Jacob Nef

Mrs. Balka

Pre-AP English 9

2 February 2017

Analysis of Hitler's Speeches

Through the use of pathos, repetition, and imagery, Adolf Hitler reveals his purpose to

empower the German youth that they are the future of Nazi unity.

The speech Hitler gave to the German youth utilizes the rhetorical appeal of pathos and

uses the literary techniques diction and repetition to empower them and persuade them that they

are the future of the Nazi party and its unity. The words ‘we’ and ‘unity’ are used in the speech

repeatedly (1) to make the youth feel more integrated with the Nazis. Children are constantly

ignored and aren’t allowed positions of authority or responsibility. By making them feel as if

they are equals to the older Nazis and giving them the responsibility to aid Germany and unite

together, Hitler gets the youth to appreciate him and follow him. The children will do what their

leader tells them to because he has done something that nobody else in that time had: Hitler gave

the youth power and made them important to the unity and future of the Nazi party. He

empowered and unified the youth with the Nazis even further in his speech by telling them that

“Germany will live on in you.” (1) Through this powerful statement and its diction, the children

are now given a crucial responsibility not just to themselves but to their entire nation. The youth

don’t want to let down their homeland, so they are brainwashed once again into doing exactly

what Hitler tells them to do. He wants the youth to be united, so they are because to not listen to
Hitler would be letting down Germany. This speech’s diction and repetition persuades the

German children to unify. They are empowered and are made important to the Nazi’s future by

Adolf Hitler.

Through the use of pathos and invective, Hitler strives to convince Germany to isolate the

Jews in his speech to the German government and people.

Adolf Hitler uses pathos and invective to persuade the German people to isolate the Jews.

In his speech, he claims that the Jews have “nothing except infectious political and physical

diseases,” (1) which effectively separates them from the German population. The invective Hitler

uses depicts the Jews as absolutely nothing more than people sick with a contagious disease. This

is pathos because plays on the audience’s fears. People are afraid of being infected with illnesses,

so they stay as far away from sources of sickness as possible. Convincing the people that they

need to stay away from the Jews is one of the best ways to isolate and divide the Jews from the

German populace. Towards the end of his powerful speech, he describes the Jewish people as a

“parasite living on the body and the productive work of other nations,” (3) in an effort to further

change how the world and Germany view the Jews. The abusive words portray them as

bothersome insects that exhaust the body and its resources for themselves. From Hitler’s point of

view, the Jews are like parasites because they are selfish humans that do nothing for the different

nations of the world but tax resources and jobs. His denouncing metaphor persuades the people

that the Jews are harmful to their nation and its population. This divides the Jews from the

German population and convinces the people to actively push the Jews away as well, for their
nation. Through the use of pathos and invective, Adolf Hitler not only effectively separates the

Jewish people from the Germans, but convinces the German populace that the Jews ​need ​to be

pushed away and isolated.