I'm following up on two recent LSS Newsletters in which I presented and analyzed Stephen Johnson's interpretation of Hitler as a "Germaphobe." He writes that Hitler was "highly sensitive to disgust," concluding that deeming Jews disgusting parasites made extermination the "logical and necessary course of action."

Hitler's use of the term "parasite" to describe the Jew had nothing to do with "germaphobia" or with "disgust." This metaphor had a profound symbolic meaning. The "parasite" represented the idea of an object sucking the life out of Hitler and the German people. The parasite was the German nation itself, to which Hitler and Germans felt they had to sacrifice concrete existence.

The Jew as a physical being evoking "disgust" paled when put next to the symbolic meaning of the Jew. The Jew represented an entity sucking the blood and life out of Hitler and the German people. The parasite was the German nation.

But Hitler refused to abandon attachment to his beloved nation. So the parasitical experience of Germany was projected into the Jew, allowing Hitler to maintain his belief in the "goodness" of Germany--and his attachment to the nation.

Hitler needs to kill the parasite he imagined was sucking the life-blood out of Germany. This is the meaning of the Final Solution. But it wasn't the "final" solution. Hitler then had to destroy Germany, the true parasite. Only then could he marry.

Richard Koenigsberg

The “parasite” is the fantasy of an object draining the life of the self. The parasite is the immortal object, Germany. What is parasitic is precisely attachment to the nation: what causes one to sacrifice concrete existence with its pleasures--to sustain the idea of an immortal organism (one's nation).

The parasite sucking one’s blood is the fantasy of an immortal German organism. The concept of the "Jew parasite" represents a denial or negation of what is actually the case: that the beloved German nation itself is the parasite. The Jew symbolizes the experience of the Nazi’s attachment to Germany.

The parasite is the fantasy of omnipotence in its destructive dimension: the nation perceived as draining one’s life. The Jew is perception of the omnipotent object in its negative guise.

The parasite is the omnipotent dream that sucks the life (energy) out of one's real life.  The parasitical disease is precisely the need to attach to the omnipotent idea.  Attachment to the omnipotent idea sucks one's strength--as one devotes one's life's energies to the maintenance of the "impossible dream" (immortality). 

The "parasite" is the "immortal introject" sucking one's life force;  the parasite is the immortal object in its negative form. "Sacrifice" is experienced, not only as something noble and beautiful, but also as a drain upon one's life energies.