Case Study: Hitler's racialist theories

Different Nazis offered a range of arguments—some pseudo-religious, others pseudoscientific—as to why the Aryan or European people were racially superior to people of other races. But the central dogma of Aryan superiority was espoused by officials throughout the party.

In Mein Kampf, Hitler describes his belief that the Aryans are the supreme race and culture. "What we see before us of human culture today, the result of are, science, and techniques, is almost exclusively the creative product of the Aryan," Hitler's view towards race and people can be found throughout Mein Kampf but more specifically in chapter 11 "Nation and Race". The standard-issue propaganda text issued to members of the Hitler Youth contained a chapter on "the race of the German people" that heavily cited the works of Hans F. K. Günther. That which does not spring from Aryan culture, Hitler says, is a direct derivative of Aryan influence on other societies. For an Aryan is "the Protometheus of mankind, out of whose bright forehead springs the divine spark of genius at all times" , and is he who lights the fire of the world. Adolf claims that "All that is not race in this world is trash" (337), and that by intermixing with other races, the progress of the world is slowed.

If one were to divide man into three groups, it would be done regarding culture. In the first group would be the "culture-founders, [followed by the] culture-bearers, and [to contain the rest] the culture-destroyers" (335). The Aryans would comprise the "culture-founder" group while the rest of the world either would be found baring the Aryan culture or destroying it. An example of a "culture-bearer" is the Japanese, who received a great deal of influence from the Aryans and have sustained their culture. He writes that without the rekindling of the Aryan culture, the Japanese will eventually ruin what the Aryans have given them, thus becoming "culture-destroyers." The Jews are a prime example of a "culture-destroying" race. Without any culture-founders, they are merely an imitation of the Aryans, and a poor one at that. "The Jew forms the strongest contrast to the Aryan" Having no culture-creating energy, the Jew "will never have a constructive effect, but only a destructive one.