German fascism is the most notorious of all for its destructive actions, and rightly so. It is time, then, to examine what Germany added to the basic beliefs of fascism described in my last blog. Heading the list is the idea of scapegoating enemies for the problems of society.

Of course, Jewish people headed this list in Nazi Germany. Its racist theories classifying some “races” as superior and others inferior, with Jews belonging to the inferior group, need little explanation here. The result was the horror and devastation of the Holocaust. At least 6 million Jewish people, and possibly millions more, paid the ultimate price for no other reason than their membership in a supposedly inferior and conspiratorial group. Less known, however, are some of the other scapegoats put forward by Hitler and his minions to stir up the German population against its supposed enemies.

German Fascism and Scapegoating

I’ve already written about the case made by German fascism against socialists, communists, and German liberals. They also became the enemies of the people in Nazi Germany. The one further example of scapegoating I’ll elaborate on here, then, is the so-called “stab in the back” myth of 1918. The basics of the story are as follows. During the last year of World War 1, 1918, Germany made a last-ditch offensive in the west against the combined British, French, and American forces in France. With Russia bowing out of the war in 1917 in the east but the U.S. entering in the west, the German High Command decided the time was now or never. The offensive failed. As summer turned to autumn, the German forces had to fall back. Rather than see the destruction of the war cross the border into German territory, the German High Command asked for peace. It signed the armistice ending the war on November 11.

That is not, however, what Hitler chose to believe. Instead, he created one of history’s most successful conspiracy theories. In his mind, and soon enough in the minds of many of his followers, the German military had not lost the war in 1918. Rather, liberal politicians stabbed the army in the back by suing for peace while the army remained in the field ready to continue the fight. A political sellout, rather than the arms of the Americans, French, and British, had defeated the mighty German army. This was the story Hitler told the public in Germany. There was no truth in it. But it served his purposes of stirring up an angry and demoralized public and giving them an enemy to hate.

German Fascism and Symbolism

In addition to the racist theories I will assume require no elaboration here, one final aspect of German fascism that the Nazis brought to the foreground is the use and power of symbolism. Although most fascist nations employed various symbols, German fascism took this practice to another level. The swastika is the most notorious of these symbols because of its appearance on the Nazi flag and its ubiquity at party rallies, but it is far from the only one. The rallies themselves, where Hitler regaled tens of thousands with his hypnotic vitriol, Nazi banners flying everywhere, were symbolic of fascism’s claim to transcending class and uniting Germans to pursue their historic destiny as a people.

But look at photos of these party rallies more closely and more symbols appear. The eagle? Not an eagle, but a phoenix, the mythical bird that rises in flame from the ashes of defeat, just as Hitler promised Germans their country would do under National Socialism. The constant military parades symbolized Germany’s return to military might after the stab in the back of 1918 and the humiliation of Versailles. Even the German people dressed in traditional German clothes at Nazi Party rallies reflect German fascism’s appeal to tradition. One of its traits, recall, is the intense belief in the historical greatness of a people and their culture. What clearer sign of an appeal to past greatness then the clothes people wear?

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It’s also interesting that the Nazis held many of their rallies in the sports stadiums of the  1936 Olympic Games. Those games themselves seemed to lend credence to Nazi claims of superiority. Germans won the most medals of all types (33 gold, 26 silver, and 30 bronze) and easily outdistanced the U.S. in total medals, 89-56. No other nation’s athletes claimed more than 22. Even though African American sprinter and jumper Jesse Owens was the individual star of the games, winning 4 gold medals, as a group the German athletes seemed to have the upper hand.

Incidentally, I find it fascinating that the modern Olympic Games, which debuted in 1896, appeared at the height of political and cultural nationalism in Europe. After all, what are the Olympic Games but an athletic version of nationalism? If anyone’s ever written a quality book on this subject, I’d love to find it and check out any connections between the two.

So, we have a brief look at the particular way that German fascism employed symbolism. Join me in my final post next week, and we’ll examine how fascism played out in one other country in a very curious way.

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