SODOM & GOMORRAH: In this series, we examine Nazi mysticism and the failure of non-mythical politics. By examining the Nazi myth seriously, we can gain insight into how such an insane ideology could so soundly defeat liberal opponents at home. The thrust of the argument is that secular liberalism cannot survive a conflict with mythical politics.
The defeat of Nazi Germany has become a thing of legend. Rhetoric surrounding Nazism has remained fairly constant over the years; in popular books published since the war, Nazis are the epitome of evil, they are crazy and fanatical people, they are strange creatures of darkness that murdered several million innocent people. If there is evil in the world, it was embodied by Adolf Hitler. Yet the distance that the current generation has from the events of the 1940’s is vast; the ability of our generation, perhaps more than previous eras, to understand what happened is clouded. Why? We were not there and the only access most people have to knowledge about that time comes from television and movies. Individual writers have warned against the danger of fascism. These warnings deserve our attention only if it can be demonstrated that fascism could occur again. This study argues that it can since liberalism cannot survive a conflict with mythical politics.
This will be proved in the following way: first, I will look at why this issue and Nazi mysticism are important and how they can be addressed; second, I will define major terms; third, I will investigate Nazi mysticism and its appeal; fourth, I will uncover why liberal democracy could not survive in Germany; and finally, this paper will spend a moment to discuss the future prospects of mythical politics.