Aggressive nationalism became virulent racism.
Adolf Hitler exploited this need for a political scapegoat and
turned it into a national, anti-Semitic campaign. The racial
stereotypes and accompanying feelings were already widespread.
Nineteenth century popular German literature was full of such
trite symbols. The Jew was always portrayed as a villainous
merchant, shifty-eyed, large-nosed, unscrupulous, and wealthy.
In contrast, the German was invariably portrayed as a solid,
blond-haired peasant, hard-working, loyal, and exploited.
The drama in such literature sprang from the tension between the
wealthy Jewish merchants and the hard-working but poor German
peasants. Here could be found the same kind of exploitation
which Hitler used to explain the German defeat in the war.
These popular stereotypes were then joined to the teachings of
Houston Stewart Chamberlain which had built on elements from
biology, anthropology, sociology, and phrenology. In his book
Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, Chamberlain had developed
them into a philosophy of world history which centered on the
concepts of racial conflict.
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