[Diggers350] Examining Nazi Environmentalism - Himmler's Green Ubermensch?

Tony Gosling tony at cultureshop.org.uk
Thu Jul 13 01:28:28 BST 2023 


<https://facingtoday.facinghistory.org/examining-nazi-environmentalism-during-earth-week>Examining 
Nazi Environmentalism During Earth Week

Posted by 
<https://facingtoday.facinghistory.org/author/kaitlin-smith>Kaitlin 
Smith on April 25, 2019

NaziEnvironmentalism


As we celebrate Earth Week, it might seem obvious 
that ecological thinking and aims are always 
aligned with moral behavior and compassion. But 
that isn’t always the case, and it certainly 
wasn’t the case in Weimar and Nazi Germany where 
the field of modern ecology emerged.

Surprisingly, Nazi leadership ardently championed 
renewable energy, and institutionalized organic 
farming and land use planning on a level 
unmatched by any nation past or present. These 
environmental policies might seem like a welcome 
departure from the rest of the Nazi program, but 
their environmentalism was actually grounded in 
the same racist worldview that shaped the Holocaust.

Despite the racist underpinnings of Nazi 
environmentalism, the desire to live in better 
partnership with the planet and participate in 
contemporary environmental activism does not make 
one a Nazi. Exploring how to live well with one 
another and nonhuman life on this planet is, 
undoubtedly, a vital task of this generation. But 
this task demands that we understand the origins 
of our modern ecological science and some of the 
devastating ways that those ideas can be operationalized.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century in 
Germany, the volkisch movement emerged­a vision 
of social change that united profoundly racist 
and, specifically, antisemitic thinking with 
nature mysticism. As historian Peter Staudenmaier 
writes in “Fascist Ecology: The ‘Green Wing’ of 
the Nazi Party and its Historical Antecedents,” 
“[i]n the face of the very real dislocations 
brought on by the triumph of industrial 
capitalism and national unification, volkisch 
thinkers preached a return to the land, to the 
simplicity and wholeness of a life attuned to 
nature’s purity.” He explains that this movement 
“refused to locate the sources of alienation, 
rootlessness and environmental destruction in 
social structures, laying the blame instead to 
rationalism, cosmopolitanism, and urban 
civilization. The stand-in for all of these was 
the age-old object of peasant hatred and middle-class resentment: the Jews.”

In 1867, German zoologist Ernst Haeckel coined 
the term 
“<https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ecology>ecology” 
and began to develop it as a scientific 
discipline­one “concerned with the 
interrelationship of organisms and their 
environments.” He was also an avowed supporter of 
<https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/theory-classroom-eugenics-and-education>racial 
eugenics and was one of the primary proponents 
of<https://www.facinghistory.org/holocaust-and-human-behavior/chapter-2/breeding-societys-fittest> 
Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theories in the 
German-speaking world­theories used to legitimize 
the notion of nordic racial superiority as 
scientific fact rather than mere opinion. These 
ideals would have a significant impact on the 
thought and political aspirations of the leaders 
of 
the<https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/national-socialist-german-workers-party-platform> 
National Socialist German Workers Party, known in 
the English-speaking world as the Nazi Party. 
And, as Staudenmaier argues, the emergence of 
modern ecology was a key ingredient that helped 
to give the volkisch movement’s racism scientific 
credibility and, thus, scalability at the level of government.

<https://www.facinghistory.org/holocaust-and-human-behavior/chapter-8>Lebensraum­the 
plan for securing “living space” for the German 
people through conquest­became a primary 
justification for invading Poland and 
orchestrating mass violence against Jews and 
other groups of people. This horrifying program 
was bolstered by the 
<https://www.facinghistory.org/holocaust-and-human-behavior/chapter-2/breeding-societys-fittest>Darwinian 
notion that species must compete for dominance in 
a world of finite natural resources such as food. 
In keeping with this emphasis on maximizing space 
and optimizing Germans’ access to nourishment, 
the Nazis would also establish the first nature 
preserves in Europe and an unprecedented level of 
government support for ecologically sound farming 
methods. Though such activities might appear 
remarkably forward thinking when taken out of 
context, this ecological program was undertaken 
with the goal of dominating, displacing, and 
destroying millions of human beings. The Nazi 
Party’s environmentalism thus reveals the 
harrowing range of ends for which ecological 
ideas can be appropriated, and the political 
agendas that shaped the ecological science we still use today.

One of the most striking aspects of this history 
is the role that young, ecologically minded 
Germans played in the success of the Nazi Party. 
As Staudenmaier writes, the German youth movement 
in this period was the key cultural force that 
popularized volkisch ideas amongst the general 
public. The youth culture rejected civic 
engagement outright and embraced a communal, 
back-to-the-land lifestyle instead. They 
perceived the social and ecological challenges of 
the day as too great to be resolved through the 
political process. As Staudenmaier points out, 
however, this passive attitude predisposed them 
to fascist zealotry and the youth movement was 
“actively realigned” when many thousands of them 
later joined the Nazi Party. Staudenmaier 
suggests that this mass transition from political 
passivity to Nazism is unsurprising, however. The 
youth movement’s total rejection of the emerging 
social landscape did not accompany a willingness 
to examine it critically or transform it through 
the political process. And as a result, Nazi 
propaganda and promises of irrational “quick 
fixes” to social problems struck a deafening chord.

This story offers us a cautionary tale for the 
contemporary moment­a tale that speaks to the 
importance of forging learning environments for 
young people in which feelings of powerlessness 
and hopelessness about the state of society can 
be met with empathy; transformed through critical 
thinking and dialogue; and channeled through 
civic engagement. It is also a tale about the 
importance of examining the motivations of some 
parties calling for ecological sustainability 
today, as well as who is included in the sustainable worlds they envision.

We are confronted daily by social and ecological 
challenges that seem too immense to address. 
Whether we are exploring complex questions about 
the equitable distribution of resources, 
population density, or global migration­all on a 
warming planet; it is imperative that we navigate 
these conversations with empathy, critical 
thinking, and an awareness of the historical 
record. As we parse contemporary policy proposals 
and opinion, we must do so with an awareness of 
the horrifying applications of ecological 
thinking that can emerge when we are not 
vigilant. And as we consider how we can all 
continue to live on this planet together­in the 
face of challenges that may seem 
insurmountable­we must commit to engaging in 
dialogues grounded in a belief in the worth and 
dignity of all human communities.

Facing History and Ourselves invites educators to 
use our seminal case study, 
<https://www.facinghistory.org/holocaust-and-human-behavior>Holocaust 
and Human Behavior, and accompanying teaching 
resources including our lesson, 
<https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/teaching-holocaust-and-human-behavior/race-and-space>“Race 
and Space.”

Topics: 
<https://facingtoday.facinghistory.org/topic/holocaust>Holocaust, 
<https://facingtoday.facinghistory.org/topic/holocaust-and-human-behavior>Holocaust 
and Human Behavior
[]


Written by 
<https://facingtoday.facinghistory.org/author/kaitlin-smith>Kaitlin Smith
Kaitlin Smith is a Marketing and Communications 
Writer for Facing History and Ourselves.
At Facing History and Ourselves, we value 
conversation­in classrooms, in our professional 
development for educators, and online. When you 
comment on Facing Today, you're engaging with our 
worldwide community of learners, so please take 
care that your contributions are constructive, 
civil, and advance the conversation.


Pietra Diwan

25/04/2019, 17:46:54

I'm so glad to see an institution that advocates 
for learning bring topics such Nazism and 
environment to the classroom. This type of 
reflection only happens inside the academic where 
people discuss in circles and we didn't achieve 
the most important person the early learner that 
needs to know our past in order to shape actions 
properly for their own future. Wonderful work! I 
just hope there is more diverse topics... but I think is a matter of time.


Ken Hardie

15/06/2022, 23:24:31

Poinient that the bullying sanctimonious fascist 
and the bullying sanctimonious greens movement have a common genesis.
Being in denial doesn't change history but if we 
look at the common psychosis of the two movements 
we will have an understanding to prevent their ugliness repeating itself


Merritt Clifton

04/05/2019, 09:36:21

The first wave of thinkers influenced by the 
Industrial Revolution, and terrified by the 
changes it introduced, were the Teutonic 
Naturists, a German literary school including the 
botanist and statesmen Johann Wolfgang Goethe 
(1749-1832). The Teutonic Naturists were also 
known by a variety of other names before Anna 
Bramwell established that name among historical 
scholars in her 1990 volume Ecology In The 20th Century.

Best known in his own time for scientific and 
political accomplishments, Goethe is today best 
remembered as the author of Faust, the story of 
an alchemist who sold his soul to the devil for 
help in discovering the secrets of science.

imagesThe Teutonic Naturists, privileged as heirs 
of the pre-Industrial Revolution landed 
aristocracy, vigorously defended their hunting 
estates against encroachment and development by 
the fast-expanding entrepreneur class.

To themselves and others, the Teutonic Naturists 
promoted their defense of inherited privilege as a defense of nature itself.

Animals 24-7 has extensively explored the ongoing 
ramifications of Teutonic Naturism on the 
contemporary environmental movement, for example 
in a 4-part series beginning with 
https://www.animals24-7.org/2016/09/25/the-animal-issue-that-made-donald-trump-a-presidential-candidate/


matthew uhlig

02/12/2021, 18:34:04

well, i dont know where to start. maybe the 
obvious! nazi germany wasnt racist at all. they 
were antisemetic which is not the same. As for 
race, they actually had the most diverse army 
that ever existed to that time. Hiter respected 
all other races. THe history books twist what he 
did say about race. he said was a firm believer 
that you should take pride in your race wether 
you are german, british, african, or whatever, 
and of coarse he is german so thats why you hear 
such strong german talk. but there are karaans 
with swaztikas on them and well..... if you need 
references or proof i will be happy to provide. thank you



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