The essence of National Socialism is contained within the oath of the SS-man: "obedience unto death." German patriotism meant was willingness to sacrifice one’s life for the community: to die for Germany; and by dying, demonstrate one's devotion to a noble cause.
The essence of the Jew, on the other hand, Hitler believed, was refusal to be obedient and to sacrifice one’s life for a national community. If the philosophy defining the SS-man was obedience unto death, Hitler believed that the essence of the Jewish character was refusal to be obedient, to Germany--or any other nation-state.
The fundamental dialectic of Nazi Germany: absolute obedience versus refusal to be obedient; submission to the state versus refusal to submit to the state. The Nazi: willful obedience. The Jew: willful disobedience.
The Final Solution was designed to compel Jews to replicate the posture of the SS-Man: to become obedient unto death. But Jewish obedience unto death is perceived in an entirely different light: no honor, no nobility, rather abject, pitiful submission to the state.
Yet nearly six million German soldiers perished in the Second World War. The "Final Solution," for them, was not radically different than the Jewish Final Solution: Starvation, freezing to death, abject, pitiful submission.
TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN OF OBEDIENCE UNTO DEATH. Different words to describe similar fates.
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