The US historian Timothy Snyder believes that it is impossible to avoid the publication of Hitler’s autobiography “Mein Kampf”, but that should be properly framed and explained to new generations.
Recently
, Hitler’s book “My Struggle” (“Mein Kampf”), published in 1925 and banned in many countries after the end of World War II, was reissued in countries such as Germany and also in Portugal.
“I have the typical Anglo-Saxon position that we should not censor but argue. But if you can choose a publication with proper framing, choose this type of issue. The Germans made a very sensible thing to publish the book in the context of the education system, with footnotes and a discussion nationally about the significance of the book in the context of German history “ said Lusa author of “Black Earth” on Nazism and the Holocaust, and that will be released this month in Portugal.
> “After all, I think it is better to have the book (” Mein Kampf “) available than not have it precisely because I am afraid of nationalism, populism and fascism in Europe. All of us who care about the rise of the populist nationalism should know the logic of Nazi argument “ , says Snyder.
For the historian
it is more important to analyze Hitler’s book and make the discussion and clarification deviate phenomena of “inspiration.”
“People from the far right who wanted to read the book have already done. Is available on the Internet for a long time “ , adds the historian.
Snyder explains that there is a significant number of people in the 1920s, during the crisis of globalization following the end of World War II (1914-1918) who wrote autobiographical pamphlets on “any worldwide conspiracy” and that “Mein Kampf” is part of this genre of books has become popular because Hitler was able to reach the power.
“What I consider dangerous is that ideas like these can change the world even if few people believe them. Hitler defended and believed in these ideas, as well as the SS officers and Nazi too, and when they reached the power had the ability to change the world in a chaotic way, “says the historian.
In the recent book “Black Earth,” Snyder states that the German National Socialist dictator believed that communism, capitalism or Christianity or even the scientific and technological advances were “evils” caused by Jews, defending as a solution to Germany through the creation of a “living space” (“Lebensraum”), particularly in Ukraine, inspired by the presence of Europeans in Africa or in the “conquest” of the American West in the nineteenth century.
“What I propose to the book ‘Black Earth’ is to treat Hitler as a figure on a global scale to imagine Germany as a global power, comparable to the UK and the US. To achieve Germany had to wage war in Europe and turn Eastern Europe into a giant colony of Berlin that for Hitler would be like as the United States, “Snyder said adding it will continue to devote itself to contemporary history.
“The Holocaust and the massacres in Central and Eastern Europe in the 1940s are the most important historical subject and there Fifteen years ago I study it and I will continue on the same themes as people have interested. But, I am a historian and I would like to work on other matters. I liked to investigate the origins of European nations. He liked to write an essay about the populist nationalism and the current military intervention of Russia in Ukraine “ , also told Lusa the American historian.
Hitler, the “green anarchist”
The historian believes that Hitler must be seen as an “anarchist-ecological” and the United destroyer for the benefit of German supremacy.
“Ideologically, characterize Hitler as an anarchist-ecological. The vision he had in the world was that economic resources: land and food that everyone needs were divided between races, as well as the animals are divided into species. The truth and reality becomes the struggle for natural resources “ , Snyder said stressing that Hitler’s logic was complex and ” monstrous “ but not limited to racial persecution.
According to Snyder, the Nazi dictator believed that communism, capitalism or Christianity or even the scientific and technological advances were “evils” caused by Jews advocating as a solution to Germany’s colonial expansion through the creation of a “living space” (“Lebensraum”), particularly in Ukraine, inspired by the presence of Europeans in Africa or in the “conquest” of the American West in the century XIX.
“What I propose in the book is to treat Hitler as a figure on a global scale to imagine Germany as a global power, comparable the United Kingdom and the United States. To achieve Germany had to wage war in Europe and turn Eastern Europe into a giant colony of Berlin that – to Hitler – was to be similar as the United States’ , argues the historian mainly based in new interpretations of the book “Mein Kampf” (“My Struggle”).
According to Snyder, Hitler did not have a specific plan for war and therefore improvised , and when it was faced with complex problems destroyed the states and institutions.
“What we find it is not a conventional military or diplomatic situation in which organizes a battle or sign a border treaty. Austria and Czechoslovakia and then disappeared during the war, Poland also disappeared from the map. Each time the German forces were thrown campaigning these lawlessness situations abroad Jews were killed in large numbers, “said Timothy Snyder.
The lessons were not removed
Timothy Snyder believes that politicians and present societies were unable to interpret the dangers of Nazism as an ideology that causes chaos destroying states and institutions.
“We tend to see the Holocaust as having been caused by an authoritarian state but what if the Holocaust was caused by a type of state which destroys the other states? In this way we can see the consequences of the destruction of the United “, told Lusa the author of” Black Earth “which will be released this month in Portugal.
For the author, the story of the Holocaust must continue to be a contemporary theme because of Hitler’s world view did not generate alone the genocide of the Jews having a “secret coherence” that caused a new kind of destructive policy and new knowledge on the ability for mass murder.
“I believe the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 was made with based on a misconception of what was the Holocaust . One reason for the invasion was the idea that if we cancel the state good things can happen. It is evident that the destruction of the Iraqi state could only lead to bad things, “says historian at Yale University who also warns of the dangers of hegemony of Moscow in Eastern Europe.
Timothy Snyder, a professor at Yale University, is the author of “Black Earth” and previously wrote the investigation “Bloody Land” about the genocide in Eastern Europe during World War II, as well as the long interview with the British historian Tony Judt (1948-2010) “Thinking the Twentieth Century.”
The book “Black Earth” (Bertrand Editora, 605 pages, translation Pedro Carvalho and War and Rita Carvalho and War) hits bookstores on Portuguese February 5.
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