164 Chapter 7
anddangerousfluidityof money,capitalism,andmarkets.Theycontrolleda significant
shareof newspapersand pioneeredthe departmentstores.” In responseCarlConstantin
Freiherrvon Fechenbachstartedthe influentialSocialConservativeAssociationwhich,in
the wordsof Steinberg,was“dedicatedto anti-capitalism,anti-Semitism,and statesocial-
ism whichwouldincludenationalizationof basicindustries.” Bismarckhimselftargeted
Jewsfor ridicule.He associatedthemwithGermany’s NationalLiberalParty,whichhe
despised.In Steinberg’s words,Bismarckdetestedthe LiberalPartyfor the reasonthatit
“believedin... free markets.. .”^103
Oneof the Germanswhoplayeda rolein the anti-Semitic,openlymysticalPan-Ger-
manVolkishmovementthat laid the foundationfor the Nazis’ popularitywasGeorgvon
Schönerer (1842–1921). In 1876 he joined a pan-German mystical club in Vienna.
Schönerer’s activism,writesNicholasGoodrick-Clarke,significantlyempowered“a revo-
lutionarymovementthatembracedpopulistanti-capitalism,anti-liberalism,anti-Semi-
tism,andprussophileGermannationalism.”^104 Thismovementalsobranchedout in the
formof OttoBoeckel’s Leagueof Peasants,existingfrom 1885 to 1894.Besidespurveying
bigotrytowardJewsthis Leaguealso,statesGeorgeL. Mosse,“put fortha socialprogram
directedagainstfinancecapitalismandall middlemen.Theabolitionof interestcharges
wasimportantto Boeckelin orderto circulatemoremoneyamongthe people.Indeed,he
wantedto end all speculationwiththe ‘fruitsof the soil,’ to nationalizeforeigntrade,and
restrictuselessindustry.”^105
A comparableinfluencewasTheodorFrisch(b. 1852).AgainwritesGoodrick-Clarke,
Frischdetestedlarge“firms,factories,and massproduction.He soughtto mitigatethese
threatsthroughthe newguild.” Frisch’s anti-corporationvendetta“wascomplemented
by anti-Semiticattitudes.Frischattributedthe neweconomicorderto the growinginflu-
enceof Jewishbusinessand financein Germany.” In 1902Frischfoundedan anti-Semitic
magazine,The Hammer, and withintwo yearsvariouslocalclubssprungup to spreadits
ideology.“In 1908thesegroupsusedthe nameDeutscheErneuerungs-Gemeinde(German
RenewalGroups):theirmembershipwas interestedin anti-capitalistformsof landreform
designedto invigoratethe peasantry,the gardencity movement,andLebensreform.”^106 At
this point,pleaserecallthe importantrolethatAlfredPloetzplayedin NaziGermany’s
eugenicspolicies,havingfoundedthe InternationalSocietyfor RacialHygienein 1905
withadvisorycounselfromErnstHaeckelandFrancisGalton.Ploetzwasnot finished.
“In 1904,” writesLéon Poliakov,“Ploetzannouncedthe foundationof an associatedsoci-
ety inspiredby the anti-semiticagitatorTheodorFritsch;thisCommunityfor German
Renewal(DeutscheErneuerungsgemeinde) envisageda return” to the undevelopedwilder-
nessland“as the principalmeansfor regeneration—for Aryansonly,of course.”^107
We learnedfromchapter3 that the Naziswerean outgrowthof the nineteenth-century
Volkishmovement,itselfinspiredby the philosophicRomanticistmovement,whichde-
nouncedphronesisandits consequence,moderntechnology.As the Volkishmovement
balkedagainstindustrialization,it extolled,as morallysuperiorto the urbanindustrialist,
the countrypeasant.And,as GeorgeL. Mossediscovered,Volkishwriterscharacterized
the city-dwellingJewishbusinessmanas the Germanpeasant’s arch-nemesis.“TheJew
functionedas middlemanin manyof Germany’s agriculturalregions.... As a money-
lenderhe washatedmostwhenthe peasantswerein greatestfinancialdifficultiesand
reliedon himto tide themover,as aftera bad harvest.... The peasantswerehis debtors,
and in bad times,no doubt,he collectedhis debtslegallyby foreclosure.Thereweremany
generousand charitableJewsengagedin suchcommerce;nevertheless,to the debt-ridden
peasant,the Jewrepresentedthe mosteasilyidentifiableandimmediatelypresentele-
mentof the greedypowerof moderncapitalistcivilization.” Hence,writesMosse,“The
Jewswerecondemnedfor theirmaterialismand stigmatizedas havingsoldthemselvesto
the ‘demoncapitalism.’”^108 HermannLietz,a pioneerin the boardingschoolmovement,