186 Chapter 8
revolutionary’s disdainfor privateproperty.”^53 In a 1929essayDietrichKlagges,an offi-
cial whoassistedin mappingout the NSDAP’s economicagenda,proclaimed,“Compre-
hensivesocialjusticecan be broughtto bearonlyby withdrawingthe decisionmakingon
interestrates,prices,andwagesfromthe sphereof economicpowerandtransferringit”
to the authorityof Stateregulation.RichardSteigmann-Gallsurmisesthat Klagges“found
inspirationfor his ethicalimperativein Christ’s whippingof the usurersandthe money
changers,”^54 andnoticesthat“the ‘socialism’ in NationalSocialismwasof particular
importance” to JosephGoebbels,whodescribedhis politicaloutlookas “ChristSocial-
ism” but not “ChristianSocialism.”^55 Recallthat AmericaneugenicistsRichardT. Ely and
EdwardBellamy,whomwe discussedin chapter4, describedtheirownideologyas
Christian Socialism.^56 Steigmann-Gall apprehendsthe difference between Goebbels’s
“ChristSocialism” andthe ChristianSocialismof Ely andBellamy.It is, in Steigmann-
Gall’s phrasing,that Goebbelsregarded the formeras an “unadulterated returnto
Christ’s teachings,freeof the temporalchurch.. .”^57 NiallFergusonsimilarlyconfirms
that the Nazisviewedtheirownideologyas havingbeeninspiredby Christianity.^58
Withsuchconvictions,Goebbelswrotein his bookMichael, “The ideaof sacrificefirst
gainedvisibleshapein Christ.Sacrificeis intrinsicto socialism.... TheJew,however,
doesnot understandthis at all.”^59
In a privatemeetingin 1930,Hitlerdiscussedhis “real socialism” withhis advisers.^60
He expressedto everyonehis concernthattoo manyGermanswere“imprisonedin the
liberalisticattitude.Do youthinkthata confirmedindustrialistis preparedsuddenlyto
admitthat his propertyis not a right.. .? Thatcapitalshouldno longerrulebut be ruled?
Thatit is not the life of the individualthatmattersbut the totality?Thatthe principleof
the soldier’s sacrificialdeathshouldbe transformedintothe readinessof everyworking
person—whetherhe be activein the economyor elsewhere—to sacrificehimselffor the
community?... For almosttwothousandyearsthe Gospelof Christhas beenpreached,
for twothousandyearsthe senseof communityhas beentaught:... carefor one an-
other.. .! But today,at the end of thesetwothousandyears,economicliberalismflour-
ishesas neverbefore!” TheFührerjudges“the mechanizationof manuallaborandthe
industrializationof the economy” to be contradictoryto Christianaltruism.^61
At a differentprivatemeetingwithWagener,Hitlerprattled,“Socialismis a question
of... the ethicaloutlookon life of all wholive togetherin a commonethnicor national
space.” Andthe socialistphilosophyis an ancientone.“WheneverI readthe NewTesta-
mentGospelsand the revelationsof variousof the prophets... I am astonishedat all that
has beenmadeof the teachingsof thesedivinelyinspiredmen,especiallyJesusChrist...
Theywerethe oneswhocreatedthis newworldviewwhichwe nowcall socialism,...
theytaughtit andtheylivedit! But the communitiesthatcalledthemselvesChristian
churchesdid not understandit! Or if theydid,theydeniedChristand betrayedhim!” The
modernchurch,Hitlermaintains,doesnot consistentlysupportthe truealtruismand
socialismof Christ.Therefore,the Nazis“are the first to exhumetheseteachings!”^62 (empha-
ses Wagener’s). As earlyas one Yuletidedinnerin the late 1920s,Hitlerproclaimedto
otherNazispresentthathe wasdestinedto “translatethe idealsof Christintodeeds.”
Naziism,the demagogueproclaimed,wouldimplement“the workwhichChristhad
begunbut couldnot finish.”^63 Yearslater,as dictator,HitlerencouragedWagenerwith
thesewords:“We are livingin an age of... evolutionfromindividualismto socialism,
fromself-interestto the publicinterest,fromthe ‘I’ to the ‘we.’”
In completecontrastto EdwinBlack’s misleadingportrait,Hitlerwasnot an elitist
socialDarwinistwhowantedto exterminatethe financialunderclass.Hitlerplottedto
wipeout the Jewsas a resultof his feelingthattheywerethe elitist,classist,capitalist
socialDarwinists.ThetyranttoldWagener,“Of courseit is not appropriatefor human-