Elizabeth Forster-Nietzsche's Deliberate Tampering That Nietzsche's Superman Came To Be A Symbol of Nazi Principles

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With his theory Friedrich Nietzsche gave a sorrowful, mediocre, and secular world new meaning. The following essay will discuss the problems in society during the 1800’s and prove Nietzsche’s greatness in giving new meaning to the world. The essay then proves that it was by Elizabeth Forster-Nietzsche’s deliberate tampering that Nietzsche’s Superman came to be a symbol of Nazi principles.

Friedrich Nietzsche opposed common values, which he believed distracted man from life. During Nietzsche’s period, imperialist nationalism or an increasingly questionable religion provided the only meaning to life. Nietzsche opposed both. He thought the idea of nationalism ridiculous, saying “only there, where the state ceases, does the man who is not superfluous begin….” Nietzsche held “disdain for the average mind, arguing that all ignorance, but especially Christian ignorance, does not result from deprivation as much as mankind's wilful aversion to genuine knowledge.” The religious values which prevented man from living life disgusted Nietzsche: ‘Christianity was from the beginning, essentially and fundamentally, life's nausea and disgust with life, merely concealed behind… faith in "another" or "better" life.’ He stated that the Church “has turned every value into worthlessness, and every truth into a lie, and every integrity into baseness of soul." Nietzsche thought the values of nationalism and Christianity defiled everything that could potentially be strong and beautiful, and wanted to free the European culture from its tantalizing grip. Nietzsche further expressed his thoughts towards religion in his novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra:

God…was human work and human madness…. It was suffering and impotence- that created all after worlds...

... middle of paper ...

.... The aim should be to prepare a transvaluation for a particularly strong kind of man, most highly gifted in intellect and will. This man and the elite around him will become the ‘lords of the earth’.

This belief is shown throughout Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” by his consistent usage of Nietzsche’s phrase ‘lords of the earth’.

Friedrich Nietzsche tore apart the nihilistic mindset of Europe and gave it a new purpose. He combated the degradation of Europe’s moral foundation with his own theories, the Superman. The Superman is one who has overcome himself and follows no other values but those of his mind. He leads man, allowing a model for continual improvement of humanity until it can finally break free from its chains within eternal recurrence. However, Elizabeth twisted his work to influence the great evils of Nazism due to her financial needs and personal bias.

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