Adolf Hitler Speech: Why Are We Antisemites, Feb 13 1920

Work, “Aryan” Ethic, and Northern Hardship Myth

Defines work as a social duty performed for the community, not mere self-preservation.

Claims a prehistoric Northern hardship bred three Aryan traits: (1) duty-bound work ethic, (2) physical health/purity through selection, (3) deep inner spiritual life.

Links these to alleged Aryan state-building and culture-creation.

Racial Hierarchy & Cultural Origins

Asserts “Aryans” created all high civilizations (Egypt, Persia, Greece) and associates the swastika with ancient Aryan culture.

Argues non-Aryan or mixed peoples failed to found great states.

State, Culture, and Politics Interdependence

Claims art and culture depend on strong state power (examples: Greece, Rome, medieval Germany).

Maintains only a “sound” nation/state can enable individuals to work and create.

Constructed Contrast: “Aryan” vs “Jewish” Work

Says Jews view work as punishment (citing Gen 3:19), hence allegedly reject ethical duty.

Depicts Jewish economic activity as “parasitic” (trade/finance/intermediation) rather than productive labor.

Denial of Jewish Statehood & Attack on Zionism

Argues Jews historically lacked true state-building capability; calls Zionism a façade to shield global influence.

Claims a future Jewish state would serve as a hub for “international criminals” with extraterritorial cover.

Antisemitic Stereotypes: Health, Spirit, and “Restlessness”

Accuses Jews of inbreeding, physical/mental defects, and lack of genuine spiritual/artistic creation.

Attributes Jewish success in arts to press manipulation rather than talent.

“Jewish Destruction” Narrative (Three Pillars)

Work ethic: Recasts finance/loan capital (interest-bearing) as Jewish, corrosive, and international; contrasts with “industrial capital” as rooted, productive, and national.

National/racial purity: Claims Jews preach equality/mixing to debase other nations while staying “pure” themselves.

Spiritual/cultural life: Alleges Jewish-led degenerate art, literature, theater, and cinema undermine morals and culture; includes sex-trade slander.

Democracy, Press, and Majority Rule

Depicts democracy as a Jewish tool: press “forges” public opinion; majority rule replaces “reason.”

Claims Jews first serve princes, then champion democracy, then become dictators (Russia as example).

Russia/Soviet Example

Presents Bolshevism as Jewish dictatorship destroying economy, faith, and culture; cites mass killings and famine.

Uses it as a warning for Germany.

Economic Program: Capital Distinctions

Industrial capital: tools, factories, working capital—necessary and not to be “fought,” only regulated.

Loan/finance capital: interest-bearing, international, unproductive—must be opposed by national power (not international cooperation).

Political Strategy & Organization

Rejects mere “scientific” antisemitism or purely economic boycotts; demands mass political organization.

Positions National Socialism as a party-movement mobilizing workers and small people, not salons/elites.

Ideological Triad

Declares Socialism + Nationalism + Antisemitism inseparable:

Socialism = ethical duty of work, “common good before self,” fight against unearned income.

Nationalism = love of the whole people; preserve bodily/mental health of workers and youth.

Antisemitism = necessary opposition to “materialism/mammonism.”

Programmatic Aims & Methods

Calls for deep social reforms (land, old-age care) paired with the removal of Jews from German life.

Advocates agitating popular “instinct” against Jews, building organization to act when the time comes.

Rhetorical Rebuttals & Claims

Casts Communists as tools of finance capital; alleges they execute non-Jews while Jewish leaders remain untouched.

Asserts revolutions are financed by plutocrats (e.g., Rathenau reference) to replace old elites with moneyed rule.

Insists Germany must fight capital nationally; no salvation from foreign “internationalism.”

Closing Posture

Emphasizes resolve: no “ifs and buts,” readiness for struggle and sacrifice.

Promises not utopia but the possibility of life if the program is carried through; otherwise decay and coercion (Bolshevik model).