Jewish Perspective: Hitler and Socialism

By Julio Severo

There is a perspective, defended by right-wing groups, that Adolf Hitler was exclusively Marxist. In the past, I also adhered to such perspective. But after understanding that Hitler was a religious man (a nominal Catholic, with deep occult beliefs), I concluded that his socialist imageries were a sham and propaganda.

Hitler was an esoteric man who knew how to manipulate politics and Catholics and Protestants.

In his book “Hitler’s Cross: How the Cross of Christ was used to promote the Nazi agenda” (Moody Publishers, 1995), Rev. Erwin W. Lutzer said,

Secular historians have admitted that Hitler cannot be explained merely as a shrewd politician who appeared in Germany at a time when the nation was ripe for a dictatorship. Allan Bullock, who wrote an extensive biography of Hitler, dutifully listed what Hitler studied in his youth: yoga, hypnotism, astrology, and various other forms of Eastern occultism…

[Germany’s] national obsession with occultism prepared the way for Hitler’s meteoric rise to world prominence. Heinrich Himmler’s masseur said that the nation was caught up in “the mysticism of a political movement” and in “no country were so many miracles performed, so many ghosts conjured, so many illnesses cured by magnetism, so many horoscopes read.” There were telepathy, séances, and spiritual experiences of every sort, which camouflaged Hitler’s deceptions. Just as the New Age movement today might well be preparing the world to accept the miracles of Antichrist, so the occultism of Germany made mass deception much more difficult to detect.

Another book that addresses Hitler’s occultism is “The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party,” by Scott Lively and Kevin Abrams.

Marxism eventually extinguishes religion. While Marxists are deeply atheist, Hitler was a deeply religious man. His occult religion helps us understand why he was not sincere about his alleged socialism. Insincerity is a trademark of esoteric groups and individuals.

Yet, there is a people who can say if Hitler was a right-winger or left-winger. Hitler’s main victims were the Jews, and they were hated not only because they were Jews, but also because most of them were socialist — as was Karl Marx, the father of Marxism, whose grandfather was a rabbi.

So it is no wonder that even today Jews are suspicious of right-wing politicians. Osias Wurman, who is Israel’s honorary consul in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, expressed concern about Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. in 2016. He said,

“Today, more than ever, it is necessary to warn the world public opinion about the dangerous change of course rightward that has been ravaging Europe and some nations in the American continent. A global poll, held in 2014, found that 46% respondents had never heard about the Holocaust!”

For Wurman, an increase in right-wing sentiments goes hand in hand with pro-Holocaust feelings.

What have the Jews to say about Hitler and socialism? To answer this question, I consulted a reliable Jewish source. So I bring here official information from the Jewish Virtual Library.

Four important points in the text on the Nazi Party of the Jewish Virtual Library are:

* Hitler had anti-Marxist speeches and actions. Even when he used socialist imageries, he violently persecuted socialists and communists.

* The fortunes of the NSDAP (the German acronym for the National Socialist German Workers’ Party or the Nazi Party) changed with the Wall Street Crash in October 1929, resulting in the Great Depression. Such powerful economic crisis was helpful for Hitler’s anti-Marxist propaganda.

* Hitler, who was considered a fool in 1928 when he predicted economic disaster, was seen as a brilliant political seer after the Wall Street Crash. People began to say that if he was clever enough to predict the Great Depression maybe he also knew how to solve it.

* “What Hitler said depended very much on the audience. In rural areas he promised tax cuts for farmers and government action to protect food prices. In working class areas he spoke of redistribution of wealth and attacked the high profits made by the large chain stores. When he spoke to industrialists, Hitler concentrated on his plans to destroy communism and to reduce the power of the trade union movement,” said the Jewish Virtual Library.

The Jewish perspective helps us understand how anti-Marxist propaganda and actions can disguise dark intents. And my perspective, as a conservative evangelical, can help us understand how esotericists can use anti-Marxist propaganda and actions to deceive Catholics and evangelicals.

Here are the best excerpts of the text of the Jewish Virtual Library on the Nazi Party:

Hitler had always been hostile to socialist ideas, especially those that involved racial or sexual equality. However, socialism was a popular political philosophy in Germany after the First World War. This was reflected in the growth in the German Social Democrat Party (SDP), the largest political party in Germany.

Hitler’s stormtroopers were often former members of the Freikorps (right-wing private armies who flourished during the period that followed the First World War) and had considerable experience in using violence against their rivals.

At the end of the march Hitler would make one of his passionate speeches that encouraged his supporters to carry out acts of violence against Jews and his left-wing political opponents. As this violence was often directed against Socialists and Communists, the local right-wing Bavarian government did not take action against the Nazi Party.

While Hitler had been appointing government ministers, Ernst Röhm, leading a group of stormtroopers, had seized the War Ministry and Rudolf Hess was arranging the arrest of Jews and left-wing political leaders in Bavaria.

Hitler believed that the Jews were involved with Communists in a joint conspiracy to take over the world. Like Henry Ford, Hitler claimed that 75% of all Communists were Jews. Hitler argued that the combination of Jews and Marxists had already been successful in Russia and now threatened the rest of Europe. He argued that the communist revolution was an act of revenge that attempted to disguise the inferiority of the Jews.

In Mein Kampf Hitler declared that: “The external security of a people is largely determined by the size of its territory.” If he won power Hitler promised to occupy Russian land that would provide protection and lebensraum (living space) for the German people. This action would help to destroy the Jewish/Marxist attempt to control the world: “The Russian Empire in the East is ripe for collapse; and the end of the Jewish domination of Russia will also be the end of Russia as a state.”

Hitler attempted to play down his extremist image, and claimed that he was no longer in favour of revolution but was willing to compete with other parties in democratic elections. This policy was unsuccessful and in the elections of December 1924 the NSDAP could only win 14 seats compared with the 131 obtained by the Socialists (German Social Democrat Party) and the 45 of the German Communist Party (KPD).

The German economy continued to improve and as unemployment fell, so did the support for extremist political parties such as the NSDAP. In the General Election held in May, 1928, the Nazi Party won only 14 seats, while the left-wing parties, the German Social Democrat Party (153) and the German Communist Party (54) still continued to grow in popularity.

The fortunes of the NSDAP changed with the Wall Street Crash in October 1929.

Before the crash, 1.25 million people were unemployed in Germany. By the end of 1930 the figure had reached nearly 4 million. Even those in work suffered as many were only working part-time. With the drop in demand for labour, wages also fell and those with full-time work had to survive on lower incomes. Hitler, who was considered a fool in 1928 when he predicted economic disaster, was now seen in a different light. People began to say that if he was clever enough to predict the depression maybe he also knew how to solve it.

In the General Election that took place in September 1930, the Nazi Party increased its number of representatives in parliament from 14 to 107.

What Hitler said depended very much on the audience. In rural areas he promised tax cuts for farmers and government action to protect food prices. In working class areas he spoke of redistribution of wealth and attacked the high profits made by the large chain stores. When he spoke to industrialists, Hitler concentrated on his plans to destroy communism and to reduce the power of the trade union movement.

In the past, those who feared communism were willing to put up with the SA [also known as stormtroopers or brownshirts] as they provided a useful barrier against the possibility of [communist] revolution.

[May 1932] saw open warfare on the streets between the Nazis and the Communists during which 86 people were killed.

The behaviour of the NSDAP became more violent. On one occasion, 167 Nazis beat up 57 members of the German Communist Party in the Reichstag. They were then physically thrown out of the building.

The stormtroopers also carried out terrible acts of violence against socialists and communists. In one incident in Silesia, a young member of the KPD [German Communist Party] had his eyes poked out with a billiard cue and was then stabbed to death in front of his mother. Four members of the SA were convicted of the crime. Many people were shocked when Hitler sent a letter of support for the four men and promised to do what he could to get them released.

Incidents such as these worried many Germans, and in the elections that took place in November 1932 the support for the Nazi Party fell. The German Communist Party made substantial gains in the election winning 100 seats. Hitler used this to create a sense of panic by claiming that Germany was on the verge of a Bolshevik Revolution and only the NSDAP could prevent this happening.

A group of prominent industrialists who feared such a [communist] revolution sent a petition to Paul von Hindenburg asking for Hitler to become Chancellor. Hindenberg reluctantly agreed to their request and at the age of forty-three, Hitler became the new Chancellor of Germany.

Portuguese version of this article: Perspectiva judaica: Hitler e o socialismo

Source: Last Days Watchman

Recommended Reading:

Hitler’s Strident Anti-Marxism

The Holocaust and the Misdirected Criticism of a Brazilian Jew against Conservatives in Europe and America