Misplaced Pages

#779220

97-694: Dietrich Eckart ( German: [ˈɛkaʁt] ; 23 March 1868 – 26 December 1923) was a German völkisch poet, playwright, journalist, publicist, and political activist who was one of the founders of the German Workers' Party , the precursor of the Nazi Party . Eckart was a key influence on Adolf Hitler in the early years of the Party, the original publisher of the party newspaper, the Völkischer Beobachter ("Folkist Observer"), and

194-401: A Dietrich-Eckart-Foundation but also the restoration of the room where Eckart had been imprisoned. In addition, a street was dedicated to Eckart. Eckart has been called the spiritual father of Nazism, and indeed Hitler acknowledged him as being its spiritual co-founder. Eckart viewed World War I not as a holy war between Germans and non-Germans, as it was sometime interpreted toward the end of

291-419: A Messiah complex and Neroism" after Hitler had compared himself to Jesus throwing the money-changers out of the temple. Motivated by his temporary annoyance at Eckart, and by Eckart's impracticality in operational matters, Hitler began attempting to run the party without Eckart's assistance, and when forced to use Eckart again as a political operative, the results were disappointing. Hitler began to see Eckart as

388-482: A considerable amount of money that Eckart soon spent. Eckart initially studied law at Erlangen , later medicine at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich , and was an eager member of the fencing and drinking Student Korps . He decided in 1891 to become a poet, playwright, and journalist. Diagnosed with morphine addiction and nearly stranded, he moved to Berlin in 1899. There he wrote

485-633: A copy of the play he presented to him shortly after Hitler became the Nazi Party Fuhrer—that "[Gynt's] idea of becoming the king of the world should not be taken literally as the 'Will to Power'. Hidden behind this is a spiritual belief that he will ultimately be pardoned for all his sins." He counseled Hitler that in his quest to be the "German Messiah" his ends justified the means he used, so he need not be concerned about employing violence or other transgressions of societal norms because, like Gynt, he would be forgiven for his sins. In his introduction to

582-432: A hero who challenges the trollish, i.e. Jewish, world. His transgressions are therefore noble, and Gynt returns to reclaim the innocence of his youth. This conception of the character was influenced by Eckart's hero, Otto Weininger, who led him to see Gynt as an antisemitic genius. In this racial allegory, the trolls and Dovregubben ("Dovre Giant") represent Weininger's concept of "Jewishness". Eckart later wrote to Hitler—in

679-409: A large hook and baits it with the ox head, which Jörmungandr bites. Thor pulls the serpent from the water, and the two face one another, Jörmungandr blowing atter . Hymir goes pale with fear. As Thor grabs his hammer to kill the serpent, the giant cuts the line, leaving the serpent to sink beneath the waves and return to its original position encircling the earth. The Eddic poem Hymiskviða has

776-690: A number of plays, often autobiographical, and became the protégé of Count Georg von Hülsen-Haeseler (1858–1922), the artistic director of the Prussian Royal Theatre. After a duel, Eckart was incarcerated at the Passau Oberhaus . As a playwright Eckart had success with his 1912 adaptation of Henrik Ibsen 's Peer Gynt , which played for more than 600 performances in Berlin alone. Although Eckart never had another theatrical success like Peer Gynt , and blamed his numerous failures on

873-592: A paganism or anti-Christian religion, Eckart held that, in Germany's postwar tailspin, Christ was a leader to be emulated." But historian Ernst Piper dismissed Steigmann-Gall's views about a relationship between the admiration of Christ by early members of the NSDAP and a positive relationship with Christianity; Eckart fervently opposed the political Catholicism of the Bavarian People's Party and its national ally

970-574: A parallel between Jörmungandr's biting of its own tail and the binding of Fenrir , as part of a recurring theme of the bound monster in Norse mythology, where an enemy of the gods is bound but destined to break free at Ragnarök. Asteroid 471926 Jörmungandr was named after the mythological sea serpent. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 25 September 2018 ( M.P.C. 111804 ). Jörmungandr has made

1067-472: A poem extolling the virtues and beauty of a Jewish girl. Before his conversion to antisemitism, the two people he admired most were the poet Heinrich Heine and Otto Weininger, who were both Jews. Weininger, however, had converted to Protestantism, and has been described as a " self-hating Jew " eventually espousing antisemitic views. Eckart's admiration for Weininger may have played a part in his conversion. In December 1918, Eckart founded, published and edited

SECTION 10

#1732772890780

1164-405: A political liability due to his disorganization and his increased drinking. Hitler, however, did not discard or sideline him, as he had with other early comrades who had stood in his way. He stayed close to Eckart intellectually and emotionally, and continued to visit him in the mountains. The relationship between the two men was not simply a political one. On 9 November 1923, Eckart participated in

1261-509: A race apart, by the time the two met, Hitler's goal was "the total removal of the Jews", and Eckart had expressed the opinion that all Jews should be put on a train and driven into the Red Sea. He also espoused that any Jew who married a German woman should be jailed for three years, and executed if he repeated the crime. Paradoxically, Eckart also believed that the existence of humanity depended on

1358-441: A reliable indicator of [Eckart's] own views." Steigmann-Gall quotes from the book: In Christ, the embodiment of all manliness, we find all that we need. And if we occasionally speak of Baldur (a god in Norse mythology), our words always contain some joy, some satisfaction, that our pagan ancestors were already so Christian as to have an indication of Christ in this ideal figure. Steigmann-Gall concluded that, "far from advocating

1455-606: A result of the Great Depression and the economic effects of the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. Under Eckart's tutelage Hitler first began to think of himself as that person, a superior being. Because it was generally believed that geniuses were born and not made, he could not present himself as having been mentored by Eckart and others. Thus in Mein Kampf , Hitler did not mention Eckart or Karl Mayr, or

1552-765: A similar ending to the story, but in earlier Scandinavian versions of the myth in skaldic poetry , Thor successfully captures and kills the serpent by striking it on the head. Thor's fishing for Jörmungandr was one of the most popular motifs in Norse art . Four picture stones that are believed to depict the myth are the Altuna Runestone and the Ardre VIII image stone in Sweden, the Hørdum stone in Denmark, and

1649-580: A spear to fish. The image on this stone has been dated to the 8th to 10th century. If the stone is correctly interpreted as a depiction of this myth, it would indicate that the story was preserved essentially unchanged for several centuries prior to the recording of the version in the Prose Edda around the year 1220. As recounted in Snorri's Gylfaginning based on the Eddic poem Völuspá , one sign of

1746-534: A stone slab at Gosforth, Cumbria by the same sculptor as the Gosforth Cross . Many of these depictions show the giant cutting the fishing line; on the Altuna stone, Thor is alone, implying he successfully killed the serpent. The Ardre VIII stone may depict more than one stage in the events: a man entering a house where an ox is standing, two men leaving, one with something on his shoulder, and two men using

1843-547: A success: Hitler, who wore a false beard, was afraid of heights and got airsick on the way –it was his first airplane flight– and when they arrived in Berlin, the putsch was already collapsing. Nor did they create a positive impression with the Berliners: Captain Waldemar Pabst is said to have told them "The way you look and talk –people are going to laugh at you." Eckart introduced Hitler to wealthy potential donors connected to

1940-473: A touch of genius", and "a tall, bald, burly eccentric who spent much of his time in cafes and beer halls giving equal attention to drink and talk." He was "a born romantic revolutionary ... a master of coffeehouse polemics. A sentimental cynic, a sincere charlatan, constantly on stage, lecturing brilliantly if given the slightest opportunity be it at his own apartment, on the street or in a café." Bibliography German Workers%27 Party On 5 January 1919,

2037-474: A trip to Zurich, Switzerland to see Alfred Schwarzenbach , a rich entrepreneur in the silk industry. The trip was arranged by Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess , who used family connections. While no detailed records of the meeting survive, a repeat visit –with Hitler along as well– was made the following year. This trip was not successful. Hitler made a speech to German expatriates, right-wing Swiss officers, and several dozen Swiss businessmen, but it, and

SECTION 20

#1732772890780

2134-755: A true account. After living in Berlin for many years, Eckart moved to Munich in 1913, the same year that Hitler moved there from Vienna . In January 1919, he, Feder , Anton Drexler and Karl Harrer founded the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei ( German Workers' Party , or DAP). In order to increase its appeal to larger segments of the population, in February 1920 it changed its name to the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers' Party, or NSDAP); more commonly known as

2231-441: A visitor, Professor Adalbert Baumann , who questioned the soundness of Gottfried Feder 's arguments in support of Bavarian separatism and against capitalism . In vehemently attacking the man's arguments, he made an impression on the other party members with his oratory skills and, according to Hitler, Baumann left the hall acknowledging unequivocal defeat. Impressed with Hitler's oratory skills, Drexler encouraged him to join. On

2328-504: A week, Hitler received a postcard stating he had officially been accepted as a member and he should come to a committee meeting to discuss it. Hitler attended the committee meeting held at the run-down Altes Rosenbad beer-house. Normally, enlisted army personnel were not allowed to join political parties. In this case, Hitler had Captain Karl Mayr 's permission to join the DAP. Further, Hitler

2425-531: A woman, but Hitler was annoyed that Eckart didn't believe that a putsch launched in Munich could turn into a successful national revolution. "Munich is not Berlin," Eckart said, "It would lead to nothing but ultimate failure." Despite his own role in promoting Hitler as a genius and messiah, in May 1923 he complained to Ernst "Putzi" Hanfstaengl , another of Hitler's mentors, that Hitler had "megalomania halfway between

2522-481: Is where the last meeting between the serpent and Thor is predicted to occur. He will eventually kill Jörmungandr but will fall dead after walking nine paces, having been poisoned by the serpent's deadly venom. Thor's final battle with Jörmungandr has been identified, with other scenes of Ragnarök, on the Gosforth Cross. Thor's fishing for Jörmungandr has been taken as one of the similarities between him and

2619-556: The Prose Edda , Odin took Loki's three children by Angrboða – the wolf Fenrir , the goddess Hel , and the serpent Jörmungandr – and removed them from Asgard (the world of the Æsir ). The serpent Jörmungandr was tossed into the great ocean that encircles Midgard. There the serpent grew so large that he was able to surround the Earth and grasp his own tail. The old Norse thunder god, Thor , has an ongoing feud with Jörmungandr and

2716-547: The völkisch movement. They worked together to raise money for the DAP in Munich, using Eckart's contacts, but did not have great success. In Berlin, however, where Eckart was better connected with the rich and powerful, they raised considerable funds, including from senior officials of the Pan-German League . Together, they made frequent trips to the capital. During one of them, Eckart introduced Hitler to his future etiquette tutor, socialite Helene Bechstein , and it

2813-646: The Centre Party , supporting instead a vaguely defined " positive Christianity ". From the pages of Vőlkischer Beobachter , Eckart tried to win over Bavarian Catholics to the Nazi's cause, but that attempt ended with the Beer Hall Putsch , which put Nazis at odds with Bavarian Catholics. Joseph Howard Tyson writes that Eckart's anti-Old Testament views show a strong resemblance to the early Christian heresy Marcionism . In 1935 Alfred Rosenberg published

2910-731: The Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg and a member of the Thule Society. Drexler's wish was for a political party which was both in touch with the masses and nationalist . When the DAP was founded in January 1919, Drexler was elected chairman and Harrer was made Reich Chairman, an honorary title. On 17 May, only ten members were present at the meeting, and a later meeting in August only noted 38 members attending. The members were mainly Drexler's colleagues from

3007-528: The Nazi Party . Eckart was largely responsible for the party buying the Münchener Beobachter in December 1920, when he arranged for the loan which paid for it. The 60,000 Marks came from German Army funds available to General Franz Ritter von Epp , and the loan was secured with Eckart's house and possessions as collateral, with Dr. Gottfried Grandel, an Augsburg chemist and factory owner who

Dietrich Eckart - Misplaced Pages Continue

3104-628: The Social Democrats and Jews were to blame for Germany's defeat in the war. Eckart's antisemitism was influenced by the publication The Protocols of the Elders of Zion , which had been brought to Germany by "white Russian" emigrés fleeing the October Revolution . The book purported to outline the international Jewish conspiracy for control of the world, and many right-wing and völkisch political figures believed it to be

3201-612: The Thule Society ), convinced Drexler and several others to form the Politischer Arbeiterzirkel (Political Workers' Circle). The members met periodically for discussions with themes of nationalism and antisemitism . Drexler was encouraged to form the DAP in December 1918 by his mentor, Dr. Paul Tafel. Tafel was a leader of the Alldeutscher Verband ( Pan-Germanist Union), a director of

3298-780: The Waldbühne (Forest Stage), the "Dietrich-Eckart-Bühne" when it was opened for the 1936 Summer Olympics . The 5th Standarte (regiment) of the SS-Totenkopfverbände was given the honour-title Dietrich Eckart . In 1937 the Realprogymnasium in Emmendingen was expanded and renamed the "Dietrich-Eckart secondary school for boys". Several new roads were named after Eckart. All of these have since been renamed. Eckart's birthplace in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz

3395-571: The Bolshevik regime." He felt strongly that Germany should support the Russian people in their struggle against the "current Jewish regime", by which he meant the Bolsheviks. Rosenberg also counseled Hitler along these lines, with the two men providing Hitler with the intellectual basis for his Eastern policy, which was then made practical by Max Erwin von Scheubner-Richter . In March 1920, at

3492-513: The DAP on 16 October at the Hofbräukeller , Hitler quickly became the party's most active orator. Hitler's considerable oratory and propaganda skills were appreciated by the party leadership as crowds began to flock to hear his speeches during 1919–1920. Such was the popularity of Hitler's speaking skills, the party began charging an entry fee for visitors to hear his speeches. With the support of Drexler, Hitler became chief of propaganda for

3589-657: The German National Socialist Workers' Party), although Hitler earlier suggested the party to be renamed the Social Revolutionary Party in order to distance the party from association with socialism. It was Rudolf Jung who persuaded Hitler to adopt the NSDAP name. The name was intended to draw upon both left-wing and right-wing ideals, with "Socialist" and "Workers'" appealing to the left, and "National" and "German" appealing to

3686-595: The German Workers' Party (DAP) was founded in Munich in the hotel Fürstenfelder Hof by Anton Drexler , along with Dietrich Eckart , Gottfried Feder and Karl Harrer . It developed out of the Freien Arbeiterausschuss für einen guten Frieden (Free Workers' Committee for a Good Peace) league, a branch of which Drexler had founded in 1918. Thereafter in 1918, Harrer (a journalist and member of

3783-520: The Hindu god Indra , who in Vedic mythology slays the dragon Vritra , and has also been related to a Balto-Slavic motif of the storm god combatting a serpent. An alternative analysis of the episode by Preben Meulengracht Sørensen is that it was a youthful indiscretion on the part of Thor, retold to emphasize the order and balance of the cosmos, in which Jörmungandr played a vital role. John Lindow draws

3880-467: The Munich railway yards. After World War I ended, Adolf Hitler returned to Munich. Having no formal education or career prospects, he tried to remain in the army for as long as possible. In July 1919, he was appointed Verbindungsmann (intelligence agent) of an Aufklärungskommando (reconnaissance commando) of the Reichswehr to influence other soldiers and to investigate the DAP. While Hitler

3977-626: The Pension Moritz in Obersalzberg , and stayed with him for a few days as "Herr Wolf". It was Hitler's introduction to the area where he would later build his mountain retreat, the Berghof . Hitler had recently replaced Eckart as the publisher of Völkischer Beobachter with Alfred Rosenberg, although he softened the blow by making it clear that he still regarded Eckart highly. "His accomplishments are everlasting!" Hitler said, he just

Dietrich Eckart - Misplaced Pages Continue

4074-652: The antisemitic weekly Auf gut Deutsch ("In plain German") —with financial support from the Thule Society —working with Alfred Rosenberg , whom he called his "co-warrior against Jerusalem", and Gottfried Feder . A fierce critic of the German Revolution and the Weimar Republic , he vehemently opposed the Treaty of Versailles , which he viewed as treason, and was a proponent of the so-called stab-in-the-back legend ( Dolchstoßlegende ), according to which

4171-572: The antithesis between Aryans and Jews, that one could not exist without the other. In 1919, Eckart had written that it would be "the end of all times ... if the Jewish people perished." Eckart provided Hitler with entré into the Munich arts scene. He introduced Hitler to the painter Max Zaeper and his salon of like-minded antisemitic artists, and to the photographer Heinrich Hoffmann . It was Eckart who introduced Alfred Rosenberg to Hitler. Between 1920 and 1923, Eckart and Rosenberg labored tirelessly in

4268-446: The appearance of a walrus." Eckart was described by journalist Edgar Ansel Mowrer as "a strange drunken genius". His antisemitism supposedly arose from various esoteric schools of mysticism , and he spent hours with Hitler discussing art and the place of the Jews in world history. Samuel W. Mitcham calls Eckart an "eccentric intellectual" and "extreme antisemite" who was also a "man of the world" who liked "wine, women, and pleasures of

4365-534: The behest of Karl Mayr –the German General Staff officer who had first introduced Hitler to politics– Hitler and Eckart flew to Berlin to meet Wolfgang Kapp and take part in the Kapp Putsch , as well as to forge a connection between Kapp's forces and Mayr. Kapp and Eckart knew each other - Kapp had donated 1,000 Marks in support of Eckart's weekly magazine. However, the trip was not

4462-482: The book Dietrich Eckart. Ein Vermächtnis ("Dietrich Eckart. A Legacy") with collected writings by Eckart, including this passage: To be a genius means to use the soul, to strive for the divine, to escape from the mean; and even if this cannot be totally achieved, there will be no space for the opposite of good. It does not prevent the genius to portray also the wretchedness of being in all shapes and colors, being

4559-410: The cat only high enough for one of its paws to leave the floor. Útgarða-Loki later explains his deception and that Thor's lifting the cat was an impressive deed, as he had stretched the serpent so that it had almost reached the sky. Many watching became fearful when they saw one paw lift off the ground. If Thor had managed to lift the cat completely from the ground, he would have altered the boundaries of

4656-421: The coming of Ragnarök is the violent unrest of the sea as Jörmungandr releases its tail from its mouth. The sea will flood and the serpent will thrash onto the land. It will advance, spraying poison to fill the air and water, beside Fenrir , whose eyes and nostrils blaze with fire and whose gape touches the earth and the sky. They will join the sons of Muspell to confront the gods on the plain of Vigrid . Here

4753-507: The conflict, but as a holy war between Aryans and Jews, who, according to him, plotted the fall of the Russian and German empires. To describe this apocalyptic struggle, Eckart adopted extensive imagery from the legends of Ragnarok and from the Book of Revelation . In 1925, Eckart's unfinished essay Der Bolschewismus von Moses bis Lenin: Zwiegespräch zwischen Hitler und mir (" Bolshevism from Moses to Lenin : Dialogue Between Hitler and Me")

4850-457: The early National Socialist movement." Eckart was born on 23 March 1868 in Neumarkt , about 32 kilometres (20 mi) southeast of Nuremberg in the Kingdom of Bavaria , the son of Christian Eckart, a royal notary and lawyer, and his wife Anna, a devout Catholic . Eckart's mother died when he was ten years old and he was expelled from several schools. In 1895, his father died, leaving him

4947-523: The failed Beer Hall Putsch . He was arrested and placed in Landsberg Prison along with Hitler and other party officials, but was released shortly thereafter due to illness. He then went to Berchtesgaden to recuperate. Eckart promoted Hitler as Germany's coming savior. Eckart's hero, Otto Weininger, had formulated a dichotomy in which genius and Jews were opposed. Genius, in Weininger's view,

SECTION 50

#1732772890780

5044-519: The false revolution of 1918 . Although the need to present himself as a self-made man prevented him from publicly writing or speaking about the debt he owed to Eckart, in private Hitler acknowledged Eckart as having been his teacher and mentor, and the spiritual co-founder of Nazism. The two first met when Hitler gave a speech before the DAP membership in the winter of 1919. Hitler immediately impressed Eckart, who said of him "I felt myself attracted by his whole way of being, and very soon I realized that he

5141-455: The flesh." Alan Bullock describes Eckart as having "violent nationalist, anti-democratic, and anti-clerical opinions, a racist with an enthusiasm for Nordic folklore and a taste for Jew-baiting" who "talked well even when he was drunk" and "knew everyone in Munich." According to Richard J. Evans , Eckart, the "failed racist poet and dramatist" blamed his career's failure on Jewish domination of German culture, and defined as "Jewish" anything that

5238-497: The front during the First World War. The Hannover rabbi Samuel Freund named 20 Jewish families who met this condition and sued Eckart when he refused to pay the reward. During the trial, Freund named 50 more Jewish families with up to seven veterans, among whom were several which lost up to three sons in the war. Eckart lost the case and had to pay. Eckart was instrumental in creating the persona of Adolf Hitler as one of

5335-423: The future dictator's most important early mentors, and was one of the first propagators of the " Hitler Myth ". Their relationship was not simply a political one, as there was a strong emotional and intellectual bond between the two men, an almost symbiotic relationship. It was Eckart who gave to Hitler his philosophy of the necessity of overcoming "soulless Jewishness" as the basis for a true German revolution, unlike

5432-407: The great artist that he is; but he does this as an observer, not taking part, sine ira et studio, his heart remains pure. ... The ideal in this, just like in every respect whatsoever is Christ; his words "You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one" show the completely divine freedom from the influence of the senses, the overcoming of the earthly world even without art as an intermediary. At

5529-568: The influence of Jews in German culture, that one play not only made him wealthy, it gave him the social contacts that he later used to introduce Hitler to dozens of important German citizens. These introductions proved to be pivotal in Hitler's rise to power. Later on, Eckart developed an ideology of a "genius superman", based on writings by the Völkisch author Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels and by philosopher Otto Weininger . Eckart saw himself following

5626-415: The like (mainly in a "supernatural" or "living" sense). The term "Jörmungandr" therefore has several possible meanings in connection with its mythology, such as: "the vast serpent", "the vast river" (a synonym for the sea where he dwells), "the vast staff or stick" (a connection to the world tree Yggdrasil ), as well as "the vast bind" (the serpent's coiling around the world, biting its own tail, symbolising

5723-444: The lyricist of the first party anthem, " Sturmlied " ("Storming Song"). He was a participant in the failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 and died on 26 December of that year, shortly after his release from Landsberg Prison , of a heart attack. Eckart was elevated to the status of a major thinker upon the establishment of Nazi Germany in 1933. He was acknowledged by Hitler to be the spiritual co-founder of Nazism and "a guiding light of

5820-611: The next day's private meeting, was a fiasco. Hitler blamed Eckart's lack of social graces for the failure of the trip. After publishing a slanderous poem about Friedrich Ebert , the President of Germany at the time, Eckart ducked an arrest warrant by escaping in early 1923 to the Bavarian Alps near Berchtesgaden , close to the German-Austrian border, under the name "Dr. Hoffman". In April, Hitler visited him there at

5917-511: The number 555. In reality, he had been the 55th member, but the counting started at the number 501 in order to make the party appear larger. In his work Mein Kampf , Hitler later claimed to be the seventh party member, but he was in fact the seventh executive member of the party's central committee. During 1919, the DAP set out an explicit program of being nationalistic, anti-Semitic, and anti-Marxist. Unlike other similar nationalist parties at

SECTION 60

#1732772890780

6014-407: The orders of his army superiors, Hitler applied to join the party. Although Hitler initially wanted to form his own party, he claimed to have been convinced to join the DAP because it was small and he could eventually become its leader. He consequently encouraged the organisation to become less of a debating society, which it had been previously, and more of an active political party. In less than

6111-465: The other end you find Heine and his race ... all they do culminates in ... the motive, in subjugating the world, and the less this works, the more hate-filled their work becomes that is to satisfy their motive, the more deceitful and fallacious every try to reach the goal. No trace of true genius, the very opposite of the manliness of genius ... Early Nazi adherent Ernst Hanfstaengl remembered Eckart as "a perfect example of an old-fashioned Bavarian with

6208-547: The others who had been instrumental in creating what the world was now meant to see as the natural genius, Adolf Hitler, the German Messiah. Shortly after the Party purchase of the Völkischer Beobachter in December 1920, and Eckart's installation as editor, with Rosenberg as his assistant, the two men had begun to use the newspaper as a vehicle to disseminate this " Hitler Myth ", the notion that Hitler

6305-623: The party in early 1920. Hitler preferred that role as he saw himself as the drummer for a national cause. He saw propaganda as the way to bring nationalism to the public. The small number of party members were quickly won over to Hitler's political beliefs . He organized their biggest meeting yet of 2,000 people on 24 February 1920 in the Staatliches Hofbräuhaus in München (a beer hall in Munich). Further in an attempt to make

6402-421: The party more broadly appealing to larger segments of the population, the DAP was renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) on 24 February. Such was the significance of Hitler's particular move in publicity that Harrer resigned from the party in disagreement. The new name was borrowed from a different Austrian party active at the time (the Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei , i.e.

6499-399: The party's dictator, its "Fuhrer". The committee agreed, and he rejoined the party on 26 July 1921. Eckart would also advise Hitler about the people who had gathered around him and the Party, such as the virulently antisemitic Julius Streicher , the publisher of the quasi-pornographic Der Stürmer . Hitler was repelled by pornography and disapproved of Streicher's sexual activities; he also

6596-432: The people will raise [Hitler] up as their leader, and give him their allegiance through thick and thin." Eckart died in Berchtesgaden on 26 December 1923 of a heart attack. He was buried in Berchtesgaden's old cemetery, not far from the eventual graves of Nazi Party official Hans Lammers and his wife and daughter. Although Hitler did not mention Eckart in the first volume of Mein Kampf , after Eckart's death he dedicated

6693-418: The play became "a powerful dramatisation of nationalist and antisemitic ideas", in which Gynt represents the superior Germanic hero, struggling against implicitly Jewish "trolls". In Ibsen's original play, Peer Gynt leaves Norway to become the "king of the world", but through his selfish and deceptive actions his body and soul are ruined, and he returns to his native village in shame. Eckart, however, sees Gynt as

6790-480: The play, Eckart wrote "[It is by] German nature, which means, in the broader sense, the capability of self-sacrifice itself, that the world will heal, and find its way back to the pure divine, but only after a bloody war of annihilation against the united army of the 'trolls'; in other words, against the Midgard Serpent encircling the earth, the reptilian incarnation of the lie." Eckart was not always an antisemite . In 1898, for instance, Eckart wrote and had published

6887-469: The resignation of their leading public figure and speaker would mean the end of the party, so Eckart –who had lobbied the committee not to lose Hitler– was asked by the Party leadership to talk with Hitler and relay the conditions in which Hitler would agree to return to the Party. Hitler announced he would rejoin on the conditions that the party headquarters would remain in Munich, and that he would replace Anton Drexler as party chairman and become

6984-548: The right. Early members of the party included: Informational notes Citations Bibliography Midgard Serpent In Norse mythology , Jörmungandr ( Old Norse : Jǫrmungandr , lit.   'the Vast 'gand'', see Etymology ), also known as the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent ( Old Norse : Miðgarðsormr ), is an unfathomably large and monstrous sea serpent or worm who dwells in

7081-459: The role, Eckart –along with Gottfried Feder – was considered to be the Nazi Party's "philosopher." The more confidence that Hitler felt in himself, to a large extent due to Eckart's mentoring, the less that he needed Eckart as a mentor, which resulted in the relationship cooling off. In November 1922, Eckart and the party's chief fund-raiser outside of Germany, Emil Gansser, made

7178-478: The second volume to him, writing that Eckart was "one of the best, who devoted his life to the awakening of our people, in his writings and his thoughts and finally in his deeds." In private, he would admit Eckart's role as his mentor and teacher, and said of him in 1942: "We have all moved forward since then, that's why we don't see what [Eckart] used to be back then: a polar star. The writings of all others were filled with platitudes, but if he told you off: such wit! I

7275-411: The service of Hitler and the party. Through Rosenberg, Hitler was introduced to the writings of Houston Stewart Chamberlain , Rosenberg's inspiration. Both Rosenberg and Eckart were influential with Hitler on the subject of Russia. Eckart saw Russia as Germany's natural ally, writing in 1919 that "German politics hardly has another choice than to enter an alliance with a new Russia after the elimination of

7372-495: The story of Thor fishing for Jörmungandr. There are three preserved myths detailing Thor's encounters with Jörmungandr: In one story, Thor encounters the giant king Útgarða-Loki and has to perform deeds for him, one of which is a challenge of Thor's strength. Útgarða-Loki goads Thor into attempting to lift the World Serpent, disguised by magic as a huge cat. Thor grabs the cat around its midsection but manages to raise

7469-486: The time, the DAP aimed its rhetoric towards working class Germans, hoping to cross class boundaries and recruit them. However, Hitler explicitly rejected the Marxist idea of dictatorship of the proletariat , and instead attempted to appeal to the working class to create a " volksgemeinshaft " (people's community), where German identity took precedence over class, religion, or other ideas. After giving his first speech for

7566-531: The tradition of Heinrich Heine , Arthur Schopenhauer and Angelus Silesius . He also became fascinated by the Buddhist doctrine of Maya , or illusion. From 1907 Eckart lived with his brother Wilhelm in the Döberitz mansion colony west of the Berlin city limits. In 1913 he married Rose Marx, an affluent widow from Bad Blankenburg , and returned to Munich . In Eckart's five-act version of Ibsen's piece,

7663-561: The two can be seen as archfoes . During Ragnarök , Thor and Jörmungandr will fight each other to the death. The name Jǫrmungandr is a poetic title and consists of the prefix jǫrmun- and the word gandr . The prefix "jǫrmun-" denotes something huge, vast, or superhuman. The word "gandr" can mean a variety of things in Old Norse, but mainly refers to elongated entities and or supernatural beings. Gandr can refer to, among other things: snake, fjord, river, staff, cane, mast, penis, bind, and

7760-403: The two when they clashed, telling Esser that Hitler, whom he esteemed as the DAP's best speaker, was the far superior man. He became Hitler's mentor, exchanging ideas with him and helping to establish theories and beliefs of the Party. He lent Hitler books to read, gave him a trench coat to wear, and made corrections to Hitler's style of speaking and writing. Hitler was to say later "Stylistically I

7857-404: The universe. Jörmungandr and Thor meet again when Thor goes fishing with the giant Hymir . When Hymir refuses to provide Thor with bait, Thor strikes the head off Hymir's largest ox to use it. They row to a point where Hymir often sat and caught flatfish and where he drew up two whales. Thor demands to go further out to sea and does so despite Hymir's protest. Thor then prepares a strong line and

7954-537: The world sea, encircling the Earth ( Midgard ) and biting its own tail, an example of an ouroboros . As a result of his surrounding Midgard (the Earth), the beast is referred to as the World Serpent. Jörmungandr releasing his tail is one of the signs of the beginning of Ragnarök (the final battle of the world). Jörmungandr is said to be the middle child of the trickster god Loki and the giantess Angrboða . According to

8051-493: The world's circle of life). The major sources for myths about Jörmungandr are the Prose Edda , the skaldic poem Húsdrápa , and the Eddic poems Hymiskviða and Völuspá . Other sources include the early skaldic poem Ragnarsdrápa and kennings in other skaldic poems; for example, in Þórsdrápa , faðir lögseims , "father of the sea-thread", is used as a kenning for Loki. There are also several image stones depicting

8148-476: Was Eckart's friend and a funder of the Party, as guarantor. The newspaper was renamed the Völkischer Beobachter and became the party's official organ, with Eckart as its first editor and publisher. He also created the Nazi slogan Deutschland erwache ("Germany awake"), and wrote the lyrics for the anthem based on it, the "Sturm-Lied". In 1921 Eckart promised 1,000 Marks to everyone who could cite one Jewish family whose sons had served longer than three weeks at

8245-489: Was a mere infant then in terms of style." Hitler later told one of his secretaries that his friendship with Eckart was "one of the best things he experienced in the 1920s" and that he never again had a friend with whom he felt such "a harmony of thinking and feeling." During the Nazi period, several monuments and memorials were created to Eckart. Hitler named the arena near the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, now known as

8342-710: Was a superior being, a genius who would be the divine German Messiah – the chosen one. The paper did not refer to Hitler as merely the leader of the Nazi Party; instead, he was "Germany's leader". Other newspapers in Bavaria began to call Hitler "the Bavarian Mussolini." This idea of Hitler's specialness began to spread, so that two years later, in November 1922, the Traunsteiner Wochenblatt newspaper would look ahead to when "the masses of

8439-430: Was allowed to stay in the army and receive his weekly pay of 20 gold marks. Unlike many other members of the organisation, this continued employment provided him with enough money to dedicate himself more fully to the DAP. At the time when Hitler joined the party, there were no membership numbers or cards. It was in January 1920 when a numeration was issued for the first time and listed in alphabetical order Hitler received

8536-402: Was distressed by the many intra-party fights that Streicher managed to start. According to Hitler, Eckart told him on multiple occasions "that Streicher was a schoolteacher, and a lunatic to boot, from many points of view. He always added that one could not hope for a triumph of National Socialism without giving one's support to a man like Streicher." For a time, before Alfred Rosenberg took over

8633-435: Was exactly the right man for our young movement." It is probably Nazi legend that Eckart said about Hitler on their first meeting "That's Germany's next great man –one day the whole world will talk about him." He was not a member of the Thule Society. Eckart, who was 21 years older than Hitler, became the father-figure to a group of younger volkisch men, including Hitler and Hermann Esser , and acted as mediator between

8730-478: Was initially unimpressed by the meetings and found them disorganised, he enjoyed the discussion that took place. During these investigations, Hitler became attracted to founder Anton Drexler's anti-Semitic, nationalist, anti-capitalist , and anti-Marxist ideas. While attending a party meeting at the Sterneckerbräu beer hall on 12 September 1919, Hitler became involved in a heated political argument with

8827-425: Was not constitutionally able to run a big business like a daily newspaper. "I would not be able to do it, either," according to Hitler, "I have been fortunate that I got a few people who know how to do it. ... It would be as if I tried to run a farm! I wouldn't be able to do it." Nevertheless, tensions between Hitler and Eckart began to appear. Not only were there personal disagreements about the behavior of each towards

8924-467: Was officially renamed with the added suffix "Dietrich-Eckart-Stadt". In 1934, Adolf Hitler inaugurated a monument in his honour in the city park. It has since been rededicated to Christopher of Bavaria (1416–1448), King of Denmark, who was probably born in the town. In March 1938, when Passau commemorated Eckart's 70th birthday at Oberhaus Castle, the Lord Mayor announced not only the creation of

9021-425: Was published posthumously. Margarete Plewnia considered the dialogue between Eckart and Hitler to be an invention by Eckart himself, but Ernst Nolte , Friedrich Heer and Klaus Scholder think that the book – which was completed and published posthumously by Rosenberg, allegedly using Eckart's notes – reflects Hitler's own words. Thus historian Richard Steigmann-Gall believed that "[the] book still remains

9118-472: Was still an infant." Eckart also schooled the provincial Hitler in proper manners, and regarded Hitler as his protégé . Hitler and Eckart had many things in common, including their interest in art and politics, that both thought of themselves primarily as artists, and both were prone to depression. They also shared that their early influences were Jewish, a fact which both preferred not to speak about. Although, unlike Hitler, Eckart did not believe that Jews were

9215-456: Was subversive or materialistic. Joachim C. Fest describes Eckart as a "roughhewn and comical figure, with [a] thick round head, [and a] partiality for good wine and crude talk" with a "bluff and uncomplicated manner". His revolutionary goals were to promote "true socialism" and rid the country of "interest slavery". According to Thomas Weber , Eckart had a "jovial but moody nature", while John Toland describes him as "an original raffish man with

9312-428: Was the epitome of masculinity and non-materialism, while Jews were femininity in its purest form. Eckart took upon himself this philosophy, and considered that the role of genius was to rid the world of the baleful influence of Jews. Many parts of German society held similar views, and were looking for a savior, a "German Messiah", a genius to lead them out of the economic and political morass the country had fallen into as

9409-413: Was through her that Hitler began to move among the upper class of Berlin. In June 1921, while Hitler and Eckart were on a fundraising trip to Berlin, a mutiny broke out within the Nazi Party in Munich. Members of its executive committee wanted to merge with the rival German Socialist Party (DSP). Hitler returned to Munich on 11 July and angrily tendered his resignation. The committee members realised that

#779220