HITLERS BODY AND THE BODY POLITIC :: essays research papers

HITLER'S BODY AND THE BODY POLITIC __________________________________ I study ideology as if manifest content of a dream, seeking to comprehend the ideology's latent content or unconscious meaning. I observe recurring images and metaphors within ideological productions. Through systematic analysis of these recurring images and metaphors, it is possible to reveal the deep structure of an ideology. Ideologies are social constructions. However, why do they exist? What is the nature of the psychic work that they perform? I suggest that ideologies constitute vehicles for working through deep-rooted psychological issues. Hitler's ideology, for example, represented the medium through which Hitler attempted to come to terms with the problem of death. Hitler's project was to create a people so closely united-fused together--that they could think, feel and act as a single organism. Such a body politic would be indestructible, not only in the present but in the future as well. Hitler and the Nazis devoted their lives toward creating an organism that would be different from all other organisms. They aspired to fashion a body (politic) that was so healthy and powerful that it would not succumb to death. The Jew in Hitler's ideology was a force working to destroy Germany. National Socialism was the attempt to come to terms with this destructive force. The "Final Solution"--concluding phase of Hitler's struggle against death-represented a form of radical surgery whose purpose was to "remove" Germany's death instinct, quash the process of disintegration. ___________________________________________________________________ The complete paper by Richard A. Koenigsberg is available for the first time as an on-line publication. To read HITLER'S BODY AND THE BODY POLITIC, please visit: http://home.earthlink.net/~libraryofsocialscience/online_pubs.htm ___________________________________________________________________ Hitler had projected the struggle of "life against death" into the political arena and waged a furious battle to "maintain the body of the people." Hitler aspired to defeat death by embracing the idea of a body politic that could live forever. However, in spite of his efforts, Hitler could not rid himself of "anxiety of being destroyed from within." The "Jew" represented Hitler's experience and perception of his own death instinct, recognition or realization that all bodies die. In spite of Hitler struggle to deny death, he could not entirely repress the voice of truth. Yet Hitler refused to heed this inner voice declaring that all bodies die.