Abuses & Misunderstandings of the Nordic Ideal

 

Note: This is another translation of the book "The Nordic Thought under the Germans" by Hans Guenther.  This chapter explains that the accusations made against the Nordic movement being a prejudice & inhumane movement are false & that such accusations are actually misconceptions of what the movement truly stands for.    

Abuse and misunderstanding of the racial idea.

Complaints against the Nordic idea.’’

By Hans Guenther

More or less passionate opponents have raised more or less serious objections to the Nordic idea - i.e. the idea of ​​the exemplary nature of the healthy, native person for the selection of the German people. First of all, the Nordic idea has been opposed to objections such as have been raised by one or another form of the "racial idea" of earlier times, rightly or wrongly. However, the Nordic idea must be distinguished from the various forms of the "racial idea" of earlier times in terms of its nature and expression. It should no longer happen that the accusations that one thought could be leveled against the racial idea of ​​earlier origins are transferred to the Nordic idea, accusations such as that the emphasis on race "perpetuates hatred and war" or sets the various classes of people against each other, that the emphasis on race undermines "humanity" or even infringes on certain "human rights", that it combats any understanding between nations and ultimately always results in the glorification of one's own tribe or people.

Since such accusations could be made against earlier manifestations of racial thought with more or less justification, some of these earlier manifestations will be considered below as counter-examples to the Nordic idea. In doing so, any hint of arrogance towards these early and earlier stirrings of racial thought is forbidden, because the less clear understanding of racial phenomena cannot be blamed on those who have not yet been able to participate in the more recent development of racial science.

One of the forerunners of Gobineau's ideas can be described as Henry Count of Boulainvilliers (1658-1722), who, starting with research into the family tree of his old French family, devoted himself to historical research, which he developed into a series of works distributed in manuscript form with great enthusiasm. It was only after his death that Boulainvilliers' friends had the works printed. The main work is the "Mémoires historiques sur les anciens gouvernements de la France", printed in The Hague in 1727. Boulainvilliers was one of the first to recognise the importance of the conquest of Gaul by the Franks for the emergence of the French nobility. The importance of this conquest for the entire French people had already been pointed out in 1673 by the French legal scholar Hotman (1624-1590) in a work entitled "Francogallia", probably the earliest premonition of racial connections. Hotman rejected unlimited monarchy in favor of popular rule, which he found to be exemplary among the Franks of the early Germanic period. Boulainvilliers took up the ethnological or racial justification for rejecting monarchy, but not the idea of ​​popular rule, since the nobility seemed to him to be of Franconian origin. The nobility thus became a special "Frankish race" for him, while the other French estates appeared to him as the descendants of the Gauls and Romans subjugated by the Franks. From this he derived a historical and at the same time blood-inherited right for aristocratic rule, thus turning against both the French monarchy, which had deprived the nobility of their lordship, and the French bourgeoisie, which had begun to demand equal rights for all estates. The medieval feudal system with the division of the land among many noble estates seemed to him to be both the most liberal form of government and the highest state structure. Boulainvilliers found much favor among the nobility: many nobles could not yet forget that an unlimited royal rule had deprived their families of state power.

One can see that Boulainvilliers was already very close to the correct understanding of racial relationships. But his political aim was bound to cloud his understanding. He therefore grouped all the holders of French noble titles at the time together into one "race" without considering that a class of people who were supposed to represent a race would have to have a uniform physical and mental picture in all its members. If Boulainvilliers had asked himself the question of the physical and mental traits of his "Frankish race", he would have found some holders of noble titles to be very little "Frankish", but would soon have been able to identify genuinely "Frankish" traits of body and soul in this or that farmer or citizen. Neither then nor today could one exploit the correct racial knowledge to the benefit of a particular class or a particular class of people. From the racial idea in the form of the Nordic idea, only the requirement of equality of birth can be derived - for the families of the nobility as well as for all other families - which I have attempted to explain in "Nobility and Race".

Just as Boulainvilliers wanted to exploit the idea of ​​race, or what he considered to be it, in the struggle between the estates, Abbess Sieyes - who, according to images, belonged to the Nordic race - also used vague racial premonitions against the nobility of his country. He welcomed the Count of Boulainvilliers' insight as a weapon against the nobility, whom he portrayed as a racially alienating part of the people who should be sent back to their "Franconian forests" (forêts de Franconie) so that the French people would be racially cleansed and would then consist only of descendants of the Gauls and Romans: "The Third Estate need not fear remembering the past. It will refer to the year that preceded the conquest. Gallic and Roman origins are just as good as the origins of "savages who come from the forests and swamps of Germania".

This was an application of racial premonitions that served to initiate the revolution.

In reality, during the French Revolution, the less Nordic and predominantly Nordic French, combined with degenerates of all races and racial mixtures of the France of the time, led the less Nordic and non-Nordic sections of the people against the relatively most Nordic sections of the people of the country - with the result, typical of all wars and upheavals in Europe, of an effective counter-selection of the leading and militant Nordic blood of all classes of people. Then, and today, like Sieyès, one could use racial insights to fight against a full class. If a Sieyès had formed a clearer idea of ​​the nature of race and the characteristics of certain races, he would have recognized that he himself belonged to the race of those "savages from the forests and swamps of Germania" and with him so many leaders of the Third Estate, while many nobles showed absolutely nothing of the physical and physical heritage of the "Frankish conquerors." For those who see Nordic blood floating on both sides in all power struggles and struggles for power, and who see it eradicated each time by the military conflict between states and ethnic groups, the idea of ​​race cannot become an idea of ​​conflict by force, at least not if this idea of ​​race is also aimed at the promotion of the race that was or is the leading one among all the peoples and ethnic groups of Europe: the promotion of the Nordic race.

Between 1814 and 1820, the half-ethnological, half-racial ideas of the Count of Montlosier (1768-1833) influenced the dispute between the French parties. Monilosier offered the conservative party Doulainvilliers' ideas in a slightly modified form as a weapon: for example in his work "De la monarchie frangalse depuls son établissement jusqu'à nos jours" (1814). The historian Guizot opposed him with his "Du gouvernement de la France depuis la Restauration et du gouvernement actuel" (1520), in which Guizot opposed the Count of Montlosier with the same reasons as Sieyds did the Count of Boulainvilliers. The historian Augustin Thierry joined the fight against the ideas of the Count of Montlosier. Everyone remained rigid in their vague ideas. A clear racial insight should have enabled the Count of Montlosier to recognize in his opponent Guizot a man of predominantly Nordic race, which Guizot appears to be from pictures. A racial insight should have enabled Guizot to recognize himself as a representative of the racial class he believed he had to fight. Later word research could have led Thierty to consider that his name is derived from the Germanic name Dietrich, and that his name therefore comes from a class of Croberians whose importance he believed he had to downplay. A racial insight could have thus brought together the leaders of the opposing classes.

From these beginnings, from the times when the racial idea was first conceived, come the repeated accusations of opponents that the racial idea is nothing more than a means of denigration in internal political disputes. This accusation has also been made against Gobineau's work. But Gobineau's work also marks a turning point for misunderstandings and misuse of the racial idea. On the one hand, it created greater clarification and was thus able to become the basis of the racial idea in its form as Nordic thought, as discussed in the previous section. But Gobineau's racial terms "Germanic" (germanique) and "Aryan" (aryen) soon created new misunderstandings and new misuse, just as racial terms that are also names of peoples will always have a confusing effect. This is not a reproach against Gobineau: he created enough clarification and must not be judged according to the insights of our time.

The confusion caused by Gobineau’s terms will be examined in more detail below:

When the idea of ​​race began to spread around the turn of the century through Schemann's translation of Count Gobineau's work on race and through Chamberlain's "Foundations", this mostly happened in the way that people spoke of the importance of the "Aryan" race and, within this "Aryan" race, particularly emphasized the importance of the "Germans" or the "Germanic race". Because most people, when it comes to new ideas, are more concerned with who they are turning against or at least allowing themselves to be turned against than with who they are speaking for, the "Aryan race", which was considered to be of high quality, was opposed to a "Semitic race" and these were considered to be inferior; the "Germanic race", which was considered to be of high quality, was opposed to a "Romanic race" or a "Slavic race", which were considered to be inferior. These were simple classifications that could easily be used against other races or peoples and at the same time saved many people from having to examine themselves racially or from having to act according to racial knowledge when choosing a mate.

If all "Romanic" or "Slavic" blood, but especially all "Semitic" blood, which meant above all "Jewish" blood, was rejected, people were at ease and did not worry for a moment about the Germans' choice of spouse - they were all considered "Aryans" or "Germans" - or about the greater or lesser number of children of this or that part of the German population, i.e. they did not worry about the selection of the German people. Nor did they consider that there is no generally valid standard of value for peoples and races, that one race cannot be called intrinsically superior and another inferior, but that races can only be valued from the standpoint of a certain culture - this will be discussed in more detail in Section 5.

If the racial idea had been exploited or abused before Gobineau in the strife between the classes, then after Gobineau the racial idea was exploited or abused more in the strife between peoples. The abuse of the racial idea or its premonitions in the strife between peoples was, however, already considerably older than Count Gobineau's work on race.

As early as the 16th century, the opinion arose in France that the French people were descended from the Celts. This "Celtic idea", as one might call it, spread particularly under Louis XIV, as it was supposed to provide the historical justification for the conquest of the German Rhine. The Franks had been made into a Celtic tribe whose homeland had to be won back. Vandals, Burgundians, Heruli and even the Huns were also made into Celts, and this resulted in goals of conquest which excited all Celtic believers. At the time of the French Revolution and Napoleon I. The Celtic idea was reawakened. The Napoleonic general Latour d'Anvergne was inspired by it. It played a role in the "Druidism" of George Sand, as well as in the "Celtic meetings" organized by Renan. In 1899, in Tollaire's "Celtes et hébreux", he made the Hellenic Homer a Celt, and at the turn of the century Bardour attributed the rise to power of the United States of America to the "Celtic" blood that was supposedly dominant there. When racial research by the outstanding French anthropologist Broca (1824-1880) initially and falsely described the race known today as Alpine or Eastern as the "type celtique", French political writers once again used this "Celtic race" as a reference to the German Rhineland, which was described as an area of ​​"Celtic race" and announced as a target for conquest. This alleged racial justification has been put forward particularly vigorously by the French side in the battle for the Rhine in recent years.

What racial characteristics would identify these "Germanic" populations and whether there might not be non-"Germanic" inhabitants within the German Reich - such questions remained unanswered. It was not taken into account that a "pan-Germanic" Germany would have had to think about repelling Germans of non-Germanic appearance or German tribes in which such an appearance predominated. However, Gobineau's and Chamberlain's unfortunate choice of terms for an "Aryan" and a "Germanic" race were not understood in the sense of these two founders of Nordic thought, i.e. in a strictly racial sense, but rather the terms people and race were mixed up, if not simply confused. Thus, in his work "Le comte de Gobineau et l'Aryanisme historique" (1903), which was directed against Gobineau, Seilliere could rightly say of some of Gobineau's German readers: "In general, they do not exploit his teachings for the benefit of an Aryan or European, who is assumed to form the leading and thinking class within all civilized peoples of the earth, but for the benefit of the Germanic people of the Christian era and, above all, of the present citizen of the German Empire." Gobineau had spoken of "Germanic people" in a racial sense, and many of his German readers understood this to mean any member of a people who spoke Germanic. Schemann had to warn: "In any case, there must be no doubt that only the first, broader conception of Germanism can be found in Gobineau's wake, and that Gobineau is not to be held responsible for what a single nation, or individual members of it, may take from his teachings for their daily political needs.41) The leadership qualities of the Nordic ('Germanic') people, which Gobineau had demonstrated for all Western peoples, were nevertheless transferred by individual Germans to the Germans as a whole for their "daily political needs": in an inept way, half-clear racial ideas were combined with political plans which were drawn up for the future of the German Reich. This served neither the racial idea nor German politics. It would have served a politics which could have remained silent because it had certain goals firmly in mind.

It is quite clear that the state leadership, which was preparing to encircle the German Reich, could use such expressions of the "racial idea" and the misunderstood "Pan-Germanism" to which Seillière and Schemann referred particularly well in their fight against the German Reich, and pointed to this "Pan-Germanism", which resembled the "Celticism" of the French, with all the greater political relish as they knew that the German state leadership itself was much more averse to racial ideas than inclined to them. Even today, opponents eagerly point out the misuse of the racial idea, which arises from the confusion of people and race, when they level the accusation of incitement against the race. Seilliere dealt with Gobineau's racial idea in 1903 as the first work in a series which he called "La philosophie de l'Impérialisme". Although the Nordic idea has brought the insight that any "imperialism" of a Western people that drives them to war always exposes and will expose the selection of the most capable and Nordic people to the danger of extermination, although the Nordic idea had to become a thought of international understanding, especially of the cohesion of the Germanic-speaking peoples, the opponents of the racial idea will probably not stop repeating outdated accusations any time soon, as is usually the case.

Gobineau would probably not have been rejected and silenced in his homeland if he had not called the race, whose special significance he was the first to recognize, "germanique." This designation immediately led to confusion between linguistic and racial affiliation, both in France and Germany. The French did not want to hear anything about the significance of a race that had been described as "germanique," while the Germans readily saw every member of a Germanic-speaking people as representing a "Germanic race," which was then very easily and very quickly contrasted with a "Romance" and a "Slavic" race, in the same confusion of linguistic and racial affiliation.

But the term "Germanic race", or as it was often called in England, "Teutonic race", did not inspire any desire for a certain unity and mutual understanding among the Germanic-speaking peoples: an indication that the very currents that divided peoples, for which the idea of ​​race was held responsible, were already far too deep and broad for racial or genetic insights to be a barrier against such currents. Political daily writers in England and Germany who had heard something about a "Germanic" race or a "Teutonic race" tried to portray the other people as "un-German" as possible. In England it was said that the "Teutonic" or "Germanic" race had long since been eradicated in Germany, and that non-Germanic parts of the population completely determined the image of humanity in the German landscape. The "German" was portrayed as a person who was as un-Nordic as possible, mostly as a person with traits of the East Baltic, even the Inner Asian race.1)

In the same way, especially during the war, German newspaper writers reported that the catchphrases of "English cousins" and "German cousins" that were well known in Germany and England were completely untenable. England today has hardly any "Germanic" blood left, the overwhelming majority of today's English can be attributed to the "Celtic" race and are thus racially closely related to the French.1) In this way, attempts were made, in a rather ineffective manner, to undermine each other's racial reputation, even among the peoples that Gobineau's term "race germanique" should have referred to each other. Meanwhile, the peoples of the West undermined each other's racial strength on the battlefield. The counter-selection of the World War took place: that effective eradication of the German blood of all the peoples involved in the war.

When, in the destruction of the peoples after the war, racial ideas began to become clearer here and there, the Nordic idea was simultaneously awakened by that serious insight which Lenz expressed as follows: "Far from leading to the division of the peoples, the awareness of the community of the Nordic race is more likely to contribute to the reconciliation of the peoples." - "The time of the blond international has not yet come, of course. But whoever stirs up hatred between linguistic nations by citing supposed racial differences has not yet understood, has not experienced, the tragic fate of our race."1) Schallmayer had feared that an emphasis on the importance of the Nordic race would have a divisive effect on peoples. The World War, however, was a terrible reminder that from time immemorial all wars between Indo-European peoples have been paid for with the blood of the Nordic race, and that future wars will no less have to be paid for with Nordic blood. In the World War, it was precisely the great powers richest in Nordic blood that bled their most powerful racial strength against each other

If a "Germanic" racial consciousness had been widespread among the Germanic-speaking peoples, as Gobineau's work could have spread, the World War could never have started. But perhaps the counter-selection of Nordic blood in the Western peoples with a stronger Nordic influence was necessary in order to awaken the racial conscience in individuals here and there: the Nordic idea, which seeks to express itself externally through the pan-Nordic idea. It is no coincidence that the clarification of racial ideas up to the Nordic idea took place in Germany as well as in North America in the post-war years. The more racial research progressed since the turn of the century, the more the notions of the "Germanic" race or of the Jews as members of a "Semitic" race had to diminish or be reduced to their proper extent. Deeper research was able to confirm much of what Gobineau had suspected, but it had to grasp many things more clearly and clarify concepts better than would have been possible at the time of Gobineau and even at the time when Chamberlain's "Foundations" were written.

The term "race" itself was clarified and with it the idea of ​​an "Aryan race" had to be dropped. Today, linguistics still occasionally refers to the Indo-Persian (Indo-Iranian) branch of the Indo-European languages ​​as "Aryan", but mostly abandons this term in favor of others, because "Aryan" has been used too ambiguously and misused over time. The term "Aryan" is 3-coined. In the past, linguistics occasionally referred to all Indo-European languages ​​as "Aryan". This meant that peoples who spoke "Aryan" (i.e. Indo-European) languages ​​were simply referred to as "Aryan peoples" or "Aryans" and even - despite the fact that they differ so greatly from one another physically and mentally! — all of them were grouped together into an "Aryan race". There was no distinction between linguistic and racial unity. Peoples of the same race, or better: the same racial mixture, can be separated from each other linguistically, just as peoples of the same language can be racially different from each other. But above all: peoples always represent racial mixtures, never races.

There is no "Aryan race", even though all peoples who speak "Aryan" (or, as we would say today, Indo-European) languages ​​have been given this language by tribes of one and the same race: the Nordic race. But there is also no "Germanic race", even though all peoples who speak Germanic languages ​​owe this language to the Germanic tribes of the Migration Period, who (like the peoples who brought the Indo-European languages) predominantly belonged to the Nordic race.

And finally: there is no "Semitic race", but rather different, racially distinct peoples who speak Semitic languages. Among these peoples is the Jewish people, who in our time in Palestine are returning to their Semitic language and are showing great enthusiasm for their "New Hebrew". The race that originally had the Semitic languages ​​is called the Oriental race by racial research, but this very race, which is strongly predominant among the Bedouins, for example, is no longer strongly represented among the Jews. at least not as strong as the Near Eastern race that predominates in the Jewish world.1)

According to such clarified ideas, what had gradually spread among the German people since the turn of the century was to be corrected. Anyone who came from a people who spoke Germanic languages ​​could therefore call themselves a “German”, but they were no longer allowed to understand the term “German” as a term used in racial studies. As shown on page 9, racial research had meanwhile begun to look at the European peoples themselves and to derive racial images from the diverse mixtures of the European populations that formed the image of humanity of the European peoples. This is how the five European races emerged: the Nordic, the Western (Mediterranean), the Eastern (Alpine), the Dinaric and the East Baltic. They are represented in almost all peoples of Europe, but in different proportions from people to people, from tribe to tribe. It was no longer appropriate to speak of “Germans”, “Romans” and “Slavs” as races. Almost every atlas still has a map entitled "The Races of Europe" which divides them in this way. But that doesn't make the error any less. These maps should be labelled "The Language Groups of Europe". Germanic, Slavic, Romance - these are terms from linguistics and ethnology, not from racial research. But it will be some time before the concept of "race" is sufficiently clarified even in circles that know Gobineau and Chamberlain.

The shift from outdated ideas (such as "Aryan", "Germanic" and Semitic") to the concepts developed by racial research today had to give the "racial idea" a new content and a different and clearer direction. In addition, there were a number of new ideas about the hereditary composition and the selection direction of the peoples, which hereditary research and the hereditary health research (racial hygiene) based on it had to communicate. The "racial idea" thus finally gained firm ground and increased content. Above all: the "racial idea", previously for many mainly an idea against other races, became clearer under the influence of the results of new racial research and became mainly an idea for that of the five European races which had been recognized as the most valuable for the cultures of the peoples of the Indo-European and thus also Germanic language: the Nordic race. The "racial idea" becomes the Nordic idea. The Nordic idea is a consequence of the recognition of the importance of the Nordic race for the life of the Germanic-speaking peoples and therefore presents the image of the healthy Nordic person as the model for the selection of the German people. The Nordic idea thus aims at the birth victory of the Nordic person within all German tribes: at the higher number of children that can be achieved by the predominantly Nordic people of all German tribes after appropriate choice of spouse.

If the racial idea of ​​the past was directed outwards as a defence against non-Aryan or non-Germanic blood, the Nordic idea, for its adherents, also turned inwards into their own people, seeing which direction of selection was the most beneficial, and which was the less beneficial or harmful. The racial idea of ​​the past had brought visible reassurance to some: they felt they were representatives of the "Aryan race" or the "Germanic race", which they regarded as the most valuable race, and were either uplifted or reassured by this feeling, depending on their disposition - so uplifted and so reassured that considerations about the different birth rates of different sections of the population, about the "Germanisation" or "Germanization" of foreign ethnic groups with large numbers of children - unless they were "Semites" - were mostly completely absent from their minds.

When the Nordic idea began to spread - this happened especially since the post-war years - those who had been reassured by the idea of ​​their "Aryanness" often had to become very worried. "Aryanness" and "Germanness" could no longer be used as generic terms, even if they remained as terms in linguistics or historical research. Even within the peoples of the Germanic language, a majority of races were It has been demonstrated that among the peoples of the Indo-European (or, in the outdated term, Aryan) language there is a multitude of races.

The racial idea of ​​the past had sought to create a divide around one's own people or around the peoples linguistically related to it: on this side everything racially related, on the other side everything of a foreign race. The Nordic idea was able to confirm the unity of all peoples of Germanic language, namely as a unity through the Nordic racial influence common to all these peoples. But the Nordic idea emphasizes above all the unity of all German tribes through the Nordic racial influence common to all and through the German language, which arose from the Nordic spirit. But the Nordic idea could not serve to calm people down; on the contrary: it had to have a disturbing effect like the sentence: "Know thyself." It was directed not only and not primarily outwards, but above all inwards, by setting up a physical and mental model for the selection of the German people: the healthy Nordic person. Now those who had become too comfortable with their "Aryan" or "Germanic" identity were confronted with a model and - since almost every German, like every European, not to say every person, is mixed-race and cannot derive all of his genetic makeup from one race alone - were disturbed by the greater or lesser distance from this physical and mental model. Many who had lived in the elevated consciousness of "Aryan" identity now saw themselves as not being as Nordic in race as the selected model. The racial rift now ran not so much along the border of the German language or the borders of the Germanic languages ​​as through almost every single German and almost every single member of a Germanic-speaking people.

If the racial premonitions of a Count of Boulainvilliers and a Count of Montlosier had been directed at their own people, claiming that there were two racially separate classes within them, and if the political parties had sought reasons for their discord in such claims, then, according to Gobineau and without Gobineau's intention, the racial idea had often been directed from the individual peoples against other peoples, claiming that the individual peoples were sharply racially separated and supporting their discord with apparent scientific reasons. In the form of the Nordic idea that gradually developed since 1900, the racial idea had to be directed more towards the individual peoples again - not to separate classes of people, to divide tribes, to support party programs, but to call on the predominantly ethnic people of all tribes, classes, creeds and other distinctions to increase Nordic blood by increasing the number of children of predominantly Nordic and genetically healthy people. Here and there people are now beginning to understand a theory of racial research and genetic health research which Hildebrandt expressed as follows: "Whether a nation disintegrates from its inner core is more important than the gain or loss of entire provinces."1) Thus, the Nordic idea among the Germans seeks internally to increase the number of children of all predominantly Nordic Germans, but externally to achieve international understanding, but above all to achieve understanding between the peoples of the Germanic language. All accusations which were made, with more or less justification, against earlier manifestations of the racial idea become meaningless in the face of the Nordic idea - which, however, will not prevent the repetition of accusations which have become meaningless for a long time to come.

Since any attempts at universal understanding between nations, as will be shown later, will be ineffective for a long time to come, since the Nordic idea, as is inherent in itself, is directed first and foremost at its own people, it has come to the point where the opponents of the racial idea are now less concerned about alleged incitement of peoples than about the "destroying intention" of the racial idea. One would like to accuse the Nordic idea of ​​causing a rift in the German people: on this side the Nordics, on the other the non-Nordics. This accusation cannot apply to the Nordic idea, simply because the reality is quite different: the racial rift does not run through the German people, but through almost every single German. It is a rift that brings every single German the unease of having to decide: for or against the select model of the Nordic people.

By pointing to a rift in the German people that must separate Nordic Germans from non-Nordic Germans, the opponents of the Nordic idea were unable to arouse any really effective resistance to the emphasis on the importance of the Nordic race, because just as the number of purely Nordic people in Germany is relatively small, the number of people without a Nordic influence is also relatively small. Moreover, it would not be possible to "organize" a unity of all non-Nordic Germans because these non-Nordic people would have to be gathered from the most hostile circles and camps of the German religious denominations, classes, parties and tribes: an impossible undertaking.

Thus, the opponents of the Nordic idea had to take their cue from the more or less tangible and exploitable divisions in the German people. The term "Nordic race", which the Russian racial researcher Deniker had proposed in 1898/99, gave rise to the idea that the Nordic idea was a denigration of the southern German tribes. It does happen that attacks on the Nordic idea come from people who have so little knowledge of racial science that they take "Nordic" in the sense of "North German" or "Scandinavian" and then claim that the Nordic idea amounts to a glorification of the Prussians or the Norwegians and Swedes. There is hardly anything to object to such misunderstandings and suspicions, because such opponents lack even the first prerequisite for a debate: a certain degree of knowledge about the things they are talking about.1)

Those who believe that the fact that within the German-speaking borders the Nordic influence in the population is gradually decreasing from the northwest to the east and south is a danger of a reduction in the prestige of the southern German tribes should be taken more seriously. There is no doubt that the individual German tribes differ from one another in the mixture of the races represented in Germany that is specific to each of them. The German southwest also lacks the East Baltic influence that the German northeast shows, while the northeast has little of the Eastern influence that is more clearly visible in the southwest. The German northwest almost entirely lacks the Dinaric influence that is clearly visible in the German southeast. What all German tribes have in common, however, is the Nordic racial influence. Therefore, the Nordic idea is much less concerned with emphasizing racial differences between the north and the south of the German-speaking region than with demonstrating the racial differences within each German tribe, indeed each village, in order to stimulate reflection on the racial conditioning of German national life and to clear the way to the idea of ​​the unity of the German people through the Nordic influence common to all German tribes, which emerges from racial research. If the north of Germany differs from the south in that there is more of the East Baltic race mixed with the Nordic race, and here more of the Dinaric and the Eastern race, the north and south are nevertheless connected by common Nordic blood, by a spiritual world whose core is the Nordic soul, even if the East Baltic soul appears in the north and the Dinaric soul in the south as “peripheral figures” of this spiritual world.1) Both the “outline! by Baur-Fischer-Lenz as well as the "Rassenkunde des deutschen Volkes" have emphasized the idea of ​​unity and unification, which lies in the fact that the Nordic influence is common to all German tribes. The very reception that the Nordic idea has found as a goal in the Bavarian southeast of the German-speaking area could refute the suspicion that the Nordic idea is associated with some kind of denigration of southern Germany or even intended. Fortunately, as far as I can see, the majority of those who have pointed out the importance of the Nordic race in books are themselves of southern German origin. Otto Ammon, the person mentioned above (p. 9) who transmitted the ideas of the "social anthropological school" of the French (Durand de Gros, de Lapouge) to Germany, was from Baden; Eugen Fischer, who has repeatedly pointed out the importance of the Nordic race, is from Baden. L. S. Glauß, who has devoted himself especially to researching the spiritual nature of the Nordic race, is from Baden. The excellent, concise “Racial Studies with Special Consideration of the German People, Above All of the Eastern Alpine Countries” (1923) was written by Gustav Kraitschee, an Estonian. The “Racial Studies of the German People” and the “Racial Studies of Europe” have a South German (Baden) author. The Nordic movement, particularly among the South Germans, will one day convince the mistrustful of the unifying power of the Nordic idea. In his essay “Does modern sport have a racially preserving and degrading effect”342), Gechwendtner has used the information in a questionnaire sent to Austrian gymnasts. Among other things, it was also reported that both male and female gymnasts stated that belonging to the Nordic race was a condition for their choice of future husband.

The opponents of the racial idea in its form as Nordic idea thought that they had to pile up everything that southern Germany had created for the German people as a whole against the Nordic idea. The "Racial Studies of the German People" not only did not deny the heroism of Bavarian tribesmen, as well as their musical achievements, to which opponents refer, but even highlighted them. It emphasized the heroic spirit of the Dinaric and Nordic races, and both races are represented in the area of ​​the Bavarian dialect, the Dinaric (those with particularly musical talent, predominantly.

The Nordic idea looks at the achievements of the South Germans, as well as of all German tribes, with at least the same pride as its opponents. Indeed, it is precisely this idea that can look at all the creative men of South Germany, whose awe-inspiring line is pointed out by the opponent, in portraits, and see the predominantly Nordic appearance of these men as an indication of the "irreplaceable importance of the Nordic race" (Lenz). If those who distrust the Nordic idea let the Swabian poets and thinkers, who are relatively numerous in number, pass by in pictures, they will be all the more convinced of the importance of the Nordic race, the more they stick to the truly outstanding ones.

Following de Candolle, the relatively high number of Swiss who have been elected members of the academies of Berlin, London and Paris has been seen as proof of the creative qualities of the Eastern (Alpine) race, as if it had been claimed that Switzerland was a purely Eastern country. In Switzerland in particular, it has been noticed how the leading classes repeatedly show a stronger Dinaric and Nordic influence. If one collects pictures of great Swiss people and compares them with the average Swiss people, one will experience the same thing that is evident throughout Central, Western and Northern Europe: "the irreplaceable importance of the Nordic race" (Lenz)

It is difficult to understand how the Nordic idea can have a "completely disruptive" effect if it praises the importance of a race that has proven itself to be the creative one among all German tribes. The Nordic-minded Germans will not be able to become "destroyers of the people", as they have been accused, because they emphasize the unity of the German tribes through the common Nordic blood, the creative blood in the German national body. They will not divide the German people as the political parties do, which emphasize class differences - the high number of children of a found Nordic working-class couple will be more important to them than the high number of children of a non-Nordic noble or rich person. The Nordic movement will not divide the German people as the religious denominations do, which erect barriers between Germans and Germans that go beyond their own personal matters. The Nordic movement does not want to achieve its goal through the means used by churches or parties, but through the higher birth rates of the predominantly Nordic Germans - a means that will not harm any of our fellow countrymen in any way. Just as the non-Nordic Germans are not blamed for having a higher number of descendants than the predominantly Nordic ones, we German Protestants do not blame the German Catholics for having a higher number of children (birth rate in Prussia per marriage in 1912: 47 for Catholics, 2.9 for Protestants) - neither can the predominantly Nordic people be blamed for having a higher number of children. The "butterfly victory" of the Catholic Church will serve as an example for the Nordic movement.

All the arguments against the Nordic idea reveal again and again that the fact that this idea is new has a downright confusing effect on most observers. It is confirmed once again: most people who consider a new idea try to fit it into the traditional set of ideas of the time. But here we must once again demand that the idea of ​​a re-Nordization can hardly be fitted into any one place; from its perspective it will have to demand a completely new order, a thorough relearning. It is also confirmed once again that a new idea - even if it seeks unity and harmony like the Nordic idea - is perceived as disturbing by those who have long since become accustomed to truly disturbing divisions in the life of their people, to intolerance on the part of the churches and to agitation on the part of the parties.

What is it about the Nordic idea that is so unique that it rarely allows its opponents to do it justice?

While the theory of hereditary health (racial hygiene) shows the means to increase the higher-value genetic makeup in general, and thus aims to benefit all peoples and all races represented in the nations, the Nordic idea is primarily aimed at increasing the higher-value genetic makeup of a race represented in the German people, in fact in all its tribes: the Nordic. It therefore wants to first stop the ongoing counter-selection of the Nordic blood component of all German tribes and then help this Nordic component to have higher numbers of children. In contrast to the birth victory of the non-Nordic races in Germany (as in Europe and North America), the Nordic movement also wants to call on the Nordic race to compete in birth competition.

In the dying Hellenes as well as in the dying Romans, individuals pointed out the consequences of the decline in birth rates, the Roman state even passed laws that were intended to help; but the insight of individuals could certainly bring about appropriate laws, but not a will to find a solution within the peoples. Roman legislation even accelerated the decline by trying to favor the class of the proletarii, so named because, as a tax-free class, nothing more was expected of them by the state than offspring (proles): this was the lowest class in the life of the large cities of the declining empire, mostly freed slaves, many of whom came from Africa and Asia. It was precisely the childlessness or - to use a nasty phrase of our day - the "birth strike" of the proletarii that could have delayed the "decline of the ancient world" for some time. Rome set an example of what hereditary health care should not be like. Today’s France, with its legal birth rewards, offers a second example.

The health legislation of the United States of North America is the first exemplary example of state-run hereditary health care. In Germany it will still be some time before legislation takes hereditary health aspects into account, although education of large circles has progressed very encouragingly in recent years - especially since the publication of the excellent work by Baur-Fischer-Lenz "Outline of Human Heredity and Racial Hygiene" (now 5th edition 1927). It is quite possible that hereditary health care will become a concern of the whole people in the not too distant future. The promotion of the reproduction of hereditarily capable people regardless of racial affiliation will not meet with resistance in the long run. But the special promotion of the reproduction of hereditarily capable people of a certain race - this goal, which is precisely what makes the Nordic movement unique - will still bring this movement a lot of opposition.

It will hardly ever be possible, and the Nordic movement does not even want it, to make the promotion of the Nordic race a "people's matter". If it were possible to win over wider circles in all German tribes to protect the Nordic race, a great deal would already be achieved. The promotion of the Nordic race, so that it achieves not only the same but higher numbers of children than the other races, will only ever be taken up as a task by a fraction of the people. But a fraction is enough to fulfil the task. If only he achieves the higher number of children from his circles, this fraction will always be proportionally satisfied. That is the nature of the birth rate.

It is in the nature of the Nordic movement that it is based on the idea of ​​creating a selection and will always only be represented by a selection. Advertising for the Nordic idea only makes sense until all the capable, predominantly Nordic Germans found have heard enough about a Nordic task for the German people and have been able to make a decision. Once that has been achieved, the Nordic movement has the task of monitoring the selection and number of children in its circles, supporting economically weakened, capable clans so that they can have a large number of children, etc. The work of the supporters of the Nordic idea will therefore become quieter to the outside world the more the Nordic idea can close the circle of its select clans. But even today, when the predominantly Nordic people in all German tribes still have to be selected, the Nordic movement is keen to gradually convince those who are capable of understanding of the importance of the Nordic race and its promotion, but not to think about mass meetings, "propaganda films", posters on the Wall, or even about any kind of "broader public".

Ultimately, the Nordic idea seeks to convince people through the fact of its existence and through the way of life of its adherents.

It is connected with this will to convince through oneself that the Nordic idea cannot be linked to any plan for official state protection of the Nordic race. The Nordic movement has been suspected of such intentions. However, it is absolutely untrue that the representatives of the racial idea describe "influencing the fertility of certain racial components in a national body as the most important task of the state and society". Lenz pointed out that the state's preference for a certain type" in the German people would lead to "serious disagreements" and stressed that the necessary state hereditary health care (racial hygiene) serves to preserve all races. The "Racial Studies of the German People" has explained that the present state can indeed accept general hereditary health care, but not the question of the demand for a certain race. It is in keeping with the Nordic idea to point to the free association of Nordic-minded Germans for the protection of the Nordic race, that is, to a self-help that the insightful person will not deny the Nordic race any more than the working class or the middle class, large-scale industry or agriculture will deny their protective associations.

The call for self-help by the predominantly Nordic Germans was immediately accused of being a denigration of all non-Nordic Germans. The Nordic Thought's own insight that the increase in non-Nordic blood (i.e. a higher number of children of predominantly non-Nordic people) in the German national body is "less desirable" and the increase in Nordic blood (i.e. a higher number of children of predominantly Nordic people) must be viewed as "desirable" was seized upon, and this insight was then distorted in such a way that it was not the higher number of children of non-Nordic people, but rather these non-Nordic people themselves who were described as "less desirable" by the Nordic Thought. In contrast, it must be repeated:

The knowledge of the Nordic idea, gained from the broadest possible consideration of large general conditions, is not directed against the individual non-Nordic person; it is directed against an increase in non-Nordic blood, or better: it would like to protect the desired Nordic blood from fading away and promote this desired blood as decisively as possible. The fact of the theory of heredity that the value of the individual as such is different from its value as a progenitor" (Siemens), this fact becomes fundamental to any such consideration. There have been and are many individuals, somehow physically inferior or poorly endowed, who have given the German people great spiritual values, but of whom the insightful person would not wish that he had left or will leave descendants to his people. His value as an individual is simply different from his value as a progenitor, which fact cannot in any way devalue him as an individual. Likewise, no intelligent person will respect the individual non-Nordic person less than he deserves, even if—according to the knowledge of the racial conditions of the life of nations—the reproduction of such a person within a people in need will be less desirable than the reproduction of a healthy Nordic person. The knowledge of the value of the Nordic race for the German people will never be directed against an individual; but it will have to clearly distinguish between desirable and less desirable childbearing—this distinction seems indispensable. Everything must be done to increase the birth rate of Nordic and more Nordic people in Germany.