Houston
Stewart Chamberlain was a British racial theorist and philosopher, the
son-in-law of Richard Wagner, a prolific writer and also a significant
contributor to Adolf Hitler's thinking about race and in general, to
National-Socialist racial ideas and ultimately, policy. In 1923, ten years
before Adolf Hitler was appointed as Reich Chancellor and well before the NSDAP
gained significant momentum, Houston Stewart Chamberlain wrote a remarkable
letter to the future Fuehrer of the German people. In it, he defended Hitler
against the stale accusations then in circulation, conveyed hope for a revival
of Germany, and hailed Hitler as the rightful ruler of Germany.
Cosima Wagner, the
second wife of Richard Wagner,
with H. S.
Chamberlain, in Bordighera 1913.
The
letter was sent on 7 October, 1923.
I
found the letter here. It can also be found on page 85 of a book titled, The
Nazi Germany Sourcebook: An Anthology of Texts, a pdf of which may be found
here.
Most
respected and dear Herr Hitler:
You
have every right to be surprised at this intrusion having seen with your own
eyes how difficult it is for me to speak. But I cannot resist the urge to
address a few words to you. I view this, however, as an entirely one-sided act,
i.e. I do not expect an answer from you.
I
have been wondering why it was you of all people, you who are so extraordinary
in awakening people from sleep and humdrum routines, who recently gave me a
longer and more refreshing sleep than I have experienced since that fateful day
in August 1914 when I was first struck down by this insidious sickness. Now I
believe I understand that it is precisely this that characterizes and defines
your being: the true awakener is at the same time the bestower of peace.
You
are not at all, as you have been described to me, a fanatic. In fact, I would
call you the complete opposite of a fanatic. The fanatic inflames the mind, you
warm the heart. The fanatic wants to overwhelm people with words, you wish to
convince, only to convince them-and that is why you are successful. Indeed, I
would also describe you as the opposite of a politician, in the commonly
accepted sense of the word, for the essence of all politics is membership of a
party, whereas with you all parties disappear, consumed by the heat of your love
for the fatherland. It was, I think, the misfortune of our great Bismarck that
he became, as fate would have it (by no means through innate predisposition), a
little too involved in politics. May you be spared this fate.
You
have immense achievements ahead of you, but for all your strength of will I do
not regard you as a violent man. You know Goethe's distinction between force
and force. There is the force that stems
from and in turn leads to chaos, and there is the force which shapes the
universe.... It is this creative sense that I mean when I number you among the
constructive men rather than those who are violent.
I
constantly ask myself whether the poverty of political instinct for which
Germans are so often blamed may not be symptomatic of a much deeper talent for
state-building. In any case the German's organizational skills are unsurpassed
and his scientific capacity is unequalled. In the essay Politische Ideale I
pinned my hopes on this. The ideal kind of politics is to have none. But this non-politics
must be frankly acknowledged and forced upon the world through the exercise of
power. Nothing will be achieved so long as the parliamentary system dominates;
for this the Germans have, God knows, not a spark of talent! I consider its prevalence to be the greatest
misfortune; it can only drag us continually into the mire and ruin every plan
for a healthy and revitalized fatherland.
But
I am digressing, for I wanted only to speak of you. That you brought me peace
is related very much to your eyes and hand gestures. Your eye works almost as a
hand: it grips and holds a person; and you have the singular quality of being
able to focus your words on one particular listener at any given moment. As for
your hands, they are so expressive in their movement that they rival your eyes.
Such a man brings rest to a poor suffering spirit! Especially when he is
dedicated to the service of the fatherland.
My
faith in Germandom has never wavered for a moment, though my hopes had, I
confess, reached a low ebb. At one blow you have transformed the state of my
soul. That Germany in its hour of greatest need has given birth to a Hitler is
proof of vitality; your actions offer further evidence, for a man's
personality and actions belong together. That the magnificent Ludendorff
openly supports you and embraces your movement: what a wonderful combination!
I was able to sleep without
a care. Nothing caused me to awaken again. May God protect you!
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