鎏钺

The Myths of Prussia's Impact in the Process of the Third Reich

Introduction

To describe the history of Prussia with a certain kind of music, Rock'n'Roll will definitely be the most suitable one. As a nation, her construction was a rather late one among all European countries. Yet once she announced her Dasein, immediately she became one of the forces not to be overlooked, leading to her comet-like rise and downfall.① 

       The dead nation left behind a string of conflicts for later generations to solve. From the formation of Deutsches Reich to the early age of the Great War, Prussian history and her virtues were seen through a 'rosy view'②; however, right after 1945, when the Nazi regime ended in fiasco along with its Fuehrer Adolf Hitler, Prussia had turned into the abettor of all crimes. Law No. 46 of the Allied Control Council published that 'The Prussian State, which from early days has been a bear of militarism and reaction in Germany,  has de facto ceased to exist.'③; in the speech to Parliament, Winston Churchill told the parliament that 'The core of Germany is Prussia' and 'There is the source of the recurring pestilence.'④ Till recent days, the topic on Prussia's 'sin' has still been mentioned from time to time. One article said that 'Prussia poisons us' in 2002, included in a series of articles with the title 'Should there be a Prussia?' (Darf Preussen sein?)⑤ There is no denying that Prussia had influenced Modern Germany in many aspects, but this nation was more than a few simplified and subjective descriptions, whose impact on Modern Germany has been rather profound and complicated. 

      This article serves several purposes. First, it lists out some of the common myths shared by the general public of Prussia's impact in the process of the Third Reich. Second, it focuses on the narration of Germans born and bred, so as to restore the certain period of time from 1933 to 1945 and to understand the Nazi regime from its own citizens. Third, this article summarizes a number of factors that can cause the nation-wide madness from the ruling of the Nazi regime, in order to warn younger generations. 

Militarism

Basically nowadays there are two widely accepted points of view on the issue of militarism. One is that Prussia had passed on her outdated habit of militarism to the Third Reich, the other is that militarism itself had been the 'anti-culture factor' to Prussia, thus it should not be counted into the essence of the Prussian culture, which suggests that the Third Reich came out of nowhere.⑥ 

      It has to be admitted that it is militarism that had made Prussia. Unlike her neighbouring countries, which were formatted gradually during the history of time, the Prussian Empire founded by the Hohenzollern Family in 1701 was merely a tool for sustaining the family's power. That is to say, this empire was a complete artificial product, in which her citizens lacked identification with each other as well as the piece of land underneath them. In 1795 Prussia and France came to an agreement which won Prussia two gigantic, Polish provinces. Also, thousands of French fled from their motherland during the French Revolution to Berlin, the result of which was that almost one-third of the contemporary Berlin population was French. The Prussian Empire thus was a nation that only lived for herself rather than her citizens, in some way similar to the US, but even less powerful than the latter, for the latter claims herself as the symbol of freedom and modernization. Prussia was not a must, and throughout her life she had to be dependent on militarism to compensate her loss as a normal nation.⑦ The nature of militarism in Prussia had been absolute rationality, otherwise this nation could be easily destroyed by any kind of ism. 

      After the foundation of Deutsches Reich, militarism actually faded out of the composition of Germany for a certain time. While other nations were trying every means to colonize, Germany kept silence in most occasions. At that time Bismarck was clearly aware that Germany's first priority was to keep the balance between she and her neighbouring countries, which was already a rather tough situation.⑧ 

      The retrospect of militarism emerged after the collapse of the economy system in Weimarer Republik. Because of the rapid inflation, wealth vanished from Germany. This disaster robbed the Germans off an essential part from their minds, making them to go extremes. Another factor for the crave for militarism was the Germans' failure in the Great War. Today we see the history of Modern Germany from the god's view, so it is easy for us to conceive that the element of misfortune had long lurked in the last few years of Deutsches Reich, along with the whitewash of her industry and politics. Nonetheless, at that moment, the idea stroked among the public was that as long as the army performed better and the king braver, the Germans were to won the war. This was the time when Nazism crept in and began to dominate the Germans' minds. Nazi's militarism was stuffed with endless passion and devilish vain hope, where all people gathered together to fight for one impossible mission and to start for an adventure without consideration.⑨ 

        In other words, we have to admit the relationship between militarism in Prussia and the one in the Third Reich. Even so, this relationship was a passive one. Nazi stoled the concept of Prussian militarism and changed it for its own good, while its citizens fantasized about going back to a golden age when the country and her people were well ordered. 

Rationalism

Both countries asserted that their culture was based on rationality. Rationality was the sub product of militarism as it bore some elements applied in the army, such as disciplines and unity. Likewise, the Prussian rationalism was based on her lack of sympathy among people. The Prussian had not been aware of a certain 'Germany reviving mission'. Ironically, that was exactly what brought about prosperity to Prussia. Once her shouldered this mission, as Bismarck promoted not the expansion of the Prussian Empire but the formation of Deutsches Reich, her death was settled, declining to just a province in Modern Germany.⑩ This is to say, the Prussian rationalism was almost coldblooded and indifferent. The reason for rationality was not to win the biggest profit but to adopt a nonchalant attitude. 

       As a party that could only thrive in an enormous state of chaos, Nazi and its theories were based on negative nationalism. Adolf Hitler delivered speeches saying that due to rationalism, Jew as a race should be diminished. If we consider his words in an absolute sober and a rational mind, the ridiculous faults can be discovered easily. First of all, Jew has never been a race or even an ethnic group. The word 'Jew' stands for no more than a religion community. Second, his ideas breached the essence of rationalism, which was humanity. Actually, as we can see later on, in 1943 Adolf Hitler told General Rommel that 'if the German people are incapable of winning a war, then they can rot' and 'A great people must die historically — it was a historic necessity'.⑪ After all, what Adolf Hitler was chasing after was not rationalism, but his own place in history. For this he could sacrifice his own people and do all kinds of lies. He succeeded, but his people were cheated. The worst thing was that though the Germans had broken their hearts after the war, though they refused and was ashamed to acknowledge themselves as part of the Third Reich, there were few people for them to blame on, because no one could deny that years before it was themselves that encouraged this kind of fake rationalism. 

Cultism

In 1701, when the Hohenzollern family came into power to control the Prussian Empire, religion was introduced into politics. It was recorded that at the coronation, all aristocrats showed great admiration to Frederick I who founded the Prussian Empire as the truth from God.⑫ Later on his grandson Frederick the Great created the Prussian militarism, bringing this kind of worship down to the army, where it got its new name, submission. 

      However, as we have said before, what the Hohenzollern family did was meant to sustain the country as long as possible. But for the religious worship for the king, Prussia would lack every meaning of her birth. Also, submission in the army was bound to be accepted since it ensured the army's function. 

        Although during the Third Reich Christian was barely mentioned, Adolf Hitler developed a personality cult. He founded the Third Reich with an indication that the nation could not survive as long as he died. He idolized himself as the Saviour to Germany, regardless that he was originally an Austrian. As Ludwig Beck said, Adolf Hitler had no nationality at all.⑬ In 1936 the military review in Berlin was launched in an almost sacred way, after which several newspapers described Adolf Hitler as 'the Great Prophet'. This kind of personality cult had little to do with the Prussian cherish for Christian. The latter one was performed in a healthy or rather cold way, while the former asked for the whole nation to put in their passion in order to support one man's personal beliefs. Another instance that illustrates his manipulation on his people is that when talking about religion, Hitler said that, 'Fear is the best religion.We have already verified this point from the Russian. Otherwise, they won’t fight this much.'⑭ 

Conclusion

By listing out the myths of Prussia's impact in the process of the Third Reich and analyzing them deep down to their essences, we have understand the differences between the two nations, also, part of the factors that encouraged the formation of the Third Reich. Its becoming was never an accident, however, it could be avoided anyway. Several mistakes and the state of chaos on the path of Modern Germany eventually led to the Trojan horse of Nazi and the outrage of humanity. 

        What could be done was not only to strike the alarm clock to the public from time to time, but also to let the leaders use the right method to guide their people. After so much illustration, we start to wonder that if only Weimarer Republik tried another policy or did more to ban Nazi from sprouting, then maybe our history would be rewritten. Yet what had happened cannot be rewound. What we can do now is try to learn from the past and try our best to prevent the history from reoccurring. 

Reference

1. B. H. Liddell Hart eds., The Rommel Papers, trans. Paul Findlay, New York: De Capo Press, 1953

2. Christopher Clark, Iron Kingdom, London: Penguin Books, 2007

3. Control Council Law No. 46, 25 February 1947, Official Gazette of the Control Council for Germany, No. 14, Berlin, 31 March 1947. 

4. Friedrich Meinecke, Die Deutsche Katastrophe, trans. He Zhaowu, Beijing: Joint Publishing, 2002

5. Michael Sturmer, The German Empire: A Short History, trans. Li Chao, Beijing: China Citic Press, 2017

6. Sebastian Haffner, Geschichte eines Deutschen: Die Erinnerungen 1914-1933, trans. Zhou Quan, Jiangsu: Yilin Press, 2017

7. Sebastian Haffner, Preussen ohne Legende, trans. Zhou Quan, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2016

8. Speech to Parliament, 21 September 1943, Winston S. Churchill, The Second World War, vol.5, Closing the Ring (6 vols.), London, 1952

Note

① Sebastian Haffner, Preussen ohne Legende, trans. Zhou Quan, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2016, p. 003

② Christopher Clark, Iron Kingdom, London: Penguin Books, 2007, Introduction p. xx

③ Control Council Law No. 46, 25 February 1947, Official Gazette of the Control Council for Germany, No. 14, Berlin, 31 March 1947

④ Speech to Parliament, 21 September 1943, Winston S. Churchill, The Second World War, vol.5, Closing the Ring (6 vols.), London, 1952, p. 491

⑤ Hans-Ulrich Wehler, ‘Preussen vergiftet uns. Ein Glück, dass es vorbei ist!’, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 23 February, 2002, p. 41, quoted by Christopher Clark, Iron Kingdom, London: Penguin Books, 2007, Introduction p. xxii

⑥ Friedrich Meinecke, Die Deutsche Katastrophe, trans. He Zhaowu, Beijing: Joint Publishing, 2002, p. 15

⑦ Sebastian Haffner, Preussen ohne Legende, trans. Zhou Quan, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2016, p. 015

⑧ Michael Sturmer, The German Empire: A Short History, trans. Li Chao, Beijing: China Citic Press, 2017, pp. 82-114

⑨ Sebastian Haffner, Geschichte eines Deutschen: Die Erinnerungen 1914-1933, trans. Zhou Quan, Jiangsu: Yilin Press, 2017, Part One, 10

⑩ Sebastian Haffner, Preussen ohne Legende, trans. Zhou Quan, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2016, Introduction pp. 007-008

⑪ B. H. Liddell Hart eds., The Rommel Papers, trans. Paul Findlay, New York: De Capo Press, 1953, p.428

⑫ Christopher Clark, Iron Kingdom, London: Penguin Books, 2007, p. 76

⑬ Friedrich Meinecke, Die Deutsche Katastrophe, trans. He Zhaowu, Beijing: Joint Publishing, 2002, pp.87-88

⑭ Friedrich Meinecke, Die Deutsche Katastrophe, trans. He Zhaowu, Beijing: Joint Publishing, 2002, p.120