The Uses and Abuses of Nietzsche in the Third Reich: Alfred Baeumler's 'Heroic Realism'

Abstract

The role of Nietzsche's philosophy in the National Socialist ideological nexus remains to be fully understood. Postwar attempts to 'de-nazify' Nietzsche have obscured the historical and intellectual links between Nietzschean philosophy and National Socialist politics behind generic claims of misinterpretation. Using the prominent National Socialist philosopher Alfred Baeumler as a prism, this article is an attempt to shed a more nuanced light on the Nietzsche/National Socialist synthesis. Baeumler's portrait of Nietzsche as the envoy of a new spirit of 'heroic realism' served as a crucial counterpoint for the Nietzsche reception in the Third Reich. An analysis of its origins, impact and reception affords a particularly illuminating perspective on the darker side of Nietzsche's historical legacy.