Understanding Nazi ideology: The Genesis and Impact of a Political Faith

Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
PART I The Organic and the Dynamic: Two Aspects of German Romanticism
	1 The Demonic Source of Energy: Genius Worship and Nature Mysticism in Sturm und Drang
	2 A Drop in the Ocean of Omnipotence: Herder’s View of God
	3 The Struggling World Organism: Schelling’s Philosophy of Nature
	4 The Historical Background for Fichte’s Concept of Nationalism
	5 Two Romantic Idea-Complexes
PART II The Organic Nation: The Emergence of the Völkisch Ideology
	6 From the Napoleonic Wars to the Unification of Germany: The Historical Background of the Völkisch Ideology
	7 The Germanic Community of Faith: Lagarde’s National Mysticism
	8 The Mystical Connection with the Soil: Langbehn’s Blood Mysticism
	9 From Neo-Romanticism to the Weimar Republic: The Further Development of the Völkisch Ideology
PART III The Dynamic Will: The Emergence of Vitalism
	10 The Blind Will to Live: Schopenhauer’s Metaphysics of the Will
	11 Dionysian Energy: Nietzsche’s Glorification of Creation and Destruction
	Some Basic Characteristics of The Will to Power
	12 From the Cultivation of the Superman to the Glorification of War: The Development of a Lebensphilosophie
	13 The Ecstatic Steel Warrior: Ernst Jünger’s Romanticism of Violence
PART IV A Worldview Comes into Existence: The Growth of Nazi Ideology
	14 From Freikorps to Coup d’état: The Growth of the Nazi Movement from 1919 to 1923
	15 The Fighting Volksgemeinschaft: Hitler’s “Worldview”
	16 Politics, Ideology, Propaganda: The Nazi Movement from 1925 to 1929
	17 The Mystical Center of Force: Rosenberg’s Metaphysics of Race
	18 The Deeply Rooted Race Soul: Darré’s Agrarian Romanticism
	19 The Agonal Will: Baeumler’s Vitalism
	Heroic Will: The Dynamic Aspect of Baeumler’s Thought
	20 From Mass Movement to Führer State: The Nazi Movement from 1930 to 1934
PART V Manifestations of the Führer Cult
	21 Collective Ecstasy: The Nuremberg Rallies
	22 Charismatic Authority: The Bond Between Führer and People
	23 Polycratic Energy: Institutional and Individual Rivalry
	24 Political Mysticism of the Will: The Cult of the Führer as a Political Religion
PART VI The Black Corps: SS—Ideology and Practice
	25 A Link in a Fighting Chain: The SS System of Beliefs and Order Structure
	26 The Tentacles of the Octopus: The New Police State
	27 Cleansing Violence: The “Task Forces” in Eastern Europe
	28 A Genocide Takes Form: The Wannsee Conference and Nazi Antisemitism
	29 Genocidal Yearning for Paradise: Industrial Mass Murder at Auschwitz
	30 The Therapy of Extermination: Medical Experiments at Auschwitz
	31 The Flashing Sword: The Waffen-SS in Battle
PART VII The Conceptual Universe of Nazism
	32 Ragnarok: The Cataclysmic End to Nazism
	33 Movement from the Bonds of Blood: Nazism in the Light of the History of Ideas
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index