Quote:
Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
Hitler also used ancient Roman and Nordic symbolism. Basically, anything he needed to do to get the people to follow him, he would do.
I'm not saying that he was an atheist, as it is known that he was actually dabbling in the occult. He certainly wasn't a Christian though, and he certainly didn't use religion to fuel his actions either.
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Hitler was a realist who understood the kind of power and persuasion that was needed to move a tide of humanity toward his goals. He believed himself an architect, building his own vision of the world. He was a megalomaniac who understood how to motivate and order people, how to act on their base instincts and desires to achieve his vision. That included the abuse of religion and religious symbology to create the image of the 3rd Reich that he desired. An appeal to higher power was common in political addresses in that era, it indicates no real belief on the part of the speaker...just like politicians today.
What many scholars instead argue, was that the lack of religious belief among the Nazi high-command is what led to the inhumanity of the Nazi machine, which nolonger associated human beings and the value of human life with any sanctity. Therefore the Endlösung der Judenfrage was merely a mechanical process expedited by base instincts of prejudice and genetic protectionism perpetrated through the use of scientific explanations (genetic inferiority), political anger, greed, and hatred.
I often look at the tide of history and just how endemic tribalism and ethnic warfare is in human culture and wonder if maybe the other human or proto-human hominids were wiped out by the same processes. A desire for ethnic purity and ethnic cleansing seems to be evolutionarily coded in human instinct.