Born in Austria in 1889Nevertheless, he fought for

the German army during WWI Temporarily blinded by poison

gas in 1918After the war he moved to

Munich, with many other unemployed war veterans

In Munich, Hitler met many other disillusioned soldiers

He joined the Nazi party A small, radical,

fringe group Hitler emerges as

leader

Nazi National Interests Establish Germany as a

powerful nature and empire (The Third Reich)

Provide space for population growth: Lebensraum

Unify all German people (including those in Denmark & Austria)

Deal with the “Jewish problem”

Rebuild the country’s military power

Herman Goering was a leading member of the Nazis

A former Ace from WWIHe founded the

Gestapo in 1933

Joseph Goebbels was one of Hitler’s closest associates and one of the masterminds of the Holocaust

Responsible for book burnings

He regularly organized attacks on German Jews, culminating in the Kristallnacht in 1938

Hitler’s early attempt to overthrow the Weimar government

Hitler was arrested for treason and jailed

“History will tear to tatters the verdict of this court” - Hitler

Hitler’s Racism Aryans: the supposedly “pure” German

race, according to Hitler Anti-Semitism: hatred of Jews

Lebensraum (living space) Hitler’s theory that Germans must

conquer and colonize territory in the East

• "The Jews were responsible for bringing negroes into the Rhineland with the ultimate idea of bastardising the white race which they hate and thus lowering its cultural and political level so that the Jew might dominate."

• "The Jewish youth lies in wait for hours on end...spying on the unsuspicious German girl he plans to seduce.....he wants to contaminate her blood and remove her from the bosom of her own people. The Jew hates the white race and wants to lower its cultural level so that the Jews might dominate."

• "The longer I lived in Vienna, the stronger became my hatred for the promiscuous swarm of foreign peoples which began to batten on that old nursery ground of German culture." (A reference to East Europeans)

• "Only an adequate large space on this earth assures a nation freedom of existence." A reference to Hitler's policy of living space (Lebensraum)

• "We must eliminate the disproportion between our population and our area...... Some of this land can be obtained from Russia..... We must secure for the German people the land and soil to which they are entitled." 

• "(The state) must see to it that only the healthy beget children; that there is only one disgrace: despite one's own sickness and deficiencies, to bring children into the world; and one highest honour : to renounce doing so. And conversely it must be considered reprehensible to withhold healthy children from the nation." This would later develop into Hitler's idea of the Master Race.

• "When you tell a lie, tell big lies. This is what the Jews do, working on the principle, which is quite true in itself, that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility......"

• "Whoever wishes to win over the masses must know the key that will open the door to their hearts."

Sturm Abteilung (Storm Section). The SA (also known as stormtroopers or brownshirts) were instructed to disrupt the meetings of political opponents and to protect Hitler from revenge attacks. Where did the storm troopers come from?

Cost of a Loaf of Bread in 1923:428,000,000,000 marks

Reichstag Fire Excuse to crack

down on Communists

Enabling Act (March 1933) No independent

bodies not connected to the NSDAP

Germany = dictatorship

Night of the Long Knives Consolidating

control in the party Schutzstaffel (SS)

replace SA Rearmament

In defiance of the Treaty of Versailles

Loyal solely to Hitler Led by an SS officer

All Germans feared a visit from the Gestapo

Moved swiftly against student opposition

A favourite propaganda point used by both Hitler and Goebbels

In Germany: about ½ million Jews Some assimilation had occurred Industrial influence small (contrary to

stereotypes) Bigger influence in retail trade + banking Professions: intellectual life, art, entertainment

“Us” and “Them” Aryan: tall, blonde, blue eyes. Purity of blood Nordic (including Scandinavia & Netherlands)

Nuremberg Laws, 1935 Establishes rules for maintaining the “Aryan”

race E.g. If you had one Jewish grandparent, you

were forbidden from marrying Aryans Vom Roth murder, Nov. 1938

Jewish boy killed Pre-text to unleash a storm of violence Round-up of Jews who had not left yet Liquidation of Jewish businesses

Kristallnacht “Night of Broken Glass

A series of coordinated attacks on Jewish people in Germany and Austria on Nov. 9-10, 1938 Attacks left streets covered with broken

glass from Jewish stores and synagogues 91 Jewish deaths 30,000 arrested and put in concentration

camps

NAZI NATIONAL INTERESTS

Establish Germany as a powerful nation

Lebensraum & expansion

Unify all German People Deal with the so-called

“Jewish Problem” The Holocaust The Final Solution

Rebuild country’s military power

How did these Nazi National Interests become transformed into Ultranationalism?

“He smiled very pleasantly, and indeed had a sort of appealing and affectionate look in his eyes. My sizing up of the man as I sat and talked with him was that he is really one who truly loves his fellow man and his country ... his eyes impressed me most of all. There was a liquid quality about them which indicated keen perception and profound sympathy (calm, composed) - and one could see how particularly humble folk would come to have a profound love for the man.”

Excerpt from Mackenzie King’s diary

Why is he smitten?

On May 15, 1939, the St. Louis, a steamship carrying 907 German Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany, set sail from Hamburg, Germany for Havana, Cuba. However, on May 30, when it reached the Havana port, the Cuban government refused to recognize the passengers' entrance visas and none was allowed to disembark. No other Latin American country would admit the refugees, and the St. Louis had to leave port. Canada and the United States were the Jews' last hope, but Mackenzie King ignored the protests of Canadian Jewish organizations and said the crisis was not a "Canadian problem." Frederick Charles Blair, the director of the Immigration Branch of the Department of Mines and Resources was quoted as saying, "No country could open its doors wide enough to take in the hundreds of thousands of Jewish people who want to leave Europe: the line must be drawn somewhere." Canada only took in 8,000, or one percent of the 811,000 Jewish refugees admitted into countries across the world. Mackenzie adopted the policy of "none is too many" regarding the immigration of European Jewry seeking refuge from the Nazis.

How is this incident an example of Ultranationalism in Canada?