The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate whether there was any validity to the argument that select nineteenth century German cultural figures--Johann Fichte, Richard Wagner and Friedrich Nietzsche-were intellectual or spiritual forerunners of National Socialism. Numerous Western writers since the Nazi era have contended that, specifically, these three figures preached, eloquently or vociforously, irrationalism, elitism and nationalism--known Nazi characteristics and thus helped prepare the way for Hitlerism in Germany.Therefore in order to deduce the accuracy of these contentions, this historiographical study examined Vie many works of scholarship and reflection since 1933 that either attacked or defended the role of the three figures within a proto-Nazi contest. A selective bibliography of secondary sources by legitimate writers was gathered and examined and it was deduced that there was no firm intellectual link with the three subjects and Nazism. Those scholars who assailed Fichte, Wagner and Nietzsche usually based their arguments over a Nazi association on a surface level. On other occasions critics simply tore out of context select passages from the works of the three in order to establish a fascist connection. In addition built-in intellectual, ideological or national prejudices by certain scholars helped determine the assignment of the three as Nazi precursors.The totality of their messages was in fact often complex, varied or subtle and their ever-shifting speculative persuasions demonstrated a lack of intellectual continuity. Nonetheless scholars, especially after World War II, have shown the true and often noble meanings of their teachings and have revealed that the differences between the three and Hitler were far greater than the resemblances. Fichte, Wagner and Nietzsche, however, are open to criticism in producing bodies of work that demonstrated inconsistency and emotion-ridden language which mane them vulnerable to exploitation by opportunists like the Nazis.Many scholars have shown then that at best an. indirect association exists between the three cultural figures and National Socialism. Yet this study also has revealed that Fichte, Wagner and Nietzsche continue to be viewed as direct intellectual links with Nazism by various intellectuals to this day.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/177746 |
| Date | 03 June 2011 |
| Creators | Lindemann, Dirk H. |
| Contributors | Wires, Richard |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | iv, 215 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
| Coverage | e-gx--- |
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