Essay: Nazi Germany’s attempt to become a total state

Nazi Germany aspired to be a total state and attempted to hold full control of the German citizens. As Nazi Germany tried to become a total state, the Volksgemeinschaft was created. The Volksgemeinschaft was the idea that Germany would be full of the purest and strongest Germans and create an elite community. Nazi Germany was never fully able to create the Volksgemeinschaft. There was never a time when Nazi Germany held full control of the people; even during the war there were still Jews hiding in Berlin. Hitler and other Nazi officials tried implanting plans to turn Nazi Germany into a total state but did not accomplish it. After many years of pushing total state in Nazi Germany, the goal was never reached; totalitarianism was out of the question. Nazi Germany failed as a total state completely since the World War II ended in 1945 and Germany lost.
As the Nazi party and Hitler rose to power, people with physical deformities and mental illnesses were targeted. People with physical deformities and mental illnesses were forced into sterilization. Nazi Germany believed that mental illnesses and physical deformities kept the Volk from rising to the full potential. The Reich government passed a law that permitted the sterilization of mentally handicapped and physically deformed people: “Anyone who is suffering from a hereditary disease can be sterilized by a surgical operation if, according to the experiences of medical science, it is to be expected with great probability that his offspring will suffer from serious hereditary physical or mental defects” (Reich government, Law…Genetically Diseased Offspring, p. 154. This law contradicts Nazi total state by leaving out women; the law specifically states “his children.” Without including women in this law, it is difficult to see if women with a mental disability or physical deformity were sterilized or not. By not including women, the law also failed to control all aspects of German life. If women was deformed or had a mental disability, it could have been possible for her to produce an offspring with a deformity or disability. Nazi total state meant that the Reich was controlling all aspects of German life. Women were encouraged to produce young Germans that were of Aryan dissent and would grow to be strong German citizens. The Reich wanted healthy, German children but in this specific law seemed to only focus on the male aspect of ruining the offspring.
Total state for Jews in Nazi Germany meant that they were going to be completely separated from “actual” German citizens. Jewish people were targeted and blamed for many of Germany’s issues. Jewish people were seen as job stealers, un-Christian, lazy, and holding many other unappealing qualities. In order to slowly rid Germany of Jews, the Reich government created specific laws targeted to only Jews. The Nuremberg Laws were created to separate Jewish people from German society. The Nuremberg Laws made it harder for Jewish people to live a simple, peaceful life in Germany. With reference to Stackelberg and Winkle, The Nuremberg Laws laid out specific guidelines that decided if a person was Jewish or not:
A Jew is also anyone who descended from two full Jewish parents, if: (a) he belonged to the Jewish religious community at the time this law was issued, or his joined the community later; (b) he was married to a Jewish person at the time the law was issued, or married one subsequently; (c) he is the offspring from a marriage with a Jew, in the definition of paragraph 1, which was contracted after the Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor became effective; (d) he is the offspring of an extramarital relationship, with a Jew, in the definition of paragraph 1, and will be born out of wedlock after 31 July 1936” (Reich government, First Regulation to the Reich Citizenship Law, p. 189).
In this law the Reich seemed to be singling out men, but women were also persecuted if they were Jewish. There were a few Nuremberg Law that left out women: “The man who acts contrary to the prohibition of #2 will be punished by jail or penitentiary” (Reich, Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor, p. 190). This law was referring to if a male has extra-martial coitus with a Jewish person. The law failed to say what would have happened if a women broke this law. A fault of Nazi Germany, as the nation attempted to become a total state, was inconsistency with written laws. In order to become a total state, Nazi Germany needed to include all genders and races in the laws that were created. Not including females in the laws was a microscopic part of Nazi Germany not becoming a total state. These small mistakes made it harder for Nazi Germany to become a total state. Nazi Germany’s dream of total state was slowly fading away.
Nazi Germany did not achieve total state because the Reich was unable to obtain full power over all people that resided in Germany. Jewish residents of Germany tried fleeing the country, and many barely escaped. In Stackelberg and Winkle, one Jewish woman, Elfriede Loew, described her escape from Nazi Germany. Elfriede Loew describes a part of her escape, “In mid-August 1942 she was given ‘notice’, that is, she was supposed to be picked up within three days. We knew that would mean death…. During our first conversation with Mrs. Von Scherpenber we found that we would not be able to go across the border with a guide, as promised, but that we would have to risk it all alone” (“The Story of My Escape,” p. 360). Elfriede Loew did not stay in Germany to watch her foster daughter die; Loew took action, went against the German government, and she survived. By leaving Germany, Jews went against Nazi total state and refused to be controlled. Many Jews left before they faced death or deportation. German citizens or people that lived in German challenged the Reich by leaving the country, or by going against the beliefs and ideals of Hitler and the Reich.
Opposition to Hitler’s plans and the Nazi party’s plans made it hard for Germany to achieve total state. Reich government officials held opposition to some of Nazi Germany’s propositions. Total State was out of the question if leaders of the Reich did not support Reich decisions. Total State meant complete power over the people, with opposition, absolute control was impossible. Alfred Rosenberg did not fully agree with Hitler’s plan to of starving Soviet Union prisoners of war. Rosenberg stated his opposition in a letter to the Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces:
Germany is conducting the fight against the Soviet Union because of ideological differences. Bolshevism must be overthrown and something better must be put in its place. Even the prisoner of war themselves must realize that National Socialism is willing and in a position to bring them a better future. They must return later to their homes fro Germany with a feeling of admiration and esteem for Germany and German institutions, and thus become propagandists for the cause of Germany and National Socialism (Rosenberg, Letter from Rosenberg to Wilhelm Keitel, p. 294).
From this quote Rosenberg looked at plans from a long-term aspect. He knew that if all went as planned then someday Germany would be reliant on the Soviet Union war prisoners to have pride in Germany and aspire to be a part of German society someday. Rosenberg used strategic thinking to understand what was happening to the prisoners of war. In this quote, Rosenberg also wanted to promote National Socialism with the Soviet Union prisoners of war to transition the prisoners of war into German citizens. If the prisoners of war were starved and beaten, then the prisoners would not be in working condition. Soviet Union prisoners of war would not want Germany to rule over the old Soviet Union in the future if the treatment they received was brutal. Nazi officials should have rethought treatment of Soviet Union prisoners of war if total state was the end goal.
The Regime was not in a place to be a total state if Hitler and other government officials did not see the obvious as Alfred Rosenberg saw. Alfred Rosenberg wanted to promote friendliness to Soviet Union prisoners of war in order to make a hopeful transition easier. Rosenberg stated, “Germany intends to keep a large part of the former Soviet Union occupied, even after the end of the war, and to develop it industrially for our purposes. Therefore we depend on a far-reaching cooperation of the population” (Letter from Rosenberg to Wilhelm Keitel, p 294). Alfred Rosenberg attempted to make the point that Soviet Union prisoners of war were going to be a vital aspect of transition if Germany was able to take over a part of the Soviet Union. In order to achieve total state; the Reich would have needed responsible, experienced leadership. Opposition to Hitler’s plan for the Soviet Union prisoners of war hindered the conquest for total state. Hitler was not experienced or capable of creating such a society. Since Hitler did not have an exuberant amount of experience in leadership or military skills, knowing how to successfully rule and create a prosperous total state nation would have been hard.
Another reason that Nazi Germany failed at total state was that they did not crack down on those who were going against Volkish ideas and people that were purposely going against what the Reich endorsed. A large number of urban teenagers did not follow the Nazi Regime of being a part of the Hitler youth and were instead part of the “Swing Youth” (lecture, 10/12/16). Teens that were apart of the “Swing Youth” were normally from a wealthy family, sought out forbidden English culture, made fun of Hitler Youth by saying “Heil Swing” (lecture, 10/12/16). Groups that went against the Nazi Regime harmed total state; these groups showed other Germans how to resist the Regime. There were a number of German Resistance groups during the Nazi reign. These groups may have only had a small affect on the Reich, but every person against Nazi Germany pushed total state further and further away.
Nazi Germany attempted to become a total state but failed. The Regime of Nazi Germany was not well structured. Hitler was in-experienced in leadership affairs, military affairs, and world affairs. The Regime was inconsistent in law writing and failed to fully spell out what laws affected exactly what gender. Jews were able to escape Germany, which was a good thing, but this mean that the Jewish containment was not as strong as believed. A Reich official did not agree with Hitler’s treatment of Soviet Union prisoners of war. Opposition within the Reich made total state difficult to accomplish. Nazi Germany failed in holding total control over German citizens. With all of these difficulties, Nazi Germany could have never been a total state. To become a total state, Nazi Germany would have needed strong leaders, strong military, and a strong sense of community with German’s citizens.