by Richard A. Koenigsberg
CONTENTS
- The Hypothesis
- Nazism and the Ideology of Nationalism
- Hitler’s Ideology
- Nazi Ideology
- The Dream of Nazism as the Dream of Nationalism
- Conclusion
V. THE DREAM OF NAZISM AS THE DREAM OF NATIONALISM
The National Socialistic movement was based upon an ideology that was a subset of the ideology of nationalism. Nazism represented a frenzy of nationalistic hysteria. Jane Roberts states that Hitler brought to flower all of the “most morbid nationalistic fantasies” that had been growing for centuries. The grandiose celebration of a nation’s “inalienable right to seek domination,” focused finally on Hitler’s Germany. Nazism enacted the deepest, darkest dreams contained within the ideology of nationalism.
Adolf Jost, a theorist of scientific racism who had issued an early call for direct medical killing in, The Right to Death (1895) argued that “control over the death of the individual must ultimately belong to the social organism, the state.”
Jost was pointing to the “state’s right to kill.” Jost pointed out that the state already exercised those “rights” in war, where thousands of individuals are sacrificed for the good of the State. The state must own death—kill—Jost asserted, in order to “keep the social organism alive and healthy.”
Jost draws attention to a fundamental theme at the heart of nationalism, namely the human tendency to reify and idealize nation-states; relate to nations as if real entities that exist separately and apart from individuals who constitute them. Such omnipotent nation-states or social organisms require—like the gods of the Aztecs— “sacrifices” if they are to be kept alive. This fantasy of the nation as an entity existing above and beyond actual individuals constitutes the fundamental political ideology of our time.
VI. CONCLUSION
The data I’ve presented suggests that the Nazis projected a fantasy into their ideology—allowing us to perceive the deep structure of their ideology. Nazism revolved around the idea of Germany as an actual body (politic); concrete “substance of flesh and blood.” Jews were conceived as bacteria or viruses, source of a disease within the body politic. The Final Solution was undertaken to eliminate pathogenic microorganisms from within the body politic, thus removing the source of Germany’s disease and enabling the nation to survive.
Identification of recurring metaphors and images reveals bodily fantasies as the source of Nazi ideology. This Nazi fantasy about the body (politic) was always present, part of the warp and woof of Nazi ideology. By paying attention to metaphorical language contained within Nazi ideology, we are able to perceive this fantasy. Having articulated the fantasy that was the source of Nazism, the next step will be to interpret it; uncover its meaning; the source of the fantasy’s appeal and power.
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