Classic Essays

Adolf Hitler as the Exemplar of Indo-European Ideology

by Martin Kerr

Introduction

WHAT IS IT ABOUT Adolf Hitler that continues to fascinate the world? Why do people, especially those of European descent, find him so endlessly intriguing? It is not just his followers and sympathizers who find him captivating: Even his enemies and those who are conflicted about him fall under his spell.

Clearly, there is something about Hitler that resonates deeply in the Aryan psyche, on a sub-rational level. Something about Hitler attracts us all, even if we do not understand what it is. It goes beyond words. And the more one learns about Hitler, the stronger this attraction becomes.

Part of the answer to the enigma of Adolf Hitler is that we see in him, to one degree or another, an idealized reflection of ourselves. He is more than just one Aryan man: he is an exemplar of all Aryan humanity.

Georges Dumézil and Indo-European Ideology

The French scholar Georges Dumézil (1898-1986) is the father of modern Indo-European studies. Following the Second World War, academic, scholarly investigation into Aryan prehistory and origins came to an almost complete halt. Research in this field was deemed to be Politically Incorrect (to use a contemporary term). Due to its association with National Socialist racial theory, the very world “Aryan” itself was declared out of bounds, and was replaced by the more-neutral term “Indo-European” (IE). For some two decades following 1945, Indo-European studies were only acceptable if they were strictly limited to the realm of comparative linguistics, that is, tracing the common origin of words in the various languages of the IE language family.

Dumézil was one of the scholars in the tiny, tightly-circumscribed field of Indo-European linguistic studies. Unlike his colleagues, however, Dumézil was daring enough to think forbidden thoughts, and to go beyond the bounds of what was academically acceptable. In studying ancient IE texts from many lands, especially those of a mythological nature, Dumézil noticed that they had more in common than just a similar vocabulary. Rather, they also described a common society, that was based on a common ideology or way of looking at the world.

The various IE mythologies, including those of the ancient Greek, Roman, German, Celtic, and Hindu peoples, were all polytheistic. In each, there was a community of divine beings. The individual gods and goddesses of one mythological tradition had a corresponding deity in the other mythologies. For example, the Germanic Thor corresponded closely to the Roman Mars and the Vedic Indra. Furthermore, each god had a distinct social role to play in the divine community, that was likewise a reflection of a social role in actual IE society, such as the chieftain, the warrior, the smith, the mother, and the farmer. Dumézil perceived that the mythologies of the ancient and prehistoric IE peoples described a social hierarchy that was common to all of them. This structural hierarchy in turn was a manifestation of a common IE ideology, or thought world.

In essence, what Dumézil was saying was that our distant Indo-European (Aryan) ancestors not only had a common language, but also a common religion and a common social structure. He later expanded this further to include a common legal system. The implication was that this common IE patrimony was genetically based — that is, that it is encoded in our genes and not just transmitted culturally from generation to generation. (Dumézil never made this claim himself, but left it to his students to elaborate on the basic research that he did.)

Later, the scholars Marija Gimbutas, Edgar Polomé, and Roger Pearson would build on Dumézil’s work, and expand the field of Indo-European studies to formally include not just linguistics, but also mythology, archaeology, ethnology, and anthropology.

Functional Tripartition

The essence of Dumézil’s theory of Indo-European ideology is termed “Functional Tripartition.” There are three levels to the IE social hierarchy, each of which serves a certain social function:

  • First Function: Sovereignty or leadership
  • Second Function: Force, which enforces the decisions of this First Function
  • Third Function: Productivity, which provides the material basis for society

An illustration of the functions from mythology is provided by the Germanic gods:

  • First Function: Odin, king or lord of the Gods
  • Second Function: Thor, defender of the Gods
  • Third Function: Frey, God of prosperity and fertility

Each of these deities was honored with a statue at the great heathen temple in Uppsala, Sweden: one god for each function.

Dumézil wrote numerous books explaining and expounding various aspects of this theory. In English, his most popular and readily available book is Gods of the Ancient Northmen (1973).

A concrete example of the three functions in IE (Aryan) society may be found in the three estates of the medieval world: those who pray (priests), those who fight (knights) and those who work (serfs). There is also a reflection of this tripartition in the US Constitution, as well as in the government described by Plato in The Republic.

Every person reading this can identify the function to which they belong. Indeed, our very social identity is determined by the Dumézilian functions.

Hitler’s Life as a Recapitulation of the Three Functions

Adolf Hitler’s life was nothing if not eventful. In the short 56 years that he was on Earth, he fulfilled in turn each of the three functions in an impressive manner. He progressed from the lowest to the highest, and then recapitulated and consolidated all three simultaneously.

  • Third function: Hitler the Worker. From adolescence through his enlistment in the German army in 1914, Hitler was a laborer and an artist. He was not afraid of hard work or of getting his hands dirty. He was honest, conscientious, and productive. He later wrote, “Honest work, no matter of what type, is never a disgrace.”
  • Second function: Hitler the Warrior. From 1914 through his discharge from the army in 1919, he was a soldier. Hitler was not just another anonymous infantryman: He was an outstanding soldier. He was composed and resolute in battle; he was the first to volunteer for dangerous assignments; he was a good comrade to his fellow soldiers and loyal and obedient to his superiors: He was a soldier’s soldier, and was highly decorated for bravery.
  • First function: Hitler the Political Leader. From 1919 through 1933, he was the Führer of the NSDAP. At the moment of Germany’s deepest humiliation and debility, Hitler stepped forward and offered himself as a political leader. Starting with nothing, he built the strongest political party in Germany. Surviving numerous crises, he led it to victory against seemingly impossible odds. He proved himself to be a political leader of consummate skill and ability.
  • Combined functionality: Hitler as Exemplar. From 1933 until his death in 1945, he recapitulated each of the three functions simultaneously as Führer and Reich’s Chancellor. He assumed personal responsibility for governing the New Germany, for defending it, and for ensuring its material prosperity.

Living Manifestation of Dumézil’s Theories in National Socialist Germany

The National Socialist German Worker’s Party and later the National Socialist state were manifestations to a large degree of the personality of Adolf Hitler. Hence, it should be no surprise that they, too, were structured in accordance with Dumézilian tripartition.

  • First function: The Leadership Corps of the NSDAP (Das Korps der Politischen Leiter der NSDAP), which consisted of party leaders, organized hierarchically with the Führer at the top and proceeding downwards to local party officers.
  • Second function: The SS and the SA, and, after the NS assumption of power in 1933, the Wehrmacht (Army, Navy, and Air Force).
  • Third function: The German Workers’ Front, the Reich’s Labor Service, the National Socialist Women’s Organization, the Hitler Youth (including girls’ sections), the NS Farmers’ League and various organizations for teachers, tradesmen, physicians, artists and others. Notable was the Lebensborn program, which (under SS leadership) provided pre- and post-natal care for single mothers and the spouses of SS and Wehrmacht personnel.

Indeed, in the classic NS documentary Triumph of the Will (1935), we can watch as the three functions parade past us in living form.

Hitler as Exemplar

Adolf Hitler was, in truth, the living embodiment of the Indo-European ideology described by Georges Dumézil. In that sense, he was not just one Aryan, he was all Aryans. Each of us, no matter who we are or what our lot in life is, can look to Hitler as a model, for Hitler is the exemplar of Aryan humanity. Both in the conduct of his public and private lives, Hitler defined what it meant to be an upstanding member of our Race. Is it any wonder that Aryans the world over find him a compelling figure, and that he appeals to people even when they do not know why?

Hitler’s life defines what it means to be an Aryan. Well might Francis Parker Yockey write of him: “He represented the new aesthetic type which will form and inspire all coming leaders in the West…. As long as men survive, they will always be inspired by the Hero and his legend. He lives on in spirit and continues to take part in the world of facts and deeds.”

* * *

Source: New Order

Previous post

Month of the Leader, part 1

Next post

Those Who Want to Live

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedback
View all comments