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Hitler’s concept of self-sacrifice for the German nation does not differ from the Islamic concept of martyrdom for Allah. Willingness to forfeit one’s life—in each case—is understood as the means by which one demonstrates the depth of one’s faith in and devotion to a sacred object. The individual gives witness to the sincerity of his belief by virtue of his willingness to make the "supreme sacrifice."
People become attached to ideologies or symbolic objects conceived as absolutes. These ideologies or symbolic objects have names such as "Germany," or "Allah" or "Communism" or "the Emperor" or "freedom and democracy."
Collective forms of violence—warfare, genocide and terrorism—come into being when a group (inspired by a leader) seeks to demonstrate its devotion to the ideology or symbolic object with which the group identifies.
By killing and dying in the name of a sacred ideology, the group "gives witness" to the significance of its ideology. Sacrifice and martyrdom are the way in which members of a group or society demonstrate devotion to a sacred object or entity.
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