Why Did Hitler Hate the Jews?

After WWII ended, a major concern was understanding what caused a war that cost the lives of an estimated 50–56 million military and civilians, with an additional estimated 19–28 million deaths from war-related disease and famine. Historians have documented that towards the end of the war, when the Nazis had to make the choice between winning the war and killing Jews, destroying the Jews was their priority. An example is, toward the end of the war when the choice was shipping troops and supplies to the Eastern war front and transferring Jews to the extermination camps, Hitler chose to exterminate the Jews.

One claim is that Hitler hated Jews because he had some very bad past experiences with them. Actually, according to the documented evidence, Hitler’s experiences with Jews were consistently positive. When Hitler lived in “Männerheim Brigittenau hostel in Brigittenau, Vienna, a number of Jews lived there with whom he reportedly was on excellent terms. Most of his paintings were sold by Jewish dealers that Hitler was also on good terms with. One of the most loyal buyers of his paintings in Vienna was the Jew Samuel Morgenstern. Hitler once expressed his admiration for Rothschild for sticking to his religion, even though this meant he could not use the German courts to settle valid grievances.

Throughout most of 1918 WWI , the Jew Lt. Hugo Gutmann (1880 –1962) served as Adolf Hitler's direct superior. Gutmann later recommended Hitler for the award of Iron Cross, First Class, a decoration rarely awarded to persons of Hitler's low Gefreiter rank. The decoration was presented to Hitler in August 1918 by the regimental commander, Major von Tubeuf. Hitler wore this medal throughout the remainder of his career, including while serving as Führer of Nazi Germany. In 1938, Gutmann was arrested by the Gestapo, but released as a result of SS personnel who knew his history. Gutmann, due to Hitler's intervention, received his full Nazi Germany pension until the end of the Second World War.

In October 1918, Adolf’s unit of over 100 soldiers was exposed to a gas attack while fighting the British. German soldiers were treated locally and Adolf was transferred to Pasewalk Hospital. The diagnosis that Adolf’s loss of vision was not organic, but rather “hysterical amblyopia.” This diagnosis was made by Jewish neurologist Dr. Karl Kroner. When the Holocaust began, Dr. Kroner was arrested and deported to Sachsenhausen, but on Hitler’s orders was released.  With Hitler’s help Dr. Kroner and his non-Jewish wife obtained visas to Iceland and later emigrated to New York in 1945, where he lived until his death in 1954.

Hitler’s mother’s doctor in Linz was the Jewish physician Eduard Bloch (1872 –1945). He was also the family doctor of Adolf Hitler and his family when they lived in Linz until 1907. Bloch had a special fondness for the Hitler family. When Hitler's mother, Klara, was dying of breast cancer, Bloch billed the family at a reduced cost, sometimes even refusing to bill them outright. In 1908, Hitler wrote to Bloch assuring him of his enormous gratitude for his loving care given to his mother when she was ill. Hitler also expressed his appreciation with gifts. One gift was a valuable large wall painting which, according to Bloch's daughter, Gertrude (Trude) Kren (born 1903 in Austria; died 1992 in the U.S.), was lost. As late as 1937, Hitler was very concerned about Bloch's well-being and called him an Edeljude (a "noble Jew").

When the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938, the 66-year-old Bloch wrote to Hitler asking for protection. In response, Hitler awarded Bloch special protection and personally intervened to ensure his safety.  Bloch stayed in his house with his wife undisturbed until the formalities for his emigration to the United States were completed. Without any interference, they were able to sell their family home at market value, highly unusual with the distress sales of emigrating Jews at the time. Even Nazi expropriation of Jewish assets through the Reich Flight Tax was also ignored. Moreover, the Bloch’s were allowed to take the equivalent of 16 Reichsmarks out of the country. The usual amount allowed to Jews was a mere ten Reichsmarks. Dr. Bloch lived in the United States until his death from stomach cancer in 1945.

Many more examples could be cited. Furthermore, I was unable to find a single example of a negative experience Hitler personally had with Jews. The reasons for Hitler’s determination to eliminate Jews include because he was fully convinced that they were, except the Edeljudes, an inferior race and had to be exterminated as part of the Nazi’s goal of producing a superior race based on Darwinism. In this race conclusion, Hitler had the full support of academia, both in Germany and the United States.

Praise Yeshua, Our Savior!

A few years ago, while giving a creation presentation at a Black church in southern Ohio, I noticed on the bulletin board in the back of the church behind the sound equipment was a large colorful sign praising Yeshua (Ye su ah), our Savior. After the prayer and visiting with the congregation, I asked the pastor about the sign. I recognized that Yeshua was the Hebrew name for Jesus, but wondered why it was mentioned on the bulletin board. “Do you have any Jewish congregants?” I asked.

“No, but what we want to do is get used to the correct name of our Lord. We feel that using another name does not show full respect for Him. Your name is Jerry. How would you like it if everyone called you Alemán (pronounced al le man) which is Spanish for Jerry?”

“Actually I would not mind at all.” I replied.

“Maybe not, but your name is not Alemán. What about if you were given an award and everyone there called you Alemán? And the name printed on the certificate given to you at the ceremony was Alemán? And also Alemán was printed in the paper in an article congratulating you for your award?”

“That would be different. No one would know that I, Jerry, was given the award,” I replied. “I can see your point. How did we get Jesus out of Yeshua?”

“The best explanation is a translation error.”

“A translation error! You’re kidding.”

“The word Jesus is the Latin form of the Greek word Iesous, which in turn is a transliteration of the Hebrew word Jeshua, Joshua, or Jehoshua, meaning “Jehovah is salvation.” The word Christ came from the word Christos, which is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah, which means “the anointed.” Not even the term Jehovah is correct. That is another issue, though. Suffice it to say that Jehovah is a vocalization of the four letters of the Tetragrammaton (Hebrew יהוה‎ translated into English as YHWH). As was true of all written words in ancient Hebrew, the Tetragrammaton contained no vowels. When ancient Hebrew was in everyday use, readers could easily provide the appropriate vowels. Today the vowels have to be added in the word,  which is how we got Jehovah from the four letters of the proper name for God in the Hebrew Bible (which Christians call the Old Testament). When translating it, we now know that Jehovah is also wrong. The Correct translation when the vowels are added is Yahweh.”

“It’s complex,” I added, somewhat overwhelmed at this point.

“Very true, but when it comes to names we need to be correct if we can. I realize the whole world uses Jesus. Or a translation of the English word Jesus, as in Spanish is Heh soos, a very different word than in English, even though it is often spelled the same.”

I added, “I see your point, especially in view of the fact that the name Jesus Christ is often used as a swear word today and, at the least, is overused.”

“We are not going to change the world, but some denominations do stress what are the correct names, as far as we now know. I think, especially to us, the correct name of God and His Son, Yeshua, is important.”

I added, “I agree, but, although I rarely use the correct term, I am aware of this issue, but will not likely change my habit. I do like the name Yeshua, as it sounds more Hebrew. It also has a softer, almost musical sound. Also, I often recognize the tetragrammaton (יהוה) in ancient documents, which now has more meaning to me.

Many years ago I bought a cup with my wife’s name, Diane, printed on it. She responded by saying “you are very thoughtful, but that is not my name. My name is Dianne, not Diane.” The problem was, the only spelling offered in the store was the more common spelling which was Diane. Since then I was very mindful of the correct spelling of my wife’s name. If someone gave me a cup spelled Jerri, instead of Jerry, I would thank him, but probably would not display the cup anywhere in the house.

After the pastor explained why he used Yeshua he quoted Luke 16:10 which says “He who is faithful in little things is faithful in much; and he who is dishonest in a little things is also dishonest in much.”

Postscript: I have another very interesting story about this church where I have often presented. I look forward to writing about it sometime in the future. May Yeshua bless your day!