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  • Essay / Adolf Hitler's Use of Rhetoric

    Throughout history, the question "Do the ends ever justify the means?" » can be brought up and argued against many different political situations and viewpoints, such as the current situation with Nelson Mandela and Edward Snowden. The most popular, and probably most debated, situation is that of Adolf Hitler's seat of power in Germany. Many argue that he simply blamed the Jewish community for being wealthy in a time of poverty, while others believed he had just cause to blame them (American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise). Hitler's “end” did not really justify the “means”. This point of view can be evoked in the facts which manifested themselves throughout the Second World War. Although it is believed that he did not truly justify why he killed a large mass of people, he was able to do so through the use of propaganda and certain forms of rhetoric. All this can be expressed through his speeches. The first speech in which Adolf Hitler began to use rhetoric was his speech in Salzburg in August 1920. This speech was the first in a long series (Hitler and the Nazis, Statements Concerning Jews and Judaism). Adolf Hitler's cultural influences began with his experiences with the Jewish community. He had believed that because they had not been affected by the First World War, they were responsible for the fall of Germany in it (Trueman). Finally, the ultimate question: “Do the ends ever justify the means?” will be responded to with reference to the reasons for the response. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The rhetorical style was used in several speeches created by Adolf Hitler to convince the German people to blame the Jewish community for the fall of Germany in the First World War. The first speech analyzed is his speech given in Salzburg, Germany on August 8, 1920 (Hitler and the Nazis, Statements Concerning Jews and Judaism). In the second paragraph of the transcript, Hitler writes that they must oppose and solve the "Jewish problem." In the third paragraph, he refers the words “racial tuberculosis” to the Jewish community. They are also referred to as “Jewish contamination” and “this poisoning of the nation” (Hitler and the Nazis, Statements Concerning Jews and Judaism). By using such a strong connotation, Hitler is able to convince the German people of the problems facing the Jewish community. The second speech that covers Hitler's use of rhetoric is his closing speech at the Nuremberg Party Conference on September 12, 1938 (Hitler and the Nazis, Statements Concerning Jews and Judaism). In this speech, Hitler refers to the extermination of the Jews to create "a true community of people" and also calls the Jewish community a "foreign race that has nothing to do with us" (Hitler and the Nazis, Statements Concerning Jews and Judaism). In his speech and in the examples taken from it, Hitler uses falsifications and incorrect statements to convince the German people and the Socialist Party. He also uses repetition in the speech by repeating that they, as the Socialist Party, must exclude these “aliens” from their perfect community. The third and final speech to analyze is Hitler's speech before the Reichstag on January 30, 1939 (Hitler and the Nazis, Statements Concerning Jews and Judaism). In this speech, Hitler declared that "Europe cannot be at peace until the Jewish question.