Himmler adopted his ideals of racial purity and Nordicism from various sources, over almost a decade. Beginning in the early to mid 1920's, he often read literature which covered such themes - like the race theoretician Hans F.K. Günther's "Ritter, Tod und Teufel" and works of H.S. Chamberlain - though usually in fiction. Also his anti-semitism which had its roots already before Himmler's NSDAP days, evolved simultaneously.Grisu wrote:mty,
you write about the "ideals of Himmler and Darré", which left me wondering whether it is possible to say what intellectual impact Himmler had as a theoretician. Was he a genuine, independent, self-contained leading thinker who came up with his own ideas, hypothesis and conclusions? Or was he more like someone amalgamating pre-existing views (which would also require some intellectual capacities, I would assume)? As you seem to be knowledgeable in this area, it would be great if you could briefly comment on this (or hint at a book/article/thread on the issue). Thank you.
When he was appointed Reichsführer-SS in early 1929, he first set up to strengthen his tiny organization and the initial recruiting standards laid out had not that much to do with specific racial than with physical and loyalty requirements. When the SS began to grow larger (ca. 1931-1932), the racial viewpoints started to take more and more of his time and devotion and they were seen as both necessary and handy way to moderate the growth and steer it towards the wanted direction. Darré and Himmler had much in common since both of them had a university degree in agronomy and held similar nationalist romantic views of Gerrman peasanthood as untainted redoubt of racial and spiritual purity. Darré took this viewpoint even further, emphasizing the signifigance of "Blut und Boden" thought. The racial selection criteria of the SS was a curious mixture of contemporary European scientific views combined with the Nordic myth and mysticism of pure blood. Thus, there was a clear criteria of acceptable set of values (dimensions of body and head, overall stature, eyes, facial profile, hair - but no single overriding decisive element) which candidates had to meet. According to Himmler, the applicants were then ranked to one of five possible categories: of them, only those grouped to first category (completely Nordic) could be accpeted straight away, decisions regarding those of categories II and III (IIRC, those with detectable Nordic traits but harmonous admixture of Alpic, Baltid or Dinaric blood) were left to Himmler. He then personally vetted the photos submitted by applicants and judged his suitability with bare eyes.
This describes well the interesting combination of unescapable physical measuring and arbitrary selection by instinct and feeling. Himmler didn't even try to conceal this - instead he boasted to be one of the best judges of Nordic manhood and, that determining who was Nordic enough and who wasn't could not be done only by relying on measuring and ancestral charts, it had more to do with screening the applicant thoroughly and observing his character and behaviour in every possible way. This might have had something to do with Himmler's failure to match up the strict anatomic/morphologic standards of Nordic race as defined by scholars.
My sources for Himmler's concepts are Peter Padfield's Himmler biography and more general studies of Allgemeine-SS. I haven't yet been able to get a decent book on RuSHA but such a book would certainly lit more light into this more obscure - but still central - aspect of the SS.
- Mikko
Slavs where usually considered sub-human by Nazi ideologues right? Not to mention the fact that the German forces invading the east persecuted citizens just for their Slavic ancestry. Where there any analogous groups to the Nazi party before and during the Second World War?
