Nietzsche: Fascist or Freedom Fighter? Part II

With the racial theory misconceptions dealt with in Part I of this series, we can now ask the question; what of the ‘philosophy of power’ itself? Could not the pursuit of power have awakened Hitler to a world of manipulation? Unfortunately the answer is yes, but with an objection—namely, that the philosophy of power was meant for every man capable of it, regardless of, race or religion. With that said, this article will delve deeper into the puzzle that is National Socialism when pit against Nietzsche’s life affirming philosophy.

“A great potentate might arise, an artful prodigy, who with approval and disapproval could strain and constrain all the past, until it became for him a bridge, a harbinger, a herald, and a cock-crowing.”(Thus Spake Zarathustra 141)

From the quote above, it can be derived that Nietzsche foresaw the coming of National Socialism and a “potentate” like Hitler. Perhaps this is through his early association with Wagner, Hitler’s favorite composer. Whatever the case, Nietzsche offers this premonition as a warning, not as something he inherently supports. Nietzsche’s goal was to free mankind of the valueless basis within Pauline Christianity. He saw the work of Paul, as an attack from the Pharisees and as a sublime vengeance for the Jewish people. Judaism itself is good in many aspects when following Nietzsche’s philosophy. However, Christianity in its German form was a great mistake, a curse from the very Jews that the Germans were fearful. In Beyond Good and Evil and Genealogy of Morals, Nietzsche traces the roots of Pauline Christianity to a sublime curse from the oppressed Jews, not as the “crucifiers of Jesus” like the Germans believed. Rather, the Jews to Nietzsche were an incredibly intelligent people who produced Jesus a great deceiver (it should be noted, that Nietzsche recognized these traits of Judaism sixty years prior to the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Gnostic and Dead Sea Scrolls which prove them).
Nietzsche points out this hypocrisy in German theology of anti-Semitic behavior as stupid and arrogant. German Protestantism was created by Luther, who by simply wishing to free himself of the Catholic Church attempted to free others through a new theology built on textual exegesis. By arrogantly using the very Catholic bible of the Catholic Church he detested, he created a religion that just fueled the Pauline curse more. For these reasons, German Protestantism became an equally violent and self-destructive religion as the Catholic variety of Pauline Christianity. Thus, Hitler acting more as an Agent of Chaos than as a statesman, was able to rationalize to himself as a politician of a land filled with Pauline Christians who already possessed an anti-Semitic bent. Why was the Holocaust possible? He perverted the power philosophy of Nietzsche, while spreading an active nihilism throughout all of Europe, capitalizing on the spurious race philosophy and pre-existing theological hatred for Judaism.