Was Adolf Hitler Actually a Pacifist?
Was Adolf Hitler A Pacifist?
Adolf Hitler’s reputation as a peace maker or pacifist is a topic of contention among historians. While some argue that Hitler had shown anti-war sentiments in his early political career, others emphasize his subsequent aggressive actions and involvement in World War II. The question of whether Adolf Hitler can be considered a true pacifist remains a subject of debate, reflecting the complexity of his ideology and actions. Adolf Hitler: The Pacifist
In the late 1990’s an Israeli journalist interviewed Ernst Zundel at his home in Toronto and asked him if he celebrated Hitler’s birthday. (Interestingly, Zundel is officially classified by biographers such as Wikipedia.org and Pantheon as an “extremist.”) Zundel readily admitted that he did faithfully every year. Then he went on to describe Hitler as one of the most gifted, sought after….etc.; he choked up and could not continue his train of thought. He was overcome with emotion by the thought of describing the man he idolized.
The image above shows Ernst Zundel on trial in Germany in 2005. Images of Zundel are around on the internet, but almost all of these images show Zundel in his later years. The image above is furnished courtesy of a 2017 New York Times article celebrating Zundel’s at the time rather recent death.
What were Hitler’s achievements and attributes that Zundel so admired, when the rest of the western world has placed him in the trash heap of history? In their eyes Hitler’s evil has no equal. Think Stalin, Mao, Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun; none of these men receive the attention that Hitler does. Even now the average person believes his soul smolders in the deepest darkest recesses of hell, with his dog Blondie and Eva Braun.
Zundel, on the other hand, saw Hitler as the man that saved Germany from a slow agonizing death, who helped them to live at least for 12 years as proud Germans befitting of their glorious history.
The general public knows Hitler as the megalomaniac that led his people into the most catastrophic brutal war the world has ever seen, that cost the lives of 60 million people. The German nation was definitely destroyed as a result of that war, and today it continues to drift into the slow death to which it was heading after World War I, before Hitler came along. Only an artificial facade remains today that calls itself Germany. In reality it is a large concentration camp with hard working efficient slaves that have decorated their prison quite beautifully.
It is important to remember that European people were sold in slave markets in Muslim-occupied Iberia as well as the Ottoman Empire, in addition to being kidnapped as part of the old Muslim Barbary Slave Trade. European people were being bought and sold in Ottoman slave markets as late as the 1920 and were still being legally bought and sold in the Arabian Peninsula as late as the 1960s. Saudi Arabia did not officially outlaw chattel slavery until 1966. The point to mention here is that Germany is now facing a dark time of potential enslavement if present trends continue. The image above is furnished courtesy of hurrietdailynews.com
Zundel described himself as a pacifist and admitted that he left his native Germany for Canada in 1959 because he did not want to serve in the army. Canada had no military service requirement. He saw the post-war German army as the successor to the “brutal” one that served under Hitler. Zundel had been brainwashed by the occupiers after 1945, like so many other Germans, to be ashamed of himself and to disavow war. Still he developed a great admiration for this man, Hitler, that many see as the supreme warmonger. There seems to be a paradox here, but when you realize how hard Hitler had worked to avoid war, it is not such a paradox. He brought Germany from a state of starvation and hopelessness in the middle of a depression to the most successful, prosperous and happy nation in the Western world in 2 to 3 years without war. He restored some of the lost territories from WWI without war. This is what Zundel admired.
The documentary film footage one sees of ecstatic flag waving Hitler admirers of that day is not contrived CGI footage. It may have been used for propaganda on both sides, but it is a real expression of their sentiment. Never in history was there ever such a grand open display of love for a political leader. Was there ever such a display for Churchill, Roosevelt, or Stalin? The biggest crowd for Stalin came in 1953, at his funeral in Moscow. It was likely to ensure that he was really dead.
Hitler understood war very well since he was in the thick of the fighting in WWI. He was wounded and gassed, and received 2 Iron cross medals for bravery and a few other medals. He admired western culture and so did not want to see another fratricidal war. Unfortunately, his enemies, threatened by his economic successes, did all they could to provoke him into war because they could not compete economically. Once again, just as before WWI, the great powers felt threatened by Germany’s economic might. Competing economically would have been too challenging, so they chose the easier path, which was to destroy their competitor for good.
They got Germany to reluctantly draw the sword in September of 1939. Refugee situations had been created in Czechoslovakia and in Poland where Germans fled from their ancestral lands for safety in the fatherland. Hitler was faced with allowing his people to continue to be murdered and oppressed in these lands or fight back. His hand was forced and he chose to fight back.
Hitler too was a pacifist in a sense, since he made such great efforts to avoid war, and made peace offers throughout the war even while he was still clearly winning.
The image above is sourced from a parody YouTub.com channel named Dolfy Hitler Parodies. The Thule Society revers Hitler, but we are not without a sense of humor.
There really are no pacifist nations. There may be pacifist peoples such as the Amish, the Quakers, and the Mennonites. They may even be rather successful because they put their energies into work rather than war. Hitler believed that life is a struggle, and out of struggle, great nations are born. Those that turn the other cheek remain peoples, but not nations, and they receive little respect. The Mennonites have been chased all over the globe trying to avoid military service, but could never form a nation. So Hitler, above all, was practical. He realized that Germans were a pacifist people, but he admired their creativity, energy and talent, and sought to win them the respect he felt they deserved.
Hitler embodied both the pacifist and the warrior and the world has not yet figured him out. John F. Kennedy, in his early days, had some insight into the man. He stated in 1945 in his diary:
“Adolf Hitler will emerge from the hatred
currently surrounding him to be one of the most
significant figures to have ever lived. He had in him the stuff of which legends are made.” It was a rare tribute from a future US. President, no less.
The image above is furnished courtesy of sellilair.live
Say what you will about this extraordinary man, whether you see him as the evil incarnate mass murderer that countless books claim, or whether you see him in a more sober light, he continues to fascinate, and could well be the most written about historical figure to date.
Adolf Hitler has much to teach us, and through his example we still might be able to establish a peaceful world of mutual respect. This is why his birthday is still celebrated today.
Fredrick M. Daly
