![]() In the second volume of the book, Hitler lays out the plans to achieve this pure German state and to expand its power. He explains that the “Jewish problem” must be dealt with by creating a racially pure German state ruled by Aryans. He also theorizes that the Jewish people are secretly trying to conquer the world by spreading undesirable forms of government like social democracy and Marxism, political schools of thought that promote equality and deprive Aryans of their innate superiority. Hitler expresses a very negative view of Jews in particular and describes them as calculating, cold-hearted, opportunistic liars and a threat to nationalism and German identity. Inferior races in the hierarchy include the east European Slavic peoples, including Czechs, Russians, and Poles, and Jews. The Aryan is both physically and intellectually superior to all other races, and is the source of all important art, culture, and technology. At the top of this hierarchy is the Aryan, a person of Germanic origin with blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. According to Hitler, there is a clear racial hierarchy in which some races are superior to others. After sharing these autobiographical details, Hitler spends the rest of the first volume clarifying the tenets of his race-based ideology. ![]() After living in Vienna for a few years, Hitler moves to Munich and becomes involved with the National Socialist party, which would later become the Nazi party. While at first reluctant to embrace the anti-Semitic attitudes of many of the city’s residents, Hitler changes his views after reading political newspapers and becoming acquainted with Karl Lueger, an Austrian populist and anti-Semite who helped transform the city. It is during his time in Vienna that he becomes interested in politics and adopts the beliefs that would become the foundation of his ideology. Having given up hope on becoming an artist, Hitler works as a casual laborer and painter to support himself, reading books and going to the opera in his spare time. He is told that his talent in drawing is more suitable for architecture, which he does not have the academic qualifications to study. Hitler applies to an art academy in Vienna to study painting, but is rejected. After both of his parents fall ill and die, Hitler leaves school and goes to Vienna to find a way to support himself. Although Hitler’s father intends for him to become a civil servant like himself, Hitler rejects this idea and tells his father he wants to become an artist. When the time comes for Hitler to enter high school, his father decides to send him to Realschule, a school that focuses on vocational training, due partly to his talent for drawing. He claims to have been a gifted orator even in his youth, but his father did not recognize or encourage his talent. At school, the young Hitler was a good student but pugnacious and often fought with the other children. Because of his father’s job, the family moved several times before settling in Linz. The dictator was born to an Austrian customs official and his wife in the small city Braunau on the Inn. The first volume of the book begins with a few chapters describing Hitler’s early life and education. The book remains deeply controversial today due to its anti-Semitic content. After his death in 1945, however, the state of Bavaria banned the book and it was not published in Germany again until 2016. ![]() The book was very popular during the Third Reich, the period during which Hitler ruled Germany. The book contains details about the Nazi leader’s early life and outlines his political ideology and plans for Germany’s future. Published in 1925, the book contains two volumes and was mostly written during Hitler’s imprisonment following his failed Munich Putsch coup attempt in 1923. The title of the book translates to “My Struggle” in German. Mein Kampf is the autobiography and political treatise of German dictator Adolf Hitler.
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