I’ve been reading Mein Kampf and so far it’s a pretty interesting read. I started reading with a couple goals in mind. The first being to find out if it all the hate was because of the content, or simply because of its author. The other was, I like trying to get an alternate view of history in general and I find that context from an opposing party often provides interesting insight into the political/social situations in a given time frame.
One thing I’m coming across pretty regularly is (no surprises) Hitler’s accusations against the Jews in terms of their control of finance and the media. I found it very interesting, in that much of it read similarly to some current conspiracy theories. I have a vague understanding that the Jewish population was heavily involved in finance at the time for a number of reasons, but I wasn’t aware of any unusually strong media control.
I was wondering if anyone could give me some historical context for Hitler’s claims. I’m curious if there were ever any hard numbers on the demographic makeups of Jews vs non-Jews in German/Austrian/European media and finance.
I’m also interested in what would have made Hitler take this view on things. Admittedly I haven't finished the book, so perhaps there’s more reasoning later, but I can only follow his train of thought if I accept the fact that “the Jews” had a goal of bringing down the empire. Perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself, but I’m curious what benefit Hitler assumed the Jews would reap by triggering the downfall of the German race/society as it seems to me any society tightly integrated with an overthrown culture would themselves be caught up in the downfall.
I don't have data regarding population numbers, but there was in fact a higher proportion of Jews in the field of journalism in Germany by the start of the 20th century. But most antisemitism writings of the time didn't mention where Jews where largely excluded from positions of power, such as government and military fields. While reading, take note of how he flips between calling Jews weak and powerful, depending on what point he was trying to make.
As for where Hitler got his ideas, the answer is: all around him. With the rise of scientific racism and in particular Social Darwinism, which emphasized a struggle for survival between races, antisemitism was alive and well on Germany and Europe, just with a "new coat of paint." The mayor of Vienna while Hitler lived there, Karl Luger, used antisemitism to boost his popularity and exited his crowds, obviously making an impact on Hitler's public speaking sensibilities.
I'm on mobile so this is a sparse post, but it is sourced using War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust by Doris Bergen.
I would also like to point out that the text isn't "hated." It was a memoir and a piece of propaganda. There is no separation between content and author because the content is the author himself. This isn't to say that everything in it is what Hitler genuinely believed (it is propaganda), but Hitler did set out to put his worldview on paper and the content isn't something that can be judged separately from the author.