Evil Part 6- Hitler's Inner Evil

In the last article we looked at the people who supported and helped push Hitler into power. Certainly the historical environment was paramount to the rise of Nazism and ultimately the Holocaust. Given that nothing on that scale had ever happened, at least not in so-called modern Europe, the post-enlightenment, industrialized Europe, or the bitter antagonism between pro-Soviet German Bolsheviks and Right wing Nationalists-from which the Nazis derived their power among the populace, and in the post-World War I Versailles Treaty was Hitler's rise inevitable? More than that, two fundamental questions arise concerning Hitler, the Holocaust and Evil. If Hitler had grown up at another point in history, to a different culture, or under different circumstances would he have turned out the same? In other words, was he, in part, a product of his environment more or less that of of some inner darkness?

In dissecting Hitler, his environment and, in hindsight, the fateful rise to power one must be careful to distinguish between excuse and understanding. Understanding does not absolve one of their actions. In fact, taking it out of the realm of a possessive evil provides a greater moral and ethical basis for accountability and punishment. From a religious context, of which evil is a central component, avoiding temptation is a function of one's own inner strength, and strength, moral, physical, emotional, intellectual varies greatly in each of us. Therefore, Evil becomes an alien force, in essence relegating us to mere accomplices to our actions.

Never has their been a socio-pathic personality debated as much as Hitler. There are volumes, vast archives devoted to Hilter and all manner of emotional, and perhaps even physical abnormalities, but they are all missing one important component, and that is Hitler in the wake of World War II and the Holocaust. An interesting and imperative aspect of understanding the criminal mind is the process of guilt, recriminations and excuse. Since Hitler did not survive his "storm" we are left with his words-principally Mein Kampf-and the testimony of others, as filtered through decades of history, war and trauma. no one will say of the one character that epitomizes evil in the 20th Century, "but he was really a good guy, just misunderstood" We must always accept that the historical record, and hence our understanding of Hitler, is incomplete.

CHILDHOOD
Though no official records remain, Hitler was reportedly born weak and frail. However, the first portraits show him as plump and well fed. His early childhood was uneventful, and perhaps even a little coddled. His father was rarely at home, so a father figure was clearly absent from his young life. As with anything, we must be careful not to draw conclusions from any one, or even a number of variables. Millions of boys grow up quite normally in single parent families without turning out remotely like a Hitler.

In 1893, after his father returned, the household was described as tense. Hilter could be defiant and disobedient and was subject to frequent physical punishment. But physical punishment wasn't uncommon then. In school, according to a former teacher, he was irate, righteous, inconsiderate and stubborn, and didn't fit well into the "school milieu," consistent with later descriptions of Hitler as a loner. He struggled in school, despite being exceptionally bright.

Some evidence exists to suggest he suffered from severe, and potentially life-threatening illnesses. His brother Edmund died of Measles in 1900, and some researches have theorized that a bout with measles encephalitis may have precipitated severe personality changes. Family and acquaintances describe fits of sudden rage through puberty, a trait that became infamous throughout his life, along with near paralyzing bouts of depression. One friend described him as restless, tense.

He was lazy, except when something engaged an obsessive personality. Young Hitler scoffed at what he considered menial labor, like postal clerk or baker. He dreamed of life as an artist, perhaps losing himself, and any relevant perspective on life in delusions of grandeur. One night, after a performance of Wagner's "Rienzi" and inspired Hitler bragged he would one day live the life of Reinzi. In the opera Reinzi dies in the flames of his beloved Rome.

Sexually he was obsessive and introverted. He wrote long letters and poems to a young woman he followed around Vienna. He never approached the woman or sent the letters and poems, but grew jealous when she would be in the company of other men.

Hitler was not overtly anti-Semitic as a young man, though the culture of European society at the time was deeply anti-Semitic. Still, when his mother passed in 1907, after a long illness, Hilter had only warm feelings for the Jewish doctor who treated her. Despite the death being a terrible blow to Hitler, he sent a hand painted card out of gratitude. In Mein Kampf, his consummate anti-Jewish dirge, Hitler did not blame the doctor for his mother's passing.

His life took a precipitous downturn from there. We will explore the Vienna years, homelessness and the First World War in the next piece.