"Adolf Hitler, Doctor of
the German People."
From Die Volksgesundheitwacht, 1935
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Nazi ideology was constituted by a fantasy projected into reality. The first part of Hitler's fantasy was his conception of Germany as a living organism. The second part was his belief that the German nation was suffering from a disease that would prove fatal unless radical actions were undertaken.
Hitler identified Jews as the source or cause of Germany's disease. Jews were conceived as pathogenic microorganisms whose continuing presence within the nation would lead to its demise. It was therefore necessary Hitler believed, in order to cure Germany's disease—to eliminate Jews from within the body politic. The Nazi movement was conceived by Hitler as a struggle of life against death: between the healthy German organism and the viral Jewish element.
The Holocaust, from Hitler's perspective, was a medical procedure.
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