212 Chapter 9
izationandmechanizationof agriculture.. .”^67 InteriorministerWaltherDarré started
out a bit doubtfulof anthroposophy,but he had beenwonoverby biodynamictechniques
by 1940,whenwelcomedon Bartsch’s estateas an honoredguest.^68 It wasnot until 1941
thatthe regimescaledbackon promotingthesemethods,thoughthe ThirdReichcontin-
uedto employthemin somelimitedcontexts.Thatyear,the Statedismantledthe Reich
Leaguefor BiodynamicFarmingandwentas far as temporarilyjailingBartsch.Despite
the ThirdReichno longersupportingbiodynamicsso publiclythough,writesStauden-
maier,the agriculturalmeasuresconsistentwithbiodynamicstrictures“continuedapace
underthe unlikelyprotectionof Himmlerand the SS.. .”^69
Onemightretort,though,thatif the Nazisreveredthe wildernessabovetechnology
and industrialization, suchwilderness-worship would not comport with the Third
Reich’s construction of the Autobahn—the impressive superhighway that predated
DwightD. Eisenhower’s federalU.S.interstatesystem.Althoughthe constructionof the
Autobahnprovedto be an implicitconcessionto the needfor industrialization,it doesnot
meanthatthis constructionpaidno obeisanceto environmentalistideology.TheThird
Reichhada groupof environmentalistsled by AlwinSeifert,calledAdvocatesof the
Landscape,advisethe engineerswhodesignedthe Autobahn.Theyensuredthatin the
constructionof the highway,swampsthatotherwisewouldhavebeendredgedwould
remainunaffected.^70
EarthFirst,JewsLast?
TheNazis’ ForeignPressChief, Ernst“Putzi” Hanfstaengl(1887–1975)—whoalso
workedfor FDR—commentedthatthe Fuhrerhad“madea dogma” out of his own
vegetarianism.^71 TheNazispromotedsuchvegetarianismfor muchof the samereasons
as the early-twenty-first-century’s foodfaddists.Oneof the reasonscitedby Nazisand
non-Nazisalikeis that theyconsidervegetarianismto be healthierthaneatingmeat.
But the Nazisalsocontendedthatnonhumananimalspossessedrights,andthatit
wouldthereforebe heinousfor a manto kill an animalfor his owngain.Here,the Nazis
obviouslyglossovertheirowndoublestandardaboutmurderingotherhumanbeings.^72
The practiceof vegetarianismfor reasonsof “animalrights” ideology—calledveganismat
the dateof this writing—foundvocalspokesmennot just in the Führerbut alsoin Rudolf
Hessand HeinrichHimmler.^73 Hessand Himmler,doingwhatevertheycouldto advance
animalactivism,environmentalism,and organicfarming,vociferouslylent theirsupport
to NaziagricultureministerWaltherDarré, whomadeeachof theseideasa plankof his
“BloodandSoil” economicprogram.^74 It wasnot uncommon,writesIan Kershaw,for
AdolfHitlerto burst“intoa lengthydiscourseon vegetarianism” in whichhe “aimedat
overpowering,not persuading,the listener.”^75 Followingsuit,the Naziregimeoverall
discouragedthe consumptionof beef.^76
“A bizarremoralinversion,” writespsychologistHalHerzog,“occurredin prewar
Germanythat enabledlargenumbersof reasonablepeopleto be moreconcernedwiththe
sufferingof lobstersin Berlinrestaurantsthanwithgenocide.”^77 In Augustof 1933,Her-
mannWilhelmGöring(1893–1946)announcedhis planto abolishwhathe calledthe
“unbearabletortureandsufferingin animalexperiments.. .”^78 He remindsothersthat
nonhumanmammals“feelpainandexperiencejoy andproveto be faithfulandat-
tached.”^79 Thus,he threatened,“I willcommitto concentrationcampsthosewhostill
thinktheycan treatanimalsas inanimateproperty.”^80
On November24 of that sameyear,the Germangovernmentenactedthe world’s most
comprehensiveanimalprotectionstatute.Accordingto historianJonathanPeterSpiro,
thatLawfor the Protectionof Animals“specificallyprohibitedexperimentson animals
involvingthe use of cold,heat,or infection.(It needhardlybe saidthatit wasprecisely