A Zen Nazi in Wartime Japan

The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus
In-depth critical analysis of the forces shaping the Asia-Pacific...and the world.
T he Asi a -Pa ci f i c J o urna l , Vo l . 11, I ssue 4 8, No . 3, De ce mbe r 2, 20 13.
A Z en Naz i in Wart ime Japan: Part II
T he Fo rma t i o n a nd Pri nci pl e s o f Co unt Dürck he i m’s Na z i Wo rl dvi e w a nd hi s i nt e rpre t a t i o n o f J a pa ne se Spi ri t a nd
Ze n デ ュ ル ク ハ イ ム 伯 爵 の ナ チ ス 的 世 界 観 お よ び 日 本 的 精 神 と 禅 の 解 釈 そ の 形 成 と 理 念
Ka rl Ba i e r
Pre f a ce by Bri a n Vi ct o ri a
In Part I o f this s eries o n D .T. Suz uki’s relatio ns hip with the Naz is , ( Brian D aiz en Victo ria, D .T. Suz uki, Zen and the Naz is readers
were pro mis ed a s eco nd part fo cus ing primarily o n Suz uki’s relatio ns hip with o ne o f wartime Japan’s mo s t influential Naz is , Co unt
Karlfried D ürckheim ( 18 9 6 –19 8 8 ) .
Ho wever, in the co urs e o f writing Part II, I quickly realiz ed that the reader wo uld benefit greatly were it po s s ible to pres ent mo re than
s imply D ürckheim’s s to ry in wartime Japan. That is to s ay, I reco gniz ed the impo rtance, actually the neces s ity, o f intro ducing
D ürckheim’s earlier his to ry in G ermany and the events that led to his arrival in Japan, no t o nce but twice.
At this po int that I had the truly go o d fo rtune to co me in co ntact with Pro fes s o r Karl Baier o f the Univers ity o f Vienna, a s pecialis t in
the his to ry o f mo dern As ian-influenced s pirituality in Euro pe and the United States . Pro f. Baier gracio us ly agreed to co llabo rate with
me in pres enting a picture o f D ürckheim within a wartime G erman po litical, cultural, and, mo s t impo rtantly, religio us co ntext.
Altho ugh no w deceas ed, D ürckheim co ntinues to co mmand a lo yal fo llo wing amo ng bo th his dis ciples and many o thers who s e lives
were to uched by his vo lumino us po s twar writings . In this res pect, his legacy parallels that o f D .T. Suz uki.
The final res ult is that what was o riginally planned as a two -part article has no w beco me a three-part s eries . Part II o f this s eries ,
written by Pro f. Baier, fo cus es o n D ürckheim in G ermany, including his writings abo ut Japan and Zen. An added bo nus is that the
reader will als o be intro duced to an impo rtant dimens io n o f Naz i “s pirituality.” Part Three will co ntinue the s to ry at the po int
D ürckheim arrives in Japan fo r the firs t time in mid-19 38 . It features D ürckheim’s relatio ns hip with D .T. Suz uki but examines his
relatio ns hip with o ther Zen-related figures like Yas utani Haku’un and Eugen Herrigel as well.
No te that the purpo s e o f this s eries is no t to dis mis s o r denigrate either the po s twar activities o r writings o f any o f the Zen-related
figures . Nevertheles s , at a time when hagio graphies o f all o f thes e men abo und, the autho rs believe readers des erve to have an
accurate picture o f their wartime activities and tho ught bas ed o n what is no w kno wn. I am deeply grateful to Pro f. Baier fo r having
jo ined me in this effo rt. BD V
I nt ro duct i o n
Japan, the “yello w fis t”, as he called the natio n in “Mein Kampf”, caus ed Ado lf Hitler a co ns iderable headache. In his racis t fo reign
po licy he dis trus ted the As ians in general and wo uld have preferred to increas e Euro pean wo rld s upremacy by co llabo rating with the
Englis h No rdic race. O n the o ther hand, he had been impres s ed as a yo uth by Japan's military po wer when he o bs erved Japan beat the
Slavic empire in the Rus s o -Japanes e War o f 19 0 4-5. He als o admired Japan fo r never having been infiltrated by the Jews . In “Mein
Kampf” his ambiguo us attitude let him place Japan as a culture-s uppo rting natio n s o mewhere halfway between the culture-creating
Aryans and the culture-des tro ying Jews .1 He ho ped that in the near future Japan and the who le o f Eas t As ia wo uld be aryanis ed by
Wes tern culture and s cience and s o o ner o r later the po litical do minatio n o f the Aryans in As ia wo uld fo llo w.
As the bro therho o d in arms with England turned o ut to be a pipedream, Hitler had to make a pact with the Far Eas tern co untry. This
allo wed a gro up o f japano phile Naz is to rais e their vo ices and
dis s eminate a mo re detailed and po s itive view o f Japan. They were
interes ted in Japanes e religio n and es pecially s ympathiz ed with Zen
Buddhis m.
The fo llo wing article can be s een as a cas e s tudy. Taking the
intellectual and religio us bio graphy o f Co unt D ürckheim as an
example, the autho r inves tigates the ques tio n o f ho w dedicated
Naz is co uld co nnect their wo rldview to a kind o f mys tical s pirituality
and develo p a po s itive attitude to wards Zen.
Fi g. 1 Dürck he i m co unt ry e st a t e St e i nga de n a s se e n
t o da y
Karl Friedrich Alfred Heinrich Ferdinand Maria G raf Eckbrecht vo n
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin ( 18 9 6 -19 8 8 ) , to day widely kno wn as
Karlfried G raf ( Co unt) D ürckheim, was bo rn in Munich, Bavaria as the
eldes t s o n o f an o ld aris to cratic family. Baptiz ed Catho lic, he was
religio us ly educated by his Pro tes tant mo ther, grew up at the family’s
co untry es tate in the Bavarian village o f Steingaden, at the
Bas enheim Cas tle near Ko blenz and in Weimar, where his family
o wned a villa built by the famo us architect Henry van de Velde.
In 19 14, immediately after receiving his high s cho o l diplo ma, the 18 -year-o ld Karlfried vo lunteered in the Ro yal Bavarian Infantry
Lifeguard Regiment to s erve o n the fro ntlines fo r aro und 47 mo nths as o fficer, co mpany co mmander and adjutant. 2 He never fo rgo t
the enthus ias tic co mmunity s pirit that filled his heart and the hearts o f his fello w G ermans at the beginning o f the war. “I heard the
Empero r s aying, ‘I do no t kno w parties any mo re, I o nly kno w G ermans ’. It remains in all o ur memo ries , thes e wo rds o f the Empero r,
in tho s e days at the beginning o f the war.” 3 Later he wo uld s ay that during this perio d the meaning o f his life had been the
“unques tio nable, ready-to -die-co mmitment to the fatherland.”4
Regularly expo s ed to deadly threats , the yo ung fro ntline o fficer was intens ively co nfro nted with his fear but als o experienced
mo ments o f trans cendence.
There exis ts a ‘pleas ure’ o f deliberately thrus ting o nes elf
into deadly danger. This I experienced when embarking upo n
a nightly as s ault o n a wo o ded hill, when running thro ugh a
barrage at the s to rming o f Mo unt Kemmel in Flanders , when
jumping thro ugh a defile under machine gun fire. It is as if at
the mo ment o f the po s s ible and in advance accepted
des tructio n o ne wo uld feel the indes tructible. In all o f thes e
experiences
ano ther
dimens io n
emerges
while
o ne
trans cends the limits o f o rdinary life – no t as a do ctrine, but
as liberating experience.5
Fi g. 2 Vi l l a Dürck he i m i n We i ma r
This kind o f “warrio r mys ticis m” – a co mbinatio n o f military drill and
blind o bedience, fight to the very end, a devo tio n to and melding with
the greater who le o f the fatherland that culminate in the experience
o f “ano ther dimens io n” far beyo nd the trans ito rines s o f o rdinary life
– info rmed his attitude to wards life and was co nducive to his later
appreciatio n o f militaris tic Bushidō-Zen and his admiratio n o f the
kamikaze pilo ts which he expres s ed even after Wo rld War II.6
Fi g. 3 Ba va ri a n i nf a nt ry ( po st ca rd 19 15)
T he Squa re
Immediately after Wo rld War I D ürckheim s uppo rted o ne o f the far-right natio nalis tic Free Co rps fighting agains t the Munich
Republic. He als o publis hed natio nalis tic bro chures and pamphlets as well as articles that warned agains t the Bo ls hevis t wo rld
revo lutio n.7
In 19 19 he left the army and began to s tudy philo s o phy and ps ycho lo gy in s earch o f a new meaning o f life. He and Enja vo n
Hattingberg, his partner and later s po us e, befriended the Aus trian ps ycho lo gis t and philo s o pher Ferdinand Weinhandl ( 18 9 6 -19 73) ,
who at the time was wo rking at the Ps ycho lo gical Ins titute at the Univers ity o f Munich, and his wife, the teacher and writer Margarete
Weinhandl ( 18 8 0 -19 75) . The fo ur, who called thems elves “The Square,” were no t jus t two co uples o n friendly terms . Their jo int
activities were aimed at a religio us trans fo rmatio n o f their o wn lives and the lives o f o thers .
D ürckheim s hared no t o nly philo s o phical, ps ycho lo gical and religio us interes ts with the Weinhandls but als o the experience o f
Wo rld War I as well as the ens uing natio nalis tic attitude no uris hed by it. Ferdinand, like D ürckheim, had vo luntarily jo ined the army
and became a fro ntline lieutenant, but a s erio us injury s o o n made him unfit fo r battle. Margarete had s uppo rted s o ldiers fro m the
pro vince o f Styria in s o utheas t Aus tria with s imple vers es and po ems written in Styrian dialect, that were publis hed in Heimatgrüße.
Kriegsflugblätter des Vereins für Heimatschutz in Steiermark ( “G reetings fro m Ho me. War pamphlets o f the As s o ciatio n fo r Ho meland
Security in Styria”) , a jo urnal that was dis tributed free amo ng Styrian s o ldiers .8
The Weinhandls do minated the Square bo th intellectually and religio us ly. They were pro lific writers well vers ed in the his to ry and
theo lo gy o f Chris tian mys ticis m. Mo reo ver, Ferdinand was interes ted in co mparative religio n. He referred to Friedrich Heiler’s
co mparative s tudies o n prayer and o n Pali-bas ed, Buddhis t meditatio n, and prais ed his s ubtle unders tanding o f the inner relatio ns
between vario us religio ns .9 Interpreting the s imilarities between religio us practices within different religio us traditio ns o utlined by
Heiler, Ferdinand s tated that the different s tages o f Hindu-Yo ga, Buddhis t meditatio n and Chris tian prayer are all bas ed o n the s ame
ps ycho lo gical s tructure.10
In 19 21, The Square mo ved to Kiel where they lived as a s o rt o f co mmune, s haring a flat until 19 24. D uring that time, Margarete
publis hed and interpreted the mys tical writings o f G erman medieval nuns .11 Ferdinand co mpleted his habilitatio n thes is in 19 22 at
the Univers ity o f Kiel and later go t a pro fes s o rs hip fo r philo s o phy there.12 He trans lated and edited the Spiritual Exercises o f Ignatius
o f Lo yo la and publis hed a s mall bo o k o n Meis ter Eckhart.13 In fact, it was he who intro duced Eckhart to D ürckheim.14 “Every evening
we wo uld read Meis ter Eckhart,” Margarete no ted in her diary. 15 D ürckheim remembered: “I reco gniz ed in Mas ter Eckhart my mas ter,
the mas ter.” 16 Meis ter Eckhart had great appeal fo r the G erman Yo uth Mo vement and the cultic milieu o f the interwar-perio d in
general. As a “G erman mys tic” he als o blended very well into the völkisch unders tanding o f religio n that was en vo gue in D ürckheim’s
circles .17 Like s o many o thers Ferdinand Weinhandl s aw in Eckhart an early manifes tatio n o f the deepes t es s ence o f the G erman
s pirit, its dynamis m and “Faus tian” activis m.18
Fi g. 4 : T hrust i ng o ne se l f i nt o
Wo rl d Wa r I
de a dl y da nge r i n
Fi g. 5 Fe rdi na nd We i nha ndl
D uring the Naz i era the völkisch interpretatio n o f Eckhart co ntinued. In his Myth of the 20th Century the NSD AP ideo lo gis t Alfred
Ro s enberg extens ively cited Eckhart as the pio neer o f G ermanic faith. In 19 36 Eugen Herrigel drew parallels between Eckhart and
Zen in his article o n The Knightly Art of Archery that became a majo r s o urce fo r D ürckheim.19 Herrigel lo o ks at Eckhart and Zen fro m
the typical pers pective o f the pro tago nis ts o f völkisch mys ticis m:
It is o ften s aid that mys ticis m and es pecially Buddhis m lead to a pas s ive, es capis t attitude, o ne that is ho s tile to
the wo rld. […] Terrified o ne turns away fro m this path to s alvatio n thro ugh laz ines s and in return prais es o ne´s o wn
Faus tian character. O ne do es no t even remember that there was a great mys tic in G erman intellectual his to ry, who
apart fro m detachment preached the indis pens able value o f daily life: Meis ter Eckhart. And who ever has the
impres s io n this ‚do ctrine’ might be s elf-co ntradicto ry, s ho uld reflect o n the Japanes e Volk, who s e s piritual culture
and way o f life are s ignificantly influenced by Zen Buddhis m and yet canno t be blamed fo r pas s ivity and an
irres po ns ible s luggis h es capis m. The Japanes e are s o as to nis hingly active no t becaus e they are bad, lukewarm
Buddhis ts but becaus e the vital Buddhis m o f their co untry enco urages their activity.20
D uring the war D ürckheim was to call Eckhart “the man who m the G ermans no tice as their mo s t o riginal pro claimer o f G o d”21 and
he, like Herrigel, o utlined the pro ximity between Eckhart and Zen o n the bas is o f völkisch tho ught.
Befo re his firs t enco unter with Eckhart, D ürckheim had already been
deeply impres s ed by Lao z i. The new po pularity o f As ian religio ns in
G ermany ( after the Ro mantics at the beginning o f the 19 th century)
began aro und 19 0 0 under the influence o f the Theo s o phis ts and the
emergence o f a neo -ro mantic “new mys ticis m.” It grew rapidly after
the war with s everal trans latio ns o f the Daodejing beco ming available,
the mo s t wides pread o f which was by Alexander Ular. 22 This bo o k,
to gether with trans latio ns o f Lao z i and Zhuangz i publis hed by Martin
Buber and Richard Wilhelm, unleas hed a kind o f Dao craz e amo ng
intellectuals and artis ts o f the Weimar Republic. D ürckheim
des cribes his firs t co ntact with Lao z i as a kind o f ecs tatic experience
o f enlightenment, pro mpted when his wife read the eleventh vers e
fro m Ular’s vers io n o ut lo ud.23
Ferdinand no t o nly underto o k a theo retical s tudy o f religio us
exercis es , but als o intro duced their practice to The Square.24 They
experimented with different fo rms o f meditatio n ( s itting s ilently
witho ut an o bject o r meditating o n s pecific to pics , pro bably
influenced by Ignatius o f Lo yo la, Co ué´s auto s ugges tio n and New
Tho ught fo rms o f meditatio n) ; s pent certain days in s ilence and
practis ed the daily examinatio n o f co ns cience.25 O utwardly they
o ffered co uns elling s es s io ns to peo ple who co ntacted them, after
having heard abo ut the gro up becaus e they were interes ted in their
s pirituality. O ne co uld s ay that The Square was a kind o f mo del fo r
D ürckheim’s wo rk after Wo rld War II, and further fo undatio ns were laid here fo r his later interes t in Japanes e practices and the
s ynthes is o f s pirituality and ps ycho therapy. D uring this perio d, D ürckheim als o read a bo o k o n Buddhis m by G eo rg G rimm that he
Fi g. 6 Al f re d Ro se nbe rg a nd hi s “De r Myt hus de s 20 .
J a hrhunde rt s”
held in great es teem.26
T he Wo rl dvi e w o f t he Ri ght i st Cul t i c Mi l i e u
As s trange as it may s eem no wadays , the co mbinatio n o f new religio s ity, interes t in As ian religio ns , natio nalis t tho ught and an
o ften antidemo cratic attitude that had been fo rmative fo r the yo ung D ürckheim and als o fo r the Weinhandls , was no t exceptio nal at
that time. They mo re o r les s s hared po pular views o f the Weimarian rightis t cultic milieu,27 which co ns is ted o f a large number o f
s mall o rganiz atio ns , reading circles , paramilitary gro ups and the s o -called Bünde ( leagues ) with links to the G erman Yo uth
Mo vement and the mo vement o f life refo rm ( Lebensreform) . “The Bünde were uniquely G erman. What made them s o during the years
between 19 19 and 19 33 was the fact that neither the o nlo o ker no r the participant co uld decide what they were. Were they religio us ,
philo s o phical, o r po litical? The ans wer is : all three.” 28 Altho ugh The Square s tro ngly s ympathiz ed with the Bünde, they deliberately
decided no t to o rganiz e thems elves in that manner, but to co ntinue to live as a s mall co mmunity fo cus ing o n pers o nal
trans fo rmatio n.29
The rightis t cultic milieu was info rmed by s everal wides pread ideas that als o deeply influenced D ürckheim and his Square. Here o nly
the mo s t impo rtant o nes can be mentio ned.
T he Ne w Ma n
Many expected the breakdo wn o f traditio nal Euro pean culture
thro ugh Wo rld War I, and es pecially the po s t-war cris is o f G erman
s o ciety, to lead to a trans fo rmatio n o f mankind, the arrival o f a “new
man.”30 D ürckheim des cribed his po s t-war s o cial enviro nment:
“[They were] all peo ple in which, becaus e o f the breakdo wn o f 19 18 ,
s o mething new aro s e that als o within me s o o n bro ught to
co ns cio us nes s s o mething that in the years after the war everyo ne
was co ncerned with: the ques tio n o f the new man.”31
In a letter publis hed in the co mmemo rative vo lume o n the o ccas io n
o f D ürckheim’s 70 th birthday, Ferdinand Weinhandl remembers the
talks they had at the beginning o f their friends hip as “revo lving
aro und a magical centre.” It was “the ques tio n o f trans fo rmatio n,
that we examined again and again in o ur tho ughts and talks , in o ur
effo rts and as piratio ns .”32 What Weinhandl do es no t tell the readers
o f the co mmemo rative vo lume is the fact that in the 19 20 s the
Fi g. 7 Ludwi g Fa hre nk ro g: Di e he i l i ge St unde ( 19 18)
s earch fo r in-depth trans fo rmatio n o f
mankind
and
the
millenarianis m o f the new man had a s o cio -po litical dimens io n.
Leftis t s o cialis ts merged them with their vis io n o f a future s o ciety, and the right-wing co unterculture we are talking abo ut us ually
co mbined the dawn o f the new man with the epiphany o f the Volk and the lo nging fo r new leaders .
So ci o -po l i t i ca l Völkisch T ho ught
The adjective “völkisch“ ( co gnate with the Englis h “fo lk”) means “related to the Volk, belo nging to the Volk.“ In keeping with its
meaning in pres ent-day G erman, “Volk” is frequently trans lated into Englis h as “peo ple” o r “natio n.” Since the 18 9 0 s , “ völkisch” had
been us ed as s elf-des ignatio n o f an influential G erman natio nalis tic and racis t ( anti-Semitic but als o anti-Slavic and anti-ro mantic)
pro tes t mo vement, co ns is ting o f different o rganiz atio ns , gro ups and individuals in G ermany and Aus tria. Building upo n ideas that
emerged within G erman Ro manticis m, fo r thes e individuals and gro ups “völkisch” and “Volk” to o k o n a s pecial meaning s ignificantly
different fro m “peo ple” and “natio n” – a meaning that made the wo rd untrans latable into Englis h and o ther languages . Therefo re the
o riginal G erman terms are us ed.
The völkisch mo vement imagined the Volk as a mythical s o cial unity bas ed o n blo o d and s o il as well as o n divine will, underlying the
natio n s tate and being capable o f bridging the clas s divis io ns within s o ciety. Furthermo re, the Volk had a certain s pirit o r s o ul
( “Volksgeist,” “Volkseele”) which co mpris ed s pecial virtues and certain ways o f thinking and feeling. The traditio nal aris to cratic way o f
legitimiz ing s o cial and po litical rule thro ugh birth and des cent was trans ferred fro m the no ble dynas ties to all members o f the
G erman Volk o r Aryan race.33 The central aim o f the völkisch mo vement was the purificatio n o f the G ermanic race fro m alien influences
and the res to ratio n o f the native Volk and its no ble s pirit.
Po litically, the members o f the rightis t cultic milieu s aw the Weimar demo cracy as a dys functio nal po litical s ys tem impo s ed by
G ermany’s enemies after the s hameful defeat in Wo rld War I. They co uld s ee no s ens e in the dis cus s io ns and quarrels between the
po litical parties that fo r them o nly manifes ted the ego centris m o f mo dern man. Additio nally, they were afraid o f Bo ls hevis m and o f
s o cial dis integratio n caus ed by clas s s truggles . A po litically crucial dimens io n o f the ho pe fo r the co ming o f the “new man” was the
chilias tic po litical vis io n o f a Third Reich that wo uld be able to o verco me the inner turmo il o f mo dern s o ciety. 34 The o nly alternative
to the degeneratio n o f co ntempo rary s o ciety and po litics wo uld be a völkisch refo rm o f life, a s piritual, s o cial and po litical renewal o f
G ermany which wo uld trans fo rm the co untry into a clas s -free ho lis tic co mmunity o f the Volk ( Volksgemeinschaft) ro o ted in the
ho meland ( Heimat) as well as in ances tral kins hip ( Ahnen) and ruled by charis matic leaders ( Führer) .
At the beginning o f the 19 20 s , Ferdinand Weinhandl was s till aiming at individual s elf-develo pment and a mys tical trans fo rmatio n
free o f po litical and s o cial intentio ns . Acco rding to Tilitz ki, D ürckheim and Wilhelm Ahlmann bro ught him into clo s er co ntact with
Hans Freyer. This pro bably gave his co ncept o f life-refo rm a völkisch twis t.35 He als o s tarted to reflect o n the neces s ity o f new
leaders ( Führer) to imbue the s pirit o f the Volk with higher values . In a text fro m the middle o f the 19 20 s he co nceived the leader as
an exceptio nal pers o n who alo ne is capable o f uniting the who le and thereby es tablis hes true co mmunity: “So , o ur path leads us
fro m the pers o n to the peo ple [Volk] and beyo nd that back to the pers o n, to the exemplary individual, to the hero , to the idea o f
leaders hip [Führertum].”36 His völkisch leanings initially did no t as s ume a radical right-wing fo rm, and he co ntinued teaching at s o cialdemo cratic ins titutio ns and cultivated go o d relatio ns hips with co lleagues who s uppo rted the republic.
Fo r many members o f the völkisch mo vement it was o nly a s mall s tep to beco me Naz is becaus e Natio nal So cialis m abs o rbed many
elements o f their wo rldview and pres ented its elf as the po litical s ucces s ful fulfilment o f völkisch tho ught. In his Mein Kampf Hitler
claimed that his party, the NSD AP ( Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, Natio nal So cialis t G erman Wo rkers Party) had been
es tablis hed to enable the völkisch ideas to prevail. The NS mo vement wo uld therefo re have the right and the duty to s ee its elf “as the
pio neer and repres entative o f thes e ideas .” 37 No wo nder then that detailed bio graphical s tudies “s ho w […] that the völkisch
pheno meno n and the Bünde phas e were the place o f trans itio n to Natio nal So cialis m.”38 After 19 33 “völkisch” and “nationalsozialistisch”
s o o n became s yno nymo us whereas befo re then the Naz is were o nly o ne völkisch gro up amo ng many.39
Like D ürckheim, Weinhandl and his wife jo ined the NSD AP in 19 33. D ürckheim als o became a member o f the SA ( Sturmabteilung, in
Englis h o ften called Sto rmtro o pers o r Bro wns hirts , a paramilitary gro up o f the NSD AP) and Ferdinand jo ined the NSLB
( Nationalsozialistischer Lehrerbund, Natio nal So cialis t Teachers As s o ciatio n) , the KfdK ( Kampfbund für deuts che Kultur, Battle League
fo r
G erman
Culture)
and
the NS Kulturgemeinde ( NS
Cultural
Co mmunity) .40 Margarete headed a department fo r wo rldview
educatio n ( “weltanschauliche Schulung”) within the NS Frauenschaft, the
wo men´s o rganis atio n o f the NSD AP, and became a member o f the
NSD AP o ffice fo r racial po litics .41
Vö l k i sch Re l i gi o si t y
The religio us co ncepts o f the völkisch milieu have been res earched
intens ively o ver the las t decades .42 The multitude o f mo s tly s mall
co mmunities and mo vements , which rarely exis ted fo r mo re than a
few years , can be divided into two bas ic types : neo -pagan and
völkisch Chris tian.43 Bo th were highly s yncretis tic in their anti-Semitic
attempts to develo p a racially s pecific, Aryan religio n. The neo -pagan
gro ups , a s mall mino rity, rejected Chris tian faith and either tried to
revitalis e ancient No rdic religio ns o r s earched fo r new fo rms o f a
G ermanic faith. The völkisch Chris tians tried to extract the Aryan
elements in the teachings o f Jes us and co ns tructed a his to ry o f
G erman Chris tian faith fro m the G erman medieval mys tics up to the
pres ent day.
Fi g. 8 Co ve r o f a jo urna l o f t he völkisch Be we gung
Fi g.
9
Pa mphl e t
Glaubensgemeinschaft
( 19 21)
to
pro mo t e
( Ge rma n Fa i t h
t he Deutsche
Co mmuni t y)
Within D ürckheim´s Square we find the völkisch Chris tian attitude
mo s t clearly articulated by Margarete Weinhandl. Ferdinand´s
interpretatio n o f Eckhart po ints in the s ame directio n. The available
s o urces
co ntain
no
info rmatio n
abo ut
D ürckheim’s
early
unders tanding o f Chris tianity. His co mmitment to the Chris tian faith
s eems to have been weaker than that o f the Weinhandls .
Margarete tho ught o f the Jews as a race to tally alien to the G erman
Volk. They had their hero ic heyday do cumented in the writings o f the
O ld Tes tament, but afterwards they degenerated and this is the
reas o n why they rejected the mes s iah. Thro ugh Luther’s trans latio n,
the Bible had beco me part o f the G erman s pirit and G erman
religio s ity. The treas ures o f the O ld Tes tament and the mes s age o f
Jes us had thus been pres erved thro ugh the po wer o f the G erman Volk, its po ets and s piritual mas ters like Meis ter Eckhart, Jako b
Bö hme etc.44
Additio nally D ürckheim and his friends ado pted a perennialis t appro ach to religio n as s uming that the main religio us traditio ns s hare
a s ingle univers al truth. Later D ürckheim remembered: “As early as in tho s e days the ques tio n aro s e within me: Was n’t this great
experience that co mpletely permeated Eckhart, Lao z i, and Buddha es s entially the s ame in each o f them? ”45
Similar to the Traditio nalis t Scho o l, they co nceptualiz ed the co ming o f the New Man as a return to the primitive man o f pre-mo dern
culture co nnected with the redis co very o f an ancient wis do m traditio n that underlies all religio ns .46 Maria Hippius , D ürckheim’s
s eco nd wife, s tres s ed the affinity between The Square and the Traditio nalis ts : “In thes e years o ther co ncurrent effo rts exis ted that
aimed at a ‘res to ratio n o f the human archetype’ by lo cating and reco nnecting to a primo rdial traditio n ( Urtradition) . René G uéno n and
Julius Evo la may co rres po nd bes t to what the circle o f friends intended […].” 47 Whereas D ürckheim knew G uéno n o nly thro ugh his
writings , he actually met Julius Evo la, the Italian extreme right-wing philo s o pher and es o tericis t who harbo ured s ympathies fo r the
SS and the Ro manian Iro n G uard, who m he highly es teemed, in the 19 6 0 s .48
The redis co very o f the ancient wis do m was s uppo s ed to bring abo ut
a renais s ance o f true religio s ity in the fo rm o f mys ticis m. “Wherever
religio n is lived, it has the name mys ticis m, wherever wis do m is lived,
it is called mys ticis m.” 49 The Square unders to o d mys ticis m as a way
o f life that is bas ed o n a radical trans fo rmatio n o f the who le human
being, bro ught abo ut by the abando ning o f o ne’s o wn will.
Th e völkisch appro ach to religio n and the perennialis tic co ncept o f
mys ticis m do n’t neces s arily co ntradict o ne ano ther. In all likeliho o d
the Square tho ught that G erman mys ticis m pres ented the co re o f all
true religio n in an extrao rdinarily pure fo rm, a fo rm that matched the
s uperio r natio nal character o f the G ermans .
Ho l i sm
The Weimarian cultic milieu´s leanings to wards to talitarianis m were
bas ed o n po pular fo rms o f ho lis tic and o rganicis tic tho ught.
Who lenes s ( Ganzheit) was a widely us ed metapho r fo r what –
acco rding to völkisch wo rldview – had been lo s t in mo dern s o ciety and
s cience and was to be regained by the “new man.” The radical
Fi g. 10 J ul i us Evo l a
co ns ervative co unterculture o f the Weimar Republic was a ho lis tic
milieu that tried to redis co ver the o riginal who lenes s o f individuals
by reintegrating them o n different levels into larger “o rganic” who les .
Acco rding to co mmo n ho lis tic ideo lo gy, individuals as well as s o cial entities do no t fo llo w the laws o f mechanics but an o rder
who s e pro to type is the living o rganis m. This kind o f “o rganic thinking” was given a natio nalis tic co nno tatio n by the no tio n that the
realiz atio n o f “o rganic who les ” is s o mething s pecifically G erman, whereas o ther Wes tern co untries ( France, England, USA) are the
ho melands o f “mechanical thinking.”50
Already in the Naz i era, D ürckheim wo uld prais e o rganic tho ught as being a pro tes t “agains t the wo rld o f unleas hed ins trumental
ratio nality, the pro liferatio n o f eco no mics , technique and trans po rt, agains t the tendency to reduce every pro ces s to its s imples t
mechanic fo rmula, agains t the dis s o lutio n o f the human being into a bundle o f impers o nal functio ns , the o ppo s itio n o f
lo ngs tanding o rganic co mmunities o f blo o d and faith agains t s pecial-purpo s e as s o ciatio ns etc.” 51 The appreciatio n o f meditative
practices and the invo catio ns o f mys tical o nenes s with “the who le” that were s o co mmo n in the Weimarian cultic milieu, s ho uld be
unders to o d in the co ntext o f this critical attitude to wards the burdens o f mo dern culture and the lo nging fo r pers o nal, s o cial and
religio us identity in a wo rld experienced as fragmented and rapidly changing.
“Who lenes s ” and “o rganic thinking” were no t jus t buz z wo rds within the rightis t co unterculture. “The des ire fo r ho lis tic tho ught was
wides pread in bo th the s cientific and po litical reas o ning o f the Weimar Republic.” 52 Many o f the ho lis tic academics participated in
the völkisch s cene and gave the milieu´s preference fo r o rganic who lenes s a s cientific o utlo o k. It s eems that in the late phas e o f the
Weimar Republic, the majo rity o f ps ycho lo gis ts fo llo wed this line o f tho ught. O ne o f them was D ürckheim’s teacher and emplo yer
Felix Krueger, the s ucces s o r o f the famo us Wilhelm Wundt at the Univers ity o f Leipz ig and fo under o f the s o - called “Seco nd Leipz ig
Scho o l,” als o kno wn as Ho lis tic Ps ycho lo gy ( Ganzheitspsychologie) – pro bably the bes t example fo r the ho lis tic o rientatio n o f
G erman ps ycho lo gy befo re 19 33.
Fe l i x Krue ge r’s Ho l i st i c Psycho l o gy
In 19 25, D ürckheim, who had co mpleted his Ph.D . in ps ycho lo gy in 19 23, became an as s is tant at the Ins titute o f Ps ycho lo gy at the
Univers ity o f Leipz ig. He wo rked there until his habilitatio n in 19 29 /30 . It is quite o bvio us that D ürckheim o btained this po s itio n no t
o nly becaus e o f his qualificatio ns but als o becaus e o f his participatio n in an academic right-wing netwo rk. Hans Freyer, the radical
co ns ervative philo s o pher and s o cio lo gis t, who had been o ne o f his teachers in Kiel and had in the meantime s witched to the
Univers ity o f Leipz ig, played a crucial ro le in this appo intment.53 It was he who reco mmended D ürckheim to the directo r o f the
Ins titute o f Ps ycho lo gy, Felix Krueger.
Since the end o f Wo rld War I, Krueger’s Ps ycho lo gical Ins titute was co ns idered to be a “völkisch cell” with a s tro ng natio nalis tic bias ,
who s e po litical activities s tirred ho s tilities within the city co uncil and even the G erman go vernment.54 Krueger was a leading figure
within the völkisch o riented Fichte-Gesellschaft ( Fichte So ciety) . As a bus y lecturer, he played an impo rtant ro le within a large
natio nalis tic educatio nal netwo rk and thus had co ntacts with many patrio tic as s o ciatio ns and völkisch gro ups . Fro m 19 30 o nwards
he als o lectured in the NS-s tudent-as s o ciatio n ( Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund) and in the NSLB. Altho ugh his tho ught
was clo s e to Natio nal So cialis m, and he had s igned the reco mmendatio n to vo te fo r Hitler publis hed by G erman academics in
No vember 19 33, he nevertheles s did no t beco me a member o f the NSD AP.
Krueger’s ps ycho lo gical theo ry had a “pro no unced ideo lo gical accent” as it was meant to co ntribute to a renewal o f the co mmunity
o f the Volk ( Volksgemeinschaft) .55 Es pecially fro m the late 19 20 s o nwards he extended the range o f his ps ycho lo gy to s o cial life. His
co ncept o f co mmunity falls in line with the then very po pular dis tinctio n o f Gemeinschaft ( co mmunity) as a traditio nal o rganic s o cial
unit and Gesellschaft ( s o ciety) as a co ntractual as s o ciatio n o f individuals , predo minating in mo dern times .
The ideo lo gical po s itio n o f Krueger is clear to s ee, if o ne lo o ks at ho w he co ns tructs the relatio ns hip between the co mmunity as a
who le and its members . He s imply trans ferred his earlier theo ry o f the do minance o f the who le to s o cial s tructures .56 “Krueger´s
theo ry do es no t reco gniz e the interactio n between part and who le, rather o nly the law o f the do minance o f the who le; in the area o f
s o ciety it appears as the s uperimpo s itio n o f the co mmunity o ver the individual and the s ubo rdinatio n o f the individual to the
co mmunity.”57 It is this to talitarian bias that acco unts fo r the affinity between Krueger’s tho ught and Naz is m.
Dürck he i m’s NS T ho ught a nd Völkisch Re l i gi o n
Like many o ther members o f the völkisch milieu, D ürckheim believed
that Ado lf Hitler and the Naz i mo vement wo uld bring abo ut the arrival
o f the new man. “Thro ugh Ado lf Hitler the G o ds have given to the
G erman Peo ple […] the po wer to awaken fello w G ermans in an
infectio us mo vement and trans fo rm them to wards this new man.” 58
It was Krueger’s s o cial ho lis m in particular that helped him to s hape
his Naz i philo s o phy in the years after 19 33. As G euter has po inted
o ut, Krueger hims elf o nly made pro grammatic s tatements o n
co mmunity. It was D ürckheim who elabo rated a s ys tematic ho lis tic
ps ycho lo gy o f co mmunity life bas ed o n the theo ries o f the Leipz ig
Scho o l in his articles Gemeinschaft ( Co mmunity, 19 34) ; D ürckheim´s
co ntributio n to the Festschrift in celebratio n o f Kruegers 6 0 th
birthday; and the o penly natio nal-s o cialis t Zweck und Wert im
Sinngefüge des Handelns ( Purpo s e and Value as Co ns tituents o f
Meaningful Actio n, 19 34/35) .
Fi g. 11 Fe l i x Krue ge r
Fi g. 12 Be i ng o ne wi t h t he gre a t e r Who l e : Ma y Da y
Ce l e bra t i o ns Be rl i n 19 37
Like Krueger, D ürckheim co nceives o f co mmunity ( Gemeinschaft) as
the bas ic s o cial unit. Co mmunities
are “closed who les ”59
characteriz ed by certain value-s ys tems that have abs o lute validity
fo r all members . Fro m Krueger he als o bo rro wed the principle that
the true relatio ns hip between the who le and its parts is the to tal
s ubo rdinatio n o f the parts . “The being o f the who le is the imperative
o f its parts ; whatever is us eful fo r the who le is a law fo r the
individuals .”6 0 O ne o f the dangers that threaten their health and that
members o f co mmunities have to fight back agains t is “the
infiltratio n o f fo reign bo dies ( racial ques tio n!) .”6 1 The natural values
o f the individuals reflect their racial o rigin and the blo o d- and fate-bas ed members hip in the o rganic who les o f ho meland, family and
Volk.
The value-o riented life o f the s o ul depends o n its inbo rn and racially co nditio ned nature. The o rder o f its perennial values is bas ed
in certain fundamental life units with which the s o ul is co nnected by fate, an o rder that is defined by the claims made by thes e units
to s us tenance, realiz atio n and perfectio n.6 2
Acco rding to D ürckheim, the Volk had lo s t its do minatio n o ver its parts in the Weimar Republic. The leaders o f the co untry had been
alienated fro m the higher who le, and, even wo rs e, no n-G ermans , es pecially Jews , had exercis ed s ignificant influence.6 3 “It mus t be
s tres s ed again and again that the NS revo lutio n was the revo lutio n o f the who le agains t its dis lo yal parts .” 6 4 It was o nly Hitler’s
wake-up call that reunited the G erman Volk and renewed the bas ic values o f its life.6 5
Fo r D ürckheim, the reawakening o f the Volk amo ng the G ermans had practical co ns equences . Hitler als o “s teeled their will to
do minate reality.”6 6 He explicitly defends the brutality o f the Regime agains t individuals unwilling to s ubo rdinate thems elves to the
realiz atio n o f what the Naz is defined as the interes ts o f the larger who le. The NS man po s s es s es “the po wer to be radical that do es
no t reco gniz e s entimental care abo ut painful co nco mitant effects that everywhere affect individuals wherever the realiz atio n o f a
larger who le is at s take. The accus atio n o f hars hnes s , which is time and again levelled agains t Natio nal So cialis m, is a typical
s tatement o f a s o rt o f mankind that cares abo ut individuals and has lo s t s ight o f the s uperio r who le.”6 7
The “image o f the fighter driven by fanatic faith” is in D ürckheim‘s view the ro le mo del fo r the type o f human being that Natio nal
So cialis m aims to pro duce.6 8 “G erman s o ldiers hip co uld well be the s tarting po int o f a co mprehens ive realis atio n o f the G erman
mind.”6 9
Fo r him it was thro ugh Natio nal So cialis m that the “G erman wo rldview” ( deutsche Weltanschauung) became a po litical fo rce fo r the
firs t time. This wo rldview clearly s ho ws the characteris tics o f a religio n as well, and therefo re D ürckheim als o calls it “G erman faith.”
The s o urce o f G erman faith was the “uns hakable belief in the G erman Volk” that Ado lf Hitler implanted in his fello w G ermans , and
this belief implied the co mmitment o f G ermans to G ermany as s o mething that they accepted to be ho ly. 70 D ürckheim des cribes this
faith as bas ed o n the individual experience o f a higher reality, co ntras ting this with the mere “s ubjugatio n to a do gma.” He thus
co nnects the to po s “mys ticis m vers us do gmatic religio n” and the anti-church s entiment that had been quite wides pread within the
“new mys ticis m” o f the Weimarian cultic milieu with his NS-wo rldview:
As the centre o f this faith we find the breakthro ugh o f the great s ubject G ermany [das große Subjekt Deutschland]
within the individual. Therefo re faith in the NS-s ens e do es
no t mean s ubjugatio n to a do gma, but the ins piring fo rce
co ming fro m the jo yful experience o f a higher who le, that
res ides within yo u and wants to beco me reality thro ugh yo u
– and this with s uch a po wer that o ne canno t help but to
s erve this higher will and s acrifice everything that is o nly
pers o nal.71
The
Fi g. 13 T ra i ni ng o f t he Wa f f e n-SS
Fi g. 14 NS Chri st ma s Cul t : Go e bbe l s a nd f a mi l y
mo tive o f ( hero ically) abando ning o ne’s o wn will and s urrendering to
the greater who le functio ns as a link between D ürckheim’s militaris m
and po litical to talitarianis m o n the o ne hand and his preference fo r
mys ticis m o n the o ther. He co ns tructs the Volk as a trans -tempo ral
divine es s ence ( “eternal G ermany,” and later, “eternal divine Japan”)
that every individual s ho uld incarnate by giving up s elfis hnes s and s urrender to the ego les s functio ning within the who le. Service to
the co mmunity o f the Volk and o bedience to wards its leaders who repres ent the will o f the who le s erve as a paramo unt co nnectio n
to the ultimate divine reality. As the Volk is the primary revelatio n o f the divine, the main religio us tas k o f its members is to
co ntribute to its develo pment and mo s t po werful manifes tatio n.72
O ne wo uld think that s uch a theo lo gy o f the Volk is hardly co mpatible with racis m. But this is no t the cas e. Fo r D ürckheim certain
racial co nditio ns are part o f the eternal es s ence o f the Volk. Every Volk has the tas k o f manifes ting the D ivine acco rding to its o wn
racial characteris tics . It is thus a ho ly duty “to maintain the racial s ubs tance and pro tect it agains t any danger.”73
I nt ro duct i o n t o Dürck he i m’s Wa rt i me Wri t i ngs
In 19 39 and 19 40 – o bvio us ly as an o utco me o f his firs t s tay in Japan ( 19 38 -19 39 ) – D ürckheim publis hed fo ur articles related to
Japan in G ermany with the 19 40 Das Geheimnis der japanischen Kraft ( The Secret o f Japanes e Po wer) as a s ummary o f his previo us
s tudy o f Japanes e culture and a bas is fo r the explo ratio ns o f his s eco nd s tay. 74 The jo urnals that publis hed thes e articles were all
deeply co nnected to the regime. Thes e included: 1) Das XX. Jahrhundert ( The Twentieth Century) , financed by the G erman Fo reign
O ffice; 2) Berlin – Rom – Tokyo, a “mo nthly jo urnal fo r the deepening o f the cultural relatio ns hips between peo ples o f the glo bal
po litical triangle,” als o financed by the pres s department o f the Fo reign O ffice and meant to pro vide publicity fo r the Tripartite Pact
and es tablis h a s ens e o f co mmunality between the G ermans , Italians and Japanes e; and 3) Zeitschrift für deutsche Kulturphilosophie
( Jo urnal o f G erman Philo s o phy o f Culture) . The third publicatio n was the NSD AP-co nfo rmis t s ucces s o r o f Logos. Internationale
Zeitschrift für Kulturphilosophie ( Lo go s . Internatio nal Jo urnal o f Philo s o phy o f Culture) that was fo rced to ceas e publicatio n in 19 33. It
pro pagated a völkisch philo s o phy o f culture in line with the cultural po litics o f the Naz is .
His bo o klet Vom rechten Mann. Ein Trutzwort für die schwere Zeit ( O n the Righteo us Man. A Wo rd o f D efiance fo r D ifficult Times ) ,
publis hed in 19 40 , was a kind o f devo tio nal bo o k written fo r G erman men ( in wartimes and o ther difficult s ituatio ns ) . Bes ides the
po litical s ituatio n, D ürckheim may have had s o me pers o nal reas o ns fo r writing it given the fact that at the end o f 19 39 bo th his firs t
wife Enja and his father died.75 Acco rding to the dedicatio n, he finis hed it in January 19 40 , the mo nth o f his s eco nd departure to
Japan. The ques tio n as to whether this bo o k was influenced by Japanes e tho ught will be dis cus s ed belo w.
D uring his s eco nd s tay in Japan ( 19 40 -19 47) D ürckheim did no t publis h anything in G ermany. There are two reas o ns fo r this : 1) Fo r
pro paganda reas o ns he tried to launch as many NS-related articles as po s s ible in Japan, and 2) co mmunicatio n between G ermany
and Japan had beco me mo re and mo re difficult as the war pro ceeded. His mo s t vo lumino us G erman wo rk publis hed during the Naz i
era was o nly available in Japan: Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist ( New G ermany. G erman Spirit, 19 42) .76 D ürckheim tells us in his
preface to the firs t editio n o f this bo o k that its chapters were o riginally articles written fo r different Japanes e jo urnals that had
been trans lated into Japanes e by Has himo to Fumio . Subs equently, the G erman o riginal texts were publis hed in two co llectio ns :
Volkstum und Weltanschauung ( Völkisch Traditio n and Wo rldview, 1s t ed. 19 40 ; 3rd ed. 19 41) and Leben und Kultur ( Life and Culture,
1s t ed. 19 41) . Acco rding to D ürckheim, Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist co ntains the largely unaltered o riginal G erman vers io ns o f
the articles o f bo th s maller co llectio ns . I will quo te fro m the s eco nd “impro ved“ editio n o f this bo o k, publis hed, like the firs t o ne, in
19 42.77 In that s ame year a Japanes e vers io n o f Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist was releas ed.
In 19 42 D ürckheim als o publis hed an article entitled ‘Europe’? in The
XXth Century, the Englis h co unterpart o f Das XX. Jahrhundert, a
pro paganda jo urnal fo r Eas t As ia financed by the G erman Fo reign
Minis try.78
Several o ther texts written between 19 40 and 19 44 were o nly
publis hed in Japanes e. At leas t s o me o f the o riginal G erman
manus cripts o f thes e publicatio ns are archived at the family archives
o f the Co unts o f D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin at the Landes archiv
Speyer/G ermany who s e Karlfried-G raf-D ürkheim s ectio n is no w
unfo rtunately inacces s ible fo r no n-members o f the family. G erhard
Wehr – pro bably the las t pers o n who was allo wed to wo rk in the
archives – mentio ns the exis tence o f the G erman manus cript o f
Maisuteru Ekkuharuto with the title “Meis ter Eckhart” ( 8 5 pages ) and a
manus cript “D er G eis t der euro päis chen Kultur – Ein Beitrag z ur
G eo philo s o phie” ( The Spirit o f Euro pean Culture – A Co ntributio n to
G eo -Philo s o phy) fro m 19 43, which, at leas t acco rding to its title,
s eems to be the G erman vers io n o f Yoroppa Bunka no Shinzui ( The
Es s ence o f Euro pean Culture) .79 Wehr als o co nfirms the exis tence
o f s everal o ther G erman manus cripts fro m that perio d in the archive
witho ut go ing into detail.
Re l i gi o n i n J a pa n f ro m a Völkisch Pe rspe ct i ve
As o ne might expect fro m what has been s tated abo ve, D ürckheim´s
tho ught do es no t s o much addres s religio n in Japan per s e, but mo re
the Japanes e as a Volk and the s o urces o f its as to nis hing military
po wer, the s ucces s o f its dictato rial regime and its impres s ive
völkisch unity. Fo r him the Volk had abs o lute prio rity o ver all o ther
is s ues and s o he did no t s ho w any interes t in interreligio us matters
but wanted to co ntribute to an inter-völkisch unders tanding,
zwischenvölkisches Verstehen, as he literally put it. In this regard he
co ns idered wo rld religio ns to be an o bs tacle:
Fi g. 15 Dürck he i m’s a rt i cl e o n Shujo -Da n
Fi g. 16 Gra f Dürck he i m ( 19 4 0 )
Chris tians , Buddhis ts and humanis ts o f all natio ns [aller Völker] may co incide with regard to certain human bas ic
requirements , and they may feel the o bligatio n to unders tand, to help and to lo ve each o ther o n a pers o nal level.
But all this has no thing to do with a mutual unders tanding o f völkisch mentalities and their neces s ities . O n the
co ntrary, till to day the wo rld religio ns by virtue o f their trans natio nal mis s io n [ aus ihrer übervölkischen Mission]
avo ided the unco nditio nal acceptance o f völkisch values and neces s ities o f life. Actually, mo s t o f the time they
fo ught agains t the pas s io nate co mmitment to o ne’s Volk and – hereby inhibiting all unders tanding – fo ught agains t it
as pride o f race and chauvinis m that co ntradict their bas ic requirements .8 0
Shinto and Japanes e Buddhis m are co ns idered to the extent they fit the divine völkisch nature o f Japan and help to s trengthen the
his to rical manifes tatio n o f the eternal Japanes e s pirit. Even when he co mpares Meis ter Eckhart and Zen this is no t meant as a
co mparis o n between a fo rm o f Buddhis m and a certain kind o f Chris tian theo lo gy and s pirituality but as a reflectio n o f the
relatio ns hip between Japanes e völkisch religio n ( ins pired by Buddhis m) and G erman völkisch religio n ( ins pired by Chris tianity) .
Buddhis m was a creative challenge to the Japanes e that ultimately helped them to dis co ver their true völkisch nature and its innate
religio s ity. By the s ame to ken, the influence o f Chris tianity in the lo ng run helped to clarify the G erman wo rldview:
Jus t as Buddhis m made its way to Japan, Chris tianity came to G ermany fro m the o uts ide. […] Chris tianity is no t the
G erman wo rldview, no r is Buddhis m the Japanes e. The co nfro ntatio n with thes e wo rld religio ns that claim validity fo r
the whole of mankind and relate to the redemption of the individual bro ught to Japan and G ermany co mpuls o ry clarity in
res pect to the ( s elf-) awareness of the essence and the living wholeness of the ‘Volk’ and thus to the völkisch wo rldview.8 1
This o f co urs e is meant as “gaining s trength thro ugh s tro ng advers aries ” but, as we will s ee belo w, it als o co mpris es the po s itive
receptio n o f certain elements fro m wo rld religio ns . Fo r völkisch religio ns they play a s imilar ro le to what D ürckheim calls the
“internatio nal wo rld civilis atio n” ( bas ically co ns is ting o f mo dern s cience and techno lo gy) fo r völkisch cultures . Bo th are dangero us
fo r the völkisch s pirit but to a certain extent als o us eful and ins piring.
T he J a pa ne se Pe o pl e a s a n Exe mpl a ry Volk
D ürckheim des cribes Japan as a co untry co nfro nted with the s ame pro blems as the Naz i mo vement was at that time. In his view,
mo dern develo pments , s uch as indus trializ atio n, ratio naliz atio n, the influence o f the Wes tern – es pecially the American – attitude o f
individualis m and pro fiteering, threatened the realis atio n o f the eternal es s ence o f bo th peo ples .8 2 “It is the s pirit that co nnects us
with Japan, this s pirit, which, bo rn o ut o f the völkisch s ubs tance and the natio n’s will to s urvive, in Japan as well as here in G ermany
fights agains t the alien and brings to bear its particular nature.” 8 3 Similar to G ermany, the dangers o f mo dernity as well as the
threat o f war s timulated Japan’s völkisch po wer and the implementatio n o f po litical s tructures in keeping with the Japanes e s pirit:
Japan to day is jus t beginning to unfo ld its völkisch po wer. And this is becaus e Japan’s traditio nal faith, far away fro m
being ‘replaced’ by a mo dern o ne, pro gres s es fro m the s tage o f a religio us bas is o f völkisch life and a binding fo rce
fo r s pecific clas s es to the po litical s elf-co nfidence o f the who le Volk.8 4
This pas s age reveals the co re o f his view o f Japan’s “hidden fo rce” and the s pecific functio n o f religio n that interes ted him. Fo r
D ürckheim the s ucces s ful po litics o f the future wo rld was to be ins eparably linked to the awakening o f völkisch identities bas ed o n a
religio us attitude that unco nditio nally s uppo rts the wo rld’s leading to talitarian s tates . Acco rdingly, the primal s o urce o f Japan’s
po wer was the po liticiz ing o f its o riginal faith. He reco gniz ed the ris e o f a völkisch religio n co ns is ting o f a po liticiz ed mixture o f
Shinto and Buddhis m that unites the who le natio n and functio ns as a bas is o f legitimatio n fo r the Japanes e s tate and its po licies . In
Augus t 19 41 he no ted in his diary: “My res earch wo rk co ntinues and recently in particular has turned to wards the religio us
fo undatio ns o f Japanes e po wer, that is to Shinto and Buddhis m.”8 5
D ürckheim s ees the divine völkisch s pirit and its will to live as co nnecting G ermany and Japan. “In s pite o f all differences regarding
the co ntents o f faith and the fo rms this faith creates , thro ugh its iro n will to s elf-realis atio n this s pirit is related to o urs .” 8 6
Mo reo ver, the G erman Volk is even able to unders tand Japan better than any o ther Volk. In this regard D ürckheim refers to Hermann
Bo hner’s “mas terful intro ductio n and co mmentary” to his trans latio n o f the Jinnō shōtōki ( Chro nicles o f the Authentic Lineages o f the
D ivine Empero rs ) .8 7 Indeed, Bo hner wanted to demo ns trate the inner affinity between G ermany’s Third Reich and the Japanes e
traditio n in o rder to bring the Jinnō shōtōki clo s er to his G erman audience.
In do ing s o , he likened Kitabatake´s wo rk to Mo eller van den Bruck´s Das dritte Reich, maintaining bo th were
co nnected with the s ame ultimate ques tio n o f ‘who we are.’ Bo hner furthermo re claimed that bo th texts were
‘co nvers atio ns with G o d,’ ‘s elf-dialo gues ,’ and ‘co nvers atio ns with the eminent Us .’ He po rtrays their apparently
s imilar co ntents as well as bo th autho r’s experiences in highly emo tive terms : ‘As tho ugh by a gigantic, trans cendent
epiphany, a D aemo nio n, a pers o nality, that like every Ego is real and yet no n-tangible, each autho r is faced by the
pers o nality o f his o wn natio n.’8 8
Bo hner’s paraphras es o f Mo eller van den Bruck and Kitabatake co me very clo s e to D ürckheim’s deificatio n o f the Volk.8 9 He mus t
have read Bo hner’s s ummary o f the beginning o f the Jinnō Shōtōki with great s ympathy: “Befo re China was ( fo r Japan) , befo re India
was , befo re Ko ng [Co nfucius ] and Buddha had co me acro s s the s ea, there was Japan. It was what it is and what it will be: fro m the
D eity it was , the divine s eed was in it.” 9 0 It is interes ting to no te that in D ürckheim’s Naz i articles written prio r to his firs t s tay in
Japan, he had already mentio ned religio us feelings to wards the Volk, albeit in a s o mewhat curs o ry manner. Japanes e influences may
have s trengthened this dimens io n o f his tho ught.
In any cas e, fo r him the co nfluence between the traditio nal völkisch s pirit and mo dernity was mo re advanced in Japan than in
G ermany, and he implicitly s ugges ts that Japan s ets a go o d example fo r the Third Reich in s everal ways . Fo r him, Japan’s s uperio rity
lay in the fact that o n the Eas t As ian is land the pro ces s o f indus trialis atio n is carried o ut by peo ple who had no t been infected by
materialis m and who had no t given up their traditio nal way o f life. The cult o f the Empero r-G o d ( J. Tennō) – unfo rtunately lacking in
G ermany – helped keep the o ld Japanes e identity and wo rldview alive and vis ible thro ugho ut the ages .9 1 So des pite their
mo derniz atio n, the Japanes e s till have s tro ng ties to family and dynas ty. 9 2 Individuals co ns ider thems elves “with exemplary
naturalnes s to be o nly a s erving part o f the higher life-units .”9 3
In the G ermany o f his time, by co ntras t, individualis m as well as the materialis tic s pirit o f bo th capitalis ts and pro letarians were
much s tro nger. D ürkheim co mplains that dis cus s io ns o n the individualis tic unders tanding o f freedo m had no t yet co me to an end.
The G ermans , he s ays , are jus t abo ut to reacquire the kno wledge that liberty primarily means being free fro m o nes elf and therefo re
being free to perfo rm co mmunity s ervice. D ürckheim admits that co ntempo rary Japan als o has to face the “pro blem o f freedo m in a
Wes tern s ens e”:
But after all “individualis ts ” s till o ccur quite rarely. They are limited to certain s o cial circles and individualis m is a
beaco n to a wo rld that didn’t kno w this pheno meno n befo re, never idealiz ed o r philo s o phically legitimis ed it, and
no w fights agains t it to the bitter end.9 4
D ürckheim underlines the affinities between bo th cultures to s uch an extent that o ne s o metimes gets the impres s io n he thinks the
Japanes e wo uld be the better Naz is . He was but o ne amo ng many
( academics as well as jo urnalis ts ) in the G erman-Japan dis co urs e
who prais ed Japan as o ne if no t the exemplary Volk. This tendency
was s een in the Augus t 19 42 Situatio n Repo rt o f the SS’s Security
Service as a pro blem. The repo rt s tates that the many co mparis o ns
between the s ucces s ful no n-Chris tian religio us wo rldview attitude
to wards life, po litics and warfare in Japan and the religio us wo rldview
s ituatio n in G ermany have caus ed certain develo pments that make it
neces s ary to gradually co rrect the image o f Japan:
The fo rmer view, that the G erman s o ldier is the bes t in the
wo rld has been co nfus ed by des criptio ns o f the Japanes e
s wimmers who remo ved mines laid befo re Ho ngko ng, o r the
Japanes e pilo ts who , with co ntempt fo r death, po unce with
their bo mbs o n enemy s hips . This has partially caus ed
s o mething like an inferio rity co mplex. The Japanes e lo o k like
a kind o f ‘Super-Teuto n’ [G ermane im Q uadrat].9 5
D ürckheim, ho wever, is deeply co nvinced that a mutual enrichment
between G ermany and Japan co uld and s ho uld take place. With two
different theo retical mo dels he explains ho w this inter-völkisch
enco unter co uld wo rk. The firs t mo del rejects direct bo rro wings
between different völkisch cultures . “Jus t as it is impo s s ible to s hift
Mt. Fuji to Euro pe and the Rhine to Japan, it is impo s s ible to mutually
trans fer the es s entially Japanes e and the es s entially G erman.” 9 6
Nevertheles s , the s tudy o f a no n-trans ferable alien culture is able to
s timulate deep cultural gro wth becaus e it s harpens ins ight into the
principles o f o ne’s o wn culture, and it is able to ins pire the
redis co very o f s o me o f its elements that were lo ng lo s t.9 7
Fi g.
17
Al bre cht
vo n
ja pa ni sche r Kra f t ( 19 4 2)
Ura ch:
Da s
Ge he i mni s
The s eco nd mo del o f inter-vö lkis ch relatio ns hip co ncedes
po s s ibility o f direct impo rts fro m an alien Volk and takes
receptio n o f Zen Buddhis m in Japan as an example o f this .
the
the
T he I nt e gra t i o n o f Fo re i gn El e me nt s i nt o a völkisch
Weltanschauung: Ze n’s Co nt ri but i o n t o Yamato-damashii
Whereas D ürckheim, as no ted abo ve, us ually emphas iz ed that the
Volk is a “clo s ed who le,” his reflectio ns o n Japan o utline that it is no t
a co mpletely clo s ed entity like a co ncrete blo ck, but po s s es s es a
limited o pennes s that in s o me way res embles the relatio n between
an amo eba and its s urro undings . He dis tinguis hes three kinds o f
“healthy” reactio ns to the fo reign within Japanes e his to ry: 9 8
1. Alien elements that fit have been merged with the o riginal völkisch
s ubs tance ( e.g., Buddhis m and Chines e culture) .
2. Alien elements that did no t fit have been withdrawn o r at leas t
s uppres s ed ( e.g., Chris tianity) .
3. Alien elements that did no t fit, but pro ved to be neces s ary fo r the s elfpres ervatio n o f Japan were integrated witho ut damaging the inner
es s ence o f the Volk in the lo ng run ( Euro pean Spirit, technical
achievements ) .
Fo r D ürckheim, Japan’s relatio ns hip with the o uts ide wo rld is a
paradigm o f ho w a healthy Volk with a s tro ng “racial ins tinct”
behaves . Japanes e co ntacts with o ther natio ns and cultures
deepened its s elf-kno wledge and s trengthened its po wer. His
differentiatio n between s everal ways a Volk can relate to fo reign Völker is impo rtant becaus e it allo ws fo r intercultural co ntacts and
influences to be affirmed o n the bas is o f völkisch tho ught. As we will s ee, his go al s eems to have been to integrate Japanes e
elements into the Teuto nic way o f life. But let us firs t co ns ider what he tho ught to be the co ntributio n o f Zen to the Japanes e
völkisch culture.
Fo r him the Japanes e racial ins tinct, faith o r wo rldview is a mighty “current o f life” that carries the Japanes e natio n alo ng and guides
it beneath all co ns cio us activities . The Japanes e wo rd fo r it, he tells his readers , is Yamato-damashii ( us ually trans lated as the “Heart
o f Yamato ,” o r “Japanes e Spirit”) . 9 9 Acco rding to his mo s t elabo rate analys is in Das Geheimnis der japanischen Kraft ( The Secret o f
Japanes e Po wer) Yamato-damashii had fo ur fo undatio ns : 10 0
1. Tennō : the center o f the Empire, pers o nificatio n o f the Volk, its unity and its divine o rigin.
2. Bushidō: the way o f the knight, the s amurai.
3. Lo yalty and piety to wards o ne’s ances to rs , parents and s uperio rs .
4. Freedo m as detachment fro m life and death.
Since Zen Buddhis m co mes into play in 2) and 4) , the autho r will fo cus o n thes e po ints in the fo llo wing.
The o nly s o urce co ncerning Zen that D ürckheim refers to in Das Geheimnis der japanischen Kraft is Suz uki’s Zen Buddhism and its
influence on Japanese Culture ( 19 38 ) .10 1 The autho r is no t aware o f any o ther Zen-related literature that D ürckheim referred to in his
publis hed wartime writings . It is certain that he als o knew o f Herrigel’s article o n The Knightly Art of Archery. Furthermo re, as detailed
in Part III, he was later intro duced to Zen-related literature and texts written by Yas utani Haku’un and trans lated fo r him by
Has himo to Fumio .
Fro m Suz uki and Herrigel, D ürckheim learned that Zen is a Buddhis t s ect that – like every fo rm o f Buddhis m – s earches fo r
enlightenment thro ugh meditatio n, but differs fro m o ther Buddhis t s cho o ls fo r three reas o ns which make Zen es pecially interes ting
fo r D ürckheim: 10 2 1) its denial o f every do gma,10 3 2) its as piratio n fo r a direct relatio ns hip to the abs o lute,10 4 and 3) its emphas is
o n the practice o f this relatio ns hip in daily life, wo rk and s ervice.10 5
Fo r D ürckheim, Zen is the bes t example s ho wing that Japan do es no t fit the characteriz atio n o f As ian mentality as do minated by
pas s ive co ntemplatio n. Ins tead, Zen helped to create the typical Japanes e s ynthes is o f a “pas s ive experience o f G o d” with
“willpo wer and determined actio n.” He emphas is ed that Zen mo nks had been amo ng the great teachers o f the s amurai s pirit, which
had evo lved during the firs t military rule o f Japan in the 13 th century.10 6 Then he co ntinued:
It is go o d to kno w that to day perhaps 50 % o f the Japanes e o fficer co rps have a mo re o r les s clo s e relatio ns hip to
Zen Buddhis m, and this means kno wledge o f the po wer o f the mo tio nles s mind, the s till heart. It als o means a
pers o nal relatio ns hip to the demands o f Zen-Buddhis t culture, a culture which reco gniz es the fulfilment o f life in the
validatio n o f perfect harmo ny – s ymbo lically expres s ed in the tea ceremo ny, but ultimately in everything, es pecially
in human relatio ns .10 7
No te that harmo ny in acco rdance with D ürckheim’s ho lis tic tho ught means the who le having perfect co ntro l o ver its parts .
Acco rdingly, Zen in D ürckheim’s view is a practice that unites the different clas s es o f the Japanes e Volk. No t o nly military o fficers ,
but als o Japanes e bus ines s men, indus trial wo rkers and peas ants are o pen to the Zen-influenced meditative experience and
therefo re kno w “the s ecret o f ‘the inner s pace’.”10 8 He illus trates this with an o bs ervatio n fro m Japanes e daily life:
Every Wes terner no tices ho w s ilently the Japanes e o ften s it o r kneel. It is as if they have a s ecret s pace to live in,
into which they can withdraw at any time, and in which they experience s o mething that no is y reality is never able to
give. They s o meho w kno w abo ut the s ilent and unmo ved heart that reveals the true independence o f human beings
fro m things external.10 9
The experience o f an inner s pace enables the Japanes e to be co ntent with whatever s o cial co nditio ns they live in, to be happy even if
they s uffer fro m po verty and hard wo rk as wo rkers and peas ants , and to s tay calm even when ris king their lives fo r their co untry as
s o ldiers . The metapho r o f the “s ecret inner s pace” is no table becaus e it do es no t s eem to belo ng to Zen vo cabulary. The autho r
fo und o nly o ne pas s age in Suz uki’s Zen Buddhism and Its Influence on Japanese Culture that res embles this metapho r and might have
influenced D ürckheim. Suz uki reflects upo n the s ignificance o f the tea cult fo r the Japanes e warrio rs “in tho s e days o f s trife and
unres t when they were mo s t s trenuo us ly engaged in warlike bus ines s ” and needed a res pite fro m fighting and time to relax:
The tea cult mus t have given them exactly what they needed. They retreated fo r a while into a quiet co rner o f their
Unco ns cio us s ymbo lis ed by the tearo o m no wider than ten feet s quare. And when they came o ut o f it, they felt no t
o nly refres hed in mind and bo dy, but mo s t likely had their memo ry renewed o f things which were o f mo re permanent
value than mere fighting.110
The “inner s pace” who s e cultivatio n is fo s tered by Zen practice is co nnected with the fo urth characteris tic o f Yamato-damashii:
freedo m fro m pas s io ns like fear and s o rro w as well as fro m mental unres t – a s tate that is attained by letting go o f all fo rms o f
clinging to the wo rld:
Regarding this , the Japanes e po s s es s a religio us s o urce o f po wer in the fo rm o f their Buddhis t faith […] Expres s ed
in o ur catego ries o ne canno t but call this s o urce a s pecial relatio ns hip to the abs o lute and an independence from life
and death that res ults fro m clo s enes s to the abs o lute.111
This independence is , acco rding to D ürckheim, a Buddhis t virtue and at the s ame time the mo s t bas ic s o urce o f the trans pers o nal
lo yalty that the Japanes e time and again pro ve in their s ervice to bo th family and Volk. Herrigel already had expres s ed exactly the
s ame view in his 19 36 article o n the knightly art o f archery:
Fo r the Japanes e it no t o nly go es witho ut s aying that they integrate thems elves s mo o thly into the o rganic o rders o f
their völkisch exis tence – they even s acrifice their lives fo r them in a detached and mo des t way. And here o nly the
fruit o f Buddhis t influence and therefo re the s ubco ns cio us educatio nal value o f the Zen-bas ed arts beco me evident:
fro m this innermo s t light death and even s uicide fo r the s ake o f the fatherland get their s ublime co ns ecratio n and in
a mo s t fundamental way lo s e all ho rro r.112
The res ults o f D ürckheim’s article o n the mys tery o f Japanes e po wer are in acco rdance with Suz uki’s theo ry o f the fundamental
s ignificance o f Zen fo r all o f Japanes e culture and Herrigel’s high evaluatio n o f the educatio nal value o f Zen- bas ed arts . D ürckheim
tried to s ho w that the practice o f Yamato-damashii is deeply ro o ted in Zen ins ights and attitudes , and therefo re Zen ultimately
appears to be the mo s t s ignificant expres s io n o f the Japanes e völkisch s pirit and an es s ential res o urce o f Japanes e po wer. Similar
to Suz uki, and perhaps even s tro nger than him, he underlined the co nnectio n o f the s amurai to Zen. The po s itive co ntributio n Zen
made to the military and eco no mic s trength o f Japan and to the inner unity o f the natio n were o f crucial impo rtance fo r D ürckheim’s
po s itive evaluatio n o f this fo rm o f Buddhis m.
Po ssi bl e J a pa ne se I nf l ue nce o n Dürck he i m´s Vom rechten Mann
As mentio ned abo ve, in 19 40 , jus t as he was abo ut to travel to Japan again, D ürckheim publis hed a s mall bo o klet meant to be a
kind o f handbo o k fo r G erman men in difficult times ( es pecially in wartime) . There the ideal righteo us man is des cribed as a man o f
ho no r ( Ehrenmann) , a man o f G o d ( Gottesmann) and a man o f the Volk ( Volksmann) . D es cribing the virtues o f the righteo us man in
relatio n to hims elf, to G o d and to his Volk, D ürckheim reveals the ethical and s piritual principles o f his völkisch wo rld view. The
bo o klet co ns is ts o f many s mall chapters who s e s tyle is reminis cent o f the G erman trans latio ns o f the Daodejing.
There are o ther “o rientaliz atio ns ” that dis tinguis h this text. Fo r example, there is the s triking impo rtance o f the metapho r o f the
s wo rd. D ürckheim wro te:
The righteo us man do es no t revo lt o ut o f s elfis hnes s . But if
his ho no r is co ncerned, if his natio n is in danger o r G o d’s
co ncern is vio lated within hims elf o r within the Wo rld, then
this calls him to fight and trans fo rms him into a s wo rd. […]
then a kind o f willpo wer aris es that do es no t take care o f
its elf but kno cks do wn everything that s tands in his way.113
This s equence pro bably res o nates with Suz uki’s philo s o phy o f
s wo rds mans hip and his us e o f “the s wo rd” as a s ymbo l fo r the life
o f the s amurai, fo r his lo yalty and s elf-s acrifice. Fo r Suz uki the
s wo rd fulfils a do uble functio n. Firs t, it des tro ys anything that is
o ppo s ed to its o wner’s will in the s pirit o f patrio tis m and militaris m.
Seco nd, it is the annihilatio n o f everything that s tands in the way o f
peace, pro gres s and humanity. The s wo rd s ymbo liz es “the s piritual
welfare o f the wo rld at large.”114
Being a gift o f G o d the s wo rd ( as a weapo n as well as by virtue o f its
s ymbo lic meaning o f unco nditio nal determinatio n and vigo ur)
repres ents s o mething ho ly fo r D ürckheim. “The s tro nges t will, the
pures t fire and the s harpes t s wo rd – o ut o f G o d do they co me to the
righteo us man.” 115 And o f co urs e D ürckheim’s s wo rd, like Suz uki’s ,
des tro ys fo r the benefit o f mankind. “His s wo rd is s hiny, hard and
merciles s . It’s all fo r a go o d caus e and this requires that o ne no t
s lacken in the fight.” 116
In Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist
D ürckheim, very s imilar to Suz uki, was to call the s wo rd “Hüter des
Heiligen” ( guardian o f the ho ly) .117
Fi g. 18 Ka rl Eck pre cht ( pse ud.) : Vo m re cht e n Ma nn
The metapho r o f the s wo rd was certainly no t new to D ürckheim when
he came acro s s it in his enco unters with Japanes e culture. It is well
kno wn in G erman culture to o , es pecially in Naz is m. In Neues
Deutschland. Deutscher Geist D ürckheim s ays that “the co nnectio n o f
lyre and sword” is s o mething typically G erman.118 Mo reo ver, in Das
Geheimnis der japanischen Kraft he s ets fo rth the pro po s itio n that the
unity o f lyre and s wo rd, po etry and military s pirit, co uld well be the
deepes t co mmo n gro und o f the völkisch s pirit o f bo th G ermany and Japan.119 “Leier und Schwert” ( Lyre and Swo rd) is the name o f a
vo lume o f po ems written by the 19 th century po et Theo do r Kö rner, who was held in high es teem by the Naz is . In Hitler’s Mein Kampf, a
bo o k that D ürckheim tho ught very highly o f, the wo rd “s wo rd” is us ed 27 times as a s yno nym fo r “weapo n” o r “military fo rce.” Hitler
co ntras ts the virtuo us “no bility o f the s wo rd” ( Schwertadel) with the co rrupt Jewis h “no bility o f finance” ( Finanzadel) .120 But it s eems
that Suz uki’s Zen-empo wered s amurai and o ther Japanes e s o urces ins pired D ürckheim to elabo rate o n its s ymbo lis m.
Mo s t o f the religio us parts o f the bo o k us e wo rds and phras es taken fro m the language o f Chris tian piety albeit witho ut reference
to Chris t, Mo ther Mary, the Trinity and o ther theo lo gical features i.e., in the s ens e o f a völkisch religio s ity influenced by Chris tianity.
The term “die G ro ße Kraft” ( the G reat Fo rce) that he us es fo ur times , three o f which with quo tatio n marks , do es no t fit into this
vo cabulary.121 To give but o ne example: “The righteo us man has a cheerful heart and a mind which is always free in the depth o f the
s o ul. . . . There he is carried by the G reat Fo rce and fro m there he carries and o verco mes everything.” 122 Where did this expres s io n
co me fro m?
In 19 6 4 D ürckheim publis hed a co llectio n o f texts as Wunderbare Katze und andere Zen-Texte ( Marvelo us Cat and O ther Zen texts ) .
The text fro m which the co llectio n derived its name Marvelous Cat is a training manual us ed by a fencing s cho o l who s e autho r
acco rding to D ürckheim was an early s eventeenth century Zen mas ter named Ito Tenz aa Chuya. D ürckheim writes that the manual
had been given to him by “my Zen teacher” Admiral Teramo to Takeharu. Admiral Teramo to was a pro fes s o r at the Naval Academy in
To kyo and als o a Japanes e fencing ( kendō) adept. The text is abo ut “das Wirken, das aus der gro ßen Kraft ko mmt” ( the kind o f
actio n that co mes fro m the G reat Po wer) . “G ro ße Kraft” here functio ns as trans latio n o f the Japanes e ki no sho.123 D ürckheim
pro bably go t his hands o n this text during his firs t s tay in Japan and to o k the phras e fro m there when he wro te Vom rechten Mann.
The expres s io n “inner s pace” with which D ürckheim characteriz ed Zen experience als o reappears in Vom rechten Mann. He us ed it to
des cribe a fo rm o f meditatio n already res embling the centering o f the bo dy in the hara that was to beco me s o impo rtant in
D ürckheim’s po s t-war writing. It als o partly s o unds like a paraphras e o f Suz uki’s recreatio n o f the warrio rs ’ “in a quiet co rner o f
their Unco ns cio us ”:
When things beco me really bad and unres t threatens even his heart, then he turns inward and lo cks hims elf up in the
innermo s t s pace o f his s o ul. This s pace is his s ecret. There he reco llects hims elf in his deepes t centre. To tally s ilent
he s ettles hims elf, lifts his heart and lets his mind and s ens es calm do wn again in G o d. Even in the middle o f the
greates t turmo il he always finds the mo ment to let go o f everything, to lo wer the s ho ulders and breath deeply. And
he do es no t s to p this until he experiences the po wer o f the great centre again.124
The different po ints that in D ürckheim’s view dis tinguis h Zen fro m o ther s cho o ls o f Buddhis m were als o es s ential to his G erman
völkisch religio s ity which was s uppo s ed to s uppo rt the Führerstaat and its po licies . His co ncept o f inter-völkisch co ntacts allo wed him
to affirm the integratio n o f elements fro m fo reign religio ns and cultures into the G erman völkisch wo rldview. He thus pro ceeded to
intro duce ideas fro m what he perceived to be the Japanes e völkisch wo rldview and to trans fo rm them in s uch a way that they wo uld fit
and enrich the Naz i-G erman wo rldview. O n the o ne hand, trans natio nal religio ns like Buddhis m were o nly o f mino r impo rtance to him
co mpared with völkisch religio us wo rldviews . O n the o ther hand, he fo llo wed Suz uki and Herrigel’s analys is o f Zen’s influence o n
Japanes e culture, arguing that as a völkisch trans fo rmed Buddhis m it was o f es s ential impo rtance to Yamato-damashii.
That he began to blend his o wn völkisch religio s ity with Zen co ncepts can als o be s een fro m an undated letter to a Japanes e friend
quo ted by Wehr. D ürckheim wro te:
If I reflect upo n the ruling clas s es o f the future, well, I think, they will perhaps revo lve aro und s o mething like a
po litical, i.e., völkisch satori, which is at the s ame time a s uper-völkisch satori, that is to s ay, aro und a s piritual
breakthro ugh to wards ultimate reality – but a breakthro ugh in which the s earching s ubject is no t the individual but a
greater s elf which attains co ns cio us nes s within the individual.”125
Wehr interprets this pas s age as evidence o f D ürckheim having o verco me Naz i ideo lo gy during his s tay in Japan ( actually the o nly
o ne he co uld find) . Acco rding to his interpretatio n the “greater s elf” mentio ned in this text co rres po nds to C. G . Jung’s co ncept o f
the “s elf” as a go al o f the pro ces s o f individuatio n. But the text fits perfectly with all we kno w abo ut D ürckheim’s Naz i wo rldview, if
o ne s ees the “greater s elf” as referring to the Volk, as the who le pas s age s ugges ts . O nce again the awakening to ultimate reality and
the awakening o f the Volk within the individual are identified with each o ther in a völkisch-s uper-völkisch enlightenment.
Co ncl usi o n
O ne co uld s ay that D ürckheim, like the Japanes e pro tago nis ts o f the Zen-Bushidō ideo lo gy, ins trumentaliz ed religio n in the s ervice
o f po litical to talitarianis m. He did do s o no t as a s eculariz ed no n-believer but as s o meo ne fo r who m the G erman and Japanes e Volk
had religio us s ignificance becaus e he unders to o d them and their po litical s ys tems as manifes tatio ns o f the D ivine. D ürckheim
maintained that their völkisch wo rldviews as a reflectio n o f the reality o f the Volk s ho uld be endo wed with a genuine religio us
dimens io n.
D ürckheim o bvio us ly did no t intend a kind o f new ins titutio naliz ed church-like natio nal religio n fo r Naz i G ermany, be it neo -pagan o r
völkisch Chris tian. When the s tate repres ents the Volk and the Volk is the highes t revelatio n o f ultimate reality then religio us
o rganis atio ns beco me s uperfluo us . Po litical rituals and s tate ho lidays take the place o f religio us rituals and feas ts . O ut o f this
came D ürckheim’s s ympathies fo r s tate-s uppo rted Shintō, the Japanes e s tate’s ideo lo gy and cult. He pro bably envis io ned adding
s piritual exercis es bas ed o n the mo del o f Japanes e Zen arts to thes e quas i-religio us fo rms o f expres s io n o f the ho ly Volksgeist – at
leas t fo r the G erman elites .
D ürckheim’s Naz i tho ught is a go o d example o f the eno rmo us aggres s ive po tential o f s uch a po liticis ed religio s ity. A religio s ity that
wo uld s to p s ho rt o f no thing s ho uld the dis play o f a natio n’s po wer and its rulers be at s take.
Ka rl Ba i e r is a pro fes s o r in the D epartment fo r the Study o f Religio ns , Univers ity o f Vienna. He ho lds a Ph.D . in philo s o phy and an
M.A. in Catho lic Theo lo gy. Majo r Writings include “ Yoga auf dem Weg nach Westen” ( 19 9 8 ) , a bo o k o n the his to ry o f Yo ga in the Wes t,
and his habilitatio n thes is “Meditation und Moderne” ( Meditatio n and Mo dernity) that was publis hed in two vo lumes in 20 0 9 . Karl Baier
is a member o f the Euro pean Netwo rk o f Buddhis t Chris tian Studies .
Recommended citation: Karl Baier, The Formation and Principles of Count Dürckheim’s Nazi Worldview and his interpretation of Japanese Spirit
and Zen,The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 11, Issue 48, No. 3, December 2, 2013.
Re l a t e d a rt i cl e s:
• Brian D aiz en Victo ria, Zen as a Cult o f D eath in the Wartime Writings o f D .T. Suz uki
• Vladimir Tikho no v, So uth Ko rea’s Chris tian Military Chaplaincy in the Ko rean War - religio n as ideo lo gy?
• Brian Victo ria, Buddhis m and D is as ters : Fro m Wo rld War II to Fukus hima
• Brian Victo ria, Karma, War and Inequality in Twentieth Century Japan
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No t e s
1
See, Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 318 -319 .
2
See Wehr, Karlfried Graf Dürckheim, p. 15.
3
D ürckheim, D er Weg is t das Ziel, p. 26 .
4
Ibd., pp. 26 -27.
5
D ürckheim, Erlebnis und Wandlung, p. 29 .
6
See D ürckheim, The Japanese Cult of Tranquility, p. 44 and Sectio n II o f this article.
7
See Wehr, Karlfried Graf Dürckheim, pp. 26 -31.
8
E.g. Heimatgrüße 4 ( 26 March 19 15) , p. 10 : “Fei lus ti bleib´n / D ie Rus s en vatreib´n / D ie Serben vaprügeln, / D ie s akris chen
Rigeln.” ( “Certainly co ntinue to be merry, / Chas ing the Rus s ians , / Beating the Serbs , / tho s e terrible hulks .”) All G erman texts have
been trans lated by the autho r.
9
See Weinhandl, “Zur religionsphilosophischen und psychologischen Würdigung des religiösen Erlebens.” p. 6 3.
10
See ibid., p. 26 .
11
See Deutsches Nonnenleben.
12
Habilitatio n is the highes t academic qualificatio n o ne can o btain at a G erman univers ity. It is s imilar to the attainment o f a
res earch do cto rate, but o n a higher level o f s cho lars hip. The candidate has to write and defend a thes is that is reviewed by an
academic co mmittee.
13
Ignatius vo n Lo yo la, Die geistlichen Übungen; Ferdinand Weinhandl, Meister Eckehart im Quellpunkt seiner Lehre.
14
See D ürckheim, Mein Weg zur Mitte, p. 13.
15
Wehr, Karlfried Graf Dürckheim, p. 46 .
16
D ürckheim, Mein Weg zu Mitte, p. 13.
17
Völkisch tho ught as a kind o f ethnic natio nalis m interprets religio n and culture in general as expres s io ns o f the Volk ( lit. “peo ple,
natio n”) as the mo s t bas ic “o rganic” unit o f human life. The meaning o f “völkisch” and “Volk” will be explained in mo re detail belo w.
18
Weinhandl, Person, Weltbild und Deutung, p. 44, p. 9 9 . The Teuto nic Faus tian lifes tyle ( derived fro m G o ethe´s famo us drama
‘Faus t’) us ually was depicted as invo lving bo th a s earch fo r the deepes t meaning o f life and an active s haping o f the wo rld in
co ntras t to pes s imis tic wo rldviews and pas s ive wo rld-negating mys ticis m.
19
Herrigel, “Die ritterliche Kunst des Bogenschiessens.”
20
Ibid., p. 20 9 . Cf. D eeg, “Aryan National Religion(s) and the Criticism of Ascetism”.
21
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist, p. 39 .
22
Ular, Die Bahn und der rechte Weg. The as to nis hing po pularity o f Ular´s trans latio n is s ho wn by G ras mück, Geschichte und Aktualität
der Daoismusrezeption im deutschsprachigen Raum, p. 6 5. The way in which Ular us es the terms “Vo lk” and “G emeins chaft” ( co mmunity)
in his trans latio n o f Lao z i may have s uppo rted his po pularity within the völkisch cultic milieu.
23
Cf. Wehr, Karlfried Graf Dürckheim, 37. Lao z i, Daodejing, chapter 11: “Thirty s po kes unite in o ne nave and o n that which is no nexis tent o n the ho le in the nave depends the wheel's utility. Clay is mo lded into a ves s el and o n that which is no n-exis tent o n its
ho llo wnes s depends the ves s el's utility. By cutting o ut do o rs and windo ws we build a ho us e and o n that which is no n-exis tent o n
the empty s pace within depends the ho us e's utility.Therefo re, exis tence renders actual but no n-exis tence renders us eful."
( trans lated by D ais etz Suz uki and Paul Carus in 19 13)
24
Cf. ibid., p. 43.
25
Ferdinand Weinhandl, Wege der Selbstgestaltung ( Metho ds o f Self-D evelo pment) reflects the divers ity o f practices the Square knew
and might have experimented with.
26
See D ürckheim, Mein Weg zur Mitte, p. 15. G eo rg G rimm ( 18 6 8 -19 45) was a pio neer o f Buddhis m in G ermany and co fo under o f the
Theravada-o riented “Altbudddhistische Gemeinde” ( O ld-Buddhis t Co mmunity) . Unfo rtunately, D ürckheim do es no t reveal which o f
G rimm´s bo o ks he actually s tudied.
27
Campbell, “The Cult, the Cultic Milieu and Secularis atio n”. Campbell defined the cultic milieu as a s o cial s etting in which a s o ciety
´s deviant belief s ys tems and practices are pro duced and handed do wn in varying cult mo vements with a relatively lo w level o f
ins titutio naliz atio n.
28
Po ewe, New Religions and the Nazis, p. 39 .
29
Fo r this s ee Hippius , “Am Faden von Zeit und Ewigkeit,” p. 13.
30
The millenarianis m o f the “new man” was no t o nly impo rtant fo r the right-wing co unterculture. It was at the s ame time wides pread
amo ng s o cialis ts .
31
D ürckheim, Erlebnis und Wandlung, p. 35.
32
Weinhandl, “Über Verwandlung. Ein Brief,” p. 179 .
33
See Junginger, “Die Deutsche Glaubensbewegung als ideologisches Zentrum der völkisch-religiösen Bewegung,” pp. 6 8 -70 ; G ers tner, Neuer
Adel.
34
The o ld idea o f a “Third Reich“ was po pulariz ed in the 19 20 s by the widely read manifes to o f Mo eller van den Bruck, Das Dritte Reich
that s ignificantly influenced the early NSD AP.
35
Tilitz ki, Die deutsche Universitätsphilosophie in der Weimarer Republik und im Dritten Reich, p. 175.
36
Weinhandl, Person, Weltbild und Deutung, p. 55.
37
Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 514.
38
Po ewe, New Religions and the Nazis, p. 37.
39
Cf. Junginger, “Deutsche Glaubensbewegung,” p. 20 0 fn. 5.
40
Cf. Tilitz iki, Die deutsche Universitätsphilosophie, p. 178 . Within the Third Reich, Weinhandl acted as a dedicated fo llo wer o f the
Regime, who s uppo rted it no t o nly thro ugh his philo s o phy but als o with his participatio n in the burning o f bo o ks at the central
s quare in Kiel in 19 33 and by his wo rk in s everal co mpliant academic o rganis atio ns . In 19 38 he became the s cientific directo r o f the
Scientific Academy o f the NSD Dozentenbund. Sho rtly befo re the end o f the Regime, it is quite likely that tens io ns between him and
the NSD AP aro s e, perhaps becaus e o f his religio us co mmitment and interes t in s piritual renewal. Ho wever, he did no t jo in the party
when he came back to Aus tria in 19 44 and therefo re was treated as “les s invo lved” after the war. See Ro llett, “Ferdinand Weinhandl,”
p. 413.
41
Cf. Tilitz ki, Die deutsche Universitätsphilosophie, p. 6 27.
42
Cf. G o o drick-Clarke, The Occult Roots of Nazism; Cancik, Antisemitismus, Paganismus, völkische Religion; Schnurbein, Völkische Religion
und Krisen der Moderne; Pus chner, Die völkische Bewegung im wilhelminischen Kaiserreich; G ailus / No lz en ( ed.) , Zerstrittene
‚Volksgemeinschaft’; Pus chner / Vo llnhals ( ed.) , Die völkisch-religiöse Bewegung im Nationalsozialismus.
43
Pus chner / Vo llnhals ( ed.) , “Die völkisch-religiöse Bewegung im Nationalsozialismus. Forschungs- und problemgeschichtliche Perspektiven,”
p. 15.
44
Cf. Weinhandl, Der innere Tag, pp. 149 -151; pp. 174-176 .
45
D ürckheim, Mein Weg zur Mitte, p. 15.
46
The impo rtance o f the mo tive o f trans fo rmatio n to wards the “new man” in D ürckheim’s early days is mentio ned in Wehr, Karlfried
Graf Dürckheim, p. 37.
47
Hippius , “Am Faden von Zeit und Ewigkeit,” p. 14, no te 1. Fo r the Traditio nalis t Scho o l s ee Sedgwick, Against the Modern World.
48
D ürckheim had been ins pired by an article o f Evo la publis hed in 19 6 5 to call his kind o f ps ycho therapy “Initiatic Therapy.” This
mo tivated him to vis it Evo la in Ro me. Cf. Wehr, Karlfried Graf Dürckheim, pp. 179 -18 1. The relatio ns hip between D ürkheim and Evo la is
analyz ed further by Hans en, “Julius Evo la und Karlfried G raf D ürckheim.”
49
Weinhandl, “Zur religionsphilosophischen und psychologischen Würdigung,” p. 38 . ( Italics , Weinhandl) .
50
See Scherer, “Organische Weltanschauung und Ganzheitspsychologie,” pp. 15-16 .
51
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “Zweck und Wert im Sinngefüge des Handelns,” pp. 230 -31.
52
G euter, “The Who le and the Co mmunity: Scientific and Po litical Reas o ning in the Ho lis tic Ps ycho lo gy o f Felix Krueger,” p. 20 2. Cf.
Harringto n: Reenchanted Science.
53
In 19 29 Freyer’s po s itive as s es s ment was crucial fo r D ürkheim’s habilitatio n. Like o ther radical co ns ervatives and völkisch
intellectuals , Freyer s et high ho pes in the dawn o f the Third Reich, but was s o o n dis illus io ned. See Muller: The Other God That Failed.
54
Tilitz ki, Die deutsche Universitätsphilosophie, p. 527.
55
See G euter, “The Who le and the Co mmunity,” p. 20 4.
56
Ibid., p. 20 5.
57
Ibid., p, 20 6 .
58
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist, p. 141.
59
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “Gemeinschaft,” p. 20 6 ( Italics , D ürckheim) .
60
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “Zweck und Wert im Sinngefüge des Handelns,” p. 234. Nevertheles s , D ürckheim s o metimes emphas iz es the
impo rtance o f individuality and individual res po ns ibility. But fro m his ho lis tic pers pective the creativity and res po ns ibility o f
individuals are o nly legitimate ins o far they enhance the fulfilment o f the requirements o f the greater who le. See e.g. D ürckheimMo ntmartin, Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist, pp. 10 -11.
61
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “Gemeinschaft,” p. 20 7. Brackets and the wo rds in brackets are part o f the o riginal text. In Naz i G erman
the term Rassenfrage, racial ques tio n, referred to all the pro blems that aris e as a res ult o f the co habitatio n o f the Aryan race with
alien races , and es pecially the Jews . D ürckheim here legitimates the racial po licy o f the Third Reich with his theo ry o f the o rganic
co mmunity as a clo s ed who le.
62
D ürckheim, “Zweck und Wert im Sinngefüge des Handelns,” p. 231.
63
See D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin: Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist, p. 146 .
64
Ibd., p. 142.
65
Cf. D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “Zweck und Wert im Sinngefüge des Handelns,” pp. 233-34, Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist, p. 146 .
66
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “Zweck und Wert im Sinngefüge des Handelns,” p. 233.
67
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin: Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist, p. 151.
68
Ibid., p. 147.
69
Ibid., p. 49 .
70
See ibid., p. 146 and p. 7. In Mein Kampf and in his s peeches Hitler o ften invo kes his belief and faith in the G erman Volk.
71
Ibid., p. 147.
72
Cf. the definitio n o f what it means to be religio us that D ürckheim gives in Der Geist der europäischen Kultur ( 19 43) , quo ted in Wehr,
Karlfried Graf Dürckheim, p. 118 . Acco rding to this text to be religio us means to direct o ne’s life to the realiz atio n o f the D ivine within
the co ncrete fo rms o f earthly life. “Whenever we s ucces s fully develo p this o rientatio n then primarily o ur o wn Volk pres ents its elf to
us as a manifes tatio n o f the divine gro und o f the wo rld, a manifes tatio n who s e unfo lding is o ur res po ns ibility.”
73
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist, p. 8 .
74
“Shujo-Dan”; “Tradition und Gegenwart in Japan”; “Japan’s Kampf um Japan”; “Das Geheimnis der japanischen Kraft.”
75
Eckprecht ( ps eudo nym) : Vom rechten Mann. Chris tian Tilitz ki, Die Deutsche Universitätsphilosophie, Teil 2, p. 130 was the firs t to
po int o ut that D ürckheim is the autho r o f this bo o k.
76
I wo uld like to thank Brian Victo ria fo r pro viding me with a co py o f Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist.
77
I to o k the co ntent o f the preface to the firs t editio n fro m Kimura: Der ostwestliche Goethe, p. 340 .
78
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “‘Europe’? ”.
79
Cf. Wehr, Karlfried Graf Dürckheim, p. 117. Acco rding to Wehr the archive numbers o f the manus cripts are C59 /10 17 and C59 /10 13.
The Japanes e publicatio ns : Maisuteru Ekkuharuto. Doitsuteki Shinko no Honshitsu ( Meis ter Eckhart. The Es s ence o f G ermanic Faith)
To kyo : Ris o s ha, 19 43; Yoroppa Bunka no Shinzui. Chikyutetsugakuteki Kosatsu ( The Es s ence o f Euro pean Culture. G lo bal Philo s o phical
Co ns ideratio ns ) . To kyo : Ro kumeikan, 19 44.
80
D ürckheim, Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist, p. 175.
81
D ürckheim, Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist, p. 3. ( Italics , D ürckheim)
82
See D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “Tradition und Gegenwart in Japan,” p. 19 6 .
83
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “Shujo-Dan,” p. 23.
84
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “Tradition und Gegenwart in Japan,” p. 19 7.
85
Cited fro m Wehr, Karlfried Graf Dürckheim, p. 114.
86
Shujo-Dan, p. 23.
87
Jinnō Shōtōki referred to by D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “Das Geheimnis der japanischen Kraft”, p. 6 9 fn. 1.
88
Wachutka, “‘A Living Pas t as the Natio n’s Pers o nality’,” p. 140 .
89
Bo hner, who had lived in Japan s ince 19 21, and D ürckheim almo s t certainly knew each o ther pers o nally as D ürckheim was bus y
co ntacting G erman s cho lars in Japan and es pecially s ympathiz ers o f the Naz is . In 19 43 Bo hner dedicated his trans latio n o f Akaji
Sō tei’s Chashitsu-kakemono Zengo-Tsūkai “Zen-Worte im Tee-Raume“ ( Zen wo rds within the tea-ro o m) to D ürckheim.
90
Jinnō Shōtōki, pp. 3-4.
91
Cf. D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist, p. 2.
92
See D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “Tradition und Gegenwart in Japan,” pp. 19 7-9 8 .
93
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “Das Geheimnis japanischer Kraft”, p. 78 .
94
Ibid.
95
Q uo ted fro m Wo rm, “Japanologie im Nationalsozialismus”, p. 18 4.
96
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist, p. 32.
97
Ibid., pp. 32-33.
98
Cf. D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “Das Geheimnis der japanischen Kraft,” p. 70 .
99
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “Das Geheimnis der japanischen Kraft,” p. 6 9 . Mo re abo ut Yamato-damashii in Sectio n II o f this article.
10 0
In his earlier article, “Tradition und Gegenwart in Japan,” p. 20 1, D ürckheim in a s lightly different way dis criminates three pillars o f
the Japanes e wo rldview: 1) Tennō ( empero r) , 2) faith in divine hero es , and 3) ances to rs and family as bas ic fo rms o f human life.
10 1
See D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “Das Geheimnis der japanischen Kraft,” p. 75, ref. 1.
10 2
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “Das Geheimnis der japanischen Kraft,” p. 75.
10 3
Cf. Suz uki, Zen Buddhism and Its Influence on Japanese Culture, p. 36 : “Zen has no s pecial do ctrine o r philo s o phy with a s et o f
intellectual fo rmulas , except that it tries to releas e fro m the bo ndage o f birth and death and this by means o f certain intuitive
mo des o f unders tanding peculiar to its elf.”
10 4
Cf. ibid., p. 4: “Zen wants us to s ee directly into the s pirit o f Buddha.”
10 5
Suz uki’s Zen Buddhism and Its Influence on Japanese Culture do es no t fo cus o n this as pect o f Zen. It is a central po int o f Herrigel’s
interpretatio n o f Zen s uppo s ed in his article o n archery.
10 6
D ürckheim here fo llo ws Suz uki, Zen Buddhism and Its Influence on Japanese Culture, pp. 35-40 .
10 7
Ibid., p. 76 .
10 8
See ibid.
10 9
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, “Tradition und Gegenwart in Japan,” p. 20 1.
110
Suz uki: Zen Buddhism and Its Influence on Japanese Culture, pp. 143-44.
111
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, Das Geheimnis der japanischen Kraft, p. 79 . ( Italics , D ürckheim)
112
Herrigel, „Die ritterliche Kunst des Bogenschiessens“, p. 211.
113
Eckprecht, Vom rechten Mann, p. 49 .
114
Suz uki, Zen Buddhism and its Influence on Japanese Culture, p. 6 7.
115
Eckprecht, Vom rechten Mann, p. 44.
116
Eckprecht, Vom rechten Mann, p. 45.
117
Cf. D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist, p. 50 .
118
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, Neues Deutschland. Deutscher Geist, p. 50 . ( Italics , D ürckheim)
119
D ürckheim-Mo ntmartin, Das Geheimnis der japanischen Kraft, p. 75.
120
Cf. Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 256 . O n his res earch trip thro ugh So uth Africa in 19 34 where o n behalf o f the Minis try o f Educatio n
D ürckheim inves tigated the cultural and educatio nal s ituatio n o f G ermans in relatio n to the new regime, he wro te in his diary: “At
7: 30 I s it at my des k and firs t read fo r at leas t half an ho ur in Mein Kampf; this gives me the right frame o f mind fo r the day. . .” ( cit.
fro m Wehr: Karlfried Graf Dürckheim, p. 78 ) .
121
Eckprecht, Vom rechten Mann, p. 9 ( quo tatio n marks ) , p. 20 , p. 39 ( quo tatio n marks ) , p. 55 ( quo tatio n marks ) .
122
Ibid., p. 20 .
123
D ürckheim, Wunderbare Katze, p. 6 4.
124
Eckbrecht, Vom rechten Mann, p. 47.
125
Wehr, Karlfried Graf Dürckheim, p. 120 .
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