I will be talking about first, I will try to describe what I think fascism is. Second, I will want to talk about Hitler, that is Hitler and the Jews. And finally, perhaps the most important topic, is Germans and Jews. In each, and coming to the end of each section, I very much hope you will make comments or ask questions. A major turning point, of course, which led to the Holocaust, was the January 30, 1933, the Nazis coming to power. The other two turning points will be, September 1, 1939, German invasion of Poland. And the third, the decisively important German invasion of the Soviet Union in June, 1941, when the real mass murder, the large scale commences. Well, about fascism. It's rather difficult to define what fascism is. There's several reasons for that. One is that fascism, unlike communism, had no explicit doctrine. Second, Marxism is an international movement, and you can make generalizations about that movement and see how they varied from place to place, but none the less, there was Marxism. In the case of Fascism, when it existed in the 1930s, the countries which we may or may not want to describe as fascist, differed from one another quite a bit. It is debated, for example, whether Franco Spain, Romania in the 1930s or even Hungary in the 1930s would be properly described as fascist. But the main problem in defining fascism, it seems to me, that the concept has been spoiled so much. That is, in contemporary fascism means, this is something which we really don't like. >> [LAUGH] >> And consequently it's emptied of meaning. I think this is a pity because at least going back to the 1930s when the movements probably this as fascist, that made sense. Well what did they have in mind? But first of all the word [FOREIGN] which, this is what Mussolini thought up. Mussolini, who probably called his movement fascist. What this was, it came from Roman times, when little sprigs of wood are tied together, each you could break easily, separately, but when they are tied together, then it becomes unbreakable. The message is that what we are for is national unity, and that will make us undefeatable. By the way, the was in fact a Roman symbol, so it is not surprising that Mussolini brought back this term. So, what was this all about? Well, it seems to me that fascism was successful at the particular historical moment in the politically unsophisticated environment. By unsophisticated environment, what do I have in mind? These societies which have not yet developed those institutions which would have, how should I say, made the way easier to modernity. Fascism was attractive to those who suffered or claimed to suffer because of the great modernization which began, let us say, in the 19th century and they regarded themselves victims of that change. That is, the way this thinking went, it may be indisputable that economically, the great changes which occurred are beneficial. On the other hand we have lost something. We have lost our sense of community, our sense of belonging, our identity. So fascism is peculiar in as much as on the one hand, it places the utopia in the past. It's a profoundly pessimistic view. Everything is going to the dogs unless we do something, on the one hand. On the other hand, fascism could exist only in the modern world. And what I have in mind is that it needed those various instruments, which are necessary, which were necessary, for mass mobilization, because mass mobilization is a primary characteristic, a defining characteristic of fascist regimes. And we'd separated from conservatism, which has no need for such instruments, and which is, if anything, the conservatives shy away from mass movements. But fascism is an anti intellectual doctrine. It appeals to, it glorifies youth, it glorifies the irrational, it glorifies emotion as against claims of reason. Now, I think I mentioned before that defined fascism as a rebellion, a rejection of the emancipatory trends introduced by the French Revolution, and this is what I am talking about. Now, Fascism had separate, different varieties. As I've said, they were quite different from one another. And Nazism, it seems to me, can be described fairly as a variety of fascism, very different from the Italian version. So, anti-Semitism. Well I think we can say that anti-Semitism is not a necessary component of fascism. We can say this, we know this because the original Italian version, anti-Semitism did not play a major role. Not at all. In fact, Mussolini would not have understood why make such a big fuss about those 50,000 Italian Jews who had been integrated, and Jews were able to join the fascist movement at the outset. Now to be sure, later on, and to what extent as the result of German pressure, I think that historians would argue that there was not much German pressure. But the German example influenced the Italian fascist regime to take steps and take moves and laws against the Jews. I'm will come back to this later because the Italian version is quite interesting. And I know that my friend Baumgarten is- >> Tell them the dates of Mussolini and the dates of the racial wars in Italy. >> Well, Mussolini, came to power in the early 1920's, 1922, March of Rome. And the anti-Jewish laws, which were by the way, were quite severe but not much enforced. I'm getting ahead of the story, I mean- >> [LAUGH] >> I would talk about it later but not much enforced, were introduced in the late 1930s. There is much to be said about this, as I've said, when the time comes. As I said it's not a necessary component. On the other hand anti-Semitism and fascism go very well together. What I have in mind by going well together, inasmuch as it's a repudiation of aspects of the modern world. That is, everything. Commercial values. Soulless capitalism. Parliamentary democracy, liberalism. And the fascists, at least German, Romanian, Spanish, Hungarian variety, indeed associated all this with the Jews. That is everything, which they did not like, which made them fascists, could be projected on the Jews, and did protect it on the Jews. That is, whatever complaints they had about the world around them, the modern world in which they lived, could be, which they did not like, could be associated with Jew. I would just use fascism to describe movements in the 1930s in Europe, but, as a historian, I am always struck by how events, movements, situations are distinct from one another, and I am much more likely to see differences than similarities. And I should have said that, that it is inherent in the DNA of fascism, if one can say that, is that we are members of nation, and that means it makes sense only if we have enemies. The enemies is really a crucial component. And enemy can be external and, which is relevant for us, internal. But this notion of that we are at war, and only then we can show who we are, our medal, is an essential feature of fascism. But, I mean, you know what I mean. I could go on and talk about what fascism meant in terms of economic organization, the so-called corporate state, which is the fascist economic doctrine. Meaning that the various interests within society are reconciled at the higher level rather than accepting the notion of class struggle. Because the class struggle, of course, would go against what the fascists were for.
