On September 15, 1935, Adolf Hitler notoriously addressed the Nazi Party Congress with a famed speech that came to be known as the Nuremberg Address. The speech embodied a defined, visionary statement presented by the populist leader on behalf of his sinister ideology. As the zenith of Nazism and the most remarkable oration done by the Reich Fuhrer during his reign, the Nuremberg Address is a vital drop in the ocean of the pre-war era.
Through focus on nationalistic elements, Adolf Hitler perpetuated the desire of the German nation to overcome the humiliation of the First Great War and bring about the self-determination that was part of the American Liberal Internationalist agenda at Versailles. By focusing on the unity and fundamental strength of the German people, the Fuhrer was keen to emphasize the continuity of Germany history. In fact, Hitler’s strategic program for world domination was based on the belief in the power of Lebensraum, pursued by a racially superior society. The Nuremberg Speech merely emphasized the eugenics of Lebensraum that presumed the moral right of the Aryan race to remove inferior people in the name of their own living territory. Even self-determination was infused by Hitler with a negative connotation through the usage of this concept to justify the merge of predominantly German speaking territories with the nation itself. The consequences of such are evident in the fall of Czechoslovakia and Poland at the end of the 1930s, respectively, and in the effective acquisition of Austria in 1938 through a so-called Anschluss.
Interestingly, even in its historical context, the choice of Nuremberg back in 1923 as the venue for the promotion of nationalist agenda had symbolic value. Nuremberg was identified as the center of strong traditions, popular poetry and classical music. As such, to the Reich Fuhrer, this place of choice seemed to provide a suitable backdrop and arena for the display of a healthy Germany and broadcasting of messages designed to strengthen support and enhance patriotism.
It is truly to his skills of rhetoric that Hitler was able to maintain an image of such righteousness in the midst of such atrocities being committed by the entity of which he was the head.
