Brief Thoughts on Hitler’s Mein Kampf

I had never read any portion of Hitler’s Mein Kampf so I wanted to take the opportunity to give a few of my thoughts to this brief excerpt:

-          Hitler defines man as the creator of all art, science and technology. He gives praise to the Aryan race saying because these products were created exclusively by this race then all other races are lesser beings and not considered part of mankind, or of man.

o   I think this is preposterous although it’s not the first time we have heard that a whole race of people were considered to be less-than-man. During the time of slavery in the US, slaves were considered less-than 1 person. Woman and children were also considered to be less-than 1 person. Slaves and women were more so considered to be property than equal human beings.

-          Hitler was very well spoken and wrote with such passion. I do not believe in what he fought for nor do I encourage the existing believers to continue on his path, however I can see how he was able to rally troops and supporters for his cause.

o   Its unfortunate how many devastating leaders in our world’s history were educated and/or well-spoken individuals. The same can be said about some of the world’s greatest leaders, however we would expect great things from educated people, not devastation and attempted extinction of a race.

-          At the end of the excerpt Hitler wrote, “Never forget that the most sacred right on this earth is a man’s right to have earth to till with his own hands...” We know that Hitler believed only the Aryan race was “man”, but today we know that isn’t true. Some still believe that certain races or ethnicities are lesser humans, but through all that we have been through we now define people as man or woman. I would say that we can take this quote and spin it to show that all races, cultures, ethnicities are worth loving and accepting because all of mankind is sacred.