Ideology of hatred

In a will written in the bombed-out bunker in Berlin as Germany faced defeat, Adolf Hitler called on his people to continue the merciless war against the people responsible for poisoning the world – international Jewry.

Hitler was consistent in his theory: For him and the Nazi leadership the Holocaust was not just another war maneuver. For them it was a sacred mission whose goal was the wiping out, once and for all, of a hostile, criminal and defiled race that was responsible for all of humanity's problems throughout the generations: The Jewish race. This was the essence of his worldview, the driver and the flag.

The Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda, as shown in Professor Jeffrey Herf's revealing new book The Jewish Enemy, did not weaken when defeat was near, but rather became increasingly more powerful. Its level of poison consistently increased until it became the sole means that explained the reasoning of the war to the German masses. The will to wipe out the Jews, writes Professor Herf, has remained the leading factor in the Nazi ideology in general.

Did the Nazi leadership believe in its anti-Semitic propaganda? Was it convinced by the satanic statements made by the press office headed by Hitler's right-hand man, Otto Dietrich? The answer is yes. There is substantial evidence of this. It sheds light on the Nazis' persistence in continuing to operate the Jewish extermination machine even when resources allocated for this purpose hampered the Germans' final war effort.

The anti-Semitic dybbuk that gripped the Nazis didn't let up: According to Professor Herf, they believed until the end that the Jews conspired globally to destroy Germany and enslave the Aryan race.

Anti-Jewish blood dynasty

Those trying to relate to the Holocaust today as a hideous war crime, but one that is not unique and not only "Jewish," are ignoring the overall historic anti-Semitic connection prevalent throughout the generations. One had to be blind not to see the roots of the Holocaust's conscious awareness, and its drawing from an age-old culture of European hatred.

The Holocaust constituted the final link – until now – in the anti-Jewish blood dynasty: Since exiled from their homeland, Jews had been ostracized, humiliated, hated and held guilty for all of mankind's misdemeanors. The sword of persecution over the heads of the Jews was not put away for a moment, until they were led to the gas chambers.

No other tragedy or war crime throughout human history equals the Holocaust of the Jewish people, not because of the extent and not because of its methodology – but rather, because of the ideology behind it.

The Holocaust was not genocide; it was the murder of Jews.