It's the only notable work of Adolf Hitler and was written in 1924. It gives his ideas on politics, race, people, nation. Not surprisingly, you get a good idea of how the leader of the Nazi party, the Chancellor of Germany, initiator of the World War II and the key figure of the Holocaust or genocide that killed about 6 million Jews in Europe including 1.5 million children, thought, as you read the book. Under his leadership, the Nazi machinery systematically killed Jews in gas chambers and other mass murder mechanisms. For one who had a tough childhood, someone who harbored dreams of being an artist and an architect, Hitler found himself drawn into the army, into politics and forming and hardening his beliefs as he grew older. Hitler's book gives a first-class account of how biased people can be, how one can make all the wrong assumptions and how one can actually twist it all to influence thousands more to believe and to commit acts of unheard of violence and hate.
His hatred for Jews comes across throughout the book. Jews he believes are the worst kind and are constantly conspiring to cheat and usurp others property. They use all sorts of machinery, books, ideas, publications, newspapers to fool the public. The good of society will come only when they are removed from society. Interestingly he has his own version of love jihad - he believes that black haired Jews are constantly looking to make Christian girls fall in love with them and make them impure. Hitler has no time for any impure races - the purest of the race must mate with the purest and no intermingling with weak races o subhuman races must be allowed. Hitler believed firmly that the purpose of a nation is to promote the purest race - that of Aryans. All else are subhuman and must serve the Aryans. He believes that Aryans are single-handedly responsible for all human growth and as such must lead. All talk of universal brotherhood, equality etc is not to be entertained and all who are weak to be put down. To bring the Aryans to power in Germany through the German National Socialist Labour Party, Hitler forms several strategies on how the most able leaders must be found, given absolute power and absolute responsibility - he forgets to mention that once an individual is given absolute power he may not respond to any calls on his responsibilities and may in his desperation go further and further in the hope that his goal is achieved even if the cost if heavy. Such bias is to be rarely seen but we do see signs of some of these behaviors in modern day society even now. That one race or religion is better, that some are stronger, that some are better. His hate for negroids or other 'subhuman' cultures comes across clearly. He also hates Marx, the idea of equality proposed by the masses, who he thinks have no brains anyway and can be easily misled. They cannot take their decisions for themselves so they need to be shown the path. Not that they are worth it anyway.
Hitler constantly tells us what should be done. He has no space for another point of view. They are like this so this must be done. And very clearly he feels that he is the guy to do it and not everyone else has his intellect or mental power or reasoning power. His idea of group decisions is that they are stuff where no one can make a decision and everyone is shirking work - he hates democracies, parliamentarian systems. One man, the absolute image of god (himself), vested with complete power to do anything where none can question him, will lead for our own good. The rest must follow.
He gives a view into how he used propaganda to influence people, how he believes oratory skills are better tools at influencing people. It's absolutely fantastic to see how he goes from one subject to another with the supreme confidence of having understood it as no one else can and proposing solutions to it.
As a read, it boring because he goes on and on about his ideas, his anger at others, his ridicule. Few parts are interesting when he talks of himself and his experiences. But within all that one sees how he formed his beliefs. In the earlier part, he is more exploratory in nature and in the second part, one can see his swagger. I have been meaning to read this for years now and finally - done. If there is one thing to take away from this book - people who believe in absolute power, in the greater merit of the supposedly stronger, who believe that things must be taken by force, by false propaganda, who do not mind giving up the weak for the rich few, have all the characteristics of turning into someone like this.
His hatred for Jews comes across throughout the book. Jews he believes are the worst kind and are constantly conspiring to cheat and usurp others property. They use all sorts of machinery, books, ideas, publications, newspapers to fool the public. The good of society will come only when they are removed from society. Interestingly he has his own version of love jihad - he believes that black haired Jews are constantly looking to make Christian girls fall in love with them and make them impure. Hitler has no time for any impure races - the purest of the race must mate with the purest and no intermingling with weak races o subhuman races must be allowed. Hitler believed firmly that the purpose of a nation is to promote the purest race - that of Aryans. All else are subhuman and must serve the Aryans. He believes that Aryans are single-handedly responsible for all human growth and as such must lead. All talk of universal brotherhood, equality etc is not to be entertained and all who are weak to be put down. To bring the Aryans to power in Germany through the German National Socialist Labour Party, Hitler forms several strategies on how the most able leaders must be found, given absolute power and absolute responsibility - he forgets to mention that once an individual is given absolute power he may not respond to any calls on his responsibilities and may in his desperation go further and further in the hope that his goal is achieved even if the cost if heavy. Such bias is to be rarely seen but we do see signs of some of these behaviors in modern day society even now. That one race or religion is better, that some are stronger, that some are better. His hate for negroids or other 'subhuman' cultures comes across clearly. He also hates Marx, the idea of equality proposed by the masses, who he thinks have no brains anyway and can be easily misled. They cannot take their decisions for themselves so they need to be shown the path. Not that they are worth it anyway.
Hitler constantly tells us what should be done. He has no space for another point of view. They are like this so this must be done. And very clearly he feels that he is the guy to do it and not everyone else has his intellect or mental power or reasoning power. His idea of group decisions is that they are stuff where no one can make a decision and everyone is shirking work - he hates democracies, parliamentarian systems. One man, the absolute image of god (himself), vested with complete power to do anything where none can question him, will lead for our own good. The rest must follow.
He gives a view into how he used propaganda to influence people, how he believes oratory skills are better tools at influencing people. It's absolutely fantastic to see how he goes from one subject to another with the supreme confidence of having understood it as no one else can and proposing solutions to it.
As a read, it boring because he goes on and on about his ideas, his anger at others, his ridicule. Few parts are interesting when he talks of himself and his experiences. But within all that one sees how he formed his beliefs. In the earlier part, he is more exploratory in nature and in the second part, one can see his swagger. I have been meaning to read this for years now and finally - done. If there is one thing to take away from this book - people who believe in absolute power, in the greater merit of the supposedly stronger, who believe that things must be taken by force, by false propaganda, who do not mind giving up the weak for the rich few, have all the characteristics of turning into someone like this.
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