> [Hitler] was a kind of racial anarchist who thought that the only good in the world was for races to compete, and so he thought that the Germans would probably win in a racial competition, but he wasn’t sure. And as far as he was concerned, if the Germans lost, that was also alright.
I don't know how accurate other historians think this view of Hitler was, but I've also seen it in Borges's short story "Deutsches Requiem". I just re-read it and the entire story is an exact expression of this perspective, from the point of view of a fictional concentration camp superintendent who worships violence and conflict. There are dozens of paraphrases in the story of what Snyder thinks Hitler believed.
For instance:
> Hitler thought that he was fighting for a nation, but he was fighting for all nations, even for those he attacked and abominated. [...] There are many things that must be destroyed in order to build the new order; now we know that Germany was one of them. We have given something more than our lives; we have given the life of our belovèd nation. [..] Now an implacable age looms over the world. We forged that age, we who are now its victim. What does it matter that England is the hammer and we the anvil? What matters is that violence, not servile Christian acts of timidity, now rules. [...] (trans. Andrew Hurley)
Original:
> Hitler creyó luchar por un país, pero luchó por todos, aun por aquellos que agredió y detestó. [...] Muchas cosas hay que destruir para edificar el nuevo orden; ahora sabemos que Alemania era una de esas cosas. Hemos dado algo más que nuestra vida, hemos dado la suerte de nuestro querido país. [...] Se cierne ahora sobre el mundo una época implacable. Nosotros la forjamos, nosotros que ya somos su víctima. ¿Qué importa que Inglaterra sea el martillo y nosotros el yunque? Lo importante es que rija la violencia, no las serviles timideces cristianas. [...]
(I wonder if Snyder has ever read this story.)