Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf is intriguing for numerous reasons. But one of the more intriguing ones is the amount of irony found in the book. What is especially interesting about the irony in Mein Kampf is the fact that Hitler was not even aware of it himself. The irony is totally unintentional.
Hitler has delusions of grandeur. He thinks that Providence plays a personal role in what he perceives as his greatness. All the experiences in Hitler's life are what he considers to be steps taken by Providence to lead him to glory. Consider the Vienna years for example. Hitler says that these were hard times. He wallows in pity for himself. And this is ironic because great people are usually stoical about their sufferings. Hitler takes a Nietzschean view of the sufferings he says he endured during the Vienna years.
"While the goddess of suffering took me in.
her arms, often threatening to destroy me, my.
will to resistance grew, and in the end this.
was victorious.".
This echoes what Friedrich Nietzsche said about suffering. Nietzsche said, "That which does not destroy us makes us stronger." Hitler obviously believes that his life testifies to the truth of what Nietzsche said. This of how this conviction, to which Hitler ascribed, ironically reflects on those whom Hitler considered to be his and Germany's main enemy: the Jews. Hitler sought to destroy Jews, but if the Nietzschean philosophy to which Hitler ascribed be true, he actually made the Jewish race stronger by tormenting them as he so barbarically did. No doubt many Jewish people would deeply resent this statement because, they might argue, it contains the very vile implication that Hitler unintentionally did his Jewish enemies a favor. There is only the just irony of Nietzsche's philosophy coming back to haunt Hitler; he made his enemies stronger while destroying himself.
How did World War I influence Hitler? Hitler was faced with the prospect of a bleak future following Germany's defeat in World War I.
