Ubermensch in the common mind

Sometimes the masses’ interpretation of a philosopher’s work is more on target than that of a renowned academician. German masses thought of the Ubermensch as a great conquerer like Hitler. One of Nietzsche’s most influential interpreters and Jewish professor of philosophy at Princeton University Walter Kaufmann saw the Ubermensch as something of a pacifist who sought primarily to gain mastery over himself as he accepted the negativities of life. Yet how could this wishful thinking be true. Nietzsche wrote in The Genealogy of Morals: “One cannot fail to see at the core of all these races the animal of prey, the splendid blond beast prowling about avidly in search of spoil and victory ; this hidden core needs to erupt from time to time, the animal has to get out again and go back to the wilderness: the Roman, Arabian, Germanic, Japanese nobility, the Homeric heroes, the Scandinavian Vikings–they all shared this need. It is the noble races which have left behind them the concept ‘barbarian’ wherever they have gone…” The Nazis refered to their fellow leader Reinhard Heydrich as “the blond beast.” It is perfectly natural to think that Nietzsche was describing just this kind of person when he spoke of the Ubermensch.

Hitler as a student of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche

It seems that Hitler learned from Schopenhauer and Nietzsche much as the average person in German society did. That is, he was affected by their atheism and emphasis on will  without regard to those details of their thought that are part of any significant critical evaluation. Hitler claimed to have kept a copy of The World as Will and Idea in his knapsack when he served in World War I . He said that he read it so many times on the front that he wore it out. This may or may not have been true. He was reputed to have been able to quote long passages from Schopenhauer.  I think he heard in them what he wanted to hear. Hitler differed from Schopenhauer in his view of salvation. For Hitler salvation was through the creation of civilization made possible by victory in war. Will power was the means to that victory.  Schopenhauer saw will as the cause of suffering.  Salvation to the extent it was possible in life came through the contemplation of art and the practice of asceticism. True release came only through death.  Hitler claimed to have read some Nietzsche while he was in Landsberg Prison. Also Hitler once gave a deluxe edition of the collected works of Nietzsche to Mussolini.  Nietzsche is much harder to read than Schopenhauer. I bet he did not read Nietzsche in any systematic way.  Nietzsche’s works are written in aphorisms and it is easy to dip into them from time to time without gaining an in-depth understanding of the author’s developing position. Hitler was much closer to Nietzsche’s thought with its Ubermensch than he was to Schopenhauer’s. When Hitler lived in Linz as a teenager he held three library cards at one time.  So we know he was a reader.  My impression is that when he became an adult he would skim through books looking for information that would confirm his preconceived ideas. Hitler was not a profound student of philosophy.

Hello world!

 My hobbies are German history, the Bible and foreign languages. Recently I have tried to gain a greater understanding of Adolf Hilter by reading Schopenhauer’s The World as Will and Idea. Hitler claimed that he had read the work several times. I am a third of the way into the condensed version. So far I don’t see the connections between Hitler’s and Schopenhauer’s thought although they both emphasize will.