Peter F. Wiener
Many attempts have been made to explain the exaggerated, destructive nationalism of the Germans and the Nazis. Again, I think that to a great extent Martin Luther is at the bottom of it. Not only was he the first true nationalist of this kind of modern times, but through him German nationalism was preached to the people, a new religion was founded, a German god created. Here is one of the main distinctions—already mentioned above—between the evil results of Luther’s teachings and the democratic consequences of reformers such as Calvin.
“In Luther,” says Funck-Brentano, “the dominating factors were his German soul and his German outlook. He was German through and through. It has very justly been observed that while a Calvin and a Zwingli aimed at spreading their reforms throughout the whole world, Luther’s one thought was for his beloved Germans. His message was not for Christendom, but only for the German people.” Luther was not a Christian in its broadest and best sense; “he was first and foremost a German.”
“I seek the welfare and salvation of you Germans,” the Reformer cried. “As I am the Prophet of the Germans, I will act as a faithful teacher and warn my staunch Germans of the days in which they stand.” “I have been born for my beloved Germans, for them will I die!”
Those who disagreed with him, he refused the right of calling themselves Germans. “By thus coming forward as the divinely-commissioned spokesman of the Germans, as the representative and prophet of the nation, he implicitly denied to those who did not follow his banner the right of being styled German.”
He rarely, if ever, addresses himself to Christians as a whole, he always refers merely to “his dear Germans”. In everything he does, he only wants to serve “his beloved Germans.”
“Luther’s power as a popular orator was based on an accurate knowledge and appreciation of the foibles of the German character.” “He stirred up national feelings by means of delusive watchwords such as `Germany against Italian tyranny’.” “We Germans must remain Germans,” he used to tell his congregation., “Remember that you are Germans,” he was constantly reminding his beloved countrymen;’ and this, as FunckBrentano comments so justly, is “a cry that Hitler would heartily endorse!”
The Germans were, of course, the best nation in the world. They were the Herrenvolk. “The Germans are conspicuous for their nobility of character, their constancy, and fidelity.” “Germany has always been the best country, the best nation.”
Luther would instill hatred for all other nations. No Nation could be compared to Germany. “The Romans have always abused our simplicity by their wantonness and tyranny; they call us mad Germans.” He is the sworn enemy of everything French and Italian. “As a good German he resented and revolted against the Italian contempt for Germany and German civilsation” (MacKinnon). “Luther considers himself the representative of Germany against Italy and France.” “We know well,” he would say, “that the French do not consider us as human beings.”
The great Reformer did not compare the Christian virtues of the nations; no, his standard of ethics was a very German one—militarism. “While the Germans are brave and daring in a battle, the French are impertinent after victory.” Again and again he draws a picture of German virtues as compared with the vices of all foreigners. He tells the Germans how they are exploited by foreigners, how all aliens laugh about them, and how superior the Germans really are. Indeed, German culture and German virtues are not only higher than those of the French and Italians, but even the Greeks cannot compare themselves to the Germans.
Particularly interesting it becomes when he turns his patriotic ferocity against England—whom naturally he does not forget in his abuse of every foreign nation. Originally, so he explains the English were Germans. Particularly are the Scottish people hateful to him. They are “the most evil, most proud, and most impertinent of all nations”. The English king is “a liar. People who are loyal to the king, have no conscience. Gold and money make him so impertinent, that he thinks even God could not live without him.” It might just be denoted, en passant, that Luther’s anti-British utterances have come as a godsend to anglophobe propagandists ever since, especially during the World Wars.
It is very strange to notice how often he praises German militarism, German ways of warfare, German soldiers, as compared with those of other nations.
In order to rid Germany of foreigners and to be independent of foreign countries, he advocates the Germany should be self-contained. “Germans, buy German goods!” and similar battle cries were first shouted by Luther.
Naturally, the German language is the most perfect in the world, much superior to French, Spanish, English, and Italian. “I thank God,” he would say, “that I can hear God now in my German tongue. Neither in Latin, nor Greek, nor Hebrew language would He be the same. ”For Luther `true’ and `German’ were synonymous” (Funck-Brentano). He ardently prayed that “scholasticism would soon disappear, and all Germans become the children of God”. He was the first to demand a “national writing of history.” He was the man who first clamoured for a united Germany; the words “the whole Germany”, “the whole of the German land” are permanently on his lips. He tells the Germans of the “unity of all German-speaking people.”
The only thing Germany needed to be really perfect was—a Fuehrer! “Germany is like a beautiful horse that has everything it needs. But it needs a horseman. In the same way as a good horse runs occasionally astray without a good horseman who governs it, so Germany has enough strength and people, but it lacks a good leader.” “If Germany had only a real leader, then no enemy could ever be victorious.”
“And now, dear Germans”, Luther would say, “I have told you enough; you have heard your prophet; God grant we may obey his words.” It took four centuries for his words to be fully obeyed. “The heart of Luther,” said Canon Barry in London in the fourth centenary of Luther during the last war, “German to its last fibre, is beating still in those armies which are attempting to ruin our Western civilisation, are attacking our faith.”
From Martin Luther: Hitler’s Spiritual Ancestor, (1945), pp. 79-82.