Hitler’s Theory of Untermenschen

  • Theory of inferior races
  • Considered a twisted, radical notion of only the strongest survive
  • Used to describe Hitler’s vision for a super race of men.
  • Played into Hitler intense hatred of the Jews and Slavs.
  • This hatred would eventually lead to the Holocaust.
  • Twisted version of Social Darwinism ("Between Hitler and Stalin", n.d.).
German Ubermensch
After Hitler was imprisoned for treason, he only served eight months of a five year sentence.  In that time in prison, Hitler began writing his book Mein Kampf.  In it, Hitler detailed his belief that Jews were the true enemy of Germany.  Hitler, along with other who supported his radical beliefs felt Jews, Slavs and Gypsies were inferior to the “pure German race”, especially the Jews, which Hitler considered sub-human ("Der Untermensch", 2010). Marriage of an Aryan race to one considered impure was forbidden.  Hitler believed the only way the “threat” of the Jews could be extinguished was through their systematic elimination.  The Holocaust was not only the killing of Jews, but also French, Russians, even Germans among others.  And if the mere extermination was not bad enough, Nazis such as Josef Mengele was responsible for not only the executions of Jews, but barbaric experiments on human subjects, especially twins which fascinated Mengele ("Nazi Ideological Theory", n.d.).  Many of those he experimented on died.  In all, the Holocaust cost around eleven million people their lives.
References
Credit: Krystal