Mephisto in the Third Reich: Literary Representations of Evil in Nazi Germany
Emanuela Barasch-Rubinstein
Language: English
Pages: 217
ISBN: 2:00292397
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The association of Nazism with the symbol of ultimate evil - the devil - can be found in the works of Klaus and Thomas Mann, Else Lasker-Schuler, and Rolf Hochhuth. He appears either as Satan of the Judeo-Christian tradition, or as Goethe's Mephisto. Barasch-Rubinstein looks into this phenomenon and analyzes the premise that the image of the devil had a substantial impact on Germans' acceptance of Nazi ideas.
The First Nazi: Erich Ludendorff, the Man who made Hitler Possible
Human behavior “entitles” a man to have the dubious title of “devilish”? This question becomes central when Nazism is seen as a pact with the devil. Klaus Mann introduces here a new understanding to the traditional motif. The plot is drawn simultaneously in two opposite directions, creating an inner tension. On the one hand, a Romantic influence is evident. The psychological description of the actor, the detachment from an “authentic” identity, the constant need to adjust to social norms, the.
Longtime residents of Palestine. In the royal box crumbling old stones, in elegant armchairs, sits KING SAUL, KING DAVID, and KING SOLOMON, eerily motionless, painted with gold and many colors like figures in a wax museum (p. 224). The reference to the Tower of David and Hell is derived from biblical Hebrew. Hell, in Hebrew Gehinnom, is also a valley near the Tower of David. Literally is means “Valley of son of Hinom.” The oldest historical reference to the valley is found in Joshua 15:8 and.
The work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against him!’ So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. (Book of Job 1: 6–12) In the Book of Job the devil is part of the divine entourage. He is not fully independent, as he would be in the future, but the nature of his.
Feelings. He is a spiritual emancipator and the leader of evangelical freedom – but also a simplistic believer in the devil and in ghosts and demons, in an almost child-like manner. Luther was indeed a man of contradictions. Thomas Mann points to the implications of this inner ambivalence on the German mind. A lack of consistency, accepting a spiritual substructure with explicit antithetical elements, sometimes only inconsistent, sometimes the very opposite, were imbued by Luther into German.
Of the play that created much controversy is an addressing of the German collective guilt. Though the Nazi extermination mechanism is portrayed in detail, an explicit accusation is pointed at Pius XII. The characterization of Mengele as the devil may be understood as decreasing of the moral responsibility of the German people. A superhuman power introduces different criteria to moral judgment. Hochhuth does not provide an unequivocal answer to the question of German responsibility, but only draws.