ABSTRACT
The racial ideas of Adolf Hitler are a logical beginning for an examination of the Holocaust. It may be impossible to pinpoint when Hitler conceived of the mass murder of the Jews, but it is not difficult to demonstrate that his ideology led in that direction, twisted though the road may have been. As we have seen, conflict and racial struggle were at the core of Hitler’s ideology. This racial struggle consisted of a clear play of opposites: the Aryans, bearers of human cultural development, against the Jews, parasites who were attempting to destroy the Aryans. Already in 1922, at a meeting of the National Socialist Party, Hitler said, “There can be no compromise-there are only two possibilities: either victory of the Aryan or annihilation of the Aryan and the victory of the Jew.”1 Opposition to the Jews became Hitler’s sacred mission. “Today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against
the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.”2 Since the Jews, according to Hitler, were “evil incarnate,” with plans to dominate the world, the Aryans must be prepared for a long and bloody struggle.
