Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

216 DER FUEHRERof crime justified by greatness, of history elevated above morality.Napoleon Bonaparte, living proof that a man risen from the peoplecould dominate the world, became a powerful motif in the ideas anddreams of the modern era — in Germany as elsewhere.Fichte, deeply anti-Napoleonic in his feelings, had hoped for aGermany that would be inspired by 'enthusiasm for liberty . . . based onthe principle that all beings with a human face are equal.' These wordsstill breathe the spirit of Germany's classic humanism, the spirit of Kant,Goethe, and especially Schiller; and this humanitarian heritage,popularized by Schiller's plays and poems, has been the choicestspiritual heritage of the German people. But here we are not studyingthose sentiments which lived in the soul of the Germans for a century,but the genesis of their destruction.Around the divine image of Napoleon, Georg Wilhelm Hegel, aNapoleon of the mind, created a philosophical religion of the state,which became the highest revelation of the 'world spirit.' This worldspirit is a true child of the German political fantasy. Its meaning is thatall worldly happenings are governed by a rational necessity and not byblind compulsion. The world spirit is revealed either through a difficult,highly ingenious thought process (dialectics), or by deeds; toaccomplish such deeds is the task of the great men in history, the'business agents of the world spirit.' The great historic individuals,Hegel taught, do pursue their selfish purposes in history, but it is theirspecial nature that their 'private purposes contain the substantial, whichis the will of the world spirit. . . . The others follow these leaders of theirsouls, for in them they feel the irresistible power of their own inwardspirit.'Thus German philosophy began to honor historic greatness as a thingin itself, without inquiring whom this greatness might injure. But thehero cult was not the sole product of Napoleon's mighty impression onHegel. Hegel's contradictory experience with the great foreigner led himto kneel before the hard reality of all history, to an obedient affirmationof everything that was real. Hence his famous saying: 'What is rationalis real and what is real is rational.' The 'rational' is the same as what heelsewhere calls 'idea' or 'world spirit.' A great, universal principle ofreason underlies the entire world, governing all events, because it is in-