KÜRT RUDOLF FISCHER, MILLERSVILLE STATE COLLEGE

AND UNIVERSITY OP VIENNA

NAZISM AS A NIETZSCtfEAN "EXPERIMENT"

There is only a perspective seeing, only a

perspcctive "knowing"; and the more affects
we allow to speak about one thing,
the mojre eyes, different eyes, we can use
to observe one thing, the more complete
will our "concept" of this thing, our
"objectivity," be.
Nietzsche has been denazified. If we see — äs retrospectively we
must — in the physical destruction of the Jews and in the aggressive urge
to obtain Lebensraum in the East the essential features of Hitler and
Nazism there is no cönnection with Nietzsche. He desired neither the one
nor the other. l
Moreover: for a quarter of a Century a fairly pervasive image of j
Nietzsche has been established in the English-speaking world by Walter j
Kaufmann's Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist, a book that j
has appeared in four editions, in 1950, 1956, 1968, and 1974, respectively. J
In it any cönnection between Nietzsche and Nazism is vehemently denieH. f
It is argued that inasmuch äs a cönnection has been maintained it has been
maintained through misinterpretation or willful falsification. And yet,
Nietzsche was not that unrelated to Hitler and Nazism.
If one considers the relationship between Nietzsche and Nazism, one \
is confronted with a Situation similar to that confronted in considering the
relationship between Nietzsche and twentieth Century philosophical mo-
dernism such äs existentialism or logical positivism and analytical philos-
ophy. If Nietzsche is claimed, äs he frequently has been — also, of course,
by Walter Kaufmann — äs a most important äs well äs an influential
thinker, he will from that perspective appear to have been the precursor
of much in the twentieth Century, not only of modernistic trends in art, -
literature, philosophy, and psychology, but also of ideologies such äs fas-
cism or nazism, and their theories of practice.1 From this viewpoint Nazism
appears äs a phenomenon of post-Nietzschean culture, more specifically j
äs a Nietzschean "experiment." In Nietzsche's posthumously published
1
Among the many other writings of Walter Kaufmann on Nietzsche, see especially his
"Nietzsche and Existentialism" (Symposium, Spring 1974).
i
 Nazism äs a Nietfcschean "Experiment* 117

notes we find the exclamation: * Wir machen einen Versuch mit der Wahr-
heit! Vielleicht geht die Menschheit daran zugrunde! Wohlan *
If one sees modernist culture äs beginning with Nietzsche, then one is
entitled to write — äs R. J. Hollingdale did — that the twentieth Century
came to birth in the 1880*$.* And if one sees in Hitler and Nazism a
Nietzsdiean experiment — äs Alfred Baeumler did — one may write half
a Century later, in the 1930*$, that the twentieth Century is just beginning.4
In finding features of Nazism in Nietzsche, one is not claiming that Nietz-
sche was an incomplete Nazi» No more so, in any case, than one could
claim him äs an incomplete existentialist or äs an incomplete logical
positivist because some of his ideas constitute the "meta-philosophy," äs i t
were, of existentialism or of logical positivism.5 Nietzsche has been claimed
to have been a precursor of existentialism and of logical positivism, but he
cannot be claimed äs an incomplete existentialist or äs an incomplete
logical positivist without appearing both insignificant and foolish. Simi-
larly one may concede that Nietzsche is a forerunner of Nazism äs he is
of so much eise in this Century without having to maintain that he would
have been a Nazi, had he iived in the Third Reich rather than in the
Second Reich. That he would have been a Nazi had he Iived in the Third
Reidj has been argued by Baeumlen* But that Nietzsche would have been a
Nazi is no more likely than that he would have been a logical positivist
and an analytical philosopher had he been instructed in the methods and
techniques of logical and linguistic analysis, a position that Arthur Danto
seems to have taken with respect to him.7 In Nietzsche's time none of the
paths projected by him had yet been taken. If the historicai logic of his
thought led him into nihilism — äs has been maintained — such Inter-
pretation is quite compatible with the many thought experiments he

* MusA, vol. XIV, p. 1S8.

3
In his "Introduction1* to the fürst edition of ht$ translation of Nwtzsae: Tkus Spoke
Zaratbxstra (Baltimore, Maryland, 1961) p. 18* Ommcd in the *new Introduction*
{1969}.
4
Studien zur deutschen Gthtesgetaichte (Berlin, 1937), p* 244: "Eben beginnt das
2C. Jahrhundert — das 19. begann vor drei Generationen mit Goethe'« Tod —, das
Jahrhundcn, das «da im Angesicht Zarathustras entscheiden muß."
* For criticisrm of such clainu and for attenipts to cstablish the historicai relarionships
bctween Nietzsche and existentialism and logical positivism, &ee my AThc Existentialism
of Nktssme'* ZarathuttraS Dacdalut (Summer 1964) pp, 998—1016, and *I$ Nieta:-
scfae a Philosopher?,* Budtncll Rcview (Winter 1970) pp* 117—130.
* See partlcularly his Niciztd)e der Philosoph und Politiker (Leipzig, 193t; third edition
in 1937), and sozne of his wriüngs on the topic undcr discussion, later mchided in the
collcction ctted in note 4.
7
See his Nictzidtt &$ Philotophet (New York, 1965), and my review critka! of
book in the /oirrn*/ of Phifatophy (September 21, 1967), pp. 564—569*
118 Küre Rudolf Fischer

carried out, thought experiments that historically led to other thoughts and
to other experiments.
It has been asserted and it has been denied that Nietzsche was a fore-
runner of the Nazis by Nazis äs well äs by anti-Nazis. Positions from
four perspectives can be distinguished: (1) Anti-Nazis have asserted that
Nietzsche has been a forerunner of Nazism in the course of an argument
that holds the entire German intellectual tradition — or an important
portion of it — responsible for Nazism and two world wars. This view-
point is expressed, for instance, in the books by William McGovern from
a liberal and by George Lukacs from a Marxist perspective.8 (2) Nazis
too have, of course, claimed Nietzsche äs their forerunner, for instance,
the previously mentioned Alfred Baeumler. Baeumler, incidentally, was not
— äs has been assumed by Hollingdale — an agent of the Nazis.9 He was
a real, convinced and committed Nazi. Nor was he an "ersatz scholar," or
— äs Kaufmann thinks —- a "philosophical nobody."10 It is notoriously
difficult to decide who — since Kant — has been, or has not been, a
"philosophical nobody." In this context it must suffice to point out that
Baeumler occupied a chair of philosophy at Dresden before the Nazis came
to power and that he wrote a book that — in the words of the historian
of German philosophy, Lewis White Beck — "pirovides all the needed
background for a study pf Kant's Third Critique" — not a mean accom-
plishment in philosophical scholarship!11 Baeumler's work counts äs an im-
portant contribution to the history of aesthetics and äs an indispensable
aid in the study of Kant's aesthetics. Although there is no reason to be-
lieve that he manipulated notes, äs asserted by Hollingdale, Kaufmann is
right in pointing out that posthumously published notes have been used in
Baeumler's Interpretation. Baeumler's special claim, that the real Nietzsche
can be found importantly in his Nachlaß, m material not prepared for
publication by Nietzsche himself, may be controversial but is certainly
not absurd when we think of the methods of Interpretation of a Freud in
psychoanalysis or of a Heidegger in hermeneutics. In any case, the real
8
See William Montgomery McGovern, From Luther to Hitler (Cambridge, Mass.,
1941), and Georg Lukacs, Die Zerstörung der Vernunft. Der Weg des Irrationalismus
von Schelling zu Hitler (Berlin, 1955), especially pp. 244—317: "Nietzsche als Be-
gründer des Irrationalismus der imperialistischen Periode."
9
"Introdüction" to Nietzsche: Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Baltimore, Maryland, 1961),
p. 14. Omitted in the "new Introduction" (1969).
10
See George Woodcock, "Nietzsche in the Thirties," The Malahat Review, 24 (October,
1972), p. 76, and Kaufmann's "Editor's Introduction" to Priedrid) Nietzsche: The Will
to Power (New York, 1967), p. XIII, äs well äs the references to Baeumler in his
Nietzsche.
11
Early German Philosophy: Kant and His Predecessors (Cambridge, Mass., 1969),
p. 538.
 Nazism äs a Nietxschean "Experiment* 119

Nietzsche is also in the Nachlaß. (3) But Nazi sdiolars also have denied a
connection between Nazism and Nietzsche. Christoph Steding, for instance,
in his monumental Das Reich und die Krankheit der europäisdyen Kultur,
unlike Baeurnler, makes no attempt to reinterpret Nietzsche's animosity to
Bismarck's Reich.1* He rather perceives in that animosity, and in Nietzsdie's
preoccupation with intellectual and cultural rather than with political and
military history, a dangerous tendency inimical to the erection of any
state. Even though Hitler and the Nazis were less concerned with the state
äs such than with a Weltanschauung that was to be actualized in a political
Community of a particular racial origin and national stock — Aryan and
German —, they did reject concern with states of mind and with senti-
ments and feelings — with the notable exception of the feeling of power —
and rejected preoccupation with higher culture and inwardness. (4) Walter
Kaufmann and other anti-Nazi intellectuals have denied that there is any
connection between Nietzsche and the Nazis. And their view has prevailed
in the educated public in the last two decades, certainly in America.
Under these circumstances, it seems proper and useful to reassert the
connection between Nietzsche and Hitler and Nazism äs a matter of gain-
ing a more comprehensive perspective on the recent history of the human
mind, and Nietzsdbe's place and role in it.18 The thesis that it is a gross
misunderstanding to believe that Nietzsche is a forerunner of Hitler and
Nazism is itself based upon a misunderstanding. A forerunner need not be
someone from whom only one path leads to that phenomenon of which he
is said to be a forerunner. It is sufficient that he presents äs one possibility
that of which he is said to be a forerunner. Crane Brinton comes closer to
the truth than Kaufmann when he concludes that "Nietzsche was half a
Nazi and half an anti-Nazi."14 There are others who give due emphasis to
the intricateness of the relationship between Nietzsche and Nazism. It is
acknowledged in George H. Sabine's Standard work, A History of Political
Theory.1* And Gerhard Masur sees "the insoluble contradictions whidi
Nietzsche presents to the reader* rather than *two Nietzsches (äs Crane
Brinton oversimplified the matter)* äs responsible for "why he was clairned
by power-drunk totalitarians and good Europeans alike.*16
« Hamburg, 1938.
n
See the motto of this cs$a>% ukcn from On the Gcncalogy of Morals, Third Essay,
Sccuoo 12. Ali refcrcnccs to Nietzsche are takcn from Walter Kaufmannes tran*-
lattoas,
14
Walter Kaufmann« Nirmcfe; PMotopher, Ptytkohgitt, Antichrist, Pourth Edition
(Prtnectoiu 1974), p. 291, notc 7* See Crane Brinton** *The National Socblists' Usc
of N;ctz«fhtct* Journal of the Hütory o/ Jdcas (April 3940), pp. 131—150, and hU
Nictztdhe (New York, 1965; fim cditson, 1941).
11
Founb Edition, revised by Thomas Lundon Tljorson (Hinsdal^ Hl., 1973), p. 811.
w
Profiten of fester Ja? (New York, 1961)» p. 91,
120 Kurt Rudolf Fischer

That Nietzsche is a precursor of Hitler and Nazism, in the sense in

which, for instance, he has been claimed äs a precursor of logical positivism,
suggests itself in various ways. The following familiär consideration is
proposed: If God is dead, if there is nihilism, all possibilities are open and
must be explored äs a result of, äs an antidote to, and äs an attack on,
nihilism. We may and we must experiment! Experimenting is not confined
nor is it confining. As Walter Kaufmann himself has pointed out, Nietz-
sche's experimentalism includes not only.or not merely thought experiments
and scientific experiments but also has an "'existential' quality; it is an
experimenting [that] involves testing an answer by trying to live according
to it."17 This experimenting may take the form of an experimental heroism
that is to last for centuries and unambiguously points to action. In The
Gay Science, in an aphorism entitled "Something for the indüstrious,"
after recommending all kinds of new historical investigations for the
"study of moral matters,'' histories "of love, of avarice, of envy, of con-
science, of pious respect for tradition, or of cruelty," and after recommen-
ding investigations "of the moral effects of different foods" and of many
other matters, Nietzsche concludes:
If all these Jobs were done, the most insidious question of all would
emerge into the foreground: whether science can ftirnish goals of action
after it has proved that it can take sudi goals away and annihilate them;
and then experimentation would be in order that would allow every
kind of heroism to find satisfaction — centuries of experimentation
that might eclipse all the great projects and sacrifices of history to date.
So far, science has not yet built its cyclopic buildings, but the time for
that, too, will come (L, 7).
Nietzsche specifically connected experimenting with attacks pn demo-
cracy, on liberalism, and on "herd animal morality." "The democratic
movement is the heir of the Christian movement," he writes in Beyond
Good and Evil, leading to a "diminution of man, making him mediocre
and lowering his value" (aph. 202, 203). In aphorism 477 from Human,
All-Too Human entitled "War indispensable" it is asserted that the con-
temporary Europeans stand in need of the biggest and most terrible wars
in order not to lose civilization through its own vehicles and products.
Aphorism 208 of Beyond Good and Evil reads:
The time for petty politics is over: the very next Century will bring
the fight for the dominion of the earth — the comptilsion to large-scale
politics.
The Nazi-experiment is now permissible. In previous times, Nietz-
sche points out in aphorism 501 of The Dawn entitled "Mortal Souls,"

17
Nietzsche (Princeton, 1974), p. 89. See also aphorism 52 of The Gay Science.
 Nazism äs a Nietzschean "Experiment* 121

when we had faith in the immortality of the soul, our salvation depended
upon our souTs short life on this earth. But now "we may take on tasks the
grandeur of which would have appeared to former times äs insanity and
äs a gamble with heaven and hell." And in Ecce homo> in the first section
of "Why I Write Such Good Books," it becomes clear that a kind of Nazi-
brutality is suggested, and definitely not excluded:
The word *overman,Ä äs the designation of a type of supreme adiieve-
ment, äs opposed to "modern* men, to "good* men, to Christians and
other nihilists — · a word that in the mouth of a Zarathustra, the anni-
hilator of morality, becomes a very pensive word — has been under-
stood almost everywhere with the utmost irmocence in the sense of
those very values whose opposite Zarathustra was meant to represent —
that is, äs an ^idealistic* type of a higher kind of man, half asaint,"
half *genius.e . . , Those to whom I said in confidence that they should
sooner look even for a Cesare Borgia than for a Parsifal, did not believe
their own ears,
Professor Kaufmann^ readings of Nietzsche are invariably "gentle."18
Two examples must suffice to show the inadequacy of sudi practice.
(1) When interpreting Nietzsche's famous "what is falling, that one should
also push!* he comments: Nietzsche is not speaking of 'mercy* killings of
the crippled and insane, but of all values that have become hollow, all
needs out of which the faith has gone . . ,"19 Yet there is nothing in the text
to suggest that Nietzsche is not, or is not also thinking of mercy killings.
(2) Nietzsche's "all truths are for me soaked in bloodn is cited after Kauf-
mann has remarked that "science and life are no longer wholly separate,
science and philosophy are a wäy of life."*0 But if philosophy, according
to Nietzsche, is to become a way of life — an Interpretation that is surely
correct — then life, lived experience, too, will become philosophy. The
conceptualizations of philosophy will be absorbed by, and unified with
life, with the living body.
Nietzsche prepared a consciousness that excluded nothing that anyone
might think, feel, or do, including unimaginable atrocities carried out on
a gigantic order. Nor is a reading of Nietzsche äs a precursor of Nazism
confmcd to interpretations of academic sdiolars who have been particularly
perverse or corrupt* Many a common man, many a common Nazi of Wei-
mar Germany must have said to himself what one of them proclaimed
openly: Nietzsdie I discovered a bit of iny primal self.*n There are
tss
See Brinton*$ Kittztcht, p, 184 ff. for the use of
»» Nttt*sd*c (Princeton, 1974), p. 109.
» ibid., p. 90.
n
J*P. Stern, The Führer &nd the Peoptt (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1975), p. 193,
quotes from Theodor Abel'$ Why Hitler Camc to Power. An Answer Bated on the
Original Life Storiei of $ix Hundrtd of hi$ Fottowcrs (New York, 1938), p. 135.
122 Kurt Rudolf Kicker

more identities and similarities of content in the writings of Nietzsche and

in the writings, Speeches, conversations, and particularly in the actions of
Hitler and the Nazis. Many of these definite identities and similarities
have been catalogued by E. Sandvoss in Hitler arid Nietzsche.2* Such a
catalogue may not make Nietzsche an accessory but it does make him a
precursor of Nazism.

22
Göttingen, 1969. See also "Nietzsche's Verantwortung* Studium Generale, vol. 18
(1965) pp. 150—154.