“Why Are We Antisemites?”
This is the provocative title of one of Hitler’s most (in)famous speeches, delivered in 1920 at an early meeting of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) in Munich.
An English translation of this speech is now available in our book In His Own Words: The Essential Speeches of Adolf Hitler, which can be found on our website.
In it, Hitler, who himself had resisted holding anti-Semitic beliefs for the early part of his life, laid out what he saw as a fundamental difference between the German and Jewish peoples that he had come to realize.
He saw this as a vital explanation for the contemporary relations between the two, and the state of German politics and society.
Read on for details of this historic speech!
This is the provocative title of one of Hitler’s most (in)famous speeches, delivered in 1920 at an early meeting of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) in Munich.
An English translation of this speech is now available in our book In His Own Words: The Essential Speeches of Adolf Hitler, which can be found on our website.
In it, Hitler, who himself had resisted holding anti-Semitic beliefs for the early part of his life, laid out what he saw as a fundamental difference between the German and Jewish peoples that he had come to realize.
He saw this as a vital explanation for the contemporary relations between the two, and the state of German politics and society.
Read on for details of this historic speech!
Hitler’s political engagement started with anti-Communism. After his service in the German military in the First World War, Hitler remained with the army. In Munich, a short-lived series of far-left revolutionary governments took power in the state of Bavaria, where he was stationed.
Hitler’s hatred for this was so well known that when order was restored, he was tasked with rooting out former Communist revolutionaries in the military. He then became a military intelligence agent tasked with spying to help prevent future Communist uprisings.
Fatefully, Hitler, who by this time had also developed a conscious talent for public speaking and a political ideology of his own, was assigned to the tiny Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (German Worker’s Party, or DAP).
Hitler’s hatred for this was so well known that when order was restored, he was tasked with rooting out former Communist revolutionaries in the military. He then became a military intelligence agent tasked with spying to help prevent future Communist uprisings.
Fatefully, Hitler, who by this time had also developed a conscious talent for public speaking and a political ideology of his own, was assigned to the tiny Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (German Worker’s Party, or DAP).
Hitler quickly became impressed with the party, including their platform, and the ideas of their leader Anton Drexler and economic theorist Gottfried Feder. Invited to join, he swiftly rose through the ranks due to his vision and oratory skill.
Under his influence, the words “National Socialist” (Nationalsozialistische) were added to the party’s name, which thus became the NSDAP. He also designed the famous swastika flag.
Following an early challenge to his influence that he was able to leverage, Hitler became the undisputed leader. His speech “Why We Are Antisemites” was given soon after, at the party’s biggest meeting to date, at the Festsaal ball room of Munich’s famous Hofbrauhaus, which Hitler himself had painted a picture of nearly a decade prior.
Under his influence, the words “National Socialist” (Nationalsozialistische) were added to the party’s name, which thus became the NSDAP. He also designed the famous swastika flag.
Following an early challenge to his influence that he was able to leverage, Hitler became the undisputed leader. His speech “Why We Are Antisemites” was given soon after, at the party’s biggest meeting to date, at the Festsaal ball room of Munich’s famous Hofbrauhaus, which Hitler himself had painted a picture of nearly a decade prior.
Hitler himself recalled in Mein Kampf that as a young man, he found the subject of Jews ‘distasteful,’ and “opposed the idea that [Jews] should be attacked simply because [they] had a different faith.”
Crude and uninformed anti-semitic screeds that he encountered in Vienna tabloids further turned him off.
So what changed?
Crude and uninformed anti-semitic screeds that he encountered in Vienna tabloids further turned him off.
So what changed?
Hitler introduces the Jewish Question to his listeners with a discussion of work, and its development among different cultures.
“If anything distinguishes man from animal, it is precisely his work, which is not only guided by instinct, et cetera, but is based on the pure recognition of a certain necessity.”
“If anything distinguishes man from animal, it is precisely his work, which is not only guided by instinct, et cetera, but is based on the pure recognition of a certain necessity.”
He identifies a three-step development of work in human history:
- for pure self-preservation
- for selfish material gain
- out of a sense of moral duty
Hitler praises the German people for having clearly reached this third stage, which is omnipresent in their culture. For this “greatest revolution,” he thanks the “greatest Goddess on this earth” – hardship.
- for pure self-preservation
- for selfish material gain
- out of a sense of moral duty
Hitler praises the German people for having clearly reached this third stage, which is omnipresent in their culture. For this “greatest revolution,” he thanks the “greatest Goddess on this earth” – hardship.
This third stage was developed most, in Hitler’s telling, by the Nordic races in the far north, who were forced by the elements to work to survive. The difficulty of their environment incentivized planning ahead and working in advance for returns not immediately apparent. Finally, these elements gave rise to the development of an inner life.
“These three achievements—the recognized principle of work as a duty, a necessity, not only for the individual and out of egoism, but for the existence of the whole clan, even if that was often only a very small group of people; secondly, the necessity of physical health and thus mental health; and thirdly, the deep inner spiritual life—these gave the Nordic races the ability to expand over the rest of the world and form states.”
Hitler then asks: what about the Jew and the formation of states?
“These three achievements—the recognized principle of work as a duty, a necessity, not only for the individual and out of egoism, but for the existence of the whole clan, even if that was often only a very small group of people; secondly, the necessity of physical health and thus mental health; and thirdly, the deep inner spiritual life—these gave the Nordic races the ability to expand over the rest of the world and form states.”
Hitler then asks: what about the Jew and the formation of states?
Hitler uses the Old Testament as an illustration of the Jewish ethics of work. Jews, unlike Germans, see work as a punishment.
“… whether it is all true or not, it corresponds to Judaism’s conception of work itself; for them, work is not a self-evident moral duty, but at the most only a means for the preservation of one’s own self.”
This also has further consequences for the racial development of Nordic Gentiles and Jews.
“… whether it is all true or not, it corresponds to Judaism’s conception of work itself; for them, work is not a self-evident moral duty, but at the most only a means for the preservation of one’s own self.”
This also has further consequences for the racial development of Nordic Gentiles and Jews.
To Hitler, the Jews also lacked the development of the third work-related trait: inner spiritual experience. This is evidenced in the paucity of Jewish culture, something which could only be obscured in his day by the mass coordination of Jewish-controlled social institutions.
“The Jew has never possessed an artistry of his own. He has had his temples built by foreign builders… He personally has left no cultural arts, no other visual works, no buildings, nothing at all.”
“And musically, too, we know nothing except that he is capable of copying the music of others well. I do not wish to conceal the fact that today we have many famous conductors from their ranks, who have become famous thanks to a Jewish press that is coordinated down to the last whistle.”
To return to the previous question – “If a people lacks these three qualities, it cannot be state-building.”
“The Jew has never possessed an artistry of his own. He has had his temples built by foreign builders… He personally has left no cultural arts, no other visual works, no buildings, nothing at all.”
“And musically, too, we know nothing except that he is capable of copying the music of others well. I do not wish to conceal the fact that today we have many famous conductors from their ranks, who have become famous thanks to a Jewish press that is coordinated down to the last whistle.”
To return to the previous question – “If a people lacks these three qualities, it cannot be state-building.”
In a prescient section of the speech, Hitler then naturally turns to a consideration of what a Jewish state – the state of a people of non-state-builders – would look like.
“Thus, the goal of this Zionist state is nothing more than to pull the wool over the eyes of the unsuspecting. They try to explain that so-and-so many Jews have found themselves wanting to go there as farmers, as workers, even as soldiers. If they really had this instinct in them, the German Reich would need these ideal people today…”
“The whole Zionist state will be nothing but an academy for their international schemes, and from there everything will be directed, and every Jew will receive, as it were, an immunity as a citizen of the Palestinian state.”
“… he will naturally keep our rights as a citizen. But if you should catch a Jew red-handed, he will longer be a German citizen, but a citizen of Palestine!”
“Thus, the goal of this Zionist state is nothing more than to pull the wool over the eyes of the unsuspecting. They try to explain that so-and-so many Jews have found themselves wanting to go there as farmers, as workers, even as soldiers. If they really had this instinct in them, the German Reich would need these ideal people today…”
“The whole Zionist state will be nothing but an academy for their international schemes, and from there everything will be directed, and every Jew will receive, as it were, an immunity as a citizen of the Palestinian state.”
“… he will naturally keep our rights as a citizen. But if you should catch a Jew red-handed, he will longer be a German citizen, but a citizen of Palestine!”
Having established the difference between the Germans and Jews in their attitude toward work and corresponding historical development, Hitler begins to unveil the practical ramifications of this for the Germany of his day.
The difference between German work and Jewish work has resulted in different economic structures, with very different effects for the people of Germany.
Here he takes the Marxists to task for their focus on fighting “industrial capital,” which Hitler identifies as the age-old honest work of German tailors, weavers, etc, now simply scaled up; while ignoring entirely the system of stock exchange and finance capital.
Industry can be guarded from abuse, but to seek to fight it makes no sense.
The difference between German work and Jewish work has resulted in different economic structures, with very different effects for the people of Germany.
Here he takes the Marxists to task for their focus on fighting “industrial capital,” which Hitler identifies as the age-old honest work of German tailors, weavers, etc, now simply scaled up; while ignoring entirely the system of stock exchange and finance capital.
Industry can be guarded from abuse, but to seek to fight it makes no sense.
As it arises from a hard-working, state-building people, industrial capital is inherently national – “bound to the state, to the people, dependent on the will of the people to work… This is in contrast to the other form of capital, stock exchange and loan capital…”
The fortunes of industrial capital rise and fall with that of the nation itself. But for financial capital, not only does this connection not exist; in fact, Hitler argues, it is inherently in contradiction with the state.
The fortunes of industrial capital rise and fall with that of the nation itself. But for financial capital, not only does this connection not exist; in fact, Hitler argues, it is inherently in contradiction with the state.
“In order to accommodate this capital, one must proceed to destroy entire states, to annihilate entire cultures, to abolish national industries, not in order to make them public, but in order to throw all this into the jaws of international capital, for this capital is indeed international: as the only thing on this earth which is truly international, it is international because its bearers, the Jews, are international due to their spread over the whole world.”
Hitler has arrived at the crux of his argument for German anti-semitism: to oppose the institutions that arise out of the foreign, Jewish way of life, and cannot but afflict and destroy the German people.
“This leads to the degradation of all honest work, for every honest working person today must ask himself, “What is the purpose of my productivity at all? I’ll never get anywhere, and there are people who can not only live practically without working, but who essentially even dominate us.” And that is the goal.”
Hitler has arrived at the crux of his argument for German anti-semitism: to oppose the institutions that arise out of the foreign, Jewish way of life, and cannot but afflict and destroy the German people.
“This leads to the degradation of all honest work, for every honest working person today must ask himself, “What is the purpose of my productivity at all? I’ll never get anywhere, and there are people who can not only live practically without working, but who essentially even dominate us.” And that is the goal.”
Hitler again castigates Marxism in this context, for not merely misunderstanding the struggle at hand, but deliberately attempting to sabotage the German people by destroying their own industry and hard work, while leaving the Jewish financial system intact:
“One of the foundations of our strength is to be destroyed, namely the moral conception of labor, and this was also the brilliant idea of Karl Marx: to change the moral conception of labor, to organize the whole mass of people who were struggling under capital, and marshal them for the destruction of the national economy and the protection of international stock exchange and loan capital.”
“One of the foundations of our strength is to be destroyed, namely the moral conception of labor, and this was also the brilliant idea of Karl Marx: to change the moral conception of labor, to organize the whole mass of people who were struggling under capital, and marshal them for the destruction of the national economy and the protection of international stock exchange and loan capital.”
After the speech, in response to a questioner, Hitler doubled down, using the Soviet Union to illustrate the bloody results of a Jewish-run economic revolution.
“The Communists have hitherto fought only industrial capital and hanged only industrial capitalists. But name me one Jewish capitalist whom they have hanged. Three hundred thousand Russians have practically been murdered in Russia. The Soviet government itself now admits that. Among the three hundred thousand there is not a single Jew! But among the leadership, more than 90 percent are Jews. Is this persecution of Jews, or is it not, in the truest sense of the word, persecution of Christians?”
“The Communists have hitherto fought only industrial capital and hanged only industrial capitalists. But name me one Jewish capitalist whom they have hanged. Three hundred thousand Russians have practically been murdered in Russia. The Soviet government itself now admits that. Among the three hundred thousand there is not a single Jew! But among the leadership, more than 90 percent are Jews. Is this persecution of Jews, or is it not, in the truest sense of the word, persecution of Christians?”
Returning to the speech itself, Hitler completes the argument with numerous illustrations of how this Jewish spirit and its methods inevitably affect not just the economic questions, but all of society, particularly culture and morals.
“Finally, the Jew’s last resort is destroying everything that one would regard as necessary for a state to be considered cultured…. We recognize his activity in art, how today’s painting becomes a caricature of everything we might call true inner feeling.”
“Just as he works in painting, sculpture, and music, so he does in poetry, and above all in literature. Here he has a great advantage: he is the editor, and above all the publisher, of more than 95 percent of all the newspapers that are published. He makes full use of this power…”
“Finally, the Jew’s last resort is destroying everything that one would regard as necessary for a state to be considered cultured…. We recognize his activity in art, how today’s painting becomes a caricature of everything we might call true inner feeling.”
“Just as he works in painting, sculpture, and music, so he does in poetry, and above all in literature. Here he has a great advantage: he is the editor, and above all the publisher, of more than 95 percent of all the newspapers that are published. He makes full use of this power…”
Not only does this Jewish system invert and destroy German culture, but whenever possible, the Germans themselves.
“… we can find him everywhere, in North America as well as in Germany, Austria-Hungary and throughout the Orient, throughout the centuries as the trafficker of human flesh, and it cannot be denied—even the greatest defender of the Jews cannot deny—that almost all these traffickers in girls are Hebrews.”
“To Germanic sensibilities, there should be only one punishment here: death.”
“… we can find him everywhere, in North America as well as in Germany, Austria-Hungary and throughout the Orient, throughout the centuries as the trafficker of human flesh, and it cannot be denied—even the greatest defender of the Jews cannot deny—that almost all these traffickers in girls are Hebrews.”
“To Germanic sensibilities, there should be only one punishment here: death.”
To conclude, Hitler presents his political program, and returns to the necessity of anti-semitism. To oppose to destruction of the German nation, their political movement must be three things: socialist, nationalist, and anti-semitic.
“… socialism as the ultimate conception of duty, the moral duty of work not for one’s own sake but also for the sake of one’s fellow men… and here we hope and are convinced, first and foremost for our own people’s sake, that socialism is therefore inseparable from nationalism. For us, being nationalists does not mean belonging to one party or another, but rather examining every action to see whether it benefits the whole people… And this conception of the national immediately forces us to take a stand against the opposite, the Semitic conception of the people, and above all against the Semitic conception of work.”
“… socialism as the ultimate conception of duty, the moral duty of work not for one’s own sake but also for the sake of one’s fellow men… and here we hope and are convinced, first and foremost for our own people’s sake, that socialism is therefore inseparable from nationalism. For us, being nationalists does not mean belonging to one party or another, but rather examining every action to see whether it benefits the whole people… And this conception of the national immediately forces us to take a stand against the opposite, the Semitic conception of the people, and above all against the Semitic conception of work.”
“Restlessly, unceasingly, as long as there is still a spark of strength in us and a breath in our lungs, we will go out and call upon all our people and speak the truth again and again until we can finally hope that this truth will triumph, that the day will finally come when our words will fall silent and action will begin!”
This speech is just one of many that we have translated and reprinted. The information in this thread was also supplied by the historical context and commentary provided in this book by translator C. J. Miller, making it an indispensable source of historical record and research.
Other speeches in the book include:
- Freedom or Slavery?
- Hitler’s speeches at trial after the Munich Beer Hall Putsch
- Workers of the Hand and Workers of the Mind
- Address to the Reichstag Regarding the Purges of the Night
- Address to the National Socialist Women’s League
- On Church and State (Excerpt)
- Declaration of War on the United States of America
- The Fuhrer’s Final Radio Broadcast to the German People (1945)
… and more!
Get the book to read and judge Hitler for yourself, in his own words.
antelopehillpublishing.com/product/in-his…
Other speeches in the book include:
- Freedom or Slavery?
- Hitler’s speeches at trial after the Munich Beer Hall Putsch
- Workers of the Hand and Workers of the Mind
- Address to the Reichstag Regarding the Purges of the Night
- Address to the National Socialist Women’s League
- On Church and State (Excerpt)
- Declaration of War on the United States of America
- The Fuhrer’s Final Radio Broadcast to the German People (1945)
… and more!
Get the book to read and judge Hitler for yourself, in his own words.
antelopehillpublishing.com/product/in-his…
The book is also available as part of our Third Reich bundle, which also includes:
- Michael by Dr. Joseph Goebbels
- A New Nobility of Blood and Soil by Richard W. Darré
- The Rise of the NSDAP, a propaganda work and internal history by the SS
- Die Fahne Hoch, a collection of three biographies of National Socialist martyr Horst Wessel
Find it here!
antelopehillpublishing.com/product/the-th…
- Michael by Dr. Joseph Goebbels
- A New Nobility of Blood and Soil by Richard W. Darré
- The Rise of the NSDAP, a propaganda work and internal history by the SS
- Die Fahne Hoch, a collection of three biographies of National Socialist martyr Horst Wessel
Find it here!
antelopehillpublishing.com/product/the-th…
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