Reductio ad Hitlerum (Latin for "reduction to Hitler"), also known asplaying the Nazi card,[1][2] is an attempt to invalidate someone else's argument on the basis that the same idea was promoted or practised byAdolf Hitler or theNazi Party.[3] Arguments can be termedreductio ad Hitlerum if they are fallacious (e.g., arguing that becauseHitler abstained from eating meat orwas against smoking, anyone else who does so is a Nazi). Contrarily, straightforward arguments critiquing specifically fascist components ofNazism likeFührerprinzip are not part of theassociation fallacy.
Formulated byLeo Strauss in 1953,reductio ad Hitlerum takes its name from the term used in logic calledreductio ad absurdum ("reduction to the absurdity").[4] According to Strauss,reductio ad Hitlerum is a type ofad hominem,ad misericordiam, or afallacy of irrelevance. The suggested rationale is one ofguilt by association. It is a tactic often used to derail arguments becausesuch comparisons tend to distract and anger the opponent.[5]
Reductio ad Hitlerum is a type ofassociation fallacy.[5][6][better source needed] The argument is that a policy leads to—or is the same as—one advocated or implemented byAdolf Hitler orNazi Germany and so "proves" that the original policy is undesirable. Another type ofreductio ad Hitlerum is asking a question of the form "You know who else...?" with the deliberate intent of impugning a certain idea or action by implying Hitler had that idea or performed such an action.[7]
A comparison to Hitler orNazism is not areductio ad Hitlerum if it illuminates an argument instead of causing distraction from it.[8] Straightforward comparisons can be used to criticize fascist components of Nazism such as theFührerprinzip. However, one could argue fallaciously that becauseHitler abstained from eating meat or wasopposed to smoking,ipso facto anyone else who has these opinions is a Nazi.[9]
The phrasereductio ad Hitlerum is first known to have been used in an article written byUniversity of Chicago professorLeo Strauss forMeasure: A Critical Journal in spring 1951,[10] although it was made famous in a book by Strauss published in 1953[3]Natural Right and History, Chapter II:
In following this movement towards its end we shall inevitably reach a point beyond which the scene is darkened by the shadow of Hitler. Unfortunately, it does not go without saying that in our examination we must avoid the fallacy that in the last decades has frequently been used as a substitute for thereductio ad absurdum: thereductio ad Hitlerum. A view is not refuted by the fact that it happens to have been shared by Hitler.
The phrase was derived from thelogical argument termedReductio ad absurdum. Theargumentum variant takes its form from the names of many classic fallacies such asargumentum ad hominem. Thead Nazium variant may be further humorously derived fromargumentum ad nauseam.
HistorianDaniel Goldhagen, who had written aboutthe Holocaust, argues that not all comparisons to Hitler and Nazism are logical fallacies since if they all were, there would be nothing to learn from the events that resulted in the Holocaust. He argues in his bookHitler's Willing Executioners that many people who were complicit or active participants in the Holocaust and subsequently infascist andneo-Nazi movements have manipulated the historical narrative to escape blame or to deny aspects of the Holocaust.[11][12][better source needed] Claims that allegations ofantisemitism arereductio ad Hitlerum have also been employed byDavid Irving, a BritishHolocaust denier.[13]
In 2000,Thomas Fleming claimed thatreductio ad Hitlerum was being used by his opponents against his values:
Leo Strauss called it thereductio ad Hitlerum. If Hitler liked neoclassical art, that means that classicism in every form is Nazi; if Hitler wanted to strengthen the German family, that makes the traditional family (and its defenders) Nazi; if Hitler spoke of the "nation" or the "folk", then any invocation of nationality, ethnicity, or even folkishness is Nazi ...[14]
Although named for Hitler, the logical fallacy existed beforeWorld War II. Other individuals from history were used as stand-ins for evil.[15] AuthorTom Holland compares the use of Hitler as the standard of evil with earlier invocations of theDevil (such as the phrase 'Deal with the Devil').[16] During the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, thePharaoh of the Book of Exodus was commonly considered the most villainous person in history.[15] During the years prior to theAmerican Civil War,abolitionists referred to enslavers as modern-day Pharaohs. AfterVE Day, Pharaoh continued to appear in the speeches of social reformers likeMartin Luther King Jr.
Judas Iscariot andPontius Pilate were also commonly held up as pure evil. However, there was no universal Hitler-like person, and different regions and times used different stand-ins.[15] In the years after theAmerican Revolution,King George III was often vilified in the United States. "King George" comparison was publicly used as recently as 1992 byPat Buchanan when referring to presidentGeorge H. W. Bush, in the course of theU.S. presidential campaign.[17][18] During the American Civil War, someConfederates called Lincoln a "modern Pharaoh".[15]
In 1991, Michael André Bernstein allegedreductio ad Hitlerum over a full-page advertisement placed inThe New York Times by theLubavitch community after theCrown Heights riot under the heading "This YearKristallnacht Took Place on August 19th Right Here in Crown Heights".Henry Schwarzschild, who had witnessedKristallnacht, wrote toThe New York Times that "however ugly were the anti-Semitic slogans and the assaultive behavior of people in the streets [during the Crown Heights riots] ... one thing that clearly did not take place was aKristallnacht".[19]
SinceHitler was against smoking, some in the tobacco industry invoked the argument to compare those who areagainst smoking to Nazis.[20]
The Lubavitcher community itself, in the form of the 'Crown Heights Emergency Fund,' placed a full-page advertisement inThe New York Times on September 20, 1991, under the heading 'This Year Kristallnacht Took Place on August 19th Right Here in Crown Heights.' Their version of Leo Strauss'sreductio ad Hitlerum was rightly perceived by those who had been in Germany on Kristallnacht (November 9, 1938) as an outrageous comparison.
