Friedrich Nietzsche's Influence on Hitler's
Mein Kampf
by Michael Kalish June 2004
Copyright © 2004 Michael Kalish, June 1,
2004, prepared for web by H. Marcuse, 6/15/04
Friedrich Nietzsche's Influence on Hitler's
Mein Kampf by Michael Kalish June 2004 student
research paper for UCSB History 133P, Spring
2004, Prof. Marcuse
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), a fervent
philosopher who was anti-democracy, anti-Christianity,
anti-Judaism, anti-socialist and self-acclaimed
Anti-Christ, expressed his belief in a master
race and the coming of a superman in many
of his works. In his unique aphoristic style,
Nietzsche wrote in The Genealogy of Morals
(III 14):
The sick are the great danger of man, not
the evil, not the 'beasts of prey.' They
who are from the outset botched, oppressed,
broken those are they, the weakest are they,
who most undermine the life beneath the feet
of man, who instill the most dangerous venom
and skepticism into our trust in life, in
man, in ourselves. Here teem the worms of
revenge and vindictiveness; here the air
reeks of things secret and unmentionable;
here is ever spun the net of the most malignant
conspiracy - the conspiracy of the sufferers
against the sound and the victorious; here
is the sight of the victorious hated.
Context is a critical factor to understanding
Nietzsche's philosophy. Nietzsche's reference
to the sick, their vengeful attitude and
conspiracy, and in related writing, the Jews,
parallels the concepts and terminology used
in Hitler's Mein Kampf. However, I do not
propose that the anti-Semitic interpretation
of Nietzsche's work began with Hitler. What
Nietzsche-biographer Walter Kaufmann calls
the "legend of Nietzsche" (Kaufmann,
1) was constructed mostly by Nietzsche's
sister, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, through
two interventions: by censoring and editing
Nietzsche's work to further her own anti-Semitic
interest and to reconcile Nietzsche's work
with Richard Wagner's.
Second, in order to finance the Nietzsche
archive Elisabeth exploited Nietzsche's prophetic
and radical philosophy to appeal to her preferred
political party. After Nietzsche's insanity
in 1889, the rising tide of anti-Semitism
in Germany soon drowned the Weimar Nietzsche
Archive in a sea of swastikas. Can Nietzsche's
theories be considered a foundation for Hitler's
Mein Kampf? Hitler's explicit condemnations
of the slave race, his ravings about the
Aryan elite, and his proposed Darwinist resolution,
as well as Hitler's relationship to Elisabeth
Förster-Nietzsche and Richard Wagner signal
a definite connection to Nietzsche's work.
[thesis statement]
Nietzsche's philosophy did not reach the
Nazis untainted by tendentious interpretation.
Elisabeth had forced her mother to transfer
the property rights and guardianship of the
incapacitated Nietzsche in 1895 (Macintyre,
155). Elisabeth became her brother's "chief
apostle" with exclusive rights to his
work (Kaufmann, 5). The impact of this transfer
of rights was assessed in Kaufmann's 1974
interpretation of Nietzsche's work. Kaufmann
attributed the roots of what he calls the
"the legend of Nietzsche" to Elisabeth,
who laid the groundwork for Nietzsche to
be interpreted in a literal, Darwinist sense
(Kaufmann, 8). Through censorship and editing,
Nietzsche's philosophy had been made ambiguous
and incoherent, allowing loose interpretation.
This ambiguity prompted Nazi interpreters
to choose a context that supported Nazi literature
and prophesy.
Evidence that Nietzsche's work was interpreted
as anti-Semitic can be found in a letter
Nietzsche wrote to Elisabeth [in 18xx], concerning
her affiliation with the anti-Semitic movement
leader, Bernard Förster (Kaufmann, 45):
It is a matter of honor to me to be absolutely
clean and unequivocal regarding anti-Semitism,
namely opposed, as I am in my writings. I
have been persecuted [pursued; verfolgt?]
in recent times with letters and Anti- Semitic
Correspondence sheets; my disgust with this
party is as outspoken as possible, but the
relation to Förster, as well as the after-effect
of my former anti-Semitic publisher Schmeitzner,
always bring the adherents of this disagreeable
party back to the idea that I must after
all belong to them.
|
According to Kaufmann Bernard Förster was
a "prominent leader of the German anti-Semitic
movement" who's racial and anti-Semitic
views were received "second hand from
Wagner" (Kaufmann, 46f). Förster and
Elisabeth married in 1885, which prompted
Elisabeth to build an anti-Semitic bias into
her brother's work.
Elisabeth's censorship was possible by her
"monopolizing of the manuscript material,"
allowing her to withhold Ecce Homo from publication until 1908, and to publish
selections from Nietzsche's 1880s notebooks
as The Will to Power in 1901. The content of Ecce Homo was critical to distinguishing Nietzsche's
philosophy from being Darwinist (Kaufmann,
8):
[Nietzsche's] conception of the overman -
as different from man as man is from the
ape - might in any case have supplied a Darwin-conscious
age with a convenient symbol for its own
faith in progress. The development, however,
was aided and abetted by her [Elisabeth's]
publication of Ecce Homo, which contains
a vitriolic denunciation of this misinterpretation.
The withholding of Ecce Homo was partly responsible
for the formation of the "legend of
Nietzsche" because it deprived readers
of the intended context. A book that Elisabeth
published to further twist Nietzsche's intentions
was The Will to Power. The Will to Power was a compilation of
Nietzsche's notes, and was credited as Nietzsche's
magnum opus (Kaufmann, 7). Kaufmann considers
the book's publication as "Nietzsche's
final and systematic work blurred the distinction
between his works and his notes . [which]
created the false impression that the aphorism
in [Nietzsche's] books are of a kind with
these disjointed jottings" (Kaufmann,
6). With chapters emphasizing the importance
of breeding and the need to exterminate the
weak, Nietzsche's philosophy became an overcoming
of the physically and racially inferior
(Kaufmann, 6, 75).
In addition to censorship and editing of
books, Elisabeth wrote introductions to Nietzsche's
various works, which established her own
interpretation as the authoritative one.
Her interpretation could hardly be questioned
because "she was the guardian of yet
unpublished material - and developed an increasingly
precise memory for what her brother had said
to her in conversation." Elisabeth's
intellectual integrity (or lack thereof)
is best illustrated by Kaufmann's citation
of Rudolf Steiner, a German scholar hired
by Elisabeth to teach her the philosophy
of her brother (Kaufmann, 5):
The private lessons. taught me this above
all: that Frau Förster-Nietzsche is a complete
laywoman in all that concerns her brother's
doctrine.[She] lacks any sense for fine,
and even for crude, logical consistency;
and she lacks any sense of objectivity. .She
believes at every moment what she says. She
convinces herself that something was red
yesterday that most assuredly was blue.
We can thus infer that Elisabeth's inadequacy
as an analyst of her brother, as well as
her personal bias, provided a misrepresentation
of Nietzsche's works.
Elisabeth's involvement in politics was an
attempt to resolve the financial trouble
of the Nietzsche archive. Macintyre [who?]
states: "Elizabeth was determined that
the Archive should be made financially secure.
She needed a permanent patron, someone who
could ensure her future and her lifestyle,
and the future of her Archive. She chose
the Nazis" (Macintyre, 178). Elisabeth's
friendship first began with Wilhelm Frick,
a National Socialist representative and partner
to Adolf Hitler, who showed interest in preserving
the Archive (Macintyre, 179). Elisabeth wrote
in a letter thanking Frick for his support:
"I understand what Herr Hitler has found
in Nietzsche - and that is the heroic cast
of mind which we need so desperately"
(Macintyre, 178). Elisabeth's attitude towards
Hitler and Nietzsche is evident in her letter
to a member of the Nietzsche Archive board:
"If my brother had ever met Hitler his
greatest wish would have been fulfilled.
What I like most about Hitler is his simplicity
and naturalness. I admire him utterly"
(Macintyre, 183). Over the course of Elisabeth
and Hitler's friendship, Hitler visited the
Nietzsche Archive seven times, which Macintyre
attributes to "the propaganda value
of Nietzsche as a Nazi prophet" (Macintyre,
184). Although Hitler's visits to the Nietzsche
archive document his interest in Nietzsche,
did that interest originate before he began
writing Mein Kampf in 1925? A historical
figure who linked Hitler's and Nietzsche's
philosophies was Richard Wagner (1813-1883).
In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote of his admiration
for Richard Wagner, a 19th century German
composer from Bayreuth. Wagner was one of
the intellectual precursors of thought that
led to National Socialism. He had a profound
impact on Hitler, who wrote in Mein Kampf
(17):
| I was captivated. My youthful enthusiasm
for the master of Bayreuth knew no bounds.
Again and again I was drawn to his works,
and it still seems to me especially fortunate
that the most modest provincial performance
left me open to an intensified experience
later on. |
Wagner's music, and later his racist and
ethnocentric ideology evidently appealed
to Hitler. Wagner's impact on Nazism was
profound, which justifies Hitler's statement
that "to understand Nazism one must
first know Wagner" (Shirer, 102). On
one of Hitler's trips to the Bayreuth [in
18xx], he stopped at the Nietzsche archive
in Weimar
(Macintyre, 184).
For Nietzsche, Wagner was "Germany's
greatest living creative genius" and
showed that "greatness and genuine creation
were still possible" (Kaufmann, 30).
Wagner was a "father substitute"
for Nietzsche, who lost his father at the
age of four in 1848 (Kaufmann, 33). In the
posthumously published Ecce Homo (1908),
Nietzsche wrote of his admiration for Wagner
as a revolutionary and dangerous composer,
who ventured outside the norms of music to
create and explore dangerous fascinations.
Nietzsche once described Wagner as "the
great benefactor of my life" (Kaufmann,
31f-give original source). However, Wagner's
chauvinistic, nationalistic, and racist philosophy
fundamentally opposed Nietzsche's beliefs.
As a result, the friendship between the two
men deteriorated and finally broke in 1882.
Although Nietzsche split with Wagner and
voluntarily exiled himself from the emerging
cultural center of Bayreuth, Elisabeth never
accepted the break (Kaufmann, 37). Once Elisabeth
had the property rights of Nietzsche's works,
she was able to re-write history to satisfy
her delusion. In a response to a letter from
Hitler, cited by Kaufmann, Elisabeth summarized
her exploits: "The most difficult task
of my life began, the task which, as my brother
said, characterized my type - i. e., 'reconciling
opposites'" (Kaufmann, 46).
Elisabeth's reconciliation of Nietzsche's
work with Wagner's prior to the Nazi dictatorship
provided the criteria Hitler would have taken
interest in. Hitler's early interest in Wagner's
work and attraction to Elisabeth's Nietzsche
Archive suggests that Hitler may have read
some of Nietzsche's works. The plausibility
of Hitler's early interest in Nietzsche becomes
more evident when Nietzsche and Hitler's
ideological concepts are juxtaposed.
The concepts and terminology Nietzsche used
were not the only semblance to Hitler's philosophy,
but also the ardent language involved in
his polemics against contemporary morality.
Two critiques of the influence of Nietzsche's
language were written by Steven Aschheim
and Weaver Santaniello.
In Nietzsche, Anti-Semitism, and the Holocaust
(1997), Steven Aschheim discusses the "issue
of the radicalizing, triggering forces,"
which were responsible for fascists' interest
in Nietzsche's work (Aschheim, 16). Nietzsche's
radical use of the terms: sick, healthy,
strong, weak, and species, give false implications.
Take for instance the following quotation
from Genealogy of Morals (III, 14):
| Among them, again is the most loathsome species
of the vain, the lying abortions, who make
a point of representing 'beautiful souls,'
and perchance of bringing to the market as
'purity of the heart' their distorted sensualism
swathed in verses and other bandages; the
species of 'self-comforters' and masturbators
of their own souls. The sick man's will to
represent some form or other of superiority,
his instinct for crooked paths, which lead
to a tyranny over the healthy. - where can
it not be found, this will to power of the
very weakest? |
Nietzsche's "sick man" who is a
part of a "species" that is characterized
by its "purity of the heart" and
"beautiful souls" is undoubtedly
a reference to adherents of the Judeo-Christian
ethic. Being that Nietzsche was Lutheran,
and in light of the prevalence of anti-Semitism
throughout Europe, it is simple to interpret
this passage as an attack on Judaism. The
Jews' "crooked path" as a means
for gaining superiority and "tyranny
over the healthy" clearly parallels
Hitler's accusation that the Jews cleverly
created democracy and Marxism. Moreover,
the term "lying abortion" asserts
these Jews do not deserve to live. Aschheim
argues that it was Nietzsche's language that
flared the imagination of the Nazi party
by making all actions, regardless of their
level of brutality, conceivable: Nietzsche's
"vocabulary and sensibility constitutes
an important (if not the only) long-term
enabling precondition of such radical elements
in Nazism." (Aschheim, 16).
In his 1994 biography Nietzsche, God, and
the Jews, Weaver Santaniello addresses the
impact of Nietzsche's radical language: "Nietzsche's
language is indeed violent and excessive,
but not uncalculated, careless or irresponsible."
However Nietzsche's extreme wording was included
in the Anti-Semitic Correspondence, which
Nietzsche mentioned in a letter (Santaniello,
141):
Now a comic fact. I have 'influence,' very
subterranean, to be sure. perhaps they 'implore'
me, but they cannot escape me. In the Anti-Semitic
Correspondence. my name appears in almost
every issue.
Although Santaniello clarifies that the meaning
of Nietzsche's concepts was distorted by
the Nazis, he argues that it was the violent
language that described the slave revolt,
and the Jews, that instigated the Nazis perversion
of Nietzsche's literature (Santaniello, 31).
In Nietzsche's and Hitler's works, a fundamental
concept is the clash between the "whole
man" and "half man." Similar
terms that are oriented around this concept
are: the Jew, blood poisoning, spiritual
convictions, and blond beast. These terms
define both Nietzsche and Hitler's determinants
and restraints to achieving a new order,
in addition to the clash between "whole
men" and "half men." Nietzsche
refers to the "whole man" and "half
man" mostly as master morality and slave
morality. The slave morality consists of
noble morality and slave morality [huh?].
Noble morality was the belief that the majority
of human beings are led by insatiable, destructive,
human desires, and it is the noble's obligation
to instill fear in order to protect civilization
from a state of anarchy and chaos. As Nietzsche
wrote in the Genealogy of Morals (III 10):
The contrary is the case when we come to
the aristocrat's system of values: it acts
and grows spontaneously, it merely seeks
its antithesis in order to pronounce a more
grateful and exultant 'yes' to its own self;-
its negative conception, 'low,' 'vulgar,'
'bad,' is merely a pale born foil in comparison
with its positive and fundamental conception
(saturated as it is with life and passion),
of 'we aristocrats, we good ones, we beautiful
ones, we happy ones.'
Nietzsche described the nobles as seeing
the majority of mankind as contemptible and
ignorant, and themselves as the protectors
of all that is good. On the other hand, slave
morality was the belief that the majority
of human beings are good and it is the nobles
who are oppressive and vicious, thus contemptible
beings. "The revolt of the slaves in
morals begins in the very principle of resentment
becoming creative and giving birth to values
- a resentment experienced by creatures who,
deprived as they are of the proper outlet
of action, are forced to find their compensation
in an imaginary revenge" (Nietzsche,
Genealogy III 10). Thus it is through values
that slaves make nobles feel resentment towards
themselves, and it is the slaves who prevent
mankind from reaching its potential. Slave
and noble morality differ from master morality
because they do not operate in the interest
of self-preservation. Rather, they attempt
to help one another. In The Will to Power,
Nietzsche described the resulting "mediocrity"
as a seducer, which he defined as "liberal"
(Nietzsche, Will, 864). The strong have come
to see themselves as contemptible, causing
them to be weak and indecisive, hence their
"mediocrity." This liberal perspective
provides the clever slaves with an advantage
over the strong, who thus reject their own
strengths as ugly and subhuman.
Both Hitler and Nietzsche refer to the clever
slaves as the Jews. Hitler's Mein Kampf is
an attack on the Judeo-Christian ethic, as
is The Genealogy of Morals. Nietzsche addressed
the Jews as being responsible for the slave
revolt and victory over the master race (I
7):
In the context of the monstrous and inordinately
fateful initiatives which the Jews have exhibited
in connection with the most fundamental of
all another occasion (Beyond Good and Evil,
Aph. 195) - that it was, in fact, with the
Jews that the revolt of the slaves begins
in the sphere of morals; that revolt which
has behind it a history of two millennia,
and which at the present day has only moved
out of our sight, because it has achieved
victory.
It is easier to understand the Judeo-Christian
ethic, in respect to Nietzsche, as a mirror
with which the slaves use to make the masters
feel guilty and self-hating. By making the
master empathize with the Slave, the master
resents the qualities that make him strong,
that is, actions that are in the interest
of self-preservation. Nietzsche identifies
the slave with the Jew because they are responsible
for the existence of the Judeo- Christian
ethic.
In Mein Kampf, Hitler also identifies Jews as the creators
of moral slavery (Hitler, 178):
The most unbeautiful thing there can be in
human life is and remains the yoke of slavery.
Or do these schwabing [?] decadents view
the present lot of the German people as 'aesthetic'?
Certainly we don't have to discuss these
matters with the Jews, the most modern inventors
of this cultural perfume. Their whole existence
is an embodied protest against the aesthetics
of the lord's image.
Hitler describes Jews as slaves in the same
sense as Nietzsche. Hitler points to "slavery"
as the ugliest aspect of human life in the
past and present, while linking the Jews
and their influence (i. e. "cultural
perfume") to the deterioration of values,
which is manifest in the "schwabing
decadents." Hitler describes the product
of the cultural perfume as the "whole
man" and "half man," which
are terms used to describe individuals motivated
by self-preservation, as opposed to those
whose individual guilt is ridden by morality,
seeking to help others. Hitler defined the
"degeneration" of man in these
terms (Hitler, 30):
This uncertainty is only too well founded
in our own sense of guilt regarding such
tragedies of degeneration; be that as it
may, it paralyzes any serious and firm decision
and is thus partly responsible for the weak
and half-hearted, because hesitant, execution
of even the most necessary measures of self-preservation.
Hitler's use of the "weak and half-hearted"
appears frequently throughout Mein Kampf,
often in conjunction with Jews or the influence
of the Jewish conspiracy. For example, Hitler
accused the Jews of being responsible for
both democracy and Marxism, the two forms
of government founded to appease the collective
over the strong individual. The ineffectiveness
of Weimar's democracy and the threat of Bolsheviks
following World War I provided the context
with which Hitler saw them clash as weak,
irreconcilable ideologies designed to profit
Jews (Hitler 173f).
For Nietzsche and Hitler, the Judeo-Christian
ethic caused an individual to split himself
into two opposing forces: the interest of
the collective (i. e. "half man"
or slave morality) and the interest of self-preservation
(i. e. "whole man" or master morality).
The dominating force makes an individual
either confident and strong, or guild-ridden
and indecisive. For both Nietzsche and Hitler,
the latter prevailed throughout Europe. In
The Genealogy of Morals, Nietzsche described
the state of Europe (I 9):
The 'masters' have been done away with; the
morality of the vulgar man has triumphed.
This triumph may also be called a blood-poisoning
(it has mutually fused the races).Everything
is obviously becoming Judaised, or Christianised,
or vulgarized.
Nietzsche's use of the phrase "blood
poisoning" to describe the effect of
the Judeo-Christian ethic is similarly stressed
by Hitler. In multiple sections of Mein Kampf,
including: "Consequence of Jew Egotism,"
the "Sham Culture of the Jew,"
"The Jew a Parasite," "Jewish
Religious Doctrine," "Development
of Jewry," and many others, Hitler accused
the Jewish people as belonging to a race
that lacked any culture and manipulated others
to get the strength to survive (Hitler, 301).
And because they are a primitive herd, they
are limited in their impulses to surpass
the "individual's naked sense of self-preservation"
through self- sacrifice (Hitler, 301). With
their blood they contaminate the higher races
and weaken the culture of the Aryan race:
The Jew "poisons the blood of others,
but preserves his own," and being aware
of his ability to degenerate the high nobility,
the Jew "systematically carries on this
mode of 'disarming' the intellectual leader
class of his racial adversaries. In order
to mask his activity and lull his victims,
however, he talks more and more of the equality
of all men without regard to race and color"
(Hitler, 316).
Hitler wrote that men did not die from wars,
but rather from the lack of resistance created
by pure blood; and it was blood mixture that
caused the deterioration of culture (Hitler,
296).
As a foundation for resolution to the deterioration
of culture, both Hitler and Nietzsche argued
the essential need of spirituality. Hitler
argued: "For, once the actual and spiritual
conqueror lost himself in the blood of the
subjected people, the fuel for the torch
of human progress was lost! Just as, through
the blood of the former masters . they shine
through all the returned barbarism."
(Hitler, 292). The Aryan conqueror spirituality
was a pivotal aspect of the figure, and introduced
the importance of spiritual convictions.
Nietzsche wrote of the importance of a spiritual
impetus in achieving independence (Nietzsche,
The Will to Power, 984):
| Greatness of soul is inseparable from greatness
of spirit. For it involves independence;
but in the absence of spiritual greatness;
independence ought not to be allowed, it
causes mischief, even through its desire
to do good and practice 'justice' small spirits
must obey - hence cannot possess greatness. |
Nietzsche argued that an individual must
have a spiritual conviction if the individual
is to have independence and reach a status
of greatness. Hitler agreed, and extended
the prerogative of spiritual conviction to
the use of authority and violence (Hitler,
171):
Only in the study and constant application
of force lies the very first prerequisite
for success. This persistence, however, can
always and only arise from a definite spiritual
conviction. Any violence which does not spring
from a firm, spiritual base, will be wavering
and uncertain.. It emanates from the momentary
energy and brutal determination of an individual,
and is therefore subject to the change of
personalities and to their nature and strength.
The use of violence was essential for the
realization of Hitler's ideology. While Nietzsche's
opinions of slave morality and noble morality
are resolved by self-overcoming, Hitler's
resolution is in alienating the manifestations
of slavery (i. e. Jews) and destroying them.
The difference between the two excerpts dealing
with spiritual convictions represent this
difference; Nietzsche deals with greatness
of the soul (i. e. intangible obstacles and
mental transvaluation), while Hitler speaks
of violence and "brutal determination"
(i. e. revaluation, persecution, and destruction).
A symbol of greatness and raw human potential
are used similarly in Mein Kampf and Nietzsche's
works: the idea of the blond beast. The blond
beast was a man who was unrestrained by values,
and therefore had never experienced resentment,
which was constructed by the weak for revenge
against the strong. For Nietzsche, the slave's
values have labeled the impulses of man as
evil, and thus the slave has glorified passivity.
Moreover, action for the slave only becomes
good when it is a reaction (Nietzsche, Genealogy
III 10):
"Complete men . exuberant with strength,
and consequently necessarily energetic, they
were too wise to dissociate happiness from
action - activity becomes in their minds
necessarily counted as happiness."
Nietzsche's "complete man," synonymous
with Hitler's "whole man," represents
a version of the "blond beast,"
or "beast of prey," who returned
to the wilderness to free himself from the
peace of society. Nietzsche associated the
"magnificent blond brute" with
the Roman, Arabic, Germanic, and Japanese
nobility, who were all "rampant for
spoil and victory." Nietzsche's blond
beast, which becomes associated primarily
with Germans when it resurfaces as the "blond
Teuton beast," is mankind's hope to
reach its full potential (Nietzsche, The
Genealogy of Morals, III 10). However, unrestrained
impulses are likely to lead to destruction,
which Nietzsche acknowledges as a trade-off.
Nietzsche defended the horror by arguing
that it is better to be afraid of the impulsive
brute than surrounded by the immune, "the
dwarfed, the stunted, and envenomed"
(Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals, III
10). In other words, Nietzsche argued it
is better to chance the occurrence of horror
than castrate man's impulsive nature.
Hitler's blond beast represents the old Aryan
master race, which he calls the Aryan conqueror.
Hitler believed the pure Aryan conqueror
and its race was responsible for all human
culture (Hitler, 290). Through the principle
of resentment the Aryan race fell from its
glory, tricked and poisoned by the clever
Jew. Hitler's idea of the Jewish conspiracy
is a case of the Jews using the principle
of resentment on the Aryan master race through
democracy, Marxism, and blood poisoning.
Before its undermining, the blue eyed, blond
Aryan conqueror was believed to have acted
in the interest of his own self-preservation;
and thereby attained the status of master
through his blood and subjugation of weaker
races (Hitler, 296). He was a "whole
man" who could successfully achieve
high culture and happiness. Hitler described
"the weakness and half- heartedness
of the power taken in old Germany" as
a terrifying sign of decay from this master
ancestor (Hitler, 257). Hitler believed the
"whole man," the Aryan conqueror,
was to inherit the world: "If the power
to fight for one's own health is no longer
present, the right to live in this world
of struggle ends. This world belongs to the
forceful 'whole' man and not to the weak
'half' man" (Hitler, 257). Through his
interest in self-preservation and brutality,
Hitler prophesized that the Aryan conqueror
would return high culture to the earth (Hitler,
297).
Nietzsche and Hitler shared beliefs in transvaluation,
interest of self-preservation, and prophesies
of an age of barbarism followed by a new
order of blond conquerors, or supermen. These
concepts set the foundation for anti-democracy
and universal equality.
In further discussion of clashing moralities,
Nietzsche discussed the concept of the "soul"
by using the terminology "lambs"
and "birds of prey" to symbolize
the slaves and nobles (Genealogy, III 10).
He argued the soul was the source of identification
for the slave because it suggested there
was a universal commonality - that all human
beings are equal. This idea corrupted action
in the interest of self-preservation, which
had now been defined as an attack on fellow
brethren. Nietzsche was nauseated by this
and expressed the belief that the soul "has
perhaps proved itself the best dogma in the
world simply because it rendered possible
to the horde of mortal, weak, and oppressed
individuals of every kind. the interpretation
of weakness as freedom, of being this, or
that, as merit" (Genealogy III 10).
By glorifying the blond beast, Nietzsche
illustrated his disgust with the concept
of universal equality and democracy.
Consistent with Nietzsche's condemnation
of identification with the weak, Hitler believed
that democracy and equality, while praised
in America and Europe, were constrictive
and degenerative. Hitler wrote: "social
activity must never and on no account be
directed toward philanthropic flim flam,
but rather toward the elimination of the
basic deficiencies in the organization of
our economic and cultural life that must
- or at all events can - lead to the degeneration
of the individual" (Hitler, 30). In
place of Nietzsche's blond beast, Hitler
identified the blond, blue-eyed Aryan race
as the embodiment of high culture, overshadowing
the weak and slavish roots of democracy.
The fact that Nietzsche's blond beast and
Hitler's blond Aryan conqueror shared a dislike
for democracy does not suggest a relationship.
Especially considering the ineffectiveness
of the Weimar democratic system, which Hitler
experienced firsthand. However, the similar
terminology begs the issue of causality to
be further assessed.
While the slave moralities clash, Nietzsche
prophesed that a new morality would form
and harness the human "will to power,"
and this man will be the Overman, or Superman.
Nietzsche described the terribleness that
follows the questioning of values and the
creation of the superman: "Man is beast
and superbeast; the higher human is inhuman
and superhuman: these belong together. With
every increase of greatness and height in
man, there is also an increase in depth and
terribleness" (Will to Power, 1027).
Nietzsche justified terror with the belief
that it would bring a higher state for mankind.
But what is the superman other than terribleness?
Shirer cited Nietzsche's explanation of how
the superman was prophesized to dominate
the world (Shirer, 111):
The strong men, the masters, regain the pure
conscience of a beast of prey; monsters filled
with joy, they can return from a fearful
succession of murder. when a man is capable
of commanding, when he is by nature a 'master,'
when he is violent in act and gesture . to
judge morality properly, it must be replaced
by two concepts borrowed from zoology: the
taming of a beast and the breeding of a specific
species.
Nietzsche's prophecy calls for a master to
maintain beasts of prey through breeding
and transvaluation, which was essentially
Hitler's course of action following his appointment
to chancellor. In The Rise and Fall of the
Third Reich, William Shirer cited an aphorism
from The Will to Power that more clearly
defined the Superman's qualities: "A
daring and ruler race is building itself
up. the aim should be to prepare a transvaluation
of values for a particular strong kind of
man, most highly gifted in intellect and
will. This man and the elite around him will
become 'lords of the earth'" (Shirer,
101f). Shirer analyzed this quotation with
respect to how Nietzsche affected Hitler
and the content of Mein Kampf:
Such rantings from one of Germany's most
original minds must have struck a responsive
chord in Hitler's littered mind. At any rate
he appropriated them for his own - not only
the thoughts but the philosopher's penchant
for grotesque exaggeration, and often his
very words. 'Lords of the Earth' is a familiar
expression in Mein Kampf. That in the end
Hitler considered himself the superman of
Nietzsche's prophesy can not be doubted.
In Mein Kampf, Hitler also emphasized the
importance of questioning values and the
necessary terror to transform the blood-poisoned
state of Germany into an Aryan utopia. Hitler
wrote, "Only when an epoch ceases to
be haunted by the shadows of its own consciousness
of guilt will it achieve the inner calm and
outward strength brutally and ruthlessly
to prune off the wild shoots and tear out
the weeds" (Hitler, 30). If Hitler's
Mein Kampf was partly a derivative of Nietzsche's
work, the brutality Hitler referred to is
the terribleness which Nietzsche described;
it is the necessary destruction to refine
the masses.
Proposal for resolution of the slave's disease
(i. e. Judeo-Christian ethic and blood poisoning)
was implied by both Hitler and Nietzsche
to be annihilation. Hitler believed in the
possibility of the pacifistic-humane idea
"when the highest type of man has previously
conquered and subjected the world to an extent
that makes him the sole ruler of the earth"
(Hitler, 288). Consistent with this thought,
annihilation of the slave was essential.
To fight the weight of diseased and weak
human beings, Hitler sought to ruthlessly
apply "Nature's stern and rigid laws"
(Hitler, 289). His philosophy was "Those
who want to live, let them fight, and those
who do not want to fight in this world of
eternal struggle do not deserve to live"
(Hitler, 289).
In The Will to Power, a number of aphorisms
present solutions to the decadence of Europe
and the World. In aphorism 862, Nietzsche
proposes a doctrine of breeding and annihilation:
A doctrine is needed powerful enough to work
as a breeding agent: strengthening the strong,
paralyzing and destructive for the world
weary. The annihilation of the decaying races.
Decay of Europe.-The annihilation of slavish
evaluations.-Dominion over the earth as a
means of producing a higher type.-The annihilation
of the tartuffery called 'morality.' The
annihilation of suffrage universel; i. e.
the system through which the lowest natures
prescribe themselves as laws for the higher.-The
annihilation of mediocrity and its acceptance
(The one sided, individuals - peoples; to
strike for fullness of nature through the
pairing of opposites: race mixture to this
end). The new courage - no a priori truths.
This proposal of annihilation highly compares
to Hitler's policies of extermination. Both
Hitler and Nietzsche assert that the host
of the slavish disease of values and decay
is the clever Jew, the need for a spiritual
base of independence of thought and action,
the revaluation of strong and weak, and the
annihilation of the slaves. By juxtaposing
Hitler's work and Nietzsche's, the groundwork
of Mein Kampf is clearly a literal interpretation
of Nietzsche's work.
The underlying themes in Nietzsche and Hitler's
philosophies are the importance of impulses
and action for self-preservation, the danger
of the clever Jew (i. e. the slave who has
re-valuated strong as evil and weak as good),
and the prophesy of a new type of man that
will question the Jewish values and return
the glory of the blond beast. Although Nietzsche's
reference to slaves and masters are references
to personified moralities, the themes and
language are strikingly consistent with the
language and terminology used by Hitler in
Mein Kampf. Nietzsche's close relationship
with Richard Wagner, Elisabeth's reconciliation
of Nietzsche's work with Wagner's racist
ideology, and Hitler's praise of Wagner's
work suggests that Hitler may have read Nietzsche's
work. Elisabeth's political involvement with
the Nazis, and Hitler's multiple visits to
the Nietzsche archive suggest Hitler's direct
awareness and interest in Nietzsche's philosophy.
And finally, the radical content and similar
terminology used by the Nietzsche and Hitler
implies that Nietzsche's influence in 20th
century Germany may have extended to the
Führer, as a narcissistic discovery of the
Superman. In the conclusion of Mein Kampf
Hitler wrote (Hitler, 688):
A state which in this age of racial poisoning
dedicates itself to the care of its best
racial elements must some day become lord
of the earth. May the adherents of our movement
never forget this if ever the magnitude of
the sacrifices should beguile them to an
anxious comparison with the possible results.
Works Cited: Primary Sources
1. Hitler, Adolf. Mein Kampf. Translated
by Ralph Mannheim. Boston: The Riverside
Press, 1943. This book, written by Adolf
Hitler, is his personal philosophy about
racial supremacy, the threat of blood poisoning,
the conspiracy of the communists and Jews,
the potential of the German Volk, and the
future of the German race. I will use this
source to convey the impact Nietzsche had
on Hitler and his beliefs.
2. Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Genealogy of
Morals. Edited by Paul Negri. New York, Dover
Publications, Inc., 2003; 1887. In this book
Nietzsche defines what is "good"
and what is "bad," which he then
uses to discuss the role of Guilt in the
Human Species and then question the meaning
of Ascetic ideals. This source is a critical
piece of Nietzsche's philosophy, especially
in its relationship to Nazi ideology.
3. Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Will to Power.
Ed. Walter Kaufmann. London: Weidenfeld &
Nicolson, 1968; 1901. This book is a compilation
of aphorisms written by Nietzsche; however,
while some are legitimate, others were originally
discarded. Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, Nietzsche's
anti-Semitic sister who received the copyright
to Nietzsche's works, constructed The Will
to Power as a testament to her own beliefs.
The book became known as Nietzsche's magnum
opus for Elisabeth's own political ambitions
with the conservatives, and then the Nazis.
4. Nietzsche, Friedrich. Thus Spake Zarathustra.
Translated by Thomas Common. New York: 1999;
1885. Nietzsche, as a moral relativist, illustrates
the will to power and the importance of challenging
convictions. This book runs contrary to Nazi
doctrine because it emphasizes the hatred
Nietzsche had for those who rooted their
conception of virtue in terror. I believe
this source will be important in evaluating
the Nazi ideology as a perversion of Nietzsche's
writing.
Works Cited: Secondary Sources
1. Aschheim, Steven E. "Nietzsche, Anti-Semitism,
and the Holocaust." Nietzsche &
Jewish Culture. Edited by Jacob Golomb. New
York: Routledge, 1997. This book of essays
includes an analysis of Nietzsche's influence
on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. This source
will be helpful in proving an interpretation
of Nietzsche's themes of "the will to
power," the weak and the strong, and
the superman.
2. Kaufmann, Walter. Nietzsche. New Jersey:
Princeton University Press, 1974. Walter
Kauffman was a philosopher who, in Nazi Germany,
defended the intended meaning of Nietzsche's
writing. He provides an experienced, intelligent
interpretation and analysis of Nietzsche's
work, which will be very helpful in isolating
the material consistently seen in Nazi propaganda.
3. Santaniello, Weaver. "Nietzsche and
the Jews: Christendom and Nazism." Nietzsche
& Jewish Culture. Edited by Jacob Golomb.
New York: Routledge, 1997. Santaniello discussed
the effect of Nietzsche's works on Nazi ideology,
including issues of racial blood mixture,
destruction of the weak, and the conspiracy
of the Jews. The books Santaniello addressed
specifically are: Thus Spake Zarathustra,
The Genealogy of Morals, and The Anti-Christ.
He then compared their text to Nazi propagandists
and illustrated that the Nazi interpretation
of Nietzsche was nothing more than a perversion.
4. Santaniello, Weaver. Nietzsche, God, and
the Jews. Albany: State University of New
York Press, 1994. Santaniello argues that
Nietzsche's work was an in-depth observation
and condemnation of Wagner and his followers,
National Socialism, the political and religious
aspects of anti-Semitism, "German nationalism,
and Aryan racial supremacy," which Nietzsche's
sister and the Nazi's censored and manipulated
for their own benefit. Santaniello conveys,
through analysis and direct use of excerpts
from Nietzsche's philosophical work, the
empathy Nietzsche had for the Jews, contrary
to what is suggested by the Nazi perversion
of his work. This is addressed in a short
biography of Nietzsche, where Santaniello
illustrates the factors that led to criticism
of anti- Semitism and forces that twisted
his philosophy into the foundation of the
Nazi ideology and supported of National Socialism.
The majority of this source is interpretation
of Thus Spake Zarathustra, The Antichrist,
Daybreak, The Genealogy of Morals, and other
books, letters, and essays written by Nietzsche,
which have run contrary to the work of his
anti-Semitic counterpart, Wagner, and his
sister Elisabeth. In addition, chapter is
dedicated to Nietzsche's critique of Christianity,
German Culture, and the Volk; which were
the three main factors leading to the origin
of Nazi thought. In the conclusion, Elisabeth
Nietzsche's distortions of her brother's
books and there use in Hitler's reign are
discussed.
5. Shirer, William. The Rise and Fall of
the Third Reich. New York: Simon and Schuster,
Inc., 1960. This book broadly covers the
beginning and end of Hitler's Nazi regime,
including the influence of Nietzsche and
the perversion of his philosophy. This source
will be a good reference for the general
ideas and themes running through Nazi methods
and goals of propaganda. See also: "William
L. Shirer's take on the Relationship Between
Friedrich Nietzsche and the Nazis From William
L. Shirer (1959), The Rise and Fall of the
Third Reich," posted by Professor of
Economics J. Bradford DeLong, University
of California at Berkeley,
6/10/1998. additional literature (added by
Prof. Marcuse, Nov. 2004)
6. Jacob Golomb and Robert S. Wistrich, eds.
Nietzsche, Godfather of Fascism? On the Uses
and Abuses of a Philosophy. Princeton University
Press: Princeton and Oxford, 2002. 344 pp.
Index. $65.00 (cloth), ISBN
0-691-00709-8; $16.95 (paper), ISBN 0-691-00710-1.
October, 2004 H-German Review by: Peter Bergmann,
Department of History, University of Florida.
7. Charles Bambach. Heidegger's Roots: Nietzsche,
National Socialism, and the Greeks. Ithaca
and London: Cornell University Press, 2003.
xxvi + 350 pp. Notes, index. $45.00 (cloth),
ISBN 0-8014-4072-6. Oct. 2004 H-German review
by Roderick Stackelberg, Department of History,
Gonzaga University.
8. Macintyre, Ben (1963-), Forgotten Fatherland:
The Search for Elisabeth Nietzsche (New York
: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1992). xiii, 256
p. : ill., map ; 24 cm. includes bibliographical
references (p. 219-246) and index [this was
probably inadvertently omitted from the bibliography]
Paper written by Michael Kalish, June 1,
2004, prepared for web by H. Marcuse, 6/15/04
