Propaganda or a Fact?
Hitler was a vegetarian because of his concern for animal suffering, noting that he was often distressed by images of animal cruelty and sufferings.
In 1942, Hitler said, “The only thing of which I shall be incapable is to share the sheiks’ mutton with them. I’m a vegetarian, and they must spare me from their meat.”
Hitler’s close Aide Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels recorded the following in his diary-
An extended chapter of our talk was devoted by the Fuhrer to the vegetarian question.
He believes more than ever that meat-eating is harmful to humanity. Of course he knows that during the war we cannot completely upset our food system. After the war, however, he intends to tackle this problem also.An excrept from Joseph Goebbels diary
Maybe he is right. Certainly the arguments that he adduces in favor of his standpoint are very compelling.
The conversations between Adolf Hitler and his inner circle which took place between July 1941 and November 1944, Hitler often talked about himself as a vegetarian.
Hitler banning Vegetarian Societies
Most people have often questioned Hitler’s commitment to the vegetarian cause because the Nazi’s banned vegetarian societies and the persecution of their leaders
But the Nazi ban on Non-Nazi Organizations was so widespread that anything which is non-Nazi was simply banned.
The Book ‘In The Mind Of Adolf Hitler’ by psychologist Walter C. Langer, the author quotes:
“If he (Hitler) does not eat meat, drink alcoholic beverages, or smoke, it is not due to the fact that he has some kind of inhibition or does it because he believes it will improve his health.”The Book ‘In The Mind Of Adolf Hitler’
“He abstains from these because he is following the example of the great German, Richard Wagner, or because he has discovered that it increases his energy and endurance to such a degree that he can give much more of himself to the creation of the new German Reich.”The Book ‘In The Mind Of Adolf Hitler’
According to one of the quotes by Hitler’s food tester Wölk , Hitler deliberately avoided meat and his meal was was of vegetables, rice, pasta, noodles and exotic fruits, which were a real real rarity at the time. [BBC]
Atoning the death
The psychoanalyst Erich Fromm speculated that Hitler’s vegetarianism was actually a means for him to atone the death of his half-niece Geli Raubal.
It was a also a way to prove to others that he was simply incapable of killing.
Hitler the Antivivisectionist
Commercial animal trapping was banned and imposed severe restrictions were imposed on hunting .
There even was a prohibition on boiling of lobsters and crabs.
In one incident, A fisherman was sent to a concentration camp for cutting up a bait frog.
Evidences suggest that Hitler was also an Antivivisectionist
(An Antivivisectionist is the one who opposes the practice of performing operations on live animals for the purpose of experimentation or scientific research).
It is said that At social events, he sometimes gave graphic accounts of the slaughter of animals in an effort to make his dinner guests give up eating meat.
The health condition of Hitler
There could be another reason to why Hitler became a Vegetarian- Due to his poor health conditions. Mostly his doctors would have advised him to become a vegetarian.
There is a wide array of evidences which prove Hitler was a strict vegetarian throughout until his death in 1945.
But does him becoming a vegetarian and caring for animals make him any less cruel?