BCP Education & Psychology ERHSS 2023 Volume 9 (2023) 395 Analysis on the Ways Hitler’s Speech Caused Huge Harm to The Jewish Race Yuwen Fang* School of Foreign Languages, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China *Corresponding author: yuwenfang@my.swjtu.edu.cn Abstract. Hitler was a famous trigger of war and genocide, and a talented demagogue. However, according to the existing information and research data, most studies focus on him personally, not on his speech text techniques. This paper analyzes how his speeches burst with power using the following theories in details：language game theory, demagoguery rhetoric and rally effect. These three theories are often used in his speeches and became a catalyst for conflict. After these analyses, people can understand how did Hitler skillfully use the theories to help him and how his speeches exactly worked. Through these, this paper hopes to remind people of the power of language, to learn from history, and to avoid being compelled by speeches that can cause unexpectedly huge harm to others. Language is far beyond just a tool for communication, with elaborately planning, it could instantly become a hazardous weapon that careful utterance of words should always be born in mind. Keywords: Speech; language game; demagoguery rhetoric; rally effect. 1. Introduction 1.1 Research Background Adolf Hitler was the leader of Nazi Germany, the leader of the Nazi Party, and the initiator of the Second World War. He set off a wave of anti-Semitism, publicized fascist ideas, triggered a world war, and killed millions of Jews. His heinous crimes against the Jewish people are well known to the world. Yet the indisputable fact that he was a great speaker has been recognized by the vast majority of people, despite the fact that his brilliance brought about the destruction of some people. However, according to the information collected, most of the research on Hitler focused on him as an individual object, not on his speeches. People were curious about him and thoroughly studied him to find out the reasons for his anti-Semitism, but few articles carefully analyzed how his speech exerted its tremendous power. 1.2 Main Content and Applied Theories This paper will employ three theoretical methods, combined with Hitler’s actual speech content, to analyze from different angles how Hitler’s speech text conveys great energy and incites the masses to commit heinous crimes against another race and even the world. The three theories are linguistic game theory, assembly effect, and demagogic rhetoric. From the first aspect, Hitler’s strategies can be analyzed as language games, which means that the words he uses in a specific context have different meanings and can lead to speech acts as persecution. How the language game is applied explicitly in his speech text will be carefully analyzed in the article. From the second aspect, this paper will analyze the demagogic words used in his speech, which aroused a strong resonance among the people and hatred of Jews. What words amplified the effect of his speech will be revealed in this article. In the last part, Hitler constantly strengthened the difficulties faced by Germany and the hard life of the German people at that time. How these words stimulated the rally effect and continued to win people’s support for the Nazis will be elaborated. 1.3 Aim and Meaning By analyzing Hitler’s speech from many aspects and putting his speech flat in front of the readers, this paper attempts to unlock the secret of Hitler’s speech skills. This has both positive and negative meanings: when a politician is making a speech to promote his theory, people can quickly see his BCP Education & Psychology ERHSS 2023 Volume 9 (2023) 396 intention and understand what direction he is luring them. Errors can be terminated in time, and the damage will be reduced. By learning from the mistakes of history, people can do their best to prevent the Holocaust from happening again. On the other hand, people will also know how to make positive speeches more persuasive and make them play a more significant role. Therefore, by learning from the speech language, people can do their best to learning from history. 2. Analyzed Based on Language Game Theory 2.1 Introduction of the Required Concepts Firstly, relevant concepts including the language game theory, concept of derogatory words and speech act will be briefly introduced. It is noticed that they are not completely independent from each other, they are intertwined, sometimes as condition or cause and effect in most cases. To date there is no precise authoritative definition of language games, with reference to Wittgenstein's view that the meaning of words isn’t from the actions or objects they express, but from the historical background of the context or language game in which they are used. It is specified by rules of intelligibility embedded in the institutional context in which language is used [1]. This means that the word has a specific meaning only in a specific language game. For example, in a sense, the n-word could represent that only with a dark history and a purpose of disparagement can it became a derogatory term, or it is simply a word meaning black people. This can be called a language game for n-word has a different meaning put under current situation. The world is filled with countless language games, but terms like it shall be used carefully for some of them could be derogatory words that have huge negative impact. According to Tirrell, as the role the derogatory words played in Rwanda Genocide, a steady and widespread derogation of a group can be part and parcel of genocide, not only an antecedent to it, and the power of language to shape social being is showed clearly in the working of derogatory terms [2]. However, not every slur can be called as derogatory terms, as there are five standards shall be met by them: they draw a line to distinct outsider from insider, meet the essentialism condition, embed in social and history background, have variable function and are action-endangering. Only with the five features can a term be called derogatory terms and finally causes speech act. Here comes the last concept speech act. Speech acts constitute social behavior by creating social facts, relationships, and commitments. and they are generated by words under certain conditions and rules [3]. For example, when a couple gets married, the priest says “I pronounce you officially married”, and his words have the force of law. But if it's just kids playing game, and one kid says to the other two kids I pronounce you officially married. It’s the same words, but they don't have any validity for speech act will only be generated under certain circumstances that limited by rules set by people. However, in this paper, the conditions for the production of speech act matter less, to better understand this paper, knowing speech can produce action is enough. Then have a look at Hitler’s speech, it is now quite understandable why his words were so harmful to Jewish people. “ It tells me how the Lord finally stood up with his strength, seized the disaster and drove the viper species out of the temple ... How frightened he was to fight the poison of the Jews for the world ... ” [4]. In his speeches, there are different derogatory terms applied to attack his enemy, including vipers, poison and the Jews the word itself. The Jews itself is only the name of the race, but Hitler made it a derogatory term, that means in the language game he created, to say that a person is a Jew can be tantamount to pronouncing a death sentence for him, that’s the speech act the word finally caused. To prove the Jews was changed to a derogatory term, the followings will check whether it meets the five standards one by one. 2.2 Five standards of Derogatory Terms “On this point, too, there can be no compromise - there are only two possibilities: either the Aryans win, or the Aryans and Jews are wiped out ...... The Aryans see work as the basis for maintaining community among its members. The Jews saw work as a means of exploiting others. Without the great BCP Education & Psychology ERHSS 2023 Volume 9 (2023) 397 goal of becoming a master, the Jew will never become a prolific creator. They works inefficiently, exploiting and enjoying the fruits of others’labor. [4]” Sentences with the same meaning showed up over and over again in Hitler’s speeches. By drawing a line between the Jew and the Aryan, he made it clear that Aryans and Jews cannot coexist, it is a “either or” relationship [5], thus, the word Jew carries the insider/outsider function through Hitler's speech to reinforce the impression. When mentioning the Jew, German people will regard them as evil infidels who are their enemies. They are completely different races who can never stand on the same side. “In himself (a Jewish person) he bears those characteristics that nature has given him, and he can never get rid of them. [4]” Hitler repeatedly emphasized that the Jews were born to be evil and that their characteristics could not be removed. They are given by nature. That is to say the Jews and the Germans have essential differences and they cannot be changed with effort. Here the word The Jews meet the essentialism condition. “And if we asked who was responsible for our misfortune, then we must ask who profited by our collapse. And the answer to that question is that ‘Banks and Stock Exchanges are more flourishing than ever before’… [4]” The power of the word Jews, when connected with social backgrounds, became more effective, for if not in that social condition, the anger that German have to Jews won’t be that intense and outward, and their anger won’t be taken advantage by Hitler. That meets the social embeddedness condition. Defeat in World War I, Germany was burdened with huge war reparations. Germany’s strategy for paying war reparations was to print large amounts of money to buy foreign currency, which was then used to pay reparations, but this strategy greatly increased the inflation of paper money and finally caused hyperinflation. The hyperinflation allowed German bankers, who were mainly Jews, to see an opportunity to transfer wealth to themselves, causing many middle-class German families to fall into ghettos. The gap between the rich and the poor in German society rapidly widened, leading to class conflicts and a surge in social tensions, which developed toward racial tensions as the Jews held much of the finances. There was already tension between the Jews and the Germans, the speeches of Hitler intensified the conflict and gave people an outlet for their anger-the Jews. The Jews in that social background became the target of public criticism, the name of their race has become synonymous with hatred. The fourth point-functional variability can be easily proved without intercepting the specific content of his speech. The continuous disparaging of the Jews is not only to arouse people’s anti- Semitic sentiment but also to publicize their own Nazi Party and to better unite the masses with themselves by setting up the same enemies. Therefore, the word the Jew has at least three functions in the language game created by Hitler. When it comes to the last requirement-whether it is an action-engendering, the word Jews still meets it. In the first few decades, this function may not appear. However, after the beginning of World War II, the Nazi persecution of Jews also entered a new stage. At that time, “ He is Jewish” was neither a label nor just an insider/outsider appellation. In that place, at that time, it was a speech act produced by an action. The title of Jew can directly produce action, which means that this person will not be treated as a human being but can be slaughtered and abused wantonly [2]. 2.3 The Process of Language Becoming Effective The word Jews in that big language game Hitler created changed from just a label to a dangerous derogatory term that indirectly cost millions of lives. In this language game, being labeled as a Jew is equivalent to being sentenced to death- the worst speech act. Hitler used language to shape social existence through long-term stigmatization and disparagement of Jews. The speaker is strengthened and the target is weakened, thus strengthening and even adjusting the social relations of both objects. Such speech acts establish and strengthen a system of permission and prohibition that advocates social hierarchy. Gradually eroded people’s values and moral norms rationalized what they couldn't do BCP Education & Psychology ERHSS 2023 Volume 9 (2023) 398 before, and finally lost their minds in the killing. It seems that Jews are no longer really human beings [2]. 3. Demogoguery Rhetoric 3.1 Different Speech Contents for Various Audiences Hitler devised different scriptsfor different people, and he presented them with different propaganda depending on the audience. “ Different people heard different speeches and believed them.” Hitler tried to win over everyone who could potentially join the Nazi Party. In the 1920s and 1930s, Germany faced defeat, inflation, and other crises, many university students could not find jobs, employment prospects were bleak, and the anti-communist and anti-government sentiment were strong. Hitler took advantage of this anti-government characteristic and often went among them to give speeches to incite their anti-government sentiment. Albert Speer, who was an assistant professor at the university at that time, listened to Hitler’s peeches and became convinced that by following him,“Germany would eventually be able to recover economically instead of being hopelessly unemployed”. Soon after, Speer applied for membership in the Nazi Party. For the middle class and other classes, Hitler made a number of promises based on their psychology and requirements. To small shopkeepers and craftsmen, he promised to lower and grant low-interest loans. To the victims of the inflation, he promised monetary compensation. To the old soldiers, he promised to rebuild the army and to realize the idea of national revenge. And to the unemployed, he said that when he came to power, he promised to revive the German economy, eliminate the economic crisis and unemployment, and to guarantee everyone a job and bread. [6] ” In China, the philosopher Confucius once said: “Teach to the individual”-Different educational approaches should be used for different students. Same reasoning. Different people pursue different interests. Student want jobs, but the old don’t think so. Human beings are naturally selfish, and they only care about their own benefit. However, Hitler connected with them all, giving them an emotional resonance. With different strategy, He, or the Nazi won different groups and classes one by one, until the entire population of the country is given the “advantage of joining the party”on an individual basis. 3.2 The Common Tactics of Demagogues Hitler has been recognized as one of the most famous demagogues in the world who was almost equipped with all the features demagogues have. Several practical skills had been adopted by him. First of all, instigators are keen to polarize a complex (often terrible) situation by proposing only two options and some obviously stupid, unrealistic or shameful policies. They almost always insist that those who don't support us are those who oppose us, so a polarized policy situation becomes a polarized identity situation [7].What Hitler did was exactly like this: “ There are only two possibilities in Germany: the party of compromise, which will one day turn to those who most consistently predict the coming destruction and try to disassociate themselves from it. This party will either be the left that will lead to our total destruction or the party of the right that is ultimately determined to seize power ruthlessly. There can be no compromise on this point either - there are only two possibilities: either the Aryans win or the Aryans are wiped out and the Jews win. [4] ” Hitler only showed two options for the people, either join the Nazi to eliminate Jewish people, or they were against the Nazi and become their enemy. However, German social was so complicated at that time which is impossible to be fixed by the elimination of the Jews. The second common tactic of demagogues is to find a scapegoat as a way of unifying the masses and deepening their identity. Social problems may be real or imagined, grievances may be justified or unjustified, and members of the target group may be completely innocent or partially guilty. What is essential is that scapegoats are wrongly stereotyped as all having the same negative characteristics or are singled out for blame while other major offenders go free. The scapegoat chosen by Hitler was easily to be found out-the Jews, who had already offended the Germans. They are the perfect BCP Education & Psychology ERHSS 2023 Volume 9 (2023) 399 scapegoat to turning the tide of war and uniting the masses, for “Men who can unite on nothing else can unite on the basis of a foe shared by all. [7] ” The third common characteristic of demagogues is that they often, for their own selfish reasons, sway the masses by exacerbating racial tensions and leading them with the wrong things. Charles W. Lomas defines it in his oft-quoted article: “demagogy can be described as a process by which skilled speakers and writers attempt to influence public opinion by applying traditional rhetorical tools that completely ignore the facts. Moreover, although agitation does not necessarily seek purposes contrary to the public interest, its main motivation is personal interest [8].” This matches Hitler’s act too, for when just after he came to power as Nazi, he coerced the members of the party into handing over power, and soon became the dictator of Nazi and Germany. Behind everything is his desire for power. 4. Rally Effect The rally effect is a concept used in political science and international relations to explain the short-term increase in public support for a country’s government or political leaders during an international crisis or war [9]. Mueller's first theory of the "rally effect" predicted that public support for government officials would increase when events (1) were international in scope; (2) involved the United States; and (3) were specific, dramatic, and sharply focused [10]. In Hitler’s speeches, he took advantage of this theory to win people’s hearts and point the finger at the Jews. For the first condition, the problems of German society at that time may be considered as national issues, but it is deeply related to the whole world (at least to the countries involved in the World War II) and caused by the World War II, so it meets the first qualification. The World War II certainly involved the United States, and if the second qualification means whether the event involves the leader’s country, it is still met. Considering German’s situation at that time. The last qualification is still to be met. Therefore, Hitler kept remaining people of their current living conditions and the problems of their society and behaved like a savior, making the masses in crisis trust him as the only leader in German that could lead them out of the mire: “…When I look at my people, I see them working, toiling and laboring, and at the end of the week, all they get is poor and miserable wages. When I go out in the morning and see these people standing in their lines and look at their haggard faces, I believe I am not a Christian, but I am a devil if I do not have compassion for them, if I do not stand against those who plunder and exploit these poor people today, just as our God did 2000 years ago. [4]” Every time he emphasized the poor situation German people were in, the rally effect was enhanced over and over again. Every time the effect was enhanced, his followers’ belief was more solid, and more people were won by him, by the Nazi. With this strategy working, Hitler began his ethnic cleansing program step by step. 5. Conclusion In conclusion, after analysis and research, this paper found that in his speeches, Hitler skillful took advantage of language game theory, demagoguery rhetoric and rally effect and brought out the best in them, although used inappropriately and caused the Jews enormous harm. He created a huge language game turning many Germans killers, used demagoguery rhetoric to intensify the ethical conflicts and utilized rally effect to establish and consolidate his position. From his speeches, it can be seen that language has tremendous power that always ignored by people. Through these analyses, the paper wants to help people understand how they could be cheated by speech language. At the same time, this paper can present some great examples for the practical usage of some theories that always seem far away from people’s daily life. Further, to remind people of the power of language so everyone can be more careful about using words and avoid some disasters from happening again. However, research in this area still has a huge blank waiting for more people to discover. Hope in the future, more researches and studies on analyses of Hitler’s speeches can be generated by people, and BCP Education & Psychology ERHSS 2023 Volume 9 (2023) 400 it is also worth looking forward to see people in different fields analyze his speeches from various aspect with other theories. The more thorough the speech analysis of his speech, the more likely people are to make sober judgments in their lives, and less harm is going to be caused by language. References [1] Mauws, M. K., & Phillips, N. Understanding Language Games. Organization Science, 1995, 6(3): 322– 334. [2] Tirrell, L. Genocidal language games. Speech and harm: Controversies over free speech, ed. Ishani Maitra and Mary Kate McGowan, 2012:174–221. [3] Duffy, G., & Frederking, B. Changing the Rules: A Speech Act Analysis of the End of the Cold War. International Studies Quarterly, 2009, 53(2): 325–347. [4] Baynes, N.H. The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939 Volume I. London: Oxford University Press, 1942. [5] Spoerl, J. S. Parallels between Nazi and Islamist Anti-Semitism. Jewish Political Studies Review, 2020, 31(1/2): 210–244. [6] Zhang Yiwei. Satan's Magic: A Strategic Analysis of Hitler's Speeches (1919-1933). Youth, 2012, 16: 400-401. [7] Roberts-Miller, P. Democracy, Demagoguery, and Critical Rhetoric. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 2005, 8(3): 459–476. [8] Charles W. Lomas, The Rhetoric of Demagoguery, Western Speech, 1961, 25:161. [9] Perrin, Andrew J. Smolek, Sondra J. Univ N Carolina. Who trusts? Race, gender, and the September 11 rally effect among young adults, Social Science Research, 2009, 38(1):136-147. [10] Mueller, J.E. War, Presidents, & Public Opinion. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1973.