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Führerprinzip

May 04, 2023

The Führerprinzip (German: [ˈfyːʀɐpʀɪnˌtsiːp] (listen); German for 'leader principle') prescribed the fundamental basis of political authority in the Government of Nazi Germany. This principle can be most succinctly understood to mean that "the Führer's word is above all written law" and that governmental policies, decisions, and offices ought to work toward the realization of this end.[1] In actual political usage, it refers mainly to the practice of dictatorship within the ranks of a political party itself, and as such, it has become an earmark of political fascism. Nazi Germany aimed to implement the leader principle at all levels of society, with as many organizations and institutions as possible being run by an individual appointed leader rather than by an elected committee. This included schools,[2] sports associations,[3] factories,[4] and more. A common theme of Nazi propaganda was that of a single heroic leader overcoming the adversity of committees, bureaucrats and parliaments.[5] German history, from Nordic sagas to Frederick the Great and Otto von Bismarck, was interpreted to emphasize the value of unquestioning obedience to a visionary leader.[6]

Wochenspruch der NSDAP wall newspaper, 16 February 1941: 'The Führer is always right'.

Ideology

The Führerprinzip was not invented by the Nazis. Hermann von Keyserling, a Baltic German philosopher from Estonia, was the first to use the term. One of Keyserling's central claims was that certain "gifted individuals" were "born to rule" on the basis of Social Darwinism.

The ideology of the Führerprinzip sees each organization as a hierarchy of leaders, where every leader (Führer, in German) has absolute responsibility in his own area, demands absolute obedience from those below him and answers only to his superiors.[7] This required obedience and loyalty even over concerns of right and wrong.[7] The supreme leader, Adolf Hitler, answered to the German nation only. Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben has argued[citation needed] that Hitler saw himself as an incarnation of auctoritas, and as the living law or highest law itself, effectively combining in his persona executive power, judicial power, and legislative power. After the Night of the Long Knives, Hitler declared: "in this hour, I was responsible for the fate of the German nation and was therefore the supreme judge of the German people!"[8]

The Führerprinzip paralleled the functionality of military organizations, which continue to use a similar authority structure today, although in democratic countries members are supposed to be restrained by codes of conduct. The Freikorps – German paramilitary organizations made up of men who had fought in World War I and been mustered out after Germany's defeat, but who found it impossible to return to civilian life – were run on the Führer principle. Many of the same men had, earlier in life, been part of various German youth groups in the period from 1904–1913.[9] These groups had also accepted the idea of blind obedience to a leader.[10] The justification for the civil use of the Führerprinzip was that unquestioning obedience to superiors supposedly produced order and prosperity in which those deemed 'worthy' would share.

In the case of the Nazis, the Führerprinzip became integral to the Nazi Party in July 1921, when Adolf Hitler forced a showdown with the original leaders of the party after he learned that they were attempting to merge it with the somewhat larger German Socialist Party. Learning of this, and knowing that any merger would dilute his influence over the group, Hitler quit the Nazis. Realizing that the party would be completely ineffective without Hitler as their front man, the founder of the party, Anton Drexler, opened negotiations with Hitler, who delivered an ultimatum: he must be recognized as the sole leader (Führer) of the party, with dictatorial powers. The executive committee gave in to his demands, and Hitler rejoined the party a few days later to become its permanent ruler, with Drexler demoted to honorary chairman for life.[11]

In time, as the party expanded, it fragmented somewhat, with the northern faction led by the Strasser brothers, Otto and Gregor, and including Joseph Goebbels, holding more Third Positionist views than the southern faction controlled by Hitler in Munich. They differed in other ways as well, including on the party's acceptance of the Führer Principle. In another confrontation engineered by Hitler, a party conference was called on February 14, 1926 in Bamberg. At this conference, Hitler won over the leaders of the northern faction with his oratorical skills, and the question of whether the NSDAP would follow the Führerprinzip was put to rest for good.[12]

When Hitler finally came to absolute power, after being appointed Chancellor and assuming the powers of the President when Paul von Hindenburg died, he changed his title to Führer und Reichskanzler ("Führer and Reich Chancellor"), and the Führerprinzip became an integral part of German society. Appointed mayors replaced elected local governments. Schools lost elected parents' councils and faculty advisory boards, with all authority being put in the headmaster's hands.[13] The Nazis suppressed associations and unions with elected leaders, putting in their place mandatory associations with appointed leaders. The authorities allowed private corporations to keep their internal organization, but with a simple renaming from hierarchy to Führerprinzip. Conflicting associations—e.g., sports associations responsible for the same sport—were coordinated into a single one under the leadership of a single Führer, who appointed the Führer of a regional association, who appointed the sports club Führer, often appointing the person whom the club had previously elected.[14] Shop stewards had their authority carefully circumscribed to prevent their infringing on that of the plant leader.[15] Eventually, virtually no activity or organization in Germany could exist that was completely independent of party or state leadership.

Hermann Göring told Nevile Henderson that: "When a decision has to be taken, none of us counts more than the stones on which we are standing. It is the Führer alone who decides".[16] In practice, the selection of unsuitable candidates often led to micromanagement and commonly to an inability to formulate coherent policy. Albert Speer noted that many Nazi officials dreaded making decisions in Hitler's absence. Rules tended to become oral rather than written; leaders with initiative who flouted regulations and carved out their own spheres of influence might receive praise and promotion rather than censure.

 
The architects of the Night of the Long Knives: Hitler, Göring, Goebbels, and Hess. Only Himmler and Heydrich are missing.

Nazi propaganda

Main article: Adolf Hitler's cult of personality

Many Nazi propaganda films promoted the importance of the Führerprinzip. Flüchtlinge depicted Volga German refugees saved from Communist persecution by a leader demanding unquestioning obedience.[17] Der Herrscher altered its source material to depict its hero, Clausen, as the unwavering leader of his munitions firm, who, faced with his children's machinations, disowns them and bestows the firm on the state, confident that a worker will arise capable of continuing his work and, as a true leader, needing no instruction.[18] Carl Peters shows the title character in firm, decisive action to hold and win African colonies, but brought down by a parliament that does not realize the necessity of Führerprinzip.[19]

In the schools, adolescent boys were presented with Nordic sagas as the illustration of Führerprinzip, which was developed with such heroes as Frederick the Great and Otto von Bismarck.[20]

This was combined with the glorification of the one, central Führer, Adolf Hitler. During the Night of Long Knives, it was claimed that his decisive action saved Germany,[21] though it meant (in Goebbels's description) suffering "tragic loneliness" from being a Siegfried forced to shed blood to preserve Germany.[22] In one speech Robert Ley explicitly proclaimed "The Führer is always right."[23] Booklets given out for the Winter Relief donations included The Führer Makes History,[24][25] a collection of Hitler photographs,[26] and The Führer’s Battle in the East[27] Films such as Der Marsch zum Führer and Triumph of the Will glorified him.

Carl Schmitt – drawn to the Nazi party by his admiration for a decisive leader[28] praised him in his pamphlet State, Volk and Movement because only the ruthless will of such a leader could save Germany and its people from the "asphalt culture" of modernity, to bring about unity and authenticity.[29]

 
Adolf Eichmann on trial in 1961

Application

During the post-war Nuremberg Trials, Nazi war criminals – and, later, Adolf Eichmann during his trial in Israel – used the Führerprinzip concept to argue that they were not guilty of war crimes by claiming that they were only following orders. Eichmann may have declared his conscience was inconvenienced by war events in order to "do his job" as best he could.

In Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt concluded that, aside from a desire for improving his career, Eichmann showed no trace of anti-Semitism or psychological abnormalities whatsoever. She called him the embodiment of the "banality of evil", as he appeared at his trial to have an ordinary and common personality, displaying neither guilt nor hatred, denying any form of responsibility. Eichmann argued he was simply "doing his job" and maintained he had always tried to act in accordance with Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative. Arendt suggested that these statements most strikingly discredit the idea that Nazi criminals were manifestly psychopathic and different from common people, that even the most ordinary of people can commit horrendous crimes if placed in the catalyzing situation, and given the correct incentives. However, Arendt disagreed with this interpretation, as Eichmann justified himself with the Führerprinzip. Arendt argued that children obey, whereas adults adhere to an ideology.

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ "Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression Volume I Chapter VII: Means Used by the Nazi Conspiractors in Gaining Control of the German State". A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust.
  2. ^ Nicholas (2006), p. 74
  3. ^ Krüger, Arnd (1985) "'Heute gehört uns Deutschland und morgen …?' Das Ringen um den Sinn der Gleichschaltung im Sport in der ersten Jahreshälfte 1933" in Buss, Wolfgang and Krüger, Arnd (eds.) (1985) Sportgeschichte: Traditionspflege und Wertewandel. Festschrift zum 75. Geburtstag von Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Henze, Duderstadt: Mecke. pp. 175–196. ISBN 3-923453-03-5
  4. ^ Grunberger, Richard (1971) The 12-Year Reich. New York: Henry Holt. p. 193, ISBN 0-03-076435-1
  5. ^ Leiser (1975), pp. 29–30, 104–105
  6. ^ Nicholas (2006), p. 78
  7. ^ a b "Befehlsnotstand & the Führerprinzip" 2018-01-05 at the Wayback Machine, Shoah Education
  8. ^ Sager, Alexander; Winkler, Heinrich August (2007). Germany: The Long Road West: 1933–1990. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-926598-5.|page=37
  9. ^ Savage, Jon (2007) Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture. New York: Viking. pp. 101–112. ISBN 978-0-670-03837-4
  10. ^ Mitcham (1996), p. 21
  11. ^ Mitcham (1996), pp. 78–79
  12. ^ Mitcham (1996), pp. 120–121
  13. ^ Nicholas (2006), p. 74
  14. ^ Krüger, Arnd (1985) "'Heute gehört uns Deutschland und morgen …?' Das Ringen um den Sinn der Gleichschaltung im Sport in der ersten Jahreshälfte 1933" in Buss, Wolfgang and Krüger, Arnd (eds.) (1985) Sportgeschichte: Traditionspflege und Wertewandel. Festschrift zum 75. Geburtstag von Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Henze, Duderstadt: Mecke. pp. 175–196. ISBN 3-923453-03-5
  15. ^ Grunberger, Richard (1971) The 12-Year Reich. New York: Henry Holt. p. 193, ISBN 0-03-076435-1
  16. ^ Gunther, John (1940). Inside Europe. New York: Harper & Brothers. p. 19.
  17. ^ Leiser (1975), pp. 29–30
  18. ^ Leiser (1975), p. 49
  19. ^ Leiser (1975), pp. 104–105
  20. ^ Nicholas (2006), p. 78
  21. ^ Koonz (2003), p. 96
  22. ^ Rhodes, Anthony (1976) Propaganda: The art of persuasion: World War II, New York: Chelsea House. p. 16 ISBN 0877540292
  23. ^ Ley, Robert (3 November 1937) "Fate – I Believe!" German Propaganda Archive Calvin University website
  24. ^ "Winterhilfswerk Booklet for 1933" German Propaganda Archive Calvin University website
  25. ^ ""Winterhilfswerk Booklet for 1938", German Propaganda Archive, Calvin University website
  26. ^ "Hitler in the Mountains", German Propaganda Archive, Calvin University website
  27. ^ "Hitler in the East", German Propaganda Archive, Calvin University website
  28. ^ Koonz (2003), p. 56
  29. ^ Koonz (2003), p. 59

Bibliography

External links

  • BBC historical article
  • Bearers of a Common Fate?

May 04, 2023
führerprinzip, german, ˈfyːʀɐpʀɪnˌtsiːp, listen, german, leader, principle, prescribed, fundamental, basis, political, authority, government, nazi, germany, this, principle, most, succinctly, understood, mean, that, führer, word, above, written, that, governme. The Fuhrerprinzip German ˈfyːʀɐpʀɪnˌtsiːp listen German for leader principle prescribed the fundamental basis of political authority in the Government of Nazi Germany This principle can be most succinctly understood to mean that the Fuhrer s word is above all written law and that governmental policies decisions and offices ought to work toward the realization of this end 1 In actual political usage it refers mainly to the practice of dictatorship within the ranks of a political party itself and as such it has become an earmark of political fascism Nazi Germany aimed to implement the leader principle at all levels of society with as many organizations and institutions as possible being run by an individual appointed leader rather than by an elected committee This included schools 2 sports associations 3 factories 4 and more A common theme of Nazi propaganda was that of a single heroic leader overcoming the adversity of committees bureaucrats and parliaments 5 German history from Nordic sagas to Frederick the Great and Otto von Bismarck was interpreted to emphasize the value of unquestioning obedience to a visionary leader 6 Wochenspruch der NSDAP wall newspaper 16 February 1941 The Fuhrer is always right Contents 1 Ideology 2 Nazi propaganda 3 Application 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksIdeology EditThe Fuhrerprinzip was not invented by the Nazis Hermann von Keyserling a Baltic German philosopher from Estonia was the first to use the term One of Keyserling s central claims was that certain gifted individuals were born to rule on the basis of Social Darwinism The ideology of the Fuhrerprinzip sees each organization as a hierarchy of leaders where every leader Fuhrer in German has absolute responsibility in his own area demands absolute obedience from those below him and answers only to his superiors 7 This required obedience and loyalty even over concerns of right and wrong 7 The supreme leader Adolf Hitler answered to the German nation only Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben has argued citation needed that Hitler saw himself as an incarnation of auctoritas and as the living law or highest law itself effectively combining in his persona executive power judicial power and legislative power After the Night of the Long Knives Hitler declared in this hour I was responsible for the fate of the German nation and was therefore the supreme judge of the German people 8 The Fuhrerprinzip paralleled the functionality of military organizations which continue to use a similar authority structure today although in democratic countries members are supposed to be restrained by codes of conduct The Freikorps German paramilitary organizations made up of men who had fought in World War I and been mustered out after Germany s defeat but who found it impossible to return to civilian life were run on the Fuhrer principle Many of the same men had earlier in life been part of various German youth groups in the period from 1904 1913 9 These groups had also accepted the idea of blind obedience to a leader 10 The justification for the civil use of the Fuhrerprinzip was that unquestioning obedience to superiors supposedly produced order and prosperity in which those deemed worthy would share In the case of the Nazis the Fuhrerprinzip became integral to the Nazi Party in July 1921 when Adolf Hitler forced a showdown with the original leaders of the party after he learned that they were attempting to merge it with the somewhat larger German Socialist Party Learning of this and knowing that any merger would dilute his influence over the group Hitler quit the Nazis Realizing that the party would be completely ineffective without Hitler as their front man the founder of the party Anton Drexler opened negotiations with Hitler who delivered an ultimatum he must be recognized as the sole leader Fuhrer of the party with dictatorial powers The executive committee gave in to his demands and Hitler rejoined the party a few days later to become its permanent ruler with Drexler demoted to honorary chairman for life 11 In time as the party expanded it fragmented somewhat with the northern faction led by the Strasser brothers Otto and Gregor and including Joseph Goebbels holding more Third Positionist views than the southern faction controlled by Hitler in Munich They differed in other ways as well including on the party s acceptance of the Fuhrer Principle In another confrontation engineered by Hitler a party conference was called on February 14 1926 in Bamberg At this conference Hitler won over the leaders of the northern faction with his oratorical skills and the question of whether the NSDAP would follow the Fuhrerprinzip was put to rest for good 12 When Hitler finally came to absolute power after being appointed Chancellor and assuming the powers of the President when Paul von Hindenburg died he changed his title to Fuhrer und Reichskanzler Fuhrer and Reich Chancellor and the Fuhrerprinzip became an integral part of German society Appointed mayors replaced elected local governments Schools lost elected parents councils and faculty advisory boards with all authority being put in the headmaster s hands 13 The Nazis suppressed associations and unions with elected leaders putting in their place mandatory associations with appointed leaders The authorities allowed private corporations to keep their internal organization but with a simple renaming from hierarchy to Fuhrerprinzip Conflicting associations e g sports associations responsible for the same sport were coordinated into a single one under the leadership of a single Fuhrer who appointed the Fuhrer of a regional association who appointed the sports club Fuhrer often appointing the person whom the club had previously elected 14 Shop stewards had their authority carefully circumscribed to prevent their infringing on that of the plant leader 15 Eventually virtually no activity or organization in Germany could exist that was completely independent of party or state leadership Hermann Goring told Nevile Henderson that When a decision has to be taken none of us counts more than the stones on which we are standing It is the Fuhrer alone who decides 16 In practice the selection of unsuitable candidates often led to micromanagement and commonly to an inability to formulate coherent policy Albert Speer noted that many Nazi officials dreaded making decisions in Hitler s absence Rules tended to become oral rather than written leaders with initiative who flouted regulations and carved out their own spheres of influence might receive praise and promotion rather than censure The architects of the Night of the Long Knives Hitler Goring Goebbels and Hess Only Himmler and Heydrich are missing Nazi propaganda EditMain article Adolf Hitler s cult of personality Many Nazi propaganda films promoted the importance of the Fuhrerprinzip Fluchtlinge depicted Volga German refugees saved from Communist persecution by a leader demanding unquestioning obedience 17 Der Herrscher altered its source material to depict its hero Clausen as the unwavering leader of his munitions firm who faced with his children s machinations disowns them and bestows the firm on the state confident that a worker will arise capable of continuing his work and as a true leader needing no instruction 18 Carl Peters shows the title character in firm decisive action to hold and win African colonies but brought down by a parliament that does not realize the necessity of Fuhrerprinzip 19 In the schools adolescent boys were presented with Nordic sagas as the illustration of Fuhrerprinzip which was developed with such heroes as Frederick the Great and Otto von Bismarck 20 This was combined with the glorification of the one central Fuhrer Adolf Hitler During the Night of Long Knives it was claimed that his decisive action saved Germany 21 though it meant in Goebbels s description suffering tragic loneliness from being a Siegfried forced to shed blood to preserve Germany 22 In one speech Robert Ley explicitly proclaimed The Fuhrer is always right 23 Booklets given out for the Winter Relief donations included The Fuhrer Makes History 24 25 a collection of Hitler photographs 26 and The Fuhrer s Battle in the East 27 Films such as Der Marsch zum Fuhrer and Triumph of the Will glorified him Carl Schmitt drawn to the Nazi party by his admiration for a decisive leader 28 praised him in his pamphlet State Volk and Movement because only the ruthless will of such a leader could save Germany and its people from the asphalt culture of modernity to bring about unity and authenticity 29 Adolf Eichmann on trial in 1961Application EditDuring the post war Nuremberg Trials Nazi war criminals and later Adolf Eichmann during his trial in Israel used the Fuhrerprinzip concept to argue that they were not guilty of war crimes by claiming that they were only following orders Eichmann may have declared his conscience was inconvenienced by war events in order to do his job as best he could In Eichmann in Jerusalem Hannah Arendt concluded that aside from a desire for improving his career Eichmann showed no trace of anti Semitism or psychological abnormalities whatsoever She called him the embodiment of the banality of evil as he appeared at his trial to have an ordinary and common personality displaying neither guilt nor hatred denying any form of responsibility Eichmann argued he was simply doing his job and maintained he had always tried to act in accordance with Immanuel Kant s categorical imperative Arendt suggested that these statements most strikingly discredit the idea that Nazi criminals were manifestly psychopathic and different from common people that even the most ordinary of people can commit horrendous crimes if placed in the catalyzing situation and given the correct incentives However Arendt disagreed with this interpretation as Eichmann justified himself with the Fuhrerprinzip Arendt argued that children obey whereas adults adhere to an ideology See also EditAutocracy Charisma Cult of personality Functionalism versus intentionalism Gleichschaltung Meine Ehre heisst Treue Milgram experiment Nuremberg Defense State of exception Supreme leader Superior orders UnrechtsstaatReferences EditNotes Nazi Conspiracy amp Aggression Volume I Chapter VII Means Used by the Nazi Conspiractors in Gaining Control of the German State A Teacher s Guide to the Holocaust Nicholas 2006 p 74 Kruger Arnd 1985 Heute gehort uns Deutschland und morgen Das Ringen um den Sinn der Gleichschaltung im Sport in der ersten Jahreshalfte 1933 in Buss Wolfgang and Kruger Arnd eds 1985 Sportgeschichte Traditionspflege und Wertewandel Festschrift zum 75 Geburtstag von Prof Dr Wilhelm Henze Duderstadt Mecke pp 175 196 ISBN 3 923453 03 5 Grunberger Richard 1971 The 12 Year Reich New York Henry Holt p 193 ISBN 0 03 076435 1 Leiser 1975 pp 29 30 104 105 Nicholas 2006 p 78 a b Befehlsnotstand amp the Fuhrerprinzip Archived 2018 01 05 at the Wayback Machine Shoah Education Sager Alexander Winkler Heinrich August 2007 Germany The Long Road West 1933 1990 Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 926598 5 page 37 Savage Jon 2007 Teenage The Creation of Youth Culture New York Viking pp 101 112 ISBN 978 0 670 03837 4 Mitcham 1996 p 21 Mitcham 1996 pp 78 79 Mitcham 1996 pp 120 121 Nicholas 2006 p 74 Kruger Arnd 1985 Heute gehort uns Deutschland und morgen Das Ringen um den Sinn der Gleichschaltung im Sport in der ersten Jahreshalfte 1933 in Buss Wolfgang and Kruger Arnd eds 1985 Sportgeschichte Traditionspflege und Wertewandel Festschrift zum 75 Geburtstag von Prof Dr Wilhelm Henze Duderstadt Mecke pp 175 196 ISBN 3 923453 03 5 Grunberger Richard 1971 The 12 Year Reich New York Henry Holt p 193 ISBN 0 03 076435 1 Gunther John 1940 Inside Europe New York Harper amp Brothers p 19 Leiser 1975 pp 29 30 Leiser 1975 p 49 Leiser 1975 pp 104 105 Nicholas 2006 p 78 Koonz 2003 p 96 Rhodes Anthony 1976 Propaganda The art of persuasion World War II New York Chelsea House p 16 ISBN 0877540292 Ley Robert 3 November 1937 Fate I Believe German Propaganda Archive Calvin University website Winterhilfswerk Booklet for 1933 German Propaganda Archive Calvin University website Winterhilfswerk Booklet for 1938 German Propaganda Archive Calvin University website Hitler in the Mountains German Propaganda Archive Calvin University website Hitler in the East German Propaganda Archive Calvin University website Koonz 2003 p 56 Koonz 2003 p 59 Bibliography Koonz Claudia 2003 The Nazi Conscience Belknap ISBN 0 674 01172 4 Leiser Erwin 1975 Nazi Cinema New York Macmillan ISBN 0 02 570230 0 Mitcham Samuel W 1996 Why Hitler The Genesis of the Nazi Reich Westport Connecticut Praeger ISBN 0 275 95485 4 Nicholas Lynn H 2006 Cruel World The Children of Europe in the Nazi Web New York Vintage ISBN 0 679 77663 XExternal links EditBBC historical article Bearers of a Common Fate The Political System of the Third Reich Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Fuhrerprinzip amp oldid 1151660280, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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