An offering of Nietzschean philosophy to the soldiers of the Third Reich
Commissioned by the Third Reich, Sword of the Spirit, is a collection of aphorisms by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The sole purpose of this collection served as an offering to Wehrmacht soldiers on the front lines during WWII. Original copies of Sword of the Spirit, those that most likely never left the Fatherland, can still be found scattered across Germany in homes and antique book-stores. The copies that went to the front were likely riddled with bullets, obliterated by bombs or burned by the soldiers themselves for warmth in the freezing conditions of the Russian front.
The Wehrmacht soldiers who probably knew little of Nietzsche, Sword of the Spirit served as a firm stepping stone to grasp Nietzsche’s philosophy, while reminding them that Nietzsche made
it perfectly clear how he felt about the necessity of war, the sickness of liberalism and democracy, and not least the morality and values of the herd.
Throughout his life, Nietzsche waged philosophical warfare against the “slave morality” rooted in man’s long-standing desire to quell the many forms of life’s inescapable pain and suffering by means of religion, alcohol and submission to the herd, which he personified via his last man. He thereby created the Superman, born from “master morality,” able to take life’s struggles, pain and suffering and cultivate something valuable, beautiful and timeless from it. The purpose was to turn the drafted soldier, confronted by the horrors of war, into a warrior who would fight with reverence to the full spectrum of life and embrace their life, and even their death, in battle with a whole heart.
Author: Friedrich Nietzsche
Pages: 144
Binding: Softcover
Language: English
Fredrik (verifierad ägare) –
Egentligen kan man läsa Nietzsches egna verk för att tillgodogöra sig de filosofiska tankarna i den här boken. Men värdet med denna bok är förutom en genväg till viktiga Nietzschetankar framför allt hur den visar krigsmaktens syn på sina soldater och på samhället de ville försvara, hur soldaterna kunde stärkas med goda ideologiska ansatser, och hur soldaterna själva med boken kunde få hjälp att så långt möjligt behålla ett gott dagligt sinnelag i en kamp mot hela resten av den storbanksfinansierade världen.
Man slås också lätt av tanken vilken skillnad det var på unga människor förr och idag. Bildningsnivån var skyhög då, i jämförelse. Självklart var det nog många soldater som hade svårt att ta till sig det som står, eller inte brydde sig om det. Men man kan ju jämföra med militärvanmakten i dagens Sverige där rekryterna istället får Handbok Genus som ”stöd”. Degenereringen har blivit total och absolut.