'Hitler Decided on the Mass Murder of the Jews in the 1920s and Thereafter Worked with Consciousness and Calculation Toward That Goal' Do You Agree?

There has been much debate amongst historians about the origin of the holocaust and Hitler’s role in the process. This debate can be broken down into two main sides ‘structuralist’ and ‘intentionalist’. Structuralists argue that the holocaust was driven by a process of ‘cumulative radicalisation’ and factors such as the war and overcrowding which resulted in reactionary policies eventually leading to mass murder. While on the other hand intentionalists argue that the holocaust was a long term plan driven by Hitler’s demonic, ideology. This essay will attempt to illustrate the validity of the structuralist argument by showing how Hitler’s policies evolved from separating the Jews as citizens and then relocating them to genocide; it will also show how this evolution was driven by a number of factors, including the war, logistical issues and the local influence of Nazi officials
The first political writing which shows evidence of Hitlers anti-Semitism and long term goals regarding the Jewish population of Germany is his letter written to Adolf Gemlich in September 1919. In the letter Hitler argues that a political anti-Semitic movement is needed to identify Jews as ‘racial tuberculosis’ which threatens the health of the German nation. Hitler states the only possible cure for this so called infection is a
‘systematic legal combating and elimination of the privileges of the Jews, that which distinguishes the Jews from the other aliens who live among us (an Aliens Law). The ultimate objective [of such legislation] must, however, be the irrevocable removal of the Jews in general.’
Here he is clearly stating the main aim of a future nationalist government should be to remove the Jewish population’s rights as citizens and then to physically remove them from Germany in what would become mass relocation. There is not strong enough evidence present in this letter to indicate Hitler had decided on the mass murder of the Jews at this point. His many speeches and

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