National Socialist Movement Research Articles

Mythe et action sociale en Allemagne

Certain episodes in the history of the German workers' movement illustrate the part that mythical type of thought still plays in it. The same is true for the « Movement for Popular Broadcasting » through which the author of this article shows the internalization of the mythical aspect of technology by the progressist and revolutionary movements at the time of the Weimar republic. In the face of left-wing Messianic optimism which was caught up in controversy over Marxist orthodoxy, the National-Socialist movement was able to present itself as the most important political expounder of the social demands likely to restore the nation's spiritual unity jeopardized by Modernism and the parliamentary government system of industrial society. The stand that National-Soci alism had taken, was that of the opponents of « Zivilisation », who by their Naturistic and Theosophical view of society, had since the 19th century deeply influenced wide areas of German society.

National Socialism and the Working Class, 1925-May, 1933

The following essay is intended to illuminate the pre-history of the problems of national socialist rule discussed in my book Sozialpolitik im Dritten Reich. A proper perspective for the analysis of class relationships in Germany after 1933 can be gained only by first outlining the development and social composition of the national socialist movement before the seizure of power and by reconstructing the process which led to the destruction of working class organizations in 1933. Further, it is of greatest importance to point out those changes in economic and political constellations produced by the world economic crisis. A thorough and differentiated treatment of these themes is of course impossible within the given framework. The discussion must thus concentrate on those aspects of the rise of the NSDAP which were then later to prove decisive for the development of the Nazi system after 1933.

The Hitler Cult

Adolf Hitler and those of his fanatical . henchmen who shared his last days shared also a belief that from their ashes a cult would arise. As early as 1942, when his Russian plans had gone awry. Hitler spoke to his entourage of the satisfactions of dying on “a magnificent funeral pyre.” In his last testament three years later he wrote of his oneness in sacrifice with his soldiers, which would be “the seed of a radiant rebirth of the National-Socialist movement….” Martin Bormann hinted at a Wagnerian myth when he wrote in his last letter to his wife of perishing “in King Attila's hall, like the Nibelungs of old.” Joseph Goebbels, dramatic to the end, de claimed at his last press conference about “the fine color film describing the terrible days we are living through,” which future audiences would see.

The NSDAP in Hanover and Lower Saxony 1921-26

After the national-socialist accession to power, many branches of the movement composed accounts of their development. For Hanover, the relevant documents of the local NSDAP were compiled by the two co-founders, Bruno enzel and Gustav Seifert: their historical accounts, early correspondence with headquarters at Munich, and information relating to other NS groups in the region, are now held in the West German National Archives at Koblenz (file NS 26/141). These documents are concerned mainly with the period from the foundation of an NSDAP group in the city of Hanover to the Putsch in November 1923; for the Gau Hanover between January 1925 and the autumn of I926, material exists in the Lower Saxon Archives in Hanover itself, which also has a copy of a history of the movement in the city of Hanover (file 3Io G/I). These sources together cast an interesting light on the national-socialist movement in North Germany in its formative years. A strong impression is left that its activities were so little controlled in real terms from party headquarters in Munich that it almost seems as though two separate organisations existed. In this gap lay the seeds of the difficulties experienced by Hitler in bending the northerners to his will in 1925-26, when efforts were being made by some in that area to produce a more detailed, and more radical, programme for the party.l This does not, of course, imply that Hitler had not been recognized as leader in Hanover in 1921-25, but rather that the control and supervision exercised from the South was looser than it might have been, especially in the period before the Putsch. It would seem that Hitler was more intent upon building firm bases in the South, especially in Munich, than

Folklore as a Political Tool in Nazi Germany

WITHIN THE CONTEXT of National Socialist ideology, folklore emerged as a field of central importance, and it seemed predestined by its very name to aid Hitler in building the new Reich. The term folklore, however, did not necessarily mean what we think it does today. Throughout the National Socialist movement we can observe an increasing ambiguity concerning such concepts as thought, folkdom, and movement. The lack of a clear distinction between the traditional cultural heritage of the common folk and the new values of the order was one of the major reasons why folklore's status as a science came into serious discredit, particularly after the war. In the late forties, a German sociologist suggested that folklore be abolished altogether as a university discipline, so as to clean the air of the Nazis' ideological pollution.' Fortunately, his suggestions were not followed up, and thus folklore again received an opportunity to assert itself in nonpolitical and international terms. After 1935, German folklore professors were under pressure by the Party to adapt their theories and findings to the National Socialist Weltanschauung. This not only implied the obligation to join in the search for Nordic-Germanic symbols at the expense of other interests, but it also meant giving priority to those elements that might be of immediate ideological usefulness to the Party. According to Hermann Bausinger, the German Folklore Association was professional enough to withstand the pressure and to continue its work along customary lines, although enough other groups and individuals were engaged in producing folkish absurdities in sufficient quantity to mark a new trend in the history of folklore studies.2

The Use of the Symbol “Unknown” in Nazi Persuasion

AMID all the Nazi ritual, mythmaking, marching, flags, uniforms, and other paraphernalia of persuasion, the use of der Unbekannte stands out as a device utilized in several variations as a means of persuasion: der unbekannte Soldat, der unbekannte Arbeiter, der unbekannte S. A. Mann, der unbekannte Redner, and die unbekannte deutsche Frau. Der Fiihrer of these Unbekannten was portrayed by Nazi propagandists as a leader who came to the German Volk 'unknown', 'out of the darkness' to throw 'the spark of God into the heart of the Germans'.' From the outset of the National Socialist movement, the Nazis used the Unbekannten symbols as a persuasive device. 'Out there in the trenches a young generation sacrificed for the future. Two millions without a name fell and died. The Unknown Soldier is

The Ideological Precursors of National Socialism

ANY AUTHORS PREFER to see National Socialism in Germany and the ideas of Hitler as only a pathological aberration, not as the temporary victory and fall of an extreme emotional undercurrent potentially inherent in the intellectual history of Germany since the Napoleonic era. To crystallize the scattered tenets of extreme German nationalism, with its racist overtones and its belief in the organic, nay organistic, nature of state and society, a genius was needed. He had to be less of a philosopher than an able speaker and propagandist, capable of simplifying, even falsifying, these ideas in order to arouse the popular support necessary to the implementation of any political program in this age of mass democracies. The famous German historian, Leopold Ranke, wrote that ideas in history appear to represent perfect goods at the outset. By mixing them with man's weakness and institutionalizing them, however, they become imperfect and laden with moral guilt before they disintegrate. Their decline is then no longer the defeat of the moral and valuable in history but the destruction of a bastardized idea which has lost its raison d'etre. It would be maintained that the original proponents of German nationalism were expounding a new and justifiable idea and that their idealism lived even in some segments of the National Socialist movement, only to be lost in the maze of the Fuehrer-principle, fanatical racism, and the titanic pretensions of a movement aiming at absolute German hegemony on the Continent. To understand why Hitler and his lieutenants could impress German youth and intellectuals alike, the development of the idea of the German nation and state since the French Revolution has to be sketched in order to trace both the subterranean and

Die Deutschen Briefe: Gurian and the German Crisis

In 1934 Waldemar Gurian had the wriest of pleasures, when he was forced to recognize that his very pessimistic analysis of the National-Socialist movement was correct. He fled from Germany to Switzerland where he was soon joined by his wife and daughter. In the extremely straitened circumstances of an emigré, soon to receive official notification that he was a stateless person, he had to face simultaneously the tasks of earning a living and of carrying on his work as a Catholic writer who combined scholarship and publicism. He was a profound student of Bolshevism. But his study, personal experience and the progress of events emphasized that Europe then faced a more dangerous threat than Russian Bolshevism. The threat stemmed from the control of Germany by the National-Socialists, who skilfully exploited a moral crisis in Germany and all of Europe, to gain and, then systematically and totally, to consolidate power in Germany. The menace to Europe was all the more dire, because the Nazis had disguised their totalitarian movement in the mask of anti-Bolshevism and so the danger went unrecognized.

The Twilight of National Socialism in Germany, 1943–1945

THE only thing that held this aristocracy together, wrote Treitschke of the Teutonic Knights, the terrible severity of the brotherhood's discipline. The 'Rules, Laws and Customs' of the Order can still show us today to what a pitch was developed the art of dominating the Knights and making them useful.' Das deutsche Ordensland Preussen was published in 1862, the year in which Bismarck was called to power in Prussia. Whatever his foreign policy revealed of his aims and qualities, at home he represented that aristocracy which still looked back with pride to the Teutonic Qrder as the forbear of their own caste. In the history of the rise of the National Socialist movement we can trace the endeavour of the aristocracy of eastern Germany to maintain its share in the Third Reich against the determination of the Nazis to appropriate it to themselves. The Nazis succeeded; and in their application of Treitschke's lesson on the use of disciplined terror and conquest they involved Germany in a debacle unprecedented in modern history.

Prof. E. Schrödinger and the University of Gtaz

SINCE the recent incorporation of Austria into Germany, little precise knowledge has been available as to the result of the change upon the position of some distinguished Austrian men of science. Upon inquiry we are informed that Prof. E. Schroödinger will continue to occupy the chair of theoretical physics in the University of Graz. The Tagespost, Graz, of March 30, publishes a letter from Prof. Schrödinger to the Senate of the University, in which he explains that he has not hitherto taken the active part expected of him in the National Socialist movement but is now glad to be reconciled to it. The last paragraph of his letter reads as follows: "Well-wishing friends who overestimate my importance consider it right that the repentant confession which I made to them should be made in public. I too belong to those who seize the outstretched hand of peace, because, sitting at my writing-desk, I have misjudged up to the last the real will and the true destiny of my land. I make this confession readily and joyfully. I believe it is spoken out of the hearts of many, and I hope in doing this to serve my country."

Economic Theory and National Purpose

As time goes on the full scope of the National Socialist movement in Germany becomes apparent to the outside world. The abolition of democratic institutions and the assumption of supreme power by the Führer were not surprising in principle to observers in foreign countries, though they were startling to many in their completeness and ferocity. Similarly, we were more or less prepared for the withdrawal from the League of Nations, and the changes in foreign policy associated with it. But I do not think it was generally expected that the movement would include a reform of education, not in such matters as methods of teaching but in regard to the content of the subjects taught. To those who are accustomed to regard the truth or falsity of the subject-matter of education as independent of the political character of the government this comes as something of a shock. A remarkable series of pamphlets under the general title Der Deutsche Staat der Gegenwart deals with some of these “reforms”, particularly as applied to the subjects of law and economics. Volume XV of the series is entitled Das Studium der Wirtschaftswissenschaft and describes the new curriculum of economic studies. It gives the new curriculum itself, in some detail, and contains, as well, addresses by Professors Dr. Eckhart, Gottl-Ottlilienfeld, and Wiskemann which reveal, sometimes as through a glass darkly, the ideas underlying the “reform”.

The National Socialist Movement in Germany

The National Socialist Movement in Germany