Distrust of Democracy
Hitler blamed Germany's parliamentary government for many of the nation's ills and wrote that he would destroy that form of government. Many historians have asserted that Hitler's essential character can be discovered in Mein Kampf. In it, he categorized human beings by their physical attributes, claiming German or Nordic Aryans were at the top of the hierarchy while assigning the bottom orders to Jews and Roma. Hitler also claimed that dominated peoples benefit by learning from superior Aryans, and said the Jews were conspiring to keep this "master race" from rightfully ruling the world by diluting its racial and cultural purity, and exhorting Aryans to believe in equality rather than superiority and inferiority. He described a struggle for world domination, an ongoing racial, cultural, and political battle between Aryans and Jews.
Considered relatively harmless, Hitler was given an early parole from prison and released in December 1924. From there, Hitler began a long effort to rebuild the Nazi Party. Meanwhile, as the Sturmabteilung ("Stormtroopers" or SA) gradually became a separate base of power within the party, Hitler founded the more reliable Schutzstaffel ("Protection Unit" or SS) a personal bodyguard. This elite, black-uniformed corps was eventually commanded by Heinrich Himmler.
Read more about this topic: Adolf Hitler's Political Views
Famous quotes containing the words distrust of, distrust and/or democracy:
“There can be no doubt that distrust of words is less harmful than unwarranted trust in them. Besides, to distrust words, and indict them for the horrors that might slumber unobtrusively within them—isn’t this, after all, the true vocation of the intellectual?”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)
“We have to distrust each other. It is our only defence against betrayal.”
—Tennessee Williams (1914–1983)
“Perhaps our national ambition to standardize ourselves has behind it the notion that democracy means standardization. But standardization is the surest way to destroy the initiative, to benumb the creative impulse above all else essential to the vitality and growth of democratic ideals.”
—Ida M. Tarbell (1857–1944)