# If Hitler Was Such a Racist, Why Did He Have as His Allies...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hitler-was-such-a-racist-why-did-he-have-as-his-allies/121201>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 28, 2002, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hitler-was-such-a-racist-why-did-he-have-as-his-allies/121201 "2002-07-28T03:52:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hitler-was-such-a-racist-why-did-he-have-as-his-allies/121201/21 "2002-07-29T00:55:53Z")

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Both Hitler and Stalin were pragmatic politicians, ready and willing to overthrow ideological positions and personal prejudices whenever it would give them an edge. The history of the war is replete with power plays and unexpected alliances that shifted as conditions did.

A good reference for the early part of the war that goes into great detail on this is John Lucacs’ _The Last European War, 1939-1941_.

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**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hitler-was-such-a-racist-why-did-he-have-as-his-allies/121201/22 "2002-07-29T02:26:36Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Lamia \*  
> \*\*IIRC, around the time of the alliance with Japan Nazi scientists quickly set about “proving” that the Japanese were descendants of an Aryan tribe that ventured to the Far East. \*\*

A further IIRC: there was a Japanese man who, sometime between the formation of the Axis and Pearl Harbor, who used this “science” to challenge the (racist) immigration quotas in the United States.

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**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hitler-was-such-a-racist-why-did-he-have-as-his-allies/121201/23 "2002-07-29T02:57:26Z")

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Perhaps I don’t RC.  
In [Ozawa v. U.S.](http://chnm.gmu.edu/eoc/resources/law/ozawa-v-us.htm), it is the language described as “aryan,” and Japanese as “white” and “not Chinese.” Also, it was decided in 1922, long before there was an Axis, of course.

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**Author:** ![galen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecc23a/32.png) [@galen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-hitler-was-such-a-racist-why-did-he-have-as-his-allies/121201/24 "2002-07-29T13:36:01Z")

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The core of Hitler’s program was the destruction of communism, at home and internationally. He believed that the Jews were responsible of Bolshivism. He was not alone in this belief. Reactionaries and counterrevolutionaries of various stripes worldwide believed it. Some still do, although it is rather a moot point.

So Hitler had no problem allying himself with whomever would serve his purpose at the time. It is important to recognize that it wasn’t Hitler alone who was interested in the destruction of the USSR. He was only one man. This had been a worldwide priority for capitalism from 1917 and remained so untill 1991 when it was ultimately successful.

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