Greeks, Romans, Germans: How the Nazis Usurped Europe’s Classical Past

515 Pages·2016·1.571 MB·English

by  Johann Chapoutot

Greeks, Romans,
Germans
How the Nazis Usurped Europe’s
Classical Past
Johann Chapoutot
Translated by Richard R. Nybakken
university of california press

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous
support of the Classical Literature Endowment Fund
of the University of California Press Foundation,
which was established by a major gift from Joan Palevsky.
Greeks, Romans, Germans

Greeks, Romans,
Germans
How the Nazis Usurped Europe’s
Classical Past
Johann Chapoutot
Translated by Richard R. Nybakken
university of california press
University of California Press, one of the most
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University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2016 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Chapoutot, Johann, author. | Nybakken, Richard
R., translator.
Title: Greeks, Romans, Germans : how the Nazis
usurped Europe’s classical past / Johann Chapoutot ;
translated by Richard R. Nybakken.
Other titles: National-socialisme et l’Antiquité. English
Description: Oakland, California : University of
California Press, [2016] | Includes bibliographical
references and index. | Description based on print
version record and CIP data provided by publisher;
resource not viewed.
Identifi ers: lccn 2016018677 (print) |
lccn 2016016557 (ebook) | isbn 9780520966154 () |
isbn 9780520275720 (cloth : alk. paper) |
isbn 9780520292970 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: lcsh: Germany—History—1933-1945. |
National socialism. | Civilization, Classical—Infl uence.
Classifi cation: lcc dd256.6 (print) | lcc dd256.6 .
c4313 2016 (ebook) | ddc 943.086—dc23
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016018677
Manufactured in the United States of America
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Introduction 1
part one. annexing antiquity 15
1. Origin Myths: Ex septentrione lux 17
2. A Nordic Mediterranean: Greece, Rome, and
the North, between German Cousins 51
3. Mens sana: Antiquity, the Humanities, and German Youth 98
part two. imitating antiquity 153
4. From Stone to Flesh: The Body of the New Aryan
Man between Aesthetics and Eugenics 155
5. The Racial State and Totalitarian Society: Plato as
Philosopher-King, or The Third Reich as Second Sparta 193
6. From Empire to Reich: The Lessons of Roman
Rule and Classical Colonialism 229
part three. reliving antiquity 285
7. History as Racial Struggle: The Clash of Civilizations
between East and West in Antiquity 287
8. Volkstod or Rassenselbstmord: How Civilizations Die 324
9. The Choreography of the End: Aestheticism, Nihilism,
and the Staging of the Final Catastrophe 357
Conclusion 393
Notes 401
Index 475
Introduction
This book was born of a surprising discovery: some preliminary research
on youth movements and the idea of Europe led me to the speeches of
Alfred Rosenberg, in which he claimed that the Greeks were a Northern
people. As it turns out, this curious textual artifact merely repeated the
canonical work of National Socialist doctrine: Hitler wrote in Mein
Kampf that there was a “racial unity” (Rasse-Einheit) that linked Greeks,
Romans, and Germans, and that these three peoples were united in fi ght-
ing the same millenarian war.
In order to make sense of such statements, one might begin with the
argument that moderns perpetually carry the weight of past centuries
and their legends. And if there is indeed a specter that has haunted the
powers of Europe, it is that of antiquity. Since at least the time of
the Renaissance, a Romanesque monument, built on sturdy Corinthian
columns, has served as a reminder of the power and glory of Rome,
its sovereignty founded on arms and laws, its universalist aspirations.
It is almost impossible to avoid drawing on Roman precedent in a
West that cannot speak of supreme power except in Latin terms:
“emperor,” after all, comes from imperator, and “kaiser” (like “czar,”
among others) comes from Caesar. After Charlemagne, every pretender
to universal domination has sought to assume the faded robes of the
defunct imperium romanum, and German, Russian, British, French,
Austrian, and Holy Roman emperors have all dreamed of restauratio
imperii.
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