish. There was also the sentiment than in the early 20th century, values were beginning to ebb (this is similar to current politics in the United States) and the Jewish integration in the German apparatus (becoming teachers, lawyers, doctors, etc.) was to blame for this recession of values as opposed to modernity as a process.

3) Nationalism: Germany was brought together under the Nationalist conception that all peoples with German culture, history, and language should be united regardless of which principality currently held control. The German self-conception also had an ethnic component, holding that the perfect German was blond and blue eyed. Regardless of the fact that the majority of Germans were dark haired, Jews stuck out like a sore thumb because they overwhelmingly had darker hair. In addition, the idea of a German Jew was still rather new and both Jews and non-Jews tended to see the Jews in Germany as being part of a vast Jewish network and that these Jews just happened to be in Germany. The Nazis capitalized on this cosmopolitan sensibility by claiming that Jews' allegiances were not to the German State, but to secret Jewish Councils organizing world events.

4) Economy: Whether it was true or not, there was perception among Germans and the Nazis in particular that Jews were wealthy individuals and had a higher per-capita income than the Germans. In many ways (because of the above two reasons) Germans felt that the Jews were "stealing" their money while they were poor and suffering. Adolf Hitler blamed the Jewish population for the social and economic problems of the era. A popular anti-Semitic belief was that Jewish families were shrewd and sought to control the wealth of a community at the expense of other members in the community. This being the case he thought that the world would be a better place if the Jews were no longer in charge of finance.

5) Pseudo-Science: The late 19th and early 20th century was filled with radical new ideas concerning Social Darwinism. It was believed by the Pseudo-Scientific community (which was rather in vogue) that different groups of people or races exhibited different emotional traits that were linked to physical differences. This led to the belief that Jews were corrupt and thieving by their irreversible nature and that they could not be "cured" and brought up as proper Europeans. This formalized Racial Anti-Semitism in Germany and made the situation much more dire for German Jews.

6) Heresy/Christian Anti-Semitism: Although not as much an issue in World War II as it may have been 500 years prior, Jews were still considered the heretics who murdered the LORD and Savior. This helped to justify Anti-Semitism as the Jewish comeuppance for their accepting of the Christ Bloodguilt. Jews were called Christ-killers by the Nazis, as they had by most Christian churches for centuries, and that was behind a lot of the hatred. This existed regardless of the fact that The Bible names the Jews as God's Chosen people first.

7) Hitler's Ambition: Adolf Hitler was very ambitious. His dream was to see Germany at the top. After the First World War he became more and more ambitious. He blamed the Jews for the misery and suffering of Germans. Moreover, he held Jews responsible for the loss of World War I. He claimed that they held high position and were very rich. This was one of reason for his hatred for the Jews.

8) Populism: Adolf Hitler's "hatred" of the Jews was one of the tools he used to convince the people of Germany that he knew the source of their economic problems and that he was the person who could correct the situation. He chose to use the long standing antisemitism in Germany to gain the people's support.

9) Anti-Semitic Childhood: When Hitler was studying Art in Munich as a teenager he was rejected from the academy he wished to attend and for some reason, he blamed it on the city's Jewish population. He was also brought up in an anti-Semitic family (at least some believe).

10) Foreigners: Hitler argued that the German Jews were not 'native' members of the country and should not be able to enjoy the benefits of citizenship. Their motives would be suspect as their loyalty was to something other than Germany. (Of course, this argument has been used against all minorities and is equally fatuous as concerns the Jews.)

11) Communism: Hitler alleged that the Jews were the primary supporters of Communists and thus also considered them in bed with his political opposition. (It should be noted that there is NO credible evidence the Jews were the main supporters of Communism, and this is yet another stereotype used by bigots for decades.)

Answer 5

M y teacher told me that when he was a young man he wanted to be an artist and tried to get into and art school. However, the principal refused him and turns out she was Jewish. He hated her and thought all Jewish was stuck-up like her. He wanted she and her people to suffer and regret rejecting him. I guess there were other incidents he got pissed off by Jews but this was probably the worst.

Answer 6

Hitler believed the Jews were responsible for Germany's loss in WW1 and as a result for all of Germany's problems. He also believed that Jewish people were controlling the world and therefore he hated Jews more than anybody else probably ever has and therefore he wanted to kill all of the Jews in Europe.

Answer 7

Hitler believed that the Jews 'stole' WW2 from the Germans. Also, in 1907, Hitler's beloved mother died of breast cancer, the doctor that failed to treat her properly for her illness was a Jew. Another large factor is that Hitler dreamed of being an artist, but was not accepted for a scholarship by a Jewish artist. Therefore, causing Hitler to form a fiery hatred to all Jewish people.

Answer 8

The reason Hitler hated jewish people is because they were a superior race at the time, and that intimidated Hitler, so he held them captive and killed them.