Hitler's objective:
Dying for the Sacred Object
Dying for Germany |
| (1) The state-forming forces are the ability and will of the individual to sacrifice himself for the totality. |
| 2) The young regiments had not gone to their death crying "Long live universal suffrage and the secret ballot," but crying "Deutschland uber Alles in der Welt." |
| 3) The most precious blood sacrificed itself joyfully, in the faith that it was preserving the freedom of the fatherland. |
| 4) In the sacred ground the best comrades slumbered, still almost children, who had run to their death with gleaming eyes for the one true fatherland. |
| 5) When in the long war years Death snatched so many a dear comrade and friend from our ranks, it would have seemed to me almost a sin to complain-after all, were, they not dying for Germany? |
| 6) The Aryan willingly subordinates his own ego to the life of the community and, if the hour demands, even sacrifices it. |
| 7) In giving one's life for the existence of the community lies the crown of all sacrifice. |
| 8) Any man who loves his people proves it solely by the sacrifices which he is prepared to make for it. |
| 9) What made men die was not concern for their daily bread, but love of the fatherland. |
| 10) The idea of military service dawned on my lads in terms of the duty to sacrifice the life of the individual, always and forever, at all times and places. |
| 11) Thousands of young Germans stepped forward to sacrifice their young lives freely and joyfully on the altar of the beloved fatherland. |
| 12) To be "social" means that every individual is so convinced of the goodness of this community as to be ready to die for it. |
| 13) To be “national" means to act with a boundless and all-embracing love for the people and, if necessary, even to die for it. |
| 14) The National Socialist Party looked to those idealists who are ready to sacrifice their own existence to the eternal life of people and of Reich. |
| 15) Life for you German boys and girls must mean sacrifice. |
| 16) Nobody can do more than sacrifice himself for his people, and to that sacrifice we must ever pledge ourselves. |
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Scott Atran writes about "sacred values" in the name of which human beings "willingly make costly sacrifices, including fighting and dying"
I focus upon "sacred objects"--such as nations-- in the name of which people die and kill.
Hitler's fundamental ideology was "dying for Germany." This is what he wished for his own troops, for his enemies, and for himself. His dreams came true.
Hitler is remembered for the massive number of sacrificial deaths that he brought into being. His "accomplishment" is "written up in the history books."
The focus of political history is sacrificial death--in the name of Sacred Objects such as Germany or France or the Emperor of Japan or Allah; or sacred values such as maintaining a perfect union or freedom democracy.
Political history records the number of deaths that have occurred in the name of particular sacred objects or values. The greatness or significance of the sacred object is judged in terms of the number of deaths or injuries that are generated in its name. Similarly, the "significance" of a historical event is based on the number of deaths and injuries that occurs during this event.
Violent political events--warfare and terrorism and genocide--represent proof of human "spirituality:" how we express devotion to entities or ideas "great than the self."
From a scientific point of view, It doesn't matter what the values is or what the object is. The task is to ascertain a causal relationship between attachment to a sacred value or object, on the one hand, and the historical events that follow in the wake of devotion to this sacred value or object.
Richard Koenigsberg
rak@libraryofsocialscience.com
The sources of the passages above are:
Baynes, Norman H. (1942). The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922–August 1939. Two Volumes. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hitler, Adolf (1962). Mein Kampf. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Richard A. Koenigsberg, PhD: (718) 393-1081
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