by Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg
Whenever
talk comes around to freedom, some of the most vehement disputes in world
history arise for our mind’s eye. Not only were all revolutions tied to the
idea of freedom but severe tyranny was often allied with the idea of freedom in
the course of history. It was freedom that the ancient tyrannical murderers
called for; it was freedom the slaves in ancient Rome yearned for when they
rendered the fatal blow against an honorable system; it was for freedom of
conscience that caused religious reformers to fight against traditional dogmas;
it was freedom of science that had been defended in thousands of scientific
laboratories against the medieval church. Finally, the question of whether
human freedom and a free will exist at all has been investigated by many great
philosophers. It is clear to see that whenever there was a major movement in
religious, scientific or political life, it was almost always bound to the idea
of freedom. The fact that millions and millions of people followed this idea
and fought for it in all fields, will forever dignify freedom for us regardless
of the dross that is attached to this idea.
Nobody
dares to make a dogmatic decision on
whether man is free or not. The representatives of both sides argue vehemently
for their point of view and in an equally compelling manner. Especially since
the rise of the exact sciences the attempt to completely integrate man into
nature has increasingly been accompanied by the argument that the idea of a
free will is an illusion and that therefore all consequences derived from this
idea must be declared null and void. Only thinkers who honestly acknowledged
both sides of the questions and the consequences of both sides were able to
provide an idea of where to surmise a solution. It was especially Kant who
anticipated findings of the exact natural sciences and integrated man into the
laws of nature, just like any other natural or living phenomena. In the manner
of a natural scientist drawing physical conclusions, he investigated just as
thoroughly, the inner nature of man. He finally arrived at the seemingly
paradoxical conclusion that man is perfectly unfree but nevertheless free.
Similar
to Goethe, Kant saw that man is a member of two worlds that mutually influence
one another. The origins of these worlds are different and cannot be traced
down to their very roots. It seems that, without voicing any dogmatic opinion,
we may well stand on Kant’s foundation. With equal truth we can face the fact
that human life is dependent on many influences of its world and environment.
In the game of life that we will never completely comprehend, man is but a
bridged period of power, just like any other living being. We have to
acknowledge a certain inner force that enables man to consciously live and die
for an idea, which proves the existence of a force of some sort. That
contravenes the other principles of existence and thus leaves us to assume a
force that is not beyond the ideas of space, time and causality. Certainly
there is no perfect freedom, even if we want to acknowledge free will as such.
Freedom is contingent on external possibilities and internal „Gestalt’, but in
my eyes this very fact is the only possible presentation of freedom. In the
life of a nation, therefore, freedom does not mean the opportunity to achieve
everything and, individual freedom cannot mean that one can create, invent or
form everything. On the contrary, freedom has to be thought or as a „Gestalt”.
This means that freedom, in the sense of creative power, opposes the tyranny of
performed patterns, and it also opposes the arbitrariness of chaos and the
absence of „Gestalt”.
If
we take a look at intellectual and political disputes from this point of view,
we find nowhere that freedom equals freedom and the claim to be free. This
means the claim for opportunities to create is not given to everybody and must
not be given to everybody. True freedom, as a demand and opportunity must
always be accompanied by biological power, character and a creative soul. There
are individual personalities and there are national personalities. For the
latter, an over-extension of freedom opportunities cannot be allowed and a
limitation is necessary for the benefit of everybody. It can be seen from the
life and lot of many fanatic philosophers and demagogic people’s courts that it
may result in a fatal destabilization of powers caused by driving ambition and
extravagant will that arise because certain external forces are missing. The
examples of the Grachas of Rienzi, Mirabeau and many figures in today’s
political life show all too clearly that freedom and law have to form a unit.
This fact is expressed in Goethe’s very belief that: „only laws will bring us
freedom”.
Duly
external ties shape internal creation. This is where the old German
understanding of freedom that today is represented in National Socialism
reappears. This concept is entirely different from the liberte of the French
Revolution and different from the raving madness of Marxist-Bolshevist
destruction. The other nations never quite understood this German concept of
freedom as they generally never grasped the inner side of the concept of
personality. The French historian Guizot once coined a phrase that Goethe
especially loved: „it was the Germans who first introduced the concept of
personality to the European nations“. It was a concept of Gestalt, in sharp
distinction to all egalitarian phrases and confused political constructions.
However, it was the concept of a personality that consciously defends its
individuality and winds circles of creative performances around a deep and firm
inner core, thus expanding and being bound to a center at the same time. It was
this German idea of freedom that Martin Luther presented when he argued for a
spiritual and religious freedom he was ready to risk his life for. But at the
same time he demanded a rigid political regime that could protect this inner
freedom against the choice of neighbors and also provide defense against
individual choice. The very same opinion was expressed by Goethe when he talked
about the existence of respect, especially self-respect. He did not argue for a
superficial, arrogant overestimation of one’s capacities, but acknowledged the
indestructible metaphysical center, without which it would be impossible to
understand magnificent creations in the fields of art, sciences and political
development.
It
is essentially the same concept of freedom (although it might not be present
philosophically) that shows itself with increasing clearness in the relation
between what we call personality and community. We strive for a community of
millions of Germans, firmly shaped and guided, while at the same time we demand
that there is room for outstanding, creative personalities. We do not feel that
these two demands oppose one another, although other nations do because they
only know the choice between tyranny and chaos. The National Socialist Movement
followed its inner instinct and arrived on a political basis at the same
conclusions that had earlier been drawn by the important religious leaders of
the German people as well as by our thinkers and glorious poets. We could
achieve this goal because the National Socialist Movement was led by Germans
and had come to life in a fight for freedom.
If
we look at the German nation as a whole, it is hindered and bothered by other
stipulations that affect world history. Neither for Germany nor for any other
nation can national sovereignty be absolute. According to our conviction it
would only be harmful and dangerous for the creative power of a nation if there
were no borders in this world. Demarcation, competition and the constant check
of possibilities is not only part of an individual’s life but part of any
nation’s existence. This educational and philosophical thought alone makes it
clear that Germany does not strive for world dominion. This National Socialist
Weltanschauung that has been attacked so often, wants only that the earth
finally be given a Gestalt . A transformation that would end the time of
chaotic liberalism which on the one hand strived after a world-trust and
world-republic that should be built on democratic internationality and Marxism,
while on the other hand it called for a world-revolution to be carried out by
so-called proletarians. Earth is not populated with an abstract mankind, but
with certain races and nations. These nations and races have their own past and
their history can more and more be comprehended by examining the outside of
their nature as displayed in combat. In this way they reveal their achievements
and make claims for further possibilities of performance. In the middle of the
process of political formation we find a natural law. It does not make any
sense to protest against this law as rejection of a natural fact doesn’t alter
its existence. The fact is that in the evolutionary process we find large
nations and small nations. It is clear that a giant plant will reach up further
into the heavens and will grow its roots deeper into the ground than small
bushes or flowers can. This doesn’t tell us anything about the beauty of life
forms, and nothing derogatory is said about the creative possibilities of
so-called small nations.
The
Greeks were once a small nation but they became the magnificent founders of
ancient Indo- Germanic culture. For millennia their educational power produced
an effect on related Germanic tribes and young as ever, it still reaches into
our time that is marked by a Nordic awakening. On the other hand there were
giant nations that threatened to break all boundaries. In their destructive
power they probably prepared the ground for a change of things but compared to
the example of ancient Greece, they left behind little more than memories of a
dark age.
Therefore,
the political education of the German nation is governed by both the law of
limitation and the right to demand a European unity. In the course of centuries
other nations did not take advantage of their chance to accomplish this
mission. It is not disgraceful for the German nation to acknowledge its spheres
of interest and rights among other great nations on this planet. Germany is
even prepared to support their creative powers. On the other hand it is an
honorable duty for the German nation to carefully treat the people of those
small nations that are protected by the Greater German Reich or those who seek
to be protected by us. If they have realized their general destiny we let them
generously take part in everything that comes with the inner formation of our
old and well respected continent. This is an attitude that once prevailed for a
short period of time in ancient Rome; at the time when the powerful and strong
Roman nation founded its own state, fighting off all oriental influences. In a
synthesis of strict Roman laws and the pride of a Roman citizen they gave an
admirable example of the ancient Indo-Germanic attitude.
On
a small scale many towns in medieval Germany had organized their life in a way
that combined outward strength with an inner creative joy. Prussia, although it
was harassed by many enemies, was in many fields an example of the
Nordic-German attempt to combine law and freedom. The rigid Friederician order
was closely related to the ideas proclaimed by Kant and other great Germans.
This is why in the German nation the idea of freedom has always been connected
with duties rather than with rights. A German philosopher once made the
excellent point that freedom had never been a question of „being free from”,
but always a matter of being „free to“. This is an important concept that
reveals a whole attitude. The German fight, is not a fight for freedom in the
sense of being free from duties. It is the fight for a mission in which we try
to live up to the great duty we were given. This is why the German nation is
the most revolutionary nation in Europe and at the same time it is the nation
where the all-enlightening ideas of inner freedom originated. We are convinced
that the conscious inner values of the Germans -honor, faithfulness, loyalty
and pride- represent the best elements of all European races. Our political
power therefore, is justified as it protects these values.
Ever since the medieval Weltanschauung
disappeared we saw various confessions, theories of art and philosophical
doctrines, but no great Weltanschauung. Such a Weltanschauung (a view that
creates an inner unity in all fields of life) has finally been born in National
Socialism.
ALFRED ROSENBERG, „Revolution and Fulfillment”
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