After 1815 with the defeat of Napoleon there was great hope for reforms in the German lands. However this failed to materialise due to various reasons such as key members of the new German Confederation being unwilling to commit. Many German Liberals began to see the diversity of the Confederation, something earlier liberal thinkers had been so keen on, as a problem. To solve this they began to formulate the idea of one nation, under which states like Prussia could not hold the reforms up. This would also entail the creation of a people, or of one Volk, rather than the mishmash of Bavarians, Prussians, Swabians who then made of the German Confederation. The 1848 revolution inspired by these ideas of freedom and of national unity gave hope to many believers in the new one nation idea. The formation of a National Assembly in Frankfurt gave hope to many that reform would now come.
Right: The new 1848 national flag of Germany
Left: The coat of arms of the National Assembly
Its failure however to create a united nationalist Germany disappointed many of its supporters for it did not establish anation state. The main reason for a lack of nationalist ideas in the revolution were the differences between the people participating in it. On one side there were the Moderates afraid of the massesdue to the French revolution, and in favour of a Kleindeutschland. On the other side there were the radicals inspired by the ideas of the French revolution who wanted the people to have complete control, in other words a republic, and a Großdeutschland. These differences eventually led to the collapse of the National Assembly, and the return to the Status Quo. It was for many nationalist supporters an enormous disappointment, yet their ideas and beliefs remained.
When unification of Germany finally came under Bismarck in 1871 it again failed to deliver the desired nation to the nationalist thinkers. True, Germany was now unified something they all desired, but not in a way envisaged by the nationalist movement. Again the arrangement excluded Austria and the Germans there.
Politics was weighed down in mediocrity due to the construction of the Reichstag where elected representatives had little real power over important decision making processes, all they could really adjust were minor details. This situation lead to the creation of a group called the Völkische Opposition who looked to a future when they would have a chance to create their ideal Reich. To them the imperial Reich was a step in the right direction, but too mild in many of its policies. In addition to this many nationalists saw Kaiser Wilhelm II as not being strong enough to create a new German Reich with many overseas colonies. Thus fuelled by imperialistic ambition the right-wing became a strong force in German politics.
The events of the First World War created by this imperialistic ambition and tension in Europe led to the creation of the Weimar Republic, and this was seen by many as a temporary measure. The Communists saw it as a prelude to their revolution, whilst the conservatives saw it as a time to wait out until they had a chance to restore the monarchy. To the Nazis it was a time when they could hope to achieve the dreams of their forerunners in the Völkische Opposition of uniting Germany and saving the German race. Although it had a chance against these forces the Weimar Republic was eventually brought down from within by the conservative forces, who unwillingly had to hand over power to the Nazis.
Hitler had been able to capitalise on many Germans believing they had not achieved their rightful place in the world by promising them he would change this, and in addition he was also able to use the fear of communism to boost his support. He was also helped by the feeling of instability due to economic factors such as inflation in the early twenties, and later the Wall Street crash. The idea of a new strong Reich supported by the people appealed to many people who had been let down by, as they saw it, the weak Weimar Republic and feared a 'Red' take-over.
Why was there this fear of Communism in so much of Germany society though? The answer again lies in the nineteenth century. As we have said the Wilhelme Reich and Weimar Republic were thought of as weak by some groups, however it was not only the nationalists of the day, but also by the Communists who thought this. Marx and Engel's book "Manifest der Kommunistische Partei" perhaps sums the mood up with
"Ein Gespenst geht um in Europa - das Gespenst des Kommunismus."
This fear of the working classes, and mob rule was therefore felt by many sections of German society from artisans up to princes. All stood to lose out if Communism took over. Early Science Fiction novels of the time predict a terrible future such as in Eugen Richter's "Sozialdemokratische Zukunftsbilder," where we see society in chaos as a result of socialist or communist activity.
The activity of attacking socialism was not only limited to books however. Bismarck pursued an active policy of persecuting both socialist and, moreover, Communists as Reichsfeinde. To this effect anti-socialist laws were passed, such as the one below, in order to stem the movement's growth,
"§1. Vereine, welche durch sozialdemokratische, sozialistische oder kommunistische Bestrebungen den Umsturz der bestehenden Staats- oder Gesellschaftsordnung bezwecken, sind zu verbieten.
The whole driving force behind the idea of Reichsfeinde was that these groups were eating away as the central core of Germany in order to destabilise it and plunge it into chaos. Jews also came to be associated with the idea of Communism and Internationalism. This was due to the fact that Marx was Jewish, and again helped the Reichsfeinde policy as Jews were also seen as enemies of the state. The policies did nothing however to stem the growth of socialism, as shown in 1912 when the Social Democrats were the largest party. The policies did however begin to split society into various social groups, a split which the Nazis would be able to use later on. Here we see the unity and diversity of the Holy Roman Empire, so loved by Herder and others, slowly being destroyed by the policies of the new Reich.
After the collapse of Germany in the First World War, the Communists and Socialists, were blamed for undermining the German state in its hour of need. This created amongst many nationalist and conservative groups the idea of the Novemberverbrecher. This idea was of course helped by past images of Communism as an evil, destabilising influence. The role of Communism in Germany's defeat was thus emphasised by many nationalist groups, particularly the Nazis, who used the past to warn about the future. They also now had the example of the Russian revolution to use. This added more weight to their argument, which in turn caused more angst amongst the people who heard and believed it.
We know the Nazis, like many others, really did fear a Communist take-over, and as such the Communists became one of the major enemies of the party. The Nazis were able to utilise past conceptions, such as the Novemberverbrecher or Reichsfeinde concept, to show how Germany was being undermined from within, and that only a strong party , one with the people behind it, could fight against such an enemy. We can also see that hatred and fear of Communism were nothing new in Germany, it was merely adapted by the Nazis to suit their purposes of gaining support. It also shows how the Nazis were different from Herder and Fichte. Herder and Fichte advocated freedom of thought and action where as with the Nazis the very reverse was implemented.
Society in late nineteenth century Germany was for many nationalists a time of decay. The growth of Socialism and Communism seemed to indicate this in political circles. Where had this decadence come from though? The answer for many Germans lay simply in 'the materialistic modern world."
Nietzsche in many of his works strikes out against this prevailing decadent mood in his society. One must be careful however not to see him directly as an early Nazi. Many of his ideas are opposed to theirs such as individual creativity. Nietzsche sees everybody in Europe becoming the same,
"Nenne man es nun 'Civilisation' oder 'Vermenschlichung' oder 'Fortschritt,' worin jetzt die Auszeichung der Europäer gesucht wird[...]; nenne man es einfach ohne zu loben und zu tadeln, mit einer politischen Formel die demokratische Bewegung Europas[...], - also der Prozeß einer Ahnähnlichung der Europäer."
This is disastrous for Europe according to Nietzsche as there will be no more creative forces. It also echoes Fichte's view of the creation being important for development. However it is important to see what he blames, the "demokratische Bewegung," which for him is the root of the decline. This is an idea which although known in Germany had been developed in other countries such as Britain or France. In Also sprach Zarathustra we see the idea of decline again where the world is compared to a dog with fleas,
"Die Erde ist dann klein geworden, und auf ihr hüpft der lezte Mensch, der alles klein macht."
Thus we see the world at crisis point being threatened with the eradication of all creative forces due to the rationalism and science of the day, again a creation of the West, which will eventually give,
"eben Geschichte, aber ja kein Geschehen!"
We see then that Nietzsche is vehemently opposed to the direction in which society is going. The answer to this problem for Nietzsche is to create übermensch, who can stop this decline and make things happen, and also to begin to educate the people who he compares to animals. This remark does indeed change the tone of how the people are conceived. In Herder's day they were good and pure, now they have become decadent, and what is needed is a "Gesundung" of the people to purify them. Nietzsche meant for this to happen through education, yet later thinkers adapted his concept of decline and the creation of a super race more radically.
We have then the image of a world in danger of no longer being productive, and the image of the people as being something that needs to be purified. The answer for this problem came to many writers in the form of purifying the race, and eliminating all the stains from other races within it. One such writer was Houston Stewart Chamberlain, British by birth but becoming an avid German fanatic later on, and whose work was later to influence Hitler's thinking greatly. His work Grundlagen des Neunzehnjahrhunderts discusses many of the ideas which were later to be central to Hitler's own Weltanschauung.
To begin with Chamberlain sees history made up of racial conflict, one example he gives is how the German tribes destroyed the Roman empire to take the dominant position of power in the world. This idea of a "blutigen Kampfe" between races is then split into two groups the Teutons, consisting of Celts, Teutons, and Slavs, and the non-Teutons such as the Latin races.
"In einem gewissen Sinne kann man, wie man sieht, die geistige und moralische Geschichte Europas von dem Augenblick des Eintrittes der Germanen an bis auf den heutigen Tag, als einen Kampf zwischen Germanen und Nicht-Germanen, zwischen germanischer Gesinnung und antigermanischer Sinnesart betrachten, als einen Kamps, der teils äusserlich, Weltanschauung gegen Weltanschauung."
It is the idea of this racial force behind history which is important, the idea that some races are superior to others. We thus see that Chamberlain is rebelling against the Enlightenment idea of mankind as a universal Menscheit, but rather for that of Menschenart, in that each race has it's own unique qualities.
The qualities and characteristics, in other words the Weltanschauung of the Teutons is important then to this superiority. Chamberlain has a vision of the world in the past as being full of great creative achievements, as Nietzsche did, however he shifts the emphasise to make it appear that all great cultural achievements were by Teutonic people. This is due to the fact that,
"Einige Menschen sind von Natur frei, andere Sklaven."
This meaning that the Teutons have the ability to handle freedom and its responsibilities, whilst others are there simply to be ruled over. This could in many ways be seen to link to Nietzsche's concept of über- and üntermensch. though in a much more negative way as it is only for the progression of the Teutonic race and not mankind. It is also important as it shows he is against democracy, as in a slave society you can not have a true democracy, and he sees giving everyone freedom as having a negative effect. Other qualities he mentions are also those of loyalty and religion, all of which he portrays as positive, and as the Germans fighting for what they believe in.
The enemy in this racial battle he defines as anyone non-Teutonic, such as the Catholic Church and the Jews, the Nicht-Germanen. These like Nietzsche's disgust for the modern world, are the forces which are slowing or degrading the progress of the Teutonic race. For example according to Chamberlain, the Thirty Year war was started by the Catholic church in order for the Germans to destroy themselves. It is here then that the idea of Rassenfeinde is developed, perhaps stemming from the idea of Reichsfeinde, that there are races and movements which are, and always will be, enemies of the Aryan race as they are directly opposed to it. Later this idea of conspiracies by races would be developed into the Jews being behind the Communist movement in order to eradicate the German people from the world, and thus freedom. This was one theme which Hitler would elaborate on at later dates.
Also we again we see then the image of the people in the past as something positive yet it has changed from Fichte's or Herder's point of view. It is now no longer content to coexist with other nationalities such as in Fichte's wish for the German people to be able to do things in a German way, rather that it is involved in a violent struggle for survival against the non-Teutonic races in which there can be only one winner. This is the idea of the strongest of the fittest, in other words Darwins' theories of evolution are being applied directly to the human race.
How to define this purity and what is was to be Teutonic was however very hard. We have seen the characteristics which Chamberlain claims to be necessary, however to these he adds a physical base. These are such typical things as hair colour, and more unusually skull shape which was based on the science of his day. These all relate to his idea of Gemüt und Geblüt. In other words that you need these, or at least some, of these physical aspects to be Teutonic, the more you have the more Teutonic you are. If however you are one,
"Wer diese physischen Merkmale nicht besitzt, und sei er noch so sehr im Herzen Germaniens geboren und rede von Kindheit auf eine germanische Sprache, doch nicht als ein Germane zu betrachten ist."
He then seems to contradict this by saying if you have Teutonic attitudes, you are then also a Teuton. However in order to have these attitudes then you need Teutonic blood in you. This then raises the question of the purity and intellect of the people of course. This purity has been slowly eaten away at by the other races intentionally, whilst the German race has ignored it,
"zu den alten Feinden und Gefahren alle Tage neue hinzutreten, dass diese wie die früheren von den Germanen mit offenen Armen aufgenommen, die warnenden Stimmen mit leichtem Sinn belächelt werden, dass während jeder Feind unserer Rasse mit vollem Bewusstsein und vollendeter List seine Absichten folgt."
Thus we see Chamberlain like Nietzsche sees the world in decline, though with the emphasise moved to the decline of the German race. To halt this advance Chamberlain advocates what almost amounts to a social programme at the end of the chapter 'Die Erben,'
"Kein humanitäres Gerede kann die Tatsache beseitigen, dass dies einen Kampf bedeutet. Wo der Kampf nicht mit Kanonkugeln geführt wird, finder er geräuschlos im Herzen der Gesellschaft statt, durch Ehen, durch die Verringerung der Entfernungen, welche Vermischungen fördert, durch die verschiedene Resistenzkraft und Beharrlichkeit der verschiedend Menschentypen [...} Mehr als andere ist gerade dieser stumme Kampf ein Kampf auf Leben und Tod."
In other words the Volk must realize the danger and began to act against these negative influences in society. They must deny the enemy power, for example by passing social laws. More importantly the racial conflict has now been moved to a social level where it effects everyone.
Chamberlain has thus created a concrete group of enemies of the German people, which could later be used by nationalist groups to blame things on. Moreover he has tried to reaffirm the German race as the superior race in world history, and that its progress can not be endangered by other races. These ideas do in many ways resemble Hitler's, and we can indeed see the early formation of many of his policies against the Jews, such as economic boycotts, and his belief in the German race as the supreme race here in this work.
The last quotation from Chamberlain has an almost religious feel to its language. He is trying to inspire and make his ideas believable as any prophet would. This nationalist religion was taken even further by some groups of people such as List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels
To many of these people the German past had become something mystical to be revered. This idea stemming from the earlier romantic pictures painted by writers such as Novalis. List is perhaps the best example of this belief. He imagined a Golden Age where the Aryan race had been free, and ruled over by an Aryan group he called the Armanenschaft, meaning the heirs of the Sun King. This group was broken down into various groups with varying degrees of power with the priest-kings being on the highest rung. List asserted that this Golden Age had been destroyed by the Catholic Church, however the Armanenschaft had survived in various forms throughout this time, such as the Knights of the Templar and Renaissance Humanists. He claimed that this new order had to be revived in order to save the German race from mongrolisation and to found a new German empire. His plans were very far reaching and suggested many laws and orders that would be set up by the Nazi party on achieving power. For example List calls for a highly structured society under which non-Aryans would be persecuted. Certain offices would only be open to Aryans, and marriage between Aryans and non-Aryans would be forbidden. These ideas were first published in 1911, yet they bear a strong resemblance to the Nuremberg laws which would be passed in the 1930s to purify the race. Here we see that science, in the form of Darwinism, is taking over from ideas and language in defining nationality. These ideas offered wide appeal and significant public figures were supporters of List such as Karl Lueger, the anti-Semitic mayor of Vienna. This wide ranging appeal to was due to people, who disillusioned with the materialistic world and the destruction of traditional Christianity by science, were seeking a new order to believe in.
Guido Von List in 1910
The search for a new order also gave rise once again to the old Nordic Gods. Wagner's operas had brought their spirit back to many people, and List adapted this to his own purpose. He claimed that the German race was the chosen people and were the highest form of life to have developed in the universe who had yet to fulfil their mission. In addition he claimed that he understood the secret runes of the old Aryans, which had been given to them by the Gods, of which one of the symbols was a swastika.
In addition to these purely völkisch circles there was also a renewed general interest in history and such books as Monumenta Germaniae Historica and Das Deutsche Ordenlands Preußen particular the religious orders. These orders had been castigated by the Enlightenment for being repressive, now however they enjoyed a new attitude towards them. Many nationalists saw them as something positive carrying the Germans Eastwards. They were also seen as protectors of Germany, and the surviving castles were there for many as proof of this. The idea of Orders was also connected to the idea of the Grail. The Grail being the symbol of Christ's blood, and to the völkisch movement, Christ was an Aryan. Thus searching for and then protecting the Grail, was a parallel to keeping the race pure.
Thus in the perceived time of crisis many saw the need for a new Order which would protect the race, and fight for its aims. Lanz von Liebenfels grounded one such order in 1908.
Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels in ceremonial dress.
He went to such extremes as buying a castle at Werfenstein an der Donau for his new Templerorder in order to give it a headquarters. The Swastika was chosen as the symbol due to its links with Teutonic Orders, and its alleged mystical powers.
In the people who joined his order Liebenfels saw the warriors for a final battle for survival between the Aryans and their enemies.
Liebenfels was not alone in thinking that the final battle was coming, List with his supporters too shared his belief in a new age. In nationalist Theology a new version of the Lord's prayer appeared,
"Laß endlich die Gottesmensch über die Affenmenschen siegen."
We see then that the idea of the new Orders was to protect the race, carry it forward, and epitomise it as God's supreme creation. This is exactly what the Nazis had in mind when they created the elite SS regiments. Undoubtedly Himmler had been strongly influenced by these occult visions. Amongst his confidences he had Listian supporters, as well as being a former member of the Thule society (An offshoot group based on List's occult beliefs). Hitler may have been influenced also, though to a lesser degree than his occult second-in-command. The Nazis saw the appeal of these visions and adapted many of the ideas of List, Liebenfels. The very symbol of the SS is a mystic one, being not out of normal letters but out of runes. The regiments were often given names referring back to Nordic Gods such as Wotan. They were also very different to the SA, the racial requirements for the SS at the beginning of the war being much stricter. The SS even had a castle at Wewelsburg built to serve as its headquarters echoing the idea of the old Teutonic orders. Finally Himmler's vision of a Nazi state offers broad parallels to the visions of List and Liebenfels. Thus we see that the SS were created by Himmler as the new Order which would protect the Nazi regime, expand Germany's borders as in the Middle Ages, and epitomise the German race. The SS even had a new Grail to search for,
"the conquest and subjugation of eastern Europe by military force, which began with the invasion of the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941. Where the medieval Teutonic knights had failed, the SS would succeed.
SS Totenkopfringdesign, 1941.Note the runes placed at regular intervals around the ring.
Thus we again have a change from early nationalism. Before the Germans had been happy to coexist, as long as they were free to do things in their own way. Now the German mission has changed to taking over the world. In effect one German Empire would be created which would allow no racial or social diversity, in other words a total reversal of all Herder and Fichte supported.
Germany by the end of the Nineteenth Century had developed into an industrialised nation such as Britain or France. With this development also came the idea of expansion, however it was a little late for German to try and gain its Platz in der Sonne. This however did not stop them from trying and they made small colonial gains. Kaiser Wilhelm II's remark on 18th January 1896 perhaps best
Aus dem Deutschen Reiche ist ein Weltreich geworden.
In other words Germany was now a player on the world stage rather than a spectator. This expansion appealed to the Nationalists especially who saw it as a Germanising of the world. Again Kaiser Wilhem II,
"überall in fernen Teilen der Erde wohnen Tausende unserer Landsleute. Deutsche Güter, deutsches Wissen, deutsche Betriebsamtkeit gehen über den Ozean."
With this expansion German was now achieving its true place in the world, and it was a return to the Teutonic orders which had expanded Germany's borders in the Middle Ages. This gave rise to many futuristic novels envisaging colonies around the world in a pan-German Empire. The workers in this new Empire would of course be the Blacks, and other colours who did not match the Aryan race in their achievement. Thus a new world order was envisaged. However the reality that most of the land in the world was already occupied lead many German nationalists to look back into history. Again the idea of the German Teutonic orders inspired the nationalist thinkers of the day. The Germans, like their forefathers, must push Eastwards and gain what had been lost. The idea of Lebensraum had thus been created.
What this expansion inevitably ended in was of course the First World War. This war was fuelled by enormous Imperialistic energy in Germany, and was in the end turned into a cultural war, one in which German culture was defending itself from the Western world. One of,
"Idealismus statt Materialismus, Kultur statt Zivilisation, Religion statt Liberation."
Germany knew that it could not afford to lose this war, for if it did it would lose everything. The price paid in the end was the confiscation of Germany's property in Africa, some of its land in Eastern Europe, and the demilitarised zone on the Rhine. This was for many nationalists a direct insult, and set back what the German race had achieved.The Nazis when they first began speaking about the idea of Lebensraum Imperialistic ideal, the fact that Germany had never been allowed to become a true world power, and the fact that this was not correct. They maintained the fact that it was a Germany's right to be able to expand, and they should be allowed to. Hitler himself used the idea of a Großdeutschland to support this expansionist view. His argument was,
"Gleiches Blut gehört in ein gemeinsames Reich."
All Germans thus belong together, so here Hitler is agreeing with early German thinkers such as Fichte, however what Hitler now adds is that the German people have the right to expand as,
"Erst wenn des Reiches Grenze auch den letzten Deutschen umschließt, ohne mehr die Sicherheit seiner Ernährung bieten zu können, ersteht aus der Not des eigenen Volkes das moralische Recht zur Erwerbung fremden Grund und Bodens."
In other words Germany is justified in expanding by violent means as it needs to feed its people. This is a fact that Fichte would probably not have agreed with. Hitler sees it as only right that the Germans should take other countries land as the Germans are the chosen ones.
Secondly the confiscation of the lands in the East enabled him to relate back to the days of the Teutonic knights, and how Germany would again liberate the enslaved Eastern countries. The East would be conquered again and it would be used by Germans to expand. In Mein Kampf Hitler elaborates further,
"Wir setzen dort an, wo man vor sechs Jahrhunderten endete. Wir stoppen den ewigen Germanenzug nach dem Süden und Westen Europas und weisen den Blick nach dem Land im Osten. Wir schließen endlich ab die Kolonial- und Handelspolitik der Vorkriegszeit und gehen über zur Bodenpolitik der Zukunft.
Wenn wir aber heute in Europa von neuem Grund und Boden reden, können wir in erster Linie nur an Rußland und die ihm untertanen Randstaaten."
Thus we see Hitler's intentions clearly laid out, that Germany will expand and become a true world power as the Wilhelme Reich attempted to do. However as this method failed the Wilhelme Reich the only alternative left is expansion within Europe. Moreover Germany will take what it wants as it has the right to, and it will also enable the confrontation with the Communist evil which Hitler perceived as threatening the world.
These ideas appealed to many people who felt they had had something stolen by the Versailles Treaty, and that Germany had been humiliated. Here someone was offering them a chance to make Germany great again, and to gain by it. Nationalism has changed here again, where as Fichte saw Germany as being a good culture creating country, the Nazis have changed it to being a power with a self interest and with an interest in crushing of all other cultures.
The idea of Orders and of Lebensraum also demanded something else from the völkisch movement. This something was a strong leader, a Führer, who would direct and control the movement. However to many in the nineteenth Century there was no obvious choice. The Kaiser was seen to be neither strong enough nor good enough for the Volk, as he was not really part of the Volk. In answer to this problem of leadership, the idea of a Volksheldstarted to come about, someone who would lead Germany into the Third Reich. This idea was based on the same old myths and legends which had given rise to the creation of the new Orders. Such tales as Siegfried or Parzival from the Round Table, gave a base to the creation of this Volksheld. For example Guido von List refers at one point to an old Norse legend when discussing the future,
"Denn es kommt ein Reicher zum Ringe der Rater,
Ein Starke von Oben beendet den Streit,
Mit schlichtenden Schlüssen entscheidet er alles,
Bleiben soll ewig, was er gebeut. [gebot]"
Other characters of a more factual nature from real history were also used such as Martin Luther. The Volksheld would liberate the German Volk from the Kaiser, just as Martin Luther had liberated them from the repressive Catholic Church many years before. He would come from the Volk and he would lead the Volk to victory, just as Martin Luther or many other völkisch German heroes had done. In the end the religious tones of what many saw as German's mission to expand and protect the German race turned the Volksheld into a kind of völkischMessiah. The defeat in the First World War and the rise of democracy only heightened the need for this new völkisch Messiah amongst this idea's supporters. As well as this many conservatives were looking for a way to restore the monarchy. Either way a return to a more dictatorial style of leadership was wished for by many people. The need for a new Bismarck, one who would restore German's greatness as Bismarck had done, was felt overall in right wing circles. Once again Herder and his criticism of absolutism has been forgotten, nationalism has now become a force opposed to democracy.
In contrast to their wishes there existed only the SPD and the Weimar Republic, these embodied everything hateful and distasteful to the right wing of the time. They were seen as the reason for Germany's defeat in the war, again the Novemberverbrecher concept, and as only leading Germany to further ruin. The ground was now right for a person to emerge and claim to be the saviour of the situation, and this is exactly what Hitler did. Although at first claiming only to be the,
"Trommler und Sammler, "
who was waiting for the Führerto emerge, he eventually came to be seen by many as the Führer. This was due to his impressive speech making ability and cleverly managed propaganda. He became for many the only man would could save Germany, and as the concept of a Führer had been in existence for many years it was easy to adapt it to suit Hitler. He was indeed a man of the Volk, as he so often claimed, being born to a lowly Austrian customs official. The fact too that he was born on the border also gave strength to his pan-German claims and ideas, that he was destined to unite the two countries, Austria and Germany back together once again,
"Als glückliche Bestimmung gilt es mir heute, daß das Schicksal mir zum Geburtsort gerade Braunau am Inn zuweis. Liegt doch dieses Städtchen an der Grenze jener zwei deutschen Staaten, deren Wiedervereinigung mindesten uns Jüngeren als eine mit allen Mitteln durchzuführende Lebensaufgabe erscheint."
Thus we see that by carefully adapting his past, and by impressing on people has power and will, Hitler was able to turn himself into thevölkisch saviour that so many people were waiting for. Also he represents in a way a return to the absolutist system. Herder wanted free the people by democracy, Hitler claimed however they must obey him in order to be free.
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