I think what they meant is that Hitler never dreamt he’d gain enough influence to actually make his vision a reality. He thought he may be able to integrate more land into Germany, for instance, but carrying out a genocide in practice is far more complicated than wishing for a genocide in theory.

Circumstances such as German outrage over the treaty of Versailles, the power vacuum surrounding the failing health (and eventual death) of Hindenburg, and unlikely alliances with players such as Japan and the Soviet Union, lent themselves to Hitler pursuing his actual goal of genocide.

That being said, I’m basing all of this on some episodes of Real Dictators I listened to this week, so take my points with a grain of salt.

I chose those words carefully, and said Third Reich, not Hitler. Even the moniker “the final solution” comes from “the final solution to the Jewish question,” which implies that it had tried other solutions previously. The Nazis wanted Jews out of Germany, and as such had done things like encourage Jewish emigration to Palestine before the war. Then they escalated to pogroms and work camps, and before deciding on a Holocaust because they were losing the war and (edit, in retrospect not the correct interpretation) running low on resources, and that was the most expedient way to clear Jews out of Germany.

It’s worth remembering that history, since Israel now seems to be on a similar trajectory with Palestinians.