Dark Continent

Dark Continent: Europe’s Twentieth Century is a 1998 book by Mark Mazower.

Dark Continent “provides an alternative history of the twentieth century, one in
which the triumph of democracy was anything, but a forgone conclusion, and
fascism and communism provided rival political solutions that battled and
sometimes triumphed in an effort to determine the course the continent would
take.”

Nazism: Hitler’s New Order

Adolf Hitler’s main goal, along with the Nazi Party, was to restore order and peace
to Central Europe and to resolve the problems they believed would put Germany at
the center of Europe's economy and politics.
The “New Order” of Europe was the political order which Nazi Germany wanted to
impose on the conquered areas under its dominion.
He made use of "smart power", which we can call an invaluable tool. He and the
Nazis had an incredible ability to influence others to get what he wants; they were
highly successful in directing the population’s anger and fear against the Jews;
they carefully tailored their speeches to each audience. This is how they were able
to achieve their goals.

Hitler’s Political Economy

Despite all the bad that Hitler did, the economy that Hitler brought with him is not
given as much importance. He assumed power in 1933. He developed a policy
specifically aimed at public works, for example, the construction of highways,
reduced the budget deficit and fought against inflation, creating a parallel-monetary
circulation in which the state paid the companies. By 1938, unemployment had
disappeared, its GDP had increased by 50% in five years, and Germany was once
again an industrial power.
The magician was Hjalmar Schacht, who invented a surprising artifice: the letters
MEFO, bills of exchange dispensed by a public company, not by the State (so that
the State did not go into debt), but whose convertibility into money was guaranteed
a posteriori by the central bank itself.
Antisemitism
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party did not invent antisemitism, but it was central to
their ideology. They embraced a racial ideology that stated the Germans were the
master race in the world. They saw them as a demonic force that aspired to
dominate the world, and they believed that the Jews’ victory would spell the end of
the world. According to the Nazi's beliefs, the Jews were behind communism,
exploitative capitalism, and democracy, all of which supposedly threatened
mankind.
We would think that after the Holocaust, antisemitism would have disappeared.
Unfortunately, it has continued to exist. Today a constellation of antisemitic
stereotypes and motifs still may be found, some elements with older ideas and
some with newer variations, chief among them a hatred of Jews linked to a
demonic image of Israel and Zionism.