| We have observed that Hitler became enraged contemplating the idea that some men had died—sacrificed their lives—in the First World War; whereas other men had avoided serving in the military. Specifically, according to Hitler, Jews had shirked their duty to risk their lives in battle.
But why was the idea of dying in battle—sacrificing one’s life for one’s nation in war—so important to Hitler in the first place?
Because Hitler believed that willingness to sacrifice one’s life for a nation-state lay at the heart of civilization. He stated in Mein Kampf (1924) that the capacity for “creating and building culture” depended on the willingness of the individual to “renounce putting forward personal opinions and interests” and to “sacrifice both in favor of a large group.”
Out of this readiness to subordinate personal interests arose the ability to establish “comprehensive communities.” Willing to sacrifice was the first premise for “every truly human community.
Aryans were the civilization-builders par excellence because of their unique capacity to “abandon self-interest in the name of surrendering to the community.” What was most strongly developed in the Aryan, according to Hitler, was the “self-sacrificing will” to “give one’s personal labor and if necessary one’s life” for others. The Aryan willingly subordinates his ego to the life of the community and, if the hour demands it, “even sacrifices himself.”
Hitler had developed a sacrificial theory of civilization. He believed that the state-forming and state-preserving forces depended on the ability and willingness of the individual to “sacrifice himself for the totality.” A human being proved he loved his nation solely by the “sacrifices which he is prepared to make for it.” Military service required the duty to fight for the existence of one’s people by sacrificing the life of the individual “always and forever, at all times and all places.”
National Socialists, from Hitler’s perspective, embodied the essence of civilization—precisely because they were idealists ready to “sacrifice their own existence” to the life of the Reich. To be a nationalist meant to act with a “boundless and all-embracing love for the people” and if necessary, “to die for it.” Socialism meant to be to such an extent convinced of the “goodness of the community” as to be “ready to die for it.”
The idea of sacrificial death for the community constituted the bedrock of Hitler’s philosophy. Sacrificial willingness, according to Hitler, represented the essence of human goodness—and the foundation of civilization. Given this assumption about civilization, what would Hitler say about—how would he react to—people who did not embrace the idea of sacrificial willingness? |