Facism and the Counter-Enlightenment Essay

Hitler, in 1934-1945, believing in the works of Charles Darwin, made concentration camps for the jews. He discriminated against the Jews, and declared The Aryan race to be superior. The killing of the Jews was both out of fear and pride for Hitler. He feared the fact that the Jews might spoil the pureness of the Aryans. He took pride in the fact that his race was superior, and so wanted to maintain his race’s superiority to keep his pride intact.

Adolf was the leader of Nazi Germany, and was a very cruel and savage man. “Adolf Hitler was the dictator or absolute ruler of Germany from 1934 to 1945 and leader of the nationalist socialist German workers’ party. He took advantage of Germany’s economic hardships and the bitterness of its citizens after World War I to attract followers, eventually taking complete control of the country.” (“Hitler”) Hitler was able to take control by using violence and brainwashing his people into following him. He was able to blame all the madness on others and made his people believe

“Nevertheless, faith in knowledge and reason and in the progress they were held certain to achieve remained the dominant characteristic of the Enlightenment.” With the change in political climate, women began to grasp the idea of reason in the new society. There was a fight for education, professionalism, and citizenship. The change that the Enlightenment brought to the world, gave women the lifeline they needed to pull away from their domesticated roles as housekeepers, wives, and mothers.

The Enlightenment period, also known as The Age of Reason, was a period of social, religious, and political revolution throughout the 18th century which changed the thoughts of man during this “awakening” time. It was a liberation of ignorant thoughts, ideas, and actions that had broken away from the ignorant perception of how society was to be kept and obeyed thus giving little room for new ideas about the world. Puritan society found these new ideas of thought to be extremely radical in comparison to what they believed which was a belief of strong rational religion and morality. Enlightened society believed that the use of reason would be a catalyst of social change and had a demand of political representation thus resulting in a time

He believed that “Aryans” were the purified race. He pronounced that his race must remain pure in order to one day take over the world. For Hitler, the ideal "Aryan" was blond, blue-eyed, and tall. Although Hitler was not even close to looking like an Aryan, he showed the love he had for them. His mind-set was very racist and discriminatory. He had the idea of a “master race” and he discriminated anyone that wasn’t a part of it. He believed that the Germanic people were the only purified race and everyone else was filthy. The Nazis began to put their ideology into practice with the support of German scientists who believed that the human race could be improved by limiting the reproduction of people considered "inferior." The only way Hitler could carry on his “master race” was by getting rid of every non-aryan. He went on a hunting spree for every Jew, Gypsy, homo-sexual, etc. He thought they were not pure and didn’t belong on earth, and this expresses the hatred and how discriminatory he was towards anyone that wasn’t German. By doing this, the Nazis grew in power and had the German society following them, which shows the control and power of Hitler’s words and actions. When Hitler and the Nazis came to power, these beliefs became the government ideology and were spread in publicly displayed posters, on the radio, in movies, in classrooms, and in newspapers. Hitler traveled in planes from city to city, spreading the word of the Aryan-race. He spoke to radio stations, educated children in school, posted pictures and many posters, but he mostly gave brainwashing speeches that tricked most of the German Society to follow him. He used blind obedience to grow his idea. Although most Germans followed out of fear, others seemed to resist and go against

Hitler and the Nazis had wanted everything to be in a certain order and everyone to be the same. Believing in the same things instead of everyone having their own vision of life. Even if he didn’t meet to those standards himself claiming there are these people considered as the all and mighty ones. They banished the gypsies from Germany in late

From 1933-1939, some of Hitler’s laws were ones of semitism with the main persecution being on those of Jewish descent. Other than a boycott on Jewish businesses, they were not allowed to join the military, go to schools or universities, perform in shows, marry those who were not Jewish, and eventually, all parts of public life. Jews were not the only ones that were persecuted though. Those who had disabilities, incurable diseases, homosexuals, and were not of the Aryan-race were also singled out and shunned by society. For Hitler to create a utopia, he needed to think of a way to send away and dispose of those he saw as not worthy of being a German.

The Enlightenment was a period in the eighteenth century where change in philosophy and cultural life took place in Europe. The movement started in France, and spread to Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Germany at more or less around the same time, the ideas starting with the most renowned thinkers and philosophers of the time and eventually being shared with the common people. The Enlightenment was a way of thinking that focused on the betterment of humanity by using logic and reason rather than irrationality and superstition. It was a way of thinking that showed skepticism in the face of religion, challenged the inequality between the kings and their people, and tried to establish a sound system of ethics. The ideas behind the

After World War I, Adolf Hitler was one of the dictators that arose; which then gained power in Germany in its Great Depression. Hitler rose to power using techniques such as propaganda, censorship, charisma and terror, but that was not all he did. Hitler started his own fascist party in Germany and called it the Nazi Party. Later, Hitler developed anti-semitism, or prejudice against Jews and dehumanized them. He viewed Jews as a separate race not a religion. This caused many changes particularly to the Jews. During World War I the Nazi’s treatment of the Jews caused political, economic, and social changes.

Adolf Hitler wanted the Jewish race to be destroyed forever. But he didn’t just stop at beliefs. Even if you were a Christian, Catholic, Atheist, etc., you were still in danger. You were still in danger because if you looked Jewish to him then you were swooped up and taken hostage in a concentration camp.

Hitler was a nationalist socialist, and viewed communism as dangerous to the well-being of nations because of its intention to destroy private property, he thought it supported class conflicts and its aggression against the middle class and hostility towards small business and atheism. His beliefs came from his hatred of Jews in which he held the ideology of anti- Semitism. Hitler believed that the Jewish community was the driving force of communism. He also perceived that the Soviet Union being a communist county was evil and that America was the ultimate enemy, his plan was to eliminate America even if he ended up fighting other countries to achieve this purpose. Hitler thought the people of Germany needed more land to support more people

The statement that gender equality would not have been possible without the Enlightenment is false. The reason why it is false is because the Enlightenment had its flaws. The Enlightenment did not truly represent the ideas of everyone. It excluded certain groups. Another reason is because the people didn't believe in it, themselves.

Hitler was obsessed with the racial superiority he believed the German peoples had over all other inferior peoples. He wanted to rule the world, but in order to carry out his solution, he needed to convince the German people to listen to him. Perhaps Hitler would never have been able to do what he did had World War I never occurred. As Resnick said in his book, The Holocaust; After World War I, Germany was trying to rebuild and recover…Both the Treaty of Versailles and the Great Depression severely afflicted Germany. "In many respects, these terrible conditions made Hitler's rise to power possible." (Resnick p. 15) People in desperate situations will listen to anyone offering a way out. Hitler offered not only a way out of Germany's turmoil, but also someone to blame for it; he pointed at the Jews.

Hitler cultivated his own army to destroy selective demographics, he wanted to create a world where his concept of ideal was the only one that existed. As a dictator he was able to constitute laws, anyone who chose to disobey these laws would be executed. The laws that are put into place can define success through evil acts. The Holocaust is a direct example; Hitler knew he would be able to brainwash human beings to obey his commands contributing to the success of his dehumanizing scheme.

Adolf Hitler was one of the 20th century's most powerful dictators. He was responsible for World War II and the death of millions. Hitler saw a nation in despair and used this as an opportunity to gain political power. He saw a nation of unemployed and hungry citizens and promised them economic prosperity in return for absolute power. Someone once said "The Nazis rose to power on the empty stomachs of the German people".