History has a lot of topics that are up for discussion. But a few ideas are known to be fact. One of these has been taught for years, but never really explained in any history class so nobody thinks about it. Adolf Hitler hated the Jews. As in he hated them with a passion. But why? After a lot of digging and an extensive study of one of the most hated men in human history, I believe I know what caused the animosity that would lead to attempted genocide.
Hitler was a human being. The history books and documentaries skip this fact for the most part. "He was the embodiment of evil!" That's a lie. He was a man, albeit a man with some flawed ideologies. Who has a bigger impact on a young man's life than his mother? Adolf's relationship with his mother was a very close one, which made it hard when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Adolf Hitler aspired to be an artist. He took his inheritance and moved to the Vienna School of Fine Arts to attend art school about the same time his mother's cancer was diagnosed. Naturally it was hard on him being away from her at a time like this. His inner struggle over where to be came to an end when he failed the entrance exam at his dream school; there was nothing to keep him away from his precious mother. He moved home and helped with chores and took care of her as best he could, disappointed though he may be. Her doctor suggested a risky procedure to save her life. Doctor Edward Bloch, a Jew, performed surgery to save her life and failed. Klara Hitler was buried alongside her husband and Adolf's younger brother, who died of Measles at age 6. At this point, Adolf was a grief stricken man angry at a doctor who failed.
After the Great War, Adolf, who served for Germany, needed a scapegoat for their loss. Something had to be poisoning his country the same way the cancer poisoned his mother; that's the only reason they could have lost. As he rose to power, he told the people what they wanted to hear. "It's not our fault we lost the war! It's the Jews, they are a sickness that is killing our country!" This was a key of his platform as he rose to power, making sure people had someone to blame for their failure to win World War 1.
His dislike of the Jewish people started because of grief. Hitler wasn't the embodiment of evil. He was only a man. The great thing about history is that we have the benefit of hindsight. How many of us get angry and do things we regret? That thing may not be genocide but we lash out for no good reason. Anyone who has lost a parent to disease knows what it's like to miss them. Adolf Hitler was a man who was angry at the man who failed his mother. He tried to do something to fix it.Thank God he failed, but we have to remember that this all started because a young man loved his mother.
