Punishing Those Who Will not Worship Germany

During my many years researching Nazi Germany—well before September 11, 2001—the phrase "death to the non-believers" frequently passed through my mind. It seemed to me that Hitler conceived Jews as "infidels": people who did not worship his god, "Germany". The Final Solution may be understood as a religious war against infidels. Followers of Nazism sought to destroy those who did not worship as they did.

Nazism was a religious cult with the German nation as the object of worship and Hitler the preacher imploring his flock to bow down in worship. Hitler declared that Deutschland ueber Alles (Germany Above All) was a "profession of faith that fills millions with a strength that is mightier than any earthly might." "Our love for our people will never falter," Hitler asserted, "and our faith in this Germany of ours is imperishable." He claimed that his people did not wish to have "any other God—only Germany."

Nazi totalitarianism insisted that every German love and be devoted to Germany. Like a religious fanatic, Hitler became deeply disturbed contemplating the idea that some people did not—refused to—love and worship Germany as he did. "We are fanatic in our love for our people. We can go as loyally as a dog with those who share our sincerity, but will pursue with fanatical hatred the man who believes that he can play tricks with this love of ours." Hitler’s hatred was directed toward people he believed or imagined did not love Germany enough and refused to devote their lives to her.

How does a patriot prove that he loves his nation? By demonstrating a willingness to perform sacrifices in its name. Hitler stated in Mein Kampf: "Any man who loves his people proves it solely by the sacrifices he is prepared to make for it." The "crown of sacrifice," according to Hitler, lay in "giving one’s life for the existence of the community." In short, the ultimate expression of devotion according to the cult of Nazism was dying for Germany.

Hitler believed that what was special about the Aryan was his willingness to sacrifice for the community. The Aryan did not hesitate "to give his personal labor and if necessary his own life for others." The Jew, on the other hand, Hitler said, lacked a sense of idealism—willingness to sacrifice for others. In Mein Kampf, Hitler characterized Jews as having an "absolute absence of all sense of sacrifice." Hitler believed (without any evidence) that Jews had shirked their duty to perform military service during the First World War.

German soldiers died in vast numbers in the First World War. As the Second World War progressed, German soldiers again laid down their lives for their country. Were Jews to be exempt? Would they once more (as, in Hitler’s mind, they had in the First World War) escape dying for Germany? The Final Solution was undertaken to assure that this time Jews would not get off scot-free. They too would die when Germany asked them to do so. They—like loyal German soldiers—would become obedient unto death.

Nations Have the Right to Kill: Hitler, the Holocaust and War
by Richard Koenisgberg

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True Believers: Hitler and Bin Laden

The Final Solution was an institution designed to punish Jews for their anti-social attitudes, and to compel them to sacrifice their lives for Germany—to die for the country—whereas hitherto they had been unwilling to do so. More broadly, the Final Solution may be understood as collective violence or terrorism undertaken by a group of "true believers". The Nazis sought to punish or destroy those they imagined did not worship their god: death to the non-believers.

In the mind of a true believer, there is only one Truth. The religious fundamentalist believes there is one true God; everyone must believe or worship as he or she does. Those who do not are experienced as infidels who threaten and wish to destroy one’s faith. Acts of violence may be undertaken to punish or destroy non-believers, thus rescuing one’s faith and the object one worships.

This dynamic of punishing and destroying non-believers is clearly expressed in the Bible (Deuteronomy 17:3) where the words of God are conveyed as follows: "Who has gone and served other gods and worshipped them…which I have not commanded…then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and shall stone to death that man or woman with stones." Those who worship gods other than the one, true God, according to this passage in the Bible, have committed a wicked thing and deserve to be stoned to death. Violence and killing is understood as punishment for disbelief.

Osama Bin Laden stated that his Islamic religion believes that Allah has "created us for the purpose of worshiping Him." He cites a passage in the Qur’an urging people to "fight for the cause of Allah and to kill pagans wherever they are found." The purpose of jihad is to rouse believers in order to "restrain the fury of the non-believers." Acts of terroristic violence thus function to punish and destroy people whose belief system constitutes a threat to "the truth" as the true believer sees it.

An act of terror—such as the bombing of the World Trade Center—is designed to create shock and awe: to compel belief in the face of disbelief. Through this act, the actors sought to convey the idea: "This is the fate of those who do not believe in Allah." And: "Do you doubt the power of (our) God? This is what He is capable of." The power of the god one worships is contained within and expressed through the will and body of the believer, enabling the terrorist to perform heroic acts of sacrificial destruction.

The fanatic believer feels that every person must worship and submit to his god. Men such as Hitler and Bin Laden react with rage when they imagine the existence of others who do not share their belief system. Violent acts are undertaken to punish un-believers and provide a demonstration of the power of the entity that one worships.

Jews as the Ferment of Decomposition

Hitler required that everyone worship Germany as he did. No one could be exempt. "There cannot be a single person," Hitler declared, who "excludes himself from this obligation." As he achieved power and National Socialism became the religion of the German people, Hitler was pleased. The Nuremberg rallies, in particular, brought joy to Hitler: tens of thousands of Germans massed together as a congregation to worship Germany and acknowledge Hitler as head of the body politic.

It would appear, however, that Hitler continued to experience doubt, uncertainty and insecurity. He imagined that some Germans did not believe in National Socialism and were not fervently devoted to the nation. He conceived of enemies intent upon destroying that which he had built. Hitler claimed in a speech to his people that despite the success of his movement, there still were "incurables" who had never understood the "happiness of belonging to this great, inspiring community."

Some of the enemies Hitler imagined may have been real; others not. Jews, however, in Hitler’s theology, constituted a permanent, implacable enemy. Jews, Hitler believed, constituted a people whose fundamental purpose was to destroy nations. Hitler called Jews the "ferment of decomposition" in peoples, meaning that the Jew "destroys and must destroy." Hitler’s conception of the Jew was independent of what they actually believed or did (in the absence of anti-Semitism, German Jews certainly would have joined and embraced the Nazi party).

Countering the argument that many Jewish people were "decent", Hitler stated that it was "beside the point whether the individual Jew is ‘decent’ or not" because "in himself he carries those characteristics which Nature has given him." The fundamental characteristic of the Jew, according to Hitler, was his unwillingness to sacrifice. As Hitler put it, the Jew completely lacked the "conception of an activity which builds up the life of the community." Nazi scholarship declared that the peculiar characteristic of Judaism was its "hostility to human society," which is why there could be "no solution to the Jewish question." A true understanding of Jews and Judaism "insists on their total annihilation."

The Holocaust: Jews too Must be Obedient Unto Death

Jews for Hitler symbolized the refusal to embrace Nazism and inability to love Germany. The Final Solution represented an act of terror whose purpose was to punish or destroy infidels. "Death to the non-believers" expresses the fundamental meaning of the Holocaust. The idea of finality meant that doubters or disbelievers would be eliminated once and for all. Having eliminated the people who embodied doubt and disbelief throughout the world, it might become possible for everyone to worship Germany.

The essence of National Socialism is contained within the oath of the SS-man, who vowed "obedience unto death." The essence of German patriotism was willingness to sacrifice one’s life for the community: to die for Germany. The essence of the Jew, Hitler believed, was refusal to be obedient and sacrifice one’s life for a national community. Hitler became enraged when he contemplated this idea that some people did not believe in the greatness of Germany and refused to sacrifice their lives for her.

The Final Solution represented an act of terror designed to punish infidels and force them to submit. Hitler would see to it that Jews—like SS-men and German soldiers—would become obedient unto death. By undertaking the Final Solution, Hitler and Nazi leaders sought to demonstrate the power of the god they worshipped: "Do you doubt that Germany is omnipotent? This is what she is capable of. This is the power of our God." Germany would show how great she was through her determination, willingness and ability to destroy an entire people. The Final Solution conveyed the idea: "Do not imagine one can escape or evade Germany: This is the fate of those who imagine they are not obligated to sacrifice their lives."

Jews were defined by Hitler as a people unwilling or unable to sacrifice their lives for a national community. By virtue of the Final Solutions, Jews would be compelled to sacrifice their lives. They would be brought back into the fold. Like German soldiers, German civilians, and human beings throughout the world, Jews would be forced to participate—or partake of the Holocaust that Hitler imagined, brought into being and carried out.