Hitler and Marx were drawn to Darwin's works for different ideological reasons. Hitler saw Darwin's theory of natural selection as justifying his racial hierarchy and eugenics policies, interpreting "survival of the fittest" as a mandate for eliminating perceived weaker groups. Marx viewed Darwin's ideas as supporting his materialist view of history, seeing evolution as evidence of natural processes driving change, aligning with his theories of class struggle and societal development. Both found Darwin’s framework useful for legitimizing their visions of progress, though applied in starkly different ways.

(h/t #grok)