Page 215 - Was Hitler a Riddle?

202 Conclusion

Germany and the soviet Union. But arendt also insisted that anti-semitism
and nationalism were crucial intellectual and historical sources of Hitler’s
movement. Professor Moses grants that anti-semitism was an ingredient
of Nazi ideology, but in placing primary emphasis on imperialism and rel-
egating the Jewish issue in Nazism to a secondary level of importance, he
offers an interpretation of Nazism that differs from the consensus that had
prevailed among the leading scholars of the movement.
the British, French, and american diplomats who were eyewitnesses to
Nazism and are the focus of this study did not consider anti-semitism to
be a secondary influence on Nazi leaders. true, in their reports they also
stressed the importance of expansionism and the desire to dominate eu-
rope as driving forces in the thinking of National socialist leaders. But in
depicting the brutality of the Nazis in the 1930s they invariably emphasized
the persecution of political opponents and, above all, the sadistic treatment
of the Jews, neither one of which would seem to have been directly related
to Hitler’s determination to act like the imperial powers by conquering vast
stretches of europe in colonialist style. Moreover, most of the Western dip-
lomats who interviewed Hitler made a point of the Führer’s fanatical hatred
of Jews. Once the subject of Jews came up in conversation, Hitler found
it impossible to control his emotions. His outbursts, all his interlocutors
agreed, were not feigned; they were authentic expressions of his feelings,
which undoubtedly affected many of his political decisions.
One report on the intemperate behavior of Hitler at the mere mention
of Jews would be amusing if it did not touch on a subject so fraught with
horrible events. in april 1937, George lansbury, a leader of the labour Par-
ty and a fervent pacifist, visited Hitler to persuade him to support a world
conference that would focus on the prevention of war. toward the end of
the interview, lansbury raised “one further question”: could Hitler say a
few words promising to let up on the persecution of the Jews that lansbury
could then pass on to his Jewish constituents in Bow and Bromley in lon-
don? according to a person who heard lansbury relate the Führer’s reac-
tion, the response was instantaneous. as soon as the translator “came to the
word ‘Jude,’ Hitler jumped to his feet and, giving the Nazi salute, poured
out a torrent of words, whereupon George said [to the translator]: ‘You
need not trouble to translate the rest—i know what the answer means.’”
Nevertheless, lansbury considered the meeting “a triumph” and told a fel-
low socialist and pacifist that Hitler “will not go to war, unless pushed into
it by others.” the Führer, he believed, “was a distressed and lonely man.” 2
the Führer was not the only Nazi obsessed with a fanatical hatred of