Readings on Fascism and National Socialism eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 153 pages of information about Readings on Fascism and National Socialism.

Readings on Fascism and National Socialism eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 153 pages of information about Readings on Fascism and National Socialism.

The result of this concept of the totalitarian state has been the compulsory regimentation of all phases of German life to conform to the pattern established by the party.  The totalitarian state does not recognize personal liberties for the individual.  The legal position of the individual citizen in the Third Reich is clearly set forth by Huber (document 1, post p. 155): 

Not until the nationalistic political philosophy had become dominant could the liberalistic idea of basic rights be really overcome.  The concept of personal liberties of the individual as opposed to the authority of the state had to disappear; it is not to be reconciled with the principle of the nationalistic Reich.  There are no personal liberties of the individual which fall outside of the realm of the state and which must be respected by the state.  The member of the people, organically connected with the whole community, has replaced the isolated individual; he is included in the totality of the political people and is drawn into the collective action.  There can no longer be any question of a private sphere, free of state influence, which is sacred and untouchable before the political unity.  The constitution of the nationalistic Reich is therefore not based upon a system of inborn and inalienable rights of the individual.[88]

In place of these rights the constitution of the Third Reich guarantees to the individual his place in the community of the people: 

The legal position of the individual member of the people forms an entirely new concept which is indispensable for the construction of a nationalistic order.  The legal position of the individual is always related to the community and conditioned by duty.  It is developed not for the sake of the individual but for the community, which can only be filled with life, power, and purpose when a suitable field of action is insured for the individual member.  Without a concrete determination of the individual’s legal position there can be no real community.
This legal position represents the organic fixation of the individual in the living order.  Rights and obligations arise from the application of this legal position to specific individual relationships ...  But all rights must be regarded as duty-bound rights.  Their exercise is always dependent upon the fulfilment by the individual of those duties to which all rights are subordinate ...[89]

The concept of private property in the totalitarian state is also at variance with the democratic concept of private property.  In the Third Reich the holder of property is considered merely as a manager responsible to the Volk for the use of the property in the common interest.  Huber sets forth the Nazi view in the following words: 

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Readings on Fascism and National Socialism from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.