Why was Hitler so successful at generating hatred of Jews?

Question

I'm reading Mein Kampf and am not surprised at his loathing for "the Jew." Was perplexes me is, aside from the politics of the era, why was he so successful in generating such enmity towards Jews?

Answer 1

Because blaming Jews for everything worked for nearly 2000 years before Hitler.

[edit:] Several of you claim Jews were blamed for Germany's woes because they had money during a global depression. It is true that some Jews did have money, but from 1934-38, Hitler and his SS goons confiscated or destroyed most wealth and property belonging to Jews. Shouldn't hatred of Jews have ended then? Shouldn't Germans have resented wealthy Aryans as well?

Hitler's hatred of Jews goes far further than money. He decided that Jews were a race which was destroying Aryan purity, even if these Jews had Aryan traits.

I wonder which three idiots thumbs-downed me. Truth hurts?

Answer 2

A mixture of people feeling a need to blame other people for their current problems. A charismatic leader. But two other points that historians seem to gloss over when discussing Hitler's rise to power:

1 - There were many Jewish businesses that dealt with luxury commodities (gems, clothing, furniture, etc.) These luxury items had a good business outside of Germany and so these Jewish business stayed successful while other German businesses failed. Hitler was able to point to these successful Jewish businesses and say they were cheating the German people.

2 - Many Orthodox Jewish communities are naturally very cloistered and secretive. Human nature is to be curious about secretive things and make our own outlandish speculations about what goes on in those communities. Hitler did just that, he pointed to Jewish communities and claimed their were actively conspiring against true Germans.

Answer 3

He also lived in Vienna early in his independent life (around 1909-1913), which had a lot of Jewish people living there at the time so he got to interact with them more and form an opinion about the race (although it was an ignorant one). There were many people in Vienna who believed strongly in a racist and anti-Semitic way of life and Hitler was exposed to these people while living there, so that helped a lot too with his hatred toward Jews among other groups of people as well.

Answer 4

Bless you for having the fortitude to get through that oh so very dry and boring book. Anyway. After WW1 the people of Germany were in a horrible depression and were starving. The Jewish community were more educated, had businesses and nothing against the Jews but they are pretty closed to outsiders. It was easy to turn the German people against them. With the Jews gone, the Germans took over the businesses and the economy thrived. Very simple really.

Answer 5

Hitler was a very smart man, although he was considered a wimp and wimps can become powerful with words. It all depend how they used it right or wrong. Gandi used his the right way. Hilter appeared before his people and they chanted for 15 min. before he said a word. Germans were poor at the time while the Jews prospered. Jews are all about history and since the beginning of time.

Answer 6

Simply because like Americans, the Germans, Italians, British and French were also in a depression. The Jews were the rich ones, the doctors, the business owners, and considered by themselves as the elite. Hitler wanted them gone and wanted their money to get out of depression, and since most Germans were in poverty they wanted the same, they followed Hitler.

alex

Answer 7

Ever see a chicken with a blood spot where a feather was lost in a chicken yard ? Better get it out or it'll be dead before morning,,
picked to death by the other chickens. It's the animal in all of us.
Germany was in bad shape at the time and Hitler convinced the
Germans that the Jews (with all their money) had a "blood" spot.

Answer 8

People love a scapegoat, and it always goes hand in hand with xenophobia. Germany was impoverished after the first world war. Hitler did manage to pull them out of that mess, so he was already regarded as a hero when he started to turn his attention more fully towards the Jews.

Answer 9

It was very cultural. A lot of ignorant Christians blamed Jews for the death of Jesus and there was a lot of resentment toward financially successful Jews during a time of inflation in Germany.

Answer 10

Instead of reading Mein Kampf read today's news. GW Bush and his croonies are doing exactly the same things that Hitler did... except that this time it is not "The Jews" but the "Muslims".