It is 2013, and almost seven decades have passed since the end of the second world war. Why then try to write an Opera about it? Because, "Engel der Gefangenen" is not really about that war, it's about ideologies and what people choose to do with their ideological beliefs.
All four main characters of the story are extremely determined and strong people, each with their own image of what the world is like. They form their opinions and they act upon them, but with very different results.
The National-Socialist ideology of Werner Best, and the danish Lutheran/Grundtvigian "Tidehverv" ideology of Tage and Karen share a common starting point: the writings of 19th century German philosopher J.G.Fichte and his ideas about "the people" and the individual's responsabilities to his people.
In Best's case, it led him down a path, that would ultimately lead to his being remembered as one of the most coldhearted and brutal Nazi ideologists, surpassed perhaps only by the likes of Heydrich and Bormann. For Tage and Karen, the main point of focus was an neverending struggle for justice and humanitarian values, and yet, their viewpoints are now the basis of a new form or rigid Nationalism in Denmark, and the political standpoint of Tage and many of his fellow Freedom Fighters has now been warped into a cynical, shadowy version of nazism. How is that possible?
Hiltgunt Zassenhaus was - apparently - a saint, risking her own life to help others. We know from countless testimonies what a great help she was to the Scandinavian inmates and how important her personal index files were in locating them. But, what if she wasn't just a saint? What if her - seemingly altruistic and humanistic beliefs were also a grounds for another kind of bigotry. How did she cope with the racial inequalities and unrest that she saw in tth 60ies and 70ies in her new home in Baltimore in the United States.
This blog will offer insight into each of the main characters, and hopefully guide you towards a broader understanding of what leads to human tragedy on a scale as massive as that of the Second World War.
At the bottom of the page, you will find a comprehensive Timeline, with every point of interest that relates to the story. To the right are links to various content, i.e. a synopsis of the opera, extensive bio's of the characters, music examples etc.
- Jesper Loeser Severinsen Nordin, May 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
General information
STORY/CONCEPT:
The opera ”Engel der Gefangenen”
(”The Prisoners' Angel”) takes place at the end of World War II,
and tells the story of German interpretor and nurse Hiltgunt
Zassenhaus through the gruelling personal experiences that ultimately
lead her to decide to risk her life helping the prisoners she is
supposed to be monitoring for the Gestapo. Among the prisoners is the
Danish priest Tage Severinsen, imprisoned and sentenced to death for
his role in helping the Danish resistance.
Juxtaposed against Hiltgunt and Tage's
encounter, is the meeting between Tage's wife Karen Severinsen, and
the high commander of the German forces in Denmark during the war,
Dr. Werner Best, in which Karen attempts to convince Best to overturn
the death sentences on Tage and several other members of his
resistance group.
CHARACTERS:
The four main characters are:
- Hiltgunt Zassenhaus – Mezzo
- Tage Severinsen – Baritone
- Karen Severinsen - Soprano
- Werner Best – Bass
In addition, there are a couple of
small parts:
- Mrs. Levy – Soprano
- Mr. Levy – Bass
- A visiting priest – Tenor
Extras:
- A few male extras, acting both as members of the Gestapo and as prison guards.
- Three children, aged 8 - 14
!A very specific dramaturgical
framework is imagined, wherein the three young children act out
several key moments in the story, as well as add relevant, factual
information concealed within their playful interaction. The children
also appear in the first and last scenes, and as an important
thematical element in the pivotal scene between Karen Severinsen and
Werner Best.
PROCESS:
The story is completed in a 'treatment'
form; i.e. an expanded synopsis. The libretto for several scenes
are near completion, and the basic musical material of themes and
motives are also quite far. Two scenes are completed, have been
staged and showcased, and a video presentation will be
available.
The intention is for all elements of
the opera to be completed in time for the 70th anniversary of the
liberation of Denmark (May 5th 2015).
INSTRUMENTATION/DURATION
The exact length of the piece is still
unknown, but the current overall framework suggests an effective
playing time of 80-90 minutes. Final scoring is limited only by
production budget, but there are certain characteristic elements that
must be retained, including a detuned piano, a sampled track and a
large percussion setup.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
About the Composer
About me:
I am a professional conductor primarily, but have been composing all my life and have a nice array of performances behind me, even if composing was never my 'prime directive'.Some examples of my work can be heard at soundcloud.com/maestronordin and I sometimes say quirky things on twitter.com/maestronordin
You can learn more about me work as a conductor on my website www.jespernordin.dk and I even keep a blog alive once in a while, at jespernordin.blogspot.com!
So much for not leaving an e-trail!
Here are some curriculum-like details:
Jesper Nordin,
Composer
Studied
Orchestration and Instrumentation formally with Hans Abrahamsen, Ib
Nørholm & Karsten Fundal. Studied at the Royal Danish Academy of
Music. Have composed music since early childhood.
The
Works of Jesper Nordin have been performed by the Odense Symphony
Orchestra, the Copenhagen Philharmonic, the Esbjerg Ensemble and
others at various venues and festivals throughout Europe
(Scandinavia, Germany, France).
His
many orchestrations and arrangements of other composers - ranging
from Corelli to Bartók - have been performed throughout Denmark
since the early 1990'ies as well as in the rest of Scandinavia,
France, Japan, England and Germany.
Arrangements
of music by Per Nørgård and Poul Ruders are published by Edition
Wilhelm Hansen in Copenhagen.
A sample of works:
Stargazer
Pastorale – for the St.
Michel strings (2013)
String
orchestra
Marken
er mejet – a fantasy over an
old danish folk song (2012)
full
orchestra
”The
Dragon Underneath The Mat” –
after a text by Russel Hoban (2011)
high
voice/piano
3
songs to texts by Nelly Sachs (2011)
high
voice, piano
”Afori”
(2008)
violin,
flute, piano, guitar
”Falling”
- Trumpet concerto (2007)
large
ensemble with trumpet soloist
”The
Ugly Duckling” - music from
Bartók's ”Childrens corner” set to the fairytale by H.C.Andersen
(2005)
speaker,
flute, clarinet, string quartet
”Thumbelina”
- music to the fairytale by
H.C.Andersen (2004)
speaker,
large ensemble w. toy instruments
Nonet
(2003)
large
ensemble
Variations
on three songs by Carl Nielsen (2002)
medium
voice/viola/cello/horn
”Abstruction!”
(2001)
large
ensemble
Music
for the short films ”Trold” (2013)
and ”...our daily bread” (2005)
Contact info:
Email me at:
maestronordin(at)gmail(dot)com
or
jn(at)jespernordin(dot)dk
...or via good old fashioned snail-mail (gasp!)
Fiskedamsgade 25C, 2.tv
DK-2100 Kbh. Ø
DENMARK
Call me for questions, input, work etc. at
+4520646873
Download a *vcf card here: card
Synopsis
SKETCH
"Engel der Gefangenen"
Scene-for-scene SYNOPSIS - as of 05/06/13
©Jesper Loeser Severinsen Nordin 2013
Scene
1: Tage Severinsen is arrested in his home. Having an attic full
of weapons and explosives, he knows he has no option but to go along
without protest. His wife Karen is less cooperative, but is forced to
restrain herself in front of the children.
Scene
2: Hiltgunt is working for the Gestapo in Hamburg, translating
letters between jews in the ghettos and their scandinavian relatives.
She deliberately does what she can to help the jewish families, and
every night she hides her clandestine work in her purse and brings it
home with her to avoid being discovered by the regular workplace
searches. While she is working, a message reaches her of her
brother's death. As she leaves the building in distress, she is
stopped in the street and searched by another bureau of the Gestapo,
but the tragic news she has recieved has led her to forget her
letters, and she is let off without reprieve.
Scene
3: Tage is alone in his cell in Copenhagen, experiencing a
growing sense of panic and at the same time building strength in his
convictions.
Scene
4: Hiltgunt visits the Levy's, an elderly jewish couple that she
knows through their granddaughter Elizabeth. She agrees to track down
the granddaughter, but while in the apartment, she realises the old
couple has taken a poison to avoid the mass deportation of Hamburg's
jews, scheduled to take place the next morning. As the Levy's die,
Hiltgunt breaks down.
Scene
5: A couple of months have passed. Hiltgunt is working as a
prison translator, but now using her position with the Gestapo to
smuggle food, medicine, clothes and other objects to the prisoners
she is supposed to be monitoring. She meets Tage for the first time
in his cell. He is naturally sceptical, but is convinced by the
visiting priest that Hiltgunt is there to help in whatever way she
can. Tage learns that he has been sentenced to death and has only a
few weeks left to live.
Scene
6: Karen visits the German high commander in Denmark, Dr. Werner
Best, to plead for the life of her husband. She is weakened and
nauseous, but Best is intriuged by her mental strength, and he draws
her into a psychological game with her husband's life at stake. He
compares Karen's children to his own, and Tage's fate to his. Karen
is disgusted by Best's mind games, and excuses herself with the
promise of returning the next day. As she leaves the office, she
weeps uncontrollably.
Scene
7: Hiltgunt is alone with Tage in his cell. He is now physically
very ill. In his feverish state, he starts to confuse her for Karen.
Hiltgunt's realises she is in love with him, and in a moment of
emotional desperation the two of them kiss.
Scene
6B/7B: At the same time, Karen and Best reach a crucial point in
their encounter. We understand that Best is challenging Karen to
weigh Tage's life against the boundaries of her own personal
integrity.
An
actual sexual 'ransom' is never demanded, but Best wants Karen to
believe that that is the choice she has to make in order for her
husband to live. The two scenes overlap at the exact moment where
Karen ultimately refuses, while Tage and Hiltgunt kiss. Best wins his
psyhcological game, as he has forced Karen to symbolically choose her
husband's death rather than breaking her own moral frame. In the
prison cell, both Tage and Hiltgunt retract, and before leaving,
Hiltgunt tells Tage he has been pardoned.
Scene
8A/8B: Hiltgunt is alone again and continues her work. Karen and
Tage face difficult emotions as he returns home to his family and his
parish.
Characters
Details of the characters portrayed
10th
of July 1916 – 20th of November 2004
Hiltgunt
Zassenhaus was born in Hamburg, Germany.
Her father
was a historian and school principal who lost his job when the Nazi
regime came to power in 1933. Already as a young child, she would
openly refuse to take part in the obligatory ”Heil Hitler”
salute, and would instead mumble ”Drei Liter” or another similar
phrase to avoid suspicion.
After
visiting Denmark on a holiday,
she decided to study Scandinavian languages and graduated from the
University of Hamburg in 1939 with degrees in Norwegian and Danish.
In 1940 she started working as a translator at the Gestapo bureau of
censorship, a job which she left again in 1942 to study Medicine.
Later the
same year she was pressured into returning to the Gestapo to work on
translating letters to and from scandinavian political prisoners, and
she began deliberately altering letters and scribbling instructions
to 'send food' or 'we need warm clothing' in the margins of the
letters.
One night
she came dangerously close to being caught by a suspicious Gestapo
officer who searched her on the street, but on that specific night
she had for once forgotten to bring the incriminating letters with
her. Normally she would never leave them at the office for fear of
her desk being searched.
Eventually,
she also started accompagning the Norwegian priest in Hamburg on his
visits to scandinavian prisoners in and around the city. Using her
assumed affiliation with the Gestapo to her advantage, she eluded searches or
inquiries and thus was able to smuggle food, medicine, tobacco,
letters and writing materials to the inmates in her ever-present,
ever-bulging suitcase. The Gestapo method of ruling-by-fear simply
meant no guard dared question her for fear of being prosecuted
themselves.
As she
visited more than 50 prisons this way, she kept a meticulous register
of prisoners' names and locations. When the German troops were forced
to surrender in Norway and Denmark, Zassenhaus learned of the ”Day
X” directive in which all political prisoners were to be executed.
By handing over her precious register to the Red Cross, the swedish
Count Folke Bernadotte and his famous ”White Buses” were able to
locate and extract thousands of scandinavian prisoners, saving them
from the potential devastation of the ”Day X” scenario.
In 1947
Zassenhaus was smuggled into Denmark (Germans were now not allowed to
enter the country) in a fishtruck(!), and by initiative of Tage
Severinsen and other prisoners, the Danish Parliament passed a
special law to legitimize her immigration. She later continued her
medical studies in Bergen, Norway and in 1952 she moved to Baltimore,
USA where she stayed and worked as practising physician until her
death in 2004.
Hiltgunt
Zassenhaus was Awarded the Royal Norwegian Order of Skt. Olav, the
Danish Order of Dannebrog, the Red Cross Medal and the German
Bundesverdienstkreuz.
She was
Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974
Tage
Severinsen
22nd
of September 1902 – 5th
of February 1951
Severinsen
was the priest in the small rural town of Finderup, and involved in
the resistance work from within the danish political party ”Dansk
Samling” and speaking openly against the German occupation in his
sermons.
When local
banker Helmer Wöldike asked him if he would help by storing weapon
for the resistance fighters, he agreed and kept weapons and
explosives hidden in the attic above his church. For this he earned the nickname "The Dynamite Priest" or simply "Boom!"
Unfortunately,
through the capture and subsequent torture of a danish paratrooper,
his resistance group was compromised along with several other groups,
and he was arrested on January 13th 1944 and sentenced to
the death penalty.
On the 12h
of June 1944 his sentence was changed to life imprisonment, and he
was imprisoned in Zuchthaus Dreibergen-Bützow near Rostock, Germany.
He
returned after the liberation of Denmark in May 1945, but the stay in
Dreibergen had severely deteriorated his health, and he died in 1951
from intestinal complications, leaving behind his wife Karen and
their four children.
Karen
Severinsen
22nd
of December 1904 – 13 of March, 1994
Wife
of danish priest Tage Severinsen, she was instrumental in converting
the deathsentence put on her husband and the other members of his
group by
personally
pleading the humanitarian case to Dr. Werner Best at a meeting
in
his office in occupied Copenhagen. She never quite regained her
spirit after her husband's death in 1951, and remained a widower for
the rest of her life.
10th
of July 1903 – 23rd of June 1989
German
lawyer, police chief, SS-Obergruppenführer and Nazi Party
leader and
ideologist from Darmstadt, Hesse. Among the chief officers of the
various Nazi security organisations, Best wasat one point considered second only
to Himmler and Heydrich. He served as civilian administrator of
France and later as Plenipotentiary in Denmark while Nazi Germany occupied those countries
during WWII.
He kept
his position in Denmark until the end of the war in May 1945.
Although formally responsible for the events of the night of October
1st 1943 where Gestapo set out to arrest and internate all
Danish jews, he himself leaked the date of the action in advance,
giving many a heads-up chance to organise escape routes and evacuate.
As the
Danish resistance groups grew in number and their sabotage actions
became more frequent, Best was called to a meeting in Berlin where
Hitler ordered him to severely tighten the grip and to ”answer
sabotage with terror”.
The first
victim of the new stricter measures was danish poet/priest Kaj Munk
who was murdered on January 4th 1944 and instantly became
a martyr and icon for the resistance and indeed the danish population
in general.
Ideologies
Ideologies
An introduction to some of the underlying themes in the story.
-
Wikipedia article on Nazism (external link)
-
Early stages of Nazi ideology
-
Grundtvig and the nordic nationalism
-
Albert Schweitzer and 'reverence for life'
-
Nazi ideology
-
”Tidehverv” and ”Dansk Samling” – danish identity in relation to the world wars (in danish)
Early stages of Nazi ideology
J.G.Fichte and the "People”
(excerpts taken from Wikipedia)
|
| J.G.Fichte (1762-1814)
|
One of the most significant ideological influences on the Nazis was the German nationalist Johann Gottlieb Fichte, whose works had served as inspiration to Hitler and other Nazi members. In ”Speeches to the German Nation” (1808), written amid Napoleonic France's occupation of Berlin, Fichte called for a German national revolution against the French occupiers, making passionate public speeches, arming his students for battle against the French, and stressing the need for action by the German nation to free itself. Fichte's nationalism was populist and opposed to traditional elites, spoke of the need of a "People's War" (Volkskrieg), and put forth concepts similar to those the Nazis adopted. Fichte promoted German exceptionalism and stressed the need for the German nation to be purified (including purging the German language of French words, a policy that the Nazis undertook upon rising to power).
Völkisch nationalism denounced soulless materialism, individualism, and secularized urban industrial society, while advocating a "superior" society based on ethnic German "folk" culture and German "blood". It denounced foreigners, foreign ideas and declared that Jews, national minorities, Catholics, and Freemasons were "traitors to the nation" and unworthy of inclusion. Völkisch nationalism saw the world in terms of natural law and romanticism, viewed societies as organic, extolling the virtues of rural life, condemning the neglect of tradition and decay of morals, denounced the destruction of the natural environment, and condemned "cosmopolitan" cultures such as Jews and Romani.
During the era of Imperial Germany, Völkisch nationalism was overshadowed by both Prussian patriotism and the federalist tradition of various states therein. The events of World War I including the end of the Prussian monarchy in Germany, resulted in a surge of revolutionary Völkisch nationalism.The Nazis supported such revolutionary Völkisch nationalist policies. The Nazis claimed that their ideology was influenced by the leadership and policies of German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the founder of the Second German Empire. The Nazis declared that they were dedicated to continuing the process of creating a unified German nation state that Bismarck had begun and desired to achieve. While Hitler was supportive of Bismarck's creation of the German Empire, he was critical of Bismarck's moderate domestic policies. On the issue of Bismarck's support of a Kleindeutschland ("Lesser Germany", excluding Austria) versus the pan-German Großdeutschland ("Greater Germany") of the Nazis.
Grundtvig - a founder of modern Danish culture and mentality.
|
| N.F.S.Grundtvig (1783-1872) |
Early life and education
Niels Frederik Severin Grundtvig was the son of a Lutheran pastor. He was brought up in a very religious atmosphere, although his mother also had great respect for old Norse legends and traditions. He was schooled in the tradition of the European Enlightenment, but his faith in reason was shaken by German romanticism and the history of the Nordic countries.
He left for Copenhagen in 1800 to study theology and was accepted to the University of Copenhagen in 1801. At the close of his university life, Grundtvig began to study Icelandic and the Icelandic Sagas.
He left for Copenhagen in 1800 to study theology and was accepted to the University of Copenhagen in 1801. At the close of his university life, Grundtvig began to study Icelandic and the Icelandic Sagas.
In 1805 Grundtvig took a position of tutor in a house on the island of Langeland. The next three years he used his free time to study writers Shakespeare, Schiller, Schelling...and
Fichte
. In 1802 his cousin, the philosopher Henrich Steffens, returned to Copenhagen full of the teaching of Schelling. His lectures and the early poetry of Adam Oehlenschläger opened Grundtvig's eyes to the new era in literature. His first work - ”On the Songs in the Edda” - attracted no attention.
Returning to Copenhagen in 1808, Grundtvig achieved greater success with his Northern Mythology, and again in 1809 with a long drama, ”The Fall of the Heroic Life in the North”.
Returning to Copenhagen in 1808, Grundtvig achieved greater success with his Northern Mythology, and again in 1809 with a long drama, ”The Fall of the Heroic Life in the North”.
Grundtvig boldly denounced the clergy of the city in his first sermon in 1810. When Grundtvig published the sermon three weeks later it offended the ecclesiastical authorities, and they demanded him punished.
In 1810 Grundtvig underwent a religious crisis and converted to a strongly held Lutheranism. His new-found conviction was expressed in his ”The First World Chronicle” (”Kort Begreb af Verdens Krønike i Sammenhæng”) of 1812, a presentation of European history in which he attempted to explain how God is throughout human history and in which he criticized the ideology of many prominent Danes. It won him notoriety among his peers and cost him several friends. In the following years his rate of publication was staggering: aside from a continuing stream of articles and poems, he wrote a number of books, including two more histories of the world (1814 and 1817).
From 1816 to 1819 he was editor of and almost sole contributor to a philosophical and polemical journal entitled ”Danne-Virke”, which also published poetry.
From 1813 to 1815, he attempted to form a movement to support the Norwegians against the Swedes. Later he preached on how the weakness of the Danish faith was the cause of the loss of Norway in 1814. His sermon was met by an enthusiastic congregation in Copenhagen. Grundtvig withdrew from the pulpit because of lacking his own parish, and being barred by other churches. In 1821 he resumed preaching briefly when granted the country living of Præstø, and returned to the capital the year after.
In 1825 Grundtvig published a pamphlet, The Church's Rejoinder (”Kirkens Gienmæle”), a response to a professor of theology at the University of Copenhagen, H.N.Clausen, who argued that although the Bible was the principal foundation of Christianity, it was in itself an inadequate expression of its full meaning. He described the church as a "community for the purpose of advancing general religiousness." In his reply, Grundtvig denounced Clausen as an anti-Christian teacher and argued that Christianity was not a theory to be derived from the Bible and elaborated by scholars.
In 1825 Grundtvig published a pamphlet, The Church's Rejoinder (”Kirkens Gienmæle”), a response to a professor of theology at the University of Copenhagen, H.N.Clausen, who argued that although the Bible was the principal foundation of Christianity, it was in itself an inadequate expression of its full meaning. He described the church as a "community for the purpose of advancing general religiousness." In his reply, Grundtvig denounced Clausen as an anti-Christian teacher and argued that Christianity was not a theory to be derived from the Bible and elaborated by scholars.
He questioned the right of theologians to interpret the Bible. Grundtvig was publicly prosecuted for libel and fined. The Lutheran Church forbade him to preach for seven years. During this time he published a collection of theological works, visited England three times (1829–31), and studied Anglo-Saxon.
In 1832 Grundtvig obtained permission to preach again. In 1839 he was called as pastor of the workhouse church of Vartov hospital, Copenhagen, a post he held until his death. Between 1837 and 1841 he published ”Sang-Værk til den Danske Kirke” (Song Work for the Danish Church), a rich collection of sacred poetry; in 1838 he brought out a selection of early Scandinavian verse; in 1840 he edited the Anglo-Saxon poem "The Phoenix", with a Danish translation. In 1843 he visited England for a fourth time.
From 1844 Grundtvig took a prominent part in politics, developing from a conservative into an absolute liberal. In 1861 he received the titular rank of bishop, but without a seat. He continued to write,publish and preach until his death.
His preaching attracted large congregations, and he soon had a following. His hymn book effected a great change in Danish church services, substituting the hymns of the national poets for the slow measures of the orthodox Lutherans. In all Grundtvig wrote or translated about 1500 hymns, including "God's Word Is Our Great Heritage".
In 1832 Grundtvig obtained permission to preach again. In 1839 he was called as pastor of the workhouse church of Vartov hospital, Copenhagen, a post he held until his death. Between 1837 and 1841 he published ”Sang-Værk til den Danske Kirke” (Song Work for the Danish Church), a rich collection of sacred poetry; in 1838 he brought out a selection of early Scandinavian verse; in 1840 he edited the Anglo-Saxon poem "The Phoenix", with a Danish translation. In 1843 he visited England for a fourth time.
From 1844 Grundtvig took a prominent part in politics, developing from a conservative into an absolute liberal. In 1861 he received the titular rank of bishop, but without a seat. He continued to write,publish and preach until his death.
His preaching attracted large congregations, and he soon had a following. His hymn book effected a great change in Danish church services, substituting the hymns of the national poets for the slow measures of the orthodox Lutherans. In all Grundtvig wrote or translated about 1500 hymns, including "God's Word Is Our Great Heritage".
Christian thinking
Grundtvig's theological development continued over his lifetime, and took a number of important turns. He moved from his "Christian awakening" of 1810 to believing in a congregational and sacramental Christianity in later years.
He was most notable for the latter thinking. He always called himself a pastor, not a theologian, reflecting the distance between his ideas and academic theology. The chief characteristic of his theology was the substitution of the authority of the "living word" for the apostolic commentaries.
He was most notable for the latter thinking. He always called himself a pastor, not a theologian, reflecting the distance between his ideas and academic theology. The chief characteristic of his theology was the substitution of the authority of the "living word" for the apostolic commentaries.
He desired to see each congregation act as a practically independent community.
Thinking on education
Grundtvig is the ideological father of the folk high school, though his own ideas on education had another focus. He advocated reforming the ailing Sorø Academy into a popular school aiming at another form of higher education than what was common at the university. Rather than educating learned scholars, he believed the university should educate its students for active participation in society and popular life. Thus practical skills as well as national poetry and history should form an essential part of the instruction. This idea came very close to implementation during the reign of Christian VIII, whose wife Caroline Amalie was an ardent supporter of Grundtvig. The death of the monarch in 1848 and the dramatic political development in Denmark during this and the following years put an end to these plans. At the time, however, Kristen Kold, one of Grundtvig's followers, had already established the first folk high school.
Grundtvig's ambitions for school reform were not limited to the popular folk high school. He also dreamed of forming a 'Great Nordic University' (the School for Passion) to be situated at the symbolic point of intersection between the three Scandinavian countries in Gothenburg, Sweden. The two pillars of his school program, the School for Life (folk high school) and the School for Passion (university) were aimed at quite different horizons of life. The popular education should mainly be taught within a national and patriotic horizon of understanding, yet always keeping an open mind towards a broader cultural and intercultural outlook, while the university should work from a strictly universal, i.e. humane and scientific, outlook.
The common denominator of all Grundtvig's paedagogical efforts was to promote a spirit of freedom, poetry and disciplined creativity, within all branches of educational life. He promoted values such as wisdom, compassion, identification and equality. He opposed all compulsion, including exams, as deadening to the human soul. Instead Grundtvig advocated unleashing human creativity according to the universally creative order of life. Only willing hands make light work. Therefore a spirit of freedom, cooperation and discovery was to be kindled in individuals, in science, and in the civil society as a whole.
Grundtvig's ambitions for school reform were not limited to the popular folk high school. He also dreamed of forming a 'Great Nordic University' (the School for Passion) to be situated at the symbolic point of intersection between the three Scandinavian countries in Gothenburg, Sweden. The two pillars of his school program, the School for Life (folk high school) and the School for Passion (university) were aimed at quite different horizons of life. The popular education should mainly be taught within a national and patriotic horizon of understanding, yet always keeping an open mind towards a broader cultural and intercultural outlook, while the university should work from a strictly universal, i.e. humane and scientific, outlook.
The common denominator of all Grundtvig's paedagogical efforts was to promote a spirit of freedom, poetry and disciplined creativity, within all branches of educational life. He promoted values such as wisdom, compassion, identification and equality. He opposed all compulsion, including exams, as deadening to the human soul. Instead Grundtvig advocated unleashing human creativity according to the universally creative order of life. Only willing hands make light work. Therefore a spirit of freedom, cooperation and discovery was to be kindled in individuals, in science, and in the civil society as a whole.
Albert Schweitzer – reverence for life
|
| Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) |
Albert Schweitzer, (14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was a German—and later French—theologian, musician, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary in Africa best known for his interpretive life of Jesus. He was born in the province of Alsace-Lorraine, at that time part of the German Empire. Schweitzer, a Lutheran, challenged both the secular view of Jesus as depicted by historical-critical methodology current at his time in certain academic circles, as well as the traditional Christian view. He depicted Jesus as one who literally believed the end of the world was coming in his own lifetime and believed himself to be a world savior. He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of "Reverence for Life",[1] expressed in many ways, but most famously in founding and sustaining the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, now in Gabon, west central Africa (then French Equatorial Africa). As a music scholar and organist, he studied the music of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach and influenced the Organ reform movement (Orgelbewegung).
Theology
In 1899 Schweitzer became a deacon at the church Saint-Nicolas of Strasbourg. In 1900, with the completion of his licentiate in theology, he was ordained as curate, and that year he witnessed the Oberammergau Passion Play. In the following year he became provisional Principal of the Theological College of Saint Thomas (from which he had just graduated), and in 1903 his appointment was made permanent.
Since the mid-1890s Schweitzer had formed the inner resolve that it was needful for him as a Christian to repay to the world something for the happiness which it had given to him, and he determined that he would pursue his younger interests until the age of thirty and then give himself to serving humanity, with Jesus serving as his example.
In 1906 he published Geschichte der Leben-Jesu-Forschung ("History of Life-of-Jesus research"). This book, which established his reputation, was first translated into English by William Montgomery and published in 1910 as The Quest of the Historical Jesus. Under this title the book became famous in the English-speaking world. A second German edition was published in 1913, containing theologically significant revisions and expansions: but this revised edition did not appear in English until 2001.
In The Quest, Schweitzer reviewed all former work on the "historical Jesus" back to the late 18th century. He showed that the image of Jesus had changed with the times and outlooks of the various authors, and gave his own synopsis and interpretation of the previous century's findings. He maintained that the life of Jesus must be interpreted in the light of Jesus' own convictions, which reflected late Jewish eschatology. Schweitzer, however, writes:
"The Jesus of Nazareth who came forward publicly as the Messiah, who preached the ethic of the kingdom of God, who founded the kingdom of heaven upon earth and died to give his work its final consecration never existed."
Sources
Schweitzer found many New Testament references to apparently show that 1st-century Christians believed literally in the imminent fulfillment of the promise of the World's ending, within the lifetime of Jesus's original followers,. He noted that in the gospel of Mark, Jesus speaks of a "tribulation", with his coming in the clouds with great power and glory" (St Mark), and states when it will happen: "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled" (St Matthew, 24:34) (or, "have taken place" (Luke 21:32)): "All these things shall come upon this generation" (Matthew 23:36). "There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom" (Matthew 16:28) (or, "until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power" (Mark 9:1); or, "till they see the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:27).)
Schweitzer notes that St. Paul apparently believed in the immediacy of the "Second Coming of Jesus": "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4.17). St Paul spoke of the 'last times': "Brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none" (1 Corinthians 7:29); "God ... Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son" (Hebrews 1:2). Similarly in St Peter: "Christ .. Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you" (1 Peter 1:20), and "But the end of all things is at hand" (1 Peter 4:7). "Surely I come quickly" (Revelation 22:20). (Again, note N.T. Wright, ibid.)
Schweitzer writes that modern Christians of many kinds deliberately ignore the urgent message (so powerfully proclaimed by Jesus during the 1st century) of an imminent end of the world. Each new generation hopes to be the one to see the world destroyed, another world coming, and the saints governing a new earth. Schweitzer concludes that the 1st century theology, originating in the lifetimes of those who first followed Jesus, is both incompatible with, and far removed from, those beliefs later made official by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 325 CE.
Aftermath
The publication of The Quest of the Historical Jesus, effectively put a stop for decades to work on the Historical Jesus as a sub-discipline of New Testament studies. This work resumed however with the development of the so-called "Second Quest", among whose notable exponents was Rudolf Bultmann's student Ernst Käsemann.[citation needed]
Schweitzer established his reputation further as a New Testament scholar with other theological studies including The Psychiatric Study of Jesus (1911); and his two studies of the apostle Paul, Paul and his Interpreters, and the more complete The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle (1930). This examined the eschatological beliefs of Paul and (through this) the message of the New Testament.
Medicine
At the age of 30, in 1905, Schweitzer answered the call of "The Society of the Evangelist Missions of Paris" which was looking for a medical doctor. However, the committee of this French Missionary Society was not ready to accept his offer, considering his Lutheran theology to be "incorrect". He could easily have obtained a place in a German Evangelical mission, but wished to follow the original call despite the doctrinal difficulties. Amid a hail of protests from his friends, family and colleagues, he resigned his post and re-entered the University as a student in a three-year course towards the degree of a Doctorate in Medicine, a subject in which he had little knowledge or previous aptitude. He planned to spread the Gospel by the example of his Christian labor of healing, rather than through the verbal process of preaching, and believed that this service should be acceptable within any branch of Christian teaching.
Even in his study of medicine, and through his clinical course, Schweitzer pursued the ideal of the philosopher-scientist. By extreme application and hard work he completed his studies successfully at the end of 1911. His medical degree dissertation was another work on the historical Jesus, The Psychiatric Study of Jesus. In June 1912 he married Helene Bresslau, daughter of the Jewish pan-Germanist historian Harry Bresslau.
In 1912, now armed with a medical degree, Schweitzer made a definite proposal to go as a medical doctor to work at his own expense in the Paris Missionary Society's mission at Lambaréné on the Ogooué river, in what is now Gabon, in Africa (then a French colony). He refused to attend a committee to inquire into his doctrine, but met each committee member personally and was at last accepted. By concerts and other fund-raising he was ready to equip a small hospital. In Spring 1913 he and his wife set off to establish a hospital near an already existing mission post. The site was nearly 200 miles (14 days by raft) upstream from the mouth of the Ogooué at Port Gentil (Cape Lopez) (and so accessible to external communications), but downstream of most tributaries, so that internal communications within Gabon converged towards Lambaréné.
In the first nine months he and his wife had about 2,000 patients to examine, some travelling many days and hundreds of kilometers to reach him. In addition to injuries he was often treating severe sandflea and crawcraw sores, framboesia (yaws), tropical eating sores, heart disease, tropical dysentery, tropical malaria, sleeping sickness, leprosy, fevers, strangulated hernias, necrosis, abdominal tumours and chronic constipation and nicotine poisoning, while also attempting to deal with deliberate poisonings, fetishism and fear of cannibalism among the Mbahouin.
Schweitzer's wife was anaesthetist for surgical operations. After briefly occupying a shed formerly used as a chicken hut, in autumn 1913 they built their first hospital of corrugated iron, with two 13-foot rooms (consulting room and operating theatre) and with a dispensary and sterilising room in spaces below the broad eaves. The waiting room and dormitory (42 by 20 feet) were built, like native huts, of unhewn logs along a 30-yard path leading from the hospital to the landing-place. The Schweitzers had their own bungalow and employed as their assistant Joseph, a French-speaking Galoa (Mpongwe) who first came as a patient.
When World War I broke out in summer of 1914, Schweitzer and his wife, Germans in a French colony, were put under supervision at Lambaréné by the French military, where Schweitzer continued his work. In 1917, exhausted by over four years' work and by tropical anaemia, they were taken to Bordeaux and interned first in Garaison and then from March 1918 in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. In July 1918, after being transferred to his home in Alsace, he was a free man again. At this time Schweitzer, born a German citizen, had his parents' former (pre-1871) French citizenship reinstated and became a French citizen. Then, working as medical assistant and assistant-pastor in Strasbourg, he advanced his project on The Philosophy of Civilization, which had occupied his mind since 1900. By 1920, his health recovering, he was giving organ recitals and doing other fund-raising work to repay borrowings and raise funds for returning to Gabon. In 1922 he delivered the Dale Memorial Lectures in Oxford University, and from these in the following year appeared Volumes I and II of his great work, The Decay and Restoration of Civilization and Civilization and Ethics. The two remaining volumes, on The World-View of Reverence for Life and a fourth on the Civilized State, were never completed.
In 1924 he returned without his wife but with an Oxford undergraduate, Noel Gillespie, as assistant. Everything was heavily decayed and building and doctoring progressed together for months. He now had salvarsan for treating syphilitic ulcers and framboesia. Additional medical staff, nurse (Miss) Kottmann and Dr. Victor Nessmann, joined him in 1924, and Dr. Mark Lauterberg in 1925; the growing hospital was manned by native orderlies. Later Dr. Trensz replaced Nessmann, and Martha Lauterberg and Hans Muggenstorm joined them. Joseph also returned. In 1925-6 new hospital buildings were constructed, and also a ward for white patients, so that the site became like a village. The onset of famine and a dysentery epidemic created fresh problems. Much of the building work was carried out with the help of local people and patients. Drug advances for sleeping sickness included Germanin and tryparsamide. Trensz conducted experiments showing that the non-amoebic strain of dysentery was caused by a paracholera vibrion (facultative anaerobic bacteria). With the new hospital built and the medical team established, Schweitzer returned to Europe in 1927, this time leaving a functioning hospital at work.
He was there again from 1929–1932. Gradually his opinions and concepts became acknowledged, not only in Europe, but worldwide. There was a further period of work in 1935. In January 1937 he returned again to Lambaréné and continued working there throughout World War II.
Controversy and criticism
Schweitzer's views
Schweitzer considered his work as a medical missionary in Africa to be his response to Jesus' call to become "fishers of men" but also as a small recompense for the historic guilt of European colonizers:
"Who can describe the injustice and cruelties that in the course of centuries they [the coloured peoples] have suffered at the hands of Europeans? ... If a record could be compiled of all that has happened between the white and the coloured races, it would make a book containing numbers of pages which the reader would have to turn over unread because their contents would be too horrible."
Rather than being a supporter of colonialism, Schweitzer was one of its harshest critics. In a sermon that he preached on 6 January 1905, before he had told anyone of his plans to dedicate the rest of his life to work as a doctor in Africa, he said:
"Our culture divides people into two classes: civilized men, a title bestowed on the persons who do the classifying; and others, who have only the human form, who may perish or go to the dogs for all the 'civilized men' care.
"Oh, this 'noble' culture of ours! It speaks so piously of human dignity and human rights and then disregards this dignity and these rights of countless millions and treads them underfoot, only because they live overseas or because their skins are of different color or because they cannot help themselves. This culture does not know how hollow and miserable and full of glib talk it is, how common it looks to those who follow it across the seas and see what it has done there, and this culture has no right to speak of personal dignity and human rights...
"I will not enumerate all the crimes that have been committed under the pretext of justice. People robbed native inhabitants of their land, made slaves of them, let loose the scum of mankind upon them. Think of the atrocities that were perpetrated upon people made subservient to us, how systematically we have ruined them with our alcoholic 'gifts', and everything else we have done...We decimate them, and then, by the stroke of a pen, we take their land so they have nothing left at all...
"If all this oppression and all this sin and shame are perpetrated under the eye of the German God, or the American God, or the British God, and if our states do not feel obliged first to lay aside their claim to be 'Christian'—then the name of Jesus is blasphemed and made a mockery. And the Christianity of our states is blasphemed and made a mockery before those poor people. The name of Jesus has become a curse, and our Christianity—yours and mine—has become a falsehood and a disgrace, if the crimes are not atoned for in the very place where they were instigated. For every person who committed an atrocity in Jesus' name, someone must step in to help in Jesus' name; for every person who robbed, someone must bring a replacement; for everyone who cursed, someone must bless.”
"And now, when you speak about missions, let this be your message: We must make atonement for all the terrible crimes we read of in the newspapers. We must make atonement for the still worse ones, which we do not read about in the papers, crimes that are shrouded in the silence of the jungle night..."
Schweitzer was nonetheless still sometimes accused of being paternalistic, colonialist and racist in his attitude towards Africans, and in some ways his views did differ from that of many liberals and other critics of colonialism. For instance, he thought Gabonese independence came too early, without adequate education or accommodation to local circumstances. Edgar Berman quotes Schweitzer speaking these lines in 1960:
"No society can go from the primeval directly to an industrial state without losing the leavening that time and an agricultural period allow."
Chinua Achebe has quoted Schweitzer as saying: "The African is indeed my brother but my junior brother," which Achebe criticized him for, though Achebe seems to acknowledge that Schweitzer's use of the word "brother" at all was, for a European of the early 20th century, an unusual expression of human solidarity between whites and blacks. Later in his life, Schweitzer was quoted as saying: "The time for speaking of older and younger brothers has passed.” It is also more likely that Schweitzer was speaking in terms of modern civilization than of class relationship of man; this would be consistent with his later statement that "the time for speaking of older and younger brothers is over", and his discussion of the modernization of "primeval" societies. Later in life he became more convinced that "modern civilization" was actually inferior to or the same as previous cultures in terms of morality.
The journalist James Cameron visited Lambaréné in 1953 (when Schweitzer was 78) and found significant flaws in the practices and attitudes of Schweitzer and his staff. The hospital suffered from squalor and was without modern amenities, and Schweitzer had little contact with the local people. Cameron did not make public what he had seen at the time: according to a recent BBC dramatisation, he made the unusual journalistic decision to withhold the story, and resisted the expressed wish of his employers to publish an exposé aimed at debunking Schweitzer.
American journalist John Gunther also visited Lambaréné in the 1950s and reported Schweitzer's patronizing attitude towards Africans. He also noted the lack of Africans trained to be skilled workers.After three decades in Africa Schweitzer still depended on Europe for nurses. By comparison, his contemporary Sir Albert Cook in Uganda had been training nurses and midwives since the 1910s and had published a manual of midwifery in the local language of Luganda.
"Reverence for Life"
Schweitzer made the phrase the basic tenet of an ethical philosophy, which he developed and put into practice. He gave expression to its development in numerous books and publications during his life and also in manuscripts which have recently been published; the main work being his unfinished four-part "Philosophy of Culture" (German: Kulturphilosophie) subtitled: "The World-view of Reverence for Life". He also used his hospital in Lambaréné in Gabon (Central Africa) to demonstrate this philosophy in practice.
He believed that Reverence for Life is a concept that develops from observation of the world around us. In 'Civilization and Ethics' he expressed this in these words:
"Ethics is nothing other than Reverence for Life. Reverence for Life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, assisting and enhancing life, and to destroy, to harm or to hinder life is evil."
James Brabazon (Author of the Biography of Albert Schweitzer) defined Reverence for Life with the following statement:
"Reverence for Life says that the only thing we are really sure of is that we live and want to go on living. This is something that we share with everything else that lives, from elephants to blades of grass—and, of course, every human being. So we are brothers and sisters to all living things, and owe to all of them the same care and respect, that we wish for ourselves."
— James Brabazon
Albert Schweitzer hoped that the ethic of Reverence for Life would make its way in the world on the basis of his explanation of it in his books and talks, the example of his life and the force of its own argument based on the depth of fundamental thought. To some extent this is taking place as is evidenced by the growth of the environmental movement. (The book Silent spring, by Rachael Carson, which is widely credited with helping launch the environmental movement, was dedicated to Albert Schweitzer). Reverence for Life can also be seen in the explosion of ethical, charitable organizations of all kinds in many parts of the world.
The origins of Albert Schweitzer’s Reverence for Life
Schweitzer believed that ethical values which could underpin the ideal of true civilization had to have their foundation in deep thought and be world- and life-affirming. He therefore embarked on a search for ethical values in the various major religions and world-views accessible to him, but could not find any that were able, unequivocally, to combine ethics with life-affirmation. It was not until two years after moving out to Gabon to establish the Albert Schweitzer Hospital that he finally found the simple statement which answered his quest.
In his autobiography "Out of My Life and Thought," he explains this process.
Having described how at the beginning of the summer of 1915 he awoke from some kind of mental daze, asking himself why he was only criticizing civilization and not working on something constructive, he asked himself the question:
In his autobiography "Out of My Life and Thought," he explains this process.
Having described how at the beginning of the summer of 1915 he awoke from some kind of mental daze, asking himself why he was only criticizing civilization and not working on something constructive, he asked himself the question:
"But what is civilization?" . . . "
The essential element in civilization is the ethical perfecting of the individual as well as society
. At the same time, every spiritual and every material step forward has significance for civilization. The will to civilization is, then, the universal will to progress that is conscious of the ethical as the highest value. In spite of the great importance we attach to the achievements of science and human prowess, it is obvious that only a humanity that is striving for ethical ends can benefit in full measure from material progress and can overcome the dangers that accompany it. The only possible way out of chaos is for us to adopt a concept of the world based on the ideal of true civilization.
For months on end, I lived in a continual state of mental agitation. Without the least success I concentrated - even during my daily work at the hospital - on the real nature of the affirmation of life and of ethics, and on the question of what they have in common. I was wandering about in a thicket where no path was to be found. I was pushing against an iron door that would not yield.
In that mental state, I had to take a long journey up the river . . . Lost in thought, I sat on deck of the barge, struggling to find the elementary and universal concept of the ethical that I had not discovered in any philosophy. I covered sheet after sheet with disconnected sentences merely to concentrate on the problem. Two days passed. Late on the third day, at the very moment when, at sunset, we were making our way through a herd of hippopotamuses, there flashed upon my mind, unforeseen and unsought, the phrase: “Ehrfurcht vor dem Leben” (“Reverence for Life”). The iron door had yielded. The path in the thicket had become visible.”
For months on end, I lived in a continual state of mental agitation. Without the least success I concentrated - even during my daily work at the hospital - on the real nature of the affirmation of life and of ethics, and on the question of what they have in common. I was wandering about in a thicket where no path was to be found. I was pushing against an iron door that would not yield.
In that mental state, I had to take a long journey up the river . . . Lost in thought, I sat on deck of the barge, struggling to find the elementary and universal concept of the ethical that I had not discovered in any philosophy. I covered sheet after sheet with disconnected sentences merely to concentrate on the problem. Two days passed. Late on the third day, at the very moment when, at sunset, we were making our way through a herd of hippopotamuses, there flashed upon my mind, unforeseen and unsought, the phrase: “Ehrfurcht vor dem Leben” (“Reverence for Life”). The iron door had yielded. The path in the thicket had become visible.”
According to some authors, Schweitzer's thought, and specifically his development for reverence for life, was influenced by Indian religious thought and in particular Jain principle of ahimsa (non-violence). Albert Schweitzer has noted the contribution of Indian influence in his book ”Indian Thought and Its Development”
”The laying down of the commandment to not kill and to not damage is one of the greatest events in the spiritual history of mankind. Starting from its principle, founded on world and life denial, of abstention from action, ancient Indian thought - and this is a period when in other respects ethics have not progressed very far - reaches the tremendous discovery that ethics know no bounds. So far as we know, this is for the first time clearly expressed by Jainism.”
The Will to Live
The word ‘will’ in the sense of determination or firmness of purpose is rarely used today and therefore Schweitzer’s use of the word as translated from the German word ‘Wille’ may appear unfamiliar. However, it is a significant part of Schweitzer’s message. He held the view in the 1920s that people had largely lost touch with their own will, having subjugated it to outside authority and sacrificed it to external circumstances.
He therefore pointed back to that elemental part of ourselves that can be in touch with our ‘will’ and can exercise it for the good of all.
In ”Out of My Life and Thought” Schweitzer wrote:
He therefore pointed back to that elemental part of ourselves that can be in touch with our ‘will’ and can exercise it for the good of all.
In ”Out of My Life and Thought” Schweitzer wrote:
The most immediate fact of man’s consciousness is the assertion "I am life that wills to live in the midst of life that wills to live"
”Affirmation of life is the spiritual act by which man ceases to live thoughtlessly and begins to devote himself to his life with reverence in order to give it true value. To affirm life is to deepen, to make more inward, and to exalt the will to live. At the same time the man who has become a thinking being feels a compulsion to give to every will to live the same reverence for life that he gives to his own.[....] This is the absolute, fundamental principle of ethics, and is a fundamental postulate of thought.”
In his search for an answer to the problems posed by what was to him the obvious decline of western civilization, Albert Schweitzer was not prepared to give up the belief in progress which is so much taken for granted by people of European descent. Rather, he sought to identify why this ‘will to progress’ was seemingly going off the rails and causing the disintegration of European civilization.
He came to the following conclusion: (in ”Out of my Life and Though”)
He came to the following conclusion: (in ”Out of my Life and Though”)
”By itself, the affirmation of life can only produce a partial and imperfect civilization. Only if it turns inward and becomes ethical can the will to progress attain the ability to distinguish the valuable from the worthless. We must therefore strive for a civilization that is not based on the accretion of science and power alone, but which cares most of all for the spiritual and ethical development of the individual and of humankind.”
”Standing, as all living beings are, before this dilemma of the will to live, a person is constantly forced to preserve his own life and life in general only at the cost of other life. If he has been touched by the ethic of reverence for life, he injures and destroys life only under a necessity he cannot avoid, and never from thoughtlessness.”
Nazi ideology
From www.nazism.net
Key elements of the Nazi ideology
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National Socialist Program
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Racism
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Especially anti-Semitism, which eventually culminated in the Holocaust.
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The creation of a Herrenrasse (Master Race= by the Lebensborn (Fountain of Life; A department in the Third Reich)
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Anti-Slavism
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Belief in the superiority of the White, Germanic, Aryan or Nordic races.
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Euthanasia and Eugenics with respect to "Racial Hygiene"
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Anti-Marxism, Anti-Communism, Anti-Bolshevism
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The rejection of democracy, with as a consequence the ending the existence of political parties, labour unions, and free press.
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Führerprinzip (Leader Principle) /belief in the leader (Responsibility up the ranks, and authority down the ranks.)
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Strong show of local culture.
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Social Darwinism
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Defense of Blood and Soil (German: "Blut und Boden" - represented by the red and black colors in the Nazi flag)
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"Lebensraumpolitik", "Lebensraum im Osten" (The creation of more living space for Germans)
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Related to Fascism
Nazism and Romantiscism
Many historiographers say that the anti-Semitic element, which does not exist in the sister fascism movement in Italy and Spain, was adopted by Hitler to gain popularity for the movement. Anti-Semitic prejudice was very common among the masses in German Empire. It is claimed that mass acceptance required anti-Semitism, as well as flattery of the wounded pride of German people after the defeat of WWI. Others see anti-Semitism as central to Hitler's Weltanschauung (World view).
Many see strong connections to the values of Nazism and the irrationalist tradition of the romantic movement of the early 19th century. Strength, passion, lack of hypocrisy, utilitarianism, traditional family values, and devotion to community were valued by the Nazis and first expressed by many Romantic artists, musicians, and writers, as well as, among the Nazi elite, the ancient Greek habit of same-sex relations between the military and young boys praised notably in Plato's works, and favored by German sensualists such as Röhm, Bielas and Wessel. German romanticism in particular expressed these values. For instance, the Nazis identified closely with the music of Richard Wagner (a noted anti-Semite, author of Das Judenthum in der Musik, and idol to the young Hitler). Many of his operas express the ideals of the strong dominating the weak, and a celebration of traditional Norse Aryan folklore and values. The style of his music is often very militaristic.
The idealisation of tradition, folklore, classical thought, the leadership of Frederick the Great, their rejection of the liberalism of the Weimar Republic and the decision to call the German state the Third Reich (which hearkens back to the medieval First Reich and the pre Weimar Second Reich) has led many to regard the Nazis as reactionary.
Ideological Competition
Nazism and Communism emerged as two serious contenders for power in Germany after the First World War, particularly as the Weimar Republic became increasingly unstable.
What became the Nazi movement arose out of resistance to the Bolshevik-inspired insurgencies that occurred in Germany in the aftermath of the First World War. The Russian Revolution of 1917 caused a great deal of excitement and interest in the Leninist version of Marxism and caused many socialists to adopt revolutionary principles. The 1918-1919 Munich Soviet and the 1919 Spartacist uprising in Berlin were both manifestations of this. The Freikorps, a loosely organised paramilitary group (essentially a militia of former World War I soldiers) were used to crush both these uprising and many leaders of the Freikorps, including Ernst Röhm, later became leaders in the Nazi party.
Capitalists and conservatives in Germany feared that a takeover by the Communists was inevitable and did not trust the democratic parties of the Weimar Republic to be able to resist a communist revolution. Increasing numbers of capitalists began looking to the nationalist movements as a bulwark against Bolshevism. After Mussolini's fascists took power in Italy in 1922, fascism presented itself as a realistic option for opposing "Communism", particularly given Mussolini's success in crushing the Communist and anarchist movements which had destabilised Italy with a wave of strikes and factory occupations after the First World War. Fascist parties formed in numerous European countries.
Many historians such as Ian Kershaw and Joachim Fest argue that Hitler and the Nazis were one of numerous nationalist and increasingly fascistic groups that existed in Germany and contended for leadership of the anti-Communist movement and, eventually, of the German state. Further, they assert that fascism and its German variant National Socialism became the successful challengers to Communism because they were able to both appeal to the establishment as a bulwark against Bolshevism and appeal to the working class base, particularly the growing underclass of unemployed and unemployable and growingly impoverished middle class elements who were becoming declassed (the lumpenproletariat). The Nazi's use of socialist rhetoric appealed to disaffection with capitalism while presenting a political and economic model that divested "socialism" of any elements which were dangerous to capitalism, such as the concept of class struggle, "the dictatorship of the proletariat" or worker control of the means of production.
What became the Nazi movement arose out of resistance to the Bolshevik-inspired insurgencies that occurred in Germany in the aftermath of the First World War. The Russian Revolution of 1917 caused a great deal of excitement and interest in the Leninist version of Marxism and caused many socialists to adopt revolutionary principles. The 1918-1919 Munich Soviet and the 1919 Spartacist uprising in Berlin were both manifestations of this. The Freikorps, a loosely organised paramilitary group (essentially a militia of former World War I soldiers) were used to crush both these uprising and many leaders of the Freikorps, including Ernst Röhm, later became leaders in the Nazi party.
Capitalists and conservatives in Germany feared that a takeover by the Communists was inevitable and did not trust the democratic parties of the Weimar Republic to be able to resist a communist revolution. Increasing numbers of capitalists began looking to the nationalist movements as a bulwark against Bolshevism. After Mussolini's fascists took power in Italy in 1922, fascism presented itself as a realistic option for opposing "Communism", particularly given Mussolini's success in crushing the Communist and anarchist movements which had destabilised Italy with a wave of strikes and factory occupations after the First World War. Fascist parties formed in numerous European countries.
Many historians such as Ian Kershaw and Joachim Fest argue that Hitler and the Nazis were one of numerous nationalist and increasingly fascistic groups that existed in Germany and contended for leadership of the anti-Communist movement and, eventually, of the German state. Further, they assert that fascism and its German variant National Socialism became the successful challengers to Communism because they were able to both appeal to the establishment as a bulwark against Bolshevism and appeal to the working class base, particularly the growing underclass of unemployed and unemployable and growingly impoverished middle class elements who were becoming declassed (the lumpenproletariat). The Nazi's use of socialist rhetoric appealed to disaffection with capitalism while presenting a political and economic model that divested "socialism" of any elements which were dangerous to capitalism, such as the concept of class struggle, "the dictatorship of the proletariat" or worker control of the means of production.
Support of anti-Communists for Fascism and Nazism
Various right-wing politicians and political parties in Europe welcomed the rise of fascism and the Nazis out of an intense aversion towards Communism. According to them, Hitler was the savior of Western civilization and of capitalism against Bolshevism. Among these supporters in the 1920s and early 1930s was the Conservative Party in Britain. During the later 1930s and 1940s, the Nazis were supported by the Falange movement in Spain, and by political and military figures who would form the government of Vichy France. A Legion of French Volunteers against Bolshevism (LVF) and other anti-Soviet fighting formations, were formed.
The British Conservative party and the right-wing parties in France appeased the Nazi regime in the mid- and late-1930s, even though they had begun to criticise its totalitarianism. Some contemporary commentators suggested that these parties did in fact still support the Nazis.
The British Conservative party and the right-wing parties in France appeased the Nazi regime in the mid- and late-1930s, even though they had begun to criticise its totalitarianism. Some contemporary commentators suggested that these parties did in fact still support the Nazis.
Nazism and Anglo-Saxons
Hitler admired the British Empire as a shining example of Nordic genius. Racist theories were developed by British intellectuals in the 19th century to control the Indian people and other "savages." These methods were often copied by the Nazis.
Similarly, in his early years Hitler also greatly admired the United States of America. In Mein Kampf, he praised the United States for its race-based anti-immigration laws. According to Hitler, America was a successful nation because it kept itself "pure" of "lesser races." However as war approached, his view of the United States became more negative and he believed that Germany would have an easy victory over the United States precisely because the United States in his later estimation had become a mongrel nation..
Similarly, in his early years Hitler also greatly admired the United States of America. In Mein Kampf, he praised the United States for its race-based anti-immigration laws. According to Hitler, America was a successful nation because it kept itself "pure" of "lesser races." However as war approached, his view of the United States became more negative and he believed that Germany would have an easy victory over the United States precisely because the United States in his later estimation had become a mongrel nation..
Nazi Ideological Theory
According to Mein Kampf (My Struggle), Hitler developed his political theories after carefully observing the policies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was born as a citizen of the Empire, and believed that ethnic and linguistic diversity had weakened it. Further, he saw democracy as a destabilizing force, because it placed power in the hands of ethnic minorities, who he claimed had incentives to further "weaken and destabilize" the Empire. The Nazi rationale was heavily invested in the militarist belief that great nations grow from military power, which in turn grows "naturally" from "rational, civilized cultures." Hitler's calls appealed to disgruntled German Nationalists, eager to save face for the failure of World War I, and to salvage the militaristic nationalist mindset of that previous era. After Austria and Germany's defeat of World War I, many Germans still had heartfelt ties to the goal of creating a greater Germany, and thought that the use of military force to achieve it was necessary.
Many placed the blame for Germany's misfortunes on those whom they perceived, in one way or another, to have sabotaged the goal of national victory. Jews and communists became the ideal scapegoats for Germans deeply invested in a German Nationalist ideology.
Hitler's Nazi theory also claimed that the Aryan race is a master race, superior to all other races, that a nation is the highest creation of a race, and great nations (literally large nations) were the creation of great races. These nations developed cultures that naturally grew from races with "natural good health, and aggressive, intelligent, courageous traits." The weakest nations, Hitler said were those of impure or mongrel races, because they have divided, quarrelling, and therefore weak cultures. Worst of all were seen to be the parasitic Untermensch (Subhumans), mainly Jews, but also Gypsies, homosexuals, disabled and so called anti-socials, all of whom were considered lebensunwertes Leben (Lifeunworthy Life) due to their perceived deficiency and inferiority. The role of homosexuals during the Holocaust are controversial among historians. Some, like the International Committee for Holocaust Truth and authors Scott Lively and Kevin E. Abrams in "The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party", defend the perspective that many homosexuals were involved in the inner circle of the Nazi party: Ernst Röhm of the SA, Horst Wessel, Max Bielas, and others. This perspective is denounced as hateful propaganda by most homosexual associations and groups, stirring heated debates and accusations of censorship and "hate-speech" from both sides.
People of the Eastern European Russian-dominated Slavic descent were also seen as subhuman, but only marginally parasitic, because they had their own land and nations, though many of them lived in German countries such as Austria, which Hitler saw as an ethnic invasion of Germanic Lebensraum by foreign populations who would have incentive to force Austria's loyalty to their lands of ethnic and cultural origin.
According to Nazism, it is an obvious mistake to permit or encourage multilingualism and multiculturalism within a nation. Fundamental to the Nazi goal was the unification of all German-speaking peoples, "unjustly" divided into different Nation States. Hitler claimed that nations that could not defend their territory did not deserve it. Slave races, he thought of as less-worthy to exist than "master races." In particular, if a master race should require room to live (Lebensraum), he thought such a race should have the right to displace the inferior indigenous races. Hitler draws parallels between Lebensraum and the American ethnic cleansing and relocation policies towards the Native Americans, which he saw as key to the success of the US.
"Races without homelands," Hitler claimed, were "parasitic races," and the richer the members of a "parasitic race" are, the more "virulent" the parasitism was thought to be. A "master race" could therefore, according to the Nazi doctrine, easily strengthen itself by eliminating "parasitic races" from its homeland. This was the given rationalization for the Nazi's later oppression and elimination of Jews and Gypsies. Despite the popularity of Hitler and his living space doctrine, some Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS soldiers found the duty repugnant. Only a small fraction of them were actively involved in genocide.
Hitler extended his rationalizations into religious doctrine, claiming that those who agreed with and taught his "truths," were "true" or "master" religions, because they would "create mastery" by avoiding comforting lies. Those that preach love and tolerance, "in contravention to the facts," were said to be "slave" or "false" religions. The man who recognizes these "truths," Hitler continued, was said to be a "natural leader," and those who deny it were said to be "natural slaves." "Slaves," especially intelligent ones, he claimed were always attempting to hinder masters by promoting false religious and political doctrines.
The ideological roots which became German "National Socialism" were based on numerous sources in European history, drawing especially from Romantic 19th Century idealism, and from a biological misreading of Friedrich Nietzsche's thoughts on "breeding upwards" toward the goal of an Übermensch (Superhuman). Hitler was an avid reader and received ideas that were later to influence Nazism from traceable publications, such as those of the Germanenorden (Germanic Order) or the Thule society.
Many placed the blame for Germany's misfortunes on those whom they perceived, in one way or another, to have sabotaged the goal of national victory. Jews and communists became the ideal scapegoats for Germans deeply invested in a German Nationalist ideology.
Hitler's Nazi theory also claimed that the Aryan race is a master race, superior to all other races, that a nation is the highest creation of a race, and great nations (literally large nations) were the creation of great races. These nations developed cultures that naturally grew from races with "natural good health, and aggressive, intelligent, courageous traits." The weakest nations, Hitler said were those of impure or mongrel races, because they have divided, quarrelling, and therefore weak cultures. Worst of all were seen to be the parasitic Untermensch (Subhumans), mainly Jews, but also Gypsies, homosexuals, disabled and so called anti-socials, all of whom were considered lebensunwertes Leben (Lifeunworthy Life) due to their perceived deficiency and inferiority. The role of homosexuals during the Holocaust are controversial among historians. Some, like the International Committee for Holocaust Truth and authors Scott Lively and Kevin E. Abrams in "The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party", defend the perspective that many homosexuals were involved in the inner circle of the Nazi party: Ernst Röhm of the SA, Horst Wessel, Max Bielas, and others. This perspective is denounced as hateful propaganda by most homosexual associations and groups, stirring heated debates and accusations of censorship and "hate-speech" from both sides.
People of the Eastern European Russian-dominated Slavic descent were also seen as subhuman, but only marginally parasitic, because they had their own land and nations, though many of them lived in German countries such as Austria, which Hitler saw as an ethnic invasion of Germanic Lebensraum by foreign populations who would have incentive to force Austria's loyalty to their lands of ethnic and cultural origin.
According to Nazism, it is an obvious mistake to permit or encourage multilingualism and multiculturalism within a nation. Fundamental to the Nazi goal was the unification of all German-speaking peoples, "unjustly" divided into different Nation States. Hitler claimed that nations that could not defend their territory did not deserve it. Slave races, he thought of as less-worthy to exist than "master races." In particular, if a master race should require room to live (Lebensraum), he thought such a race should have the right to displace the inferior indigenous races. Hitler draws parallels between Lebensraum and the American ethnic cleansing and relocation policies towards the Native Americans, which he saw as key to the success of the US.
"Races without homelands," Hitler claimed, were "parasitic races," and the richer the members of a "parasitic race" are, the more "virulent" the parasitism was thought to be. A "master race" could therefore, according to the Nazi doctrine, easily strengthen itself by eliminating "parasitic races" from its homeland. This was the given rationalization for the Nazi's later oppression and elimination of Jews and Gypsies. Despite the popularity of Hitler and his living space doctrine, some Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS soldiers found the duty repugnant. Only a small fraction of them were actively involved in genocide.
Hitler extended his rationalizations into religious doctrine, claiming that those who agreed with and taught his "truths," were "true" or "master" religions, because they would "create mastery" by avoiding comforting lies. Those that preach love and tolerance, "in contravention to the facts," were said to be "slave" or "false" religions. The man who recognizes these "truths," Hitler continued, was said to be a "natural leader," and those who deny it were said to be "natural slaves." "Slaves," especially intelligent ones, he claimed were always attempting to hinder masters by promoting false religious and political doctrines.
The ideological roots which became German "National Socialism" were based on numerous sources in European history, drawing especially from Romantic 19th Century idealism, and from a biological misreading of Friedrich Nietzsche's thoughts on "breeding upwards" toward the goal of an Übermensch (Superhuman). Hitler was an avid reader and received ideas that were later to influence Nazism from traceable publications, such as those of the Germanenorden (Germanic Order) or the Thule society.
Tidehverv & Dansk Samling – dansk nationalisme i forbindelse med verdenskrigene.
Tidehverv
fra Den Store Danske Encyclopædi
Tidehvervsbevægelsen, dansk teologisk bevægelse, som siden 1926 har udgivet tidsskriftet Tidehverv, der har givet den navn. Tidsskriftet redigeredes indtil 1973 af fængselspræst N.I. Heje, 1974-84 af sognepræst Vilhelm Krarup og siden da af sognepræst Søren Krarup.
Bevægelsen udsprang af et opgør inden for Den Kristelige Studenterbevægelse. Unge teologer, heriblandt N.I. Heje, Tage Schack, Gustav Brøndsted og K. Olesen Larsen, tog først afstand fra en sentimentaliseret, angelsaksisk påvirket ungdomsforkyndelse (se KFUM), siden i bredere forstand fra enhver etisk-idealistisk kristendomsforståelse. Baggrunden herfor var sammenbruddet i 1900-t.s første årtier af den etisk-religiøse idealisme, der var en arv fra 1800-t. Tidehvervsbevægelsens opgør var parallelt med det opgør med liberalteologien, der med Karl Barth som hovedkraft fandt sted samtidig i Tyskland.
Kredsen bag tidsskriftet gennemførte den teologiske nyorientering i form af polemiske opgør med Den Kristelige Studenterbevægelses gamle ledere, som var deres egne lærere. Siden fulgte opgør med Indre Mission og den liberale grundtvigianisme. Inspirationen hentede Tidehverv hos bl.a. Luther og Kierkegaard.
Indtil 1945 stod Tidehvervsbevægelsen ret isoleret i dansk kirkeliv, men fik betydning ved sin skarpe polemik. Tidehvervspræsternes prædiken er karakteriseret ved en lidenskabelig vilje til koncentration om evangelieforkyndelsen og ved en tilsvarende klar afstandtagen fra en kristendomsforståelse, der tillægger religiøse erfaringer og gode gerninger nogen betydning. I 1930'ernes slutning markerede en kulturelt og folkeligt engageret fløj sig selvstændigt som de såkaldte tidehvervsgrundtvigianere; de fleste fra denne fløj, der talte Knud Hansen, K.E. Løgstrup, Kaj Thaning mfl., gled fra slutningen af 1950'erne ud af Tidehvervskredsen.
Med Søren Krarups optagelse i udgivergruppen i 1967 ændrede Tidehverv sig fra et rent teologisk tidsskrift til også at give plads for politiske og kulturelle opgør. Den teologiske grundopfattelse udtrykkes her i en national-konservativ polemik mod socialisme, kulturradikalisme og humanistisk-idealistiske holdninger, der alle opfattes som totalitære.
Tidehvervsbevægelsen, dansk teologisk bevægelse, som siden 1926 har udgivet tidsskriftet Tidehverv, der har givet den navn. Tidsskriftet redigeredes indtil 1973 af fængselspræst N.I. Heje, 1974-84 af sognepræst Vilhelm Krarup og siden da af sognepræst Søren Krarup.
Bevægelsen udsprang af et opgør inden for Den Kristelige Studenterbevægelse. Unge teologer, heriblandt N.I. Heje, Tage Schack, Gustav Brøndsted og K. Olesen Larsen, tog først afstand fra en sentimentaliseret, angelsaksisk påvirket ungdomsforkyndelse (se KFUM), siden i bredere forstand fra enhver etisk-idealistisk kristendomsforståelse. Baggrunden herfor var sammenbruddet i 1900-t.s første årtier af den etisk-religiøse idealisme, der var en arv fra 1800-t. Tidehvervsbevægelsens opgør var parallelt med det opgør med liberalteologien, der med Karl Barth som hovedkraft fandt sted samtidig i Tyskland.
Kredsen bag tidsskriftet gennemførte den teologiske nyorientering i form af polemiske opgør med Den Kristelige Studenterbevægelses gamle ledere, som var deres egne lærere. Siden fulgte opgør med Indre Mission og den liberale grundtvigianisme. Inspirationen hentede Tidehverv hos bl.a. Luther og Kierkegaard.
Indtil 1945 stod Tidehvervsbevægelsen ret isoleret i dansk kirkeliv, men fik betydning ved sin skarpe polemik. Tidehvervspræsternes prædiken er karakteriseret ved en lidenskabelig vilje til koncentration om evangelieforkyndelsen og ved en tilsvarende klar afstandtagen fra en kristendomsforståelse, der tillægger religiøse erfaringer og gode gerninger nogen betydning. I 1930'ernes slutning markerede en kulturelt og folkeligt engageret fløj sig selvstændigt som de såkaldte tidehvervsgrundtvigianere; de fleste fra denne fløj, der talte Knud Hansen, K.E. Løgstrup, Kaj Thaning mfl., gled fra slutningen af 1950'erne ud af Tidehvervskredsen.
Med Søren Krarups optagelse i udgivergruppen i 1967 ændrede Tidehverv sig fra et rent teologisk tidsskrift til også at give plads for politiske og kulturelle opgør. Den teologiske grundopfattelse udtrykkes her i en national-konservativ polemik mod socialisme, kulturradikalisme og humanistisk-idealistiske holdninger, der alle opfattes som totalitære.
Dansk Samling
Fra Wikipedia
Dansk Samling er et dansk politisk parti stiftet i 1936 af forfatteren Arne Sørensen. Deltog ved valgene til Folketinget i 1939, 1943, 1945, 1947, april 1953 og 1964. Partiet havde listebogstavet R. Repræsenteret i Folketinget 1943–47 og i regeringen maj til november 1945. Repræsenteret i Danmarks Frihedsråd 1943–45.
Partiet er værdipolitisk nationalkonservativt og kristeligt. Indtil ca. 1980 kombinerede partiet sin konservative værdipolitik med en socialt bevidst fordelingspolitik. Derefter blev partiets økonomiske og sociale politik mere borgerlig. I dag er Dansk Samling domineret af yderliggående nationalister og er stærkt negativt overfor indvandring og det multikulturelle samfund. Partiets nuværende formand er Adam Wagner, der tidligere har været et fremtrædende medlem af den nationalistiske studentergruppe Dansk Forum. Modstanden mod EU og støtte til det danske mindretal i Sydslesvig er partiets to andre mærkesager.
Partiet er værdipolitisk nationalkonservativt og kristeligt. Indtil ca. 1980 kombinerede partiet sin konservative værdipolitik med en socialt bevidst fordelingspolitik. Derefter blev partiets økonomiske og sociale politik mere borgerlig. I dag er Dansk Samling domineret af yderliggående nationalister og er stærkt negativt overfor indvandring og det multikulturelle samfund. Partiets nuværende formand er Adam Wagner, der tidligere har været et fremtrædende medlem af den nationalistiske studentergruppe Dansk Forum. Modstanden mod EU og støtte til det danske mindretal i Sydslesvig er partiets to andre mærkesager.
Historie
Partiet var før besættelsen fortaler for en "tredje vej" mellem socialisme og liberalisme. Dansk Samling mente, at nogle af demokratiets problemer var skabt af parlamentarismen, og ligesom andre af datidens bevægelser på højrefløjen eksperimentede det med tanker om en korporativ stat på et nationalt grundlag. Derfor er partiet blevet beskyldt for at være inspireret af fascismen, men det tog afstand fra diktaturerne i Italien og Tyskland og foragtede racelære og antisemitisme.[1]
Politifuldmægtig Henning Schlanbusch, som havde været folketingskandidat for Dansk Samling i Varde, modtog fra Jørgen Diemer opfordringen til at danne en modstandsgruppe under besættelsen.
Ved valget til Folketinget i marts 1943 anbefalede digterpræsten Kaj Munk at stemme på partiet. Senere i 1943 gik Dansk Samlings netværk af unge og ældre lærere, præster og landmænd ind i den aktive modstandskamp mod Besættelsen. Særligt sabotørgruppen Holger Danske i København ydede en stor indsats. Mange af disse modstandsfolk kom til at spille en rolle i Danmark efter Befrielsen.
I befrielsesregeringen blev Dansk Samling repræsenteret af kirkeminister Arne Sørensen og minister uden portefølje gårdejer og sognerådsformand Kr. Juul Christensen. Dansk Samling udgav Morgenbladet, hvor Poul Dam var redaktør 1946–47. Dam blev senere folketingsmedlem for SF.
I 1961 besluttede Dansk Samling at modarbejde Danmarks indtræden i Fællesmarkedet af nationale grunde. I denne forbindelse kom partiets sekretær Knud P. Pedersen til at spille en afgørende rolle. Ved valgene til Folketinget i 1966 og 1968 blev Liberalt Centrum støttet af en fløj i partiet.
I 1972 var Dansk Samling medstifter af Folkebevægelsen mod EF. I 1990’erne var højskolemanden og forfatteren Jens Rosendal et fremtrædende medlem af partiet, der også støttedes af Karl Otto Meyer, tidligere redaktør af Flensborg Avis og forhenværende medlem af landdagen i Slesvig-Holsten.
Politifuldmægtig Henning Schlanbusch, som havde været folketingskandidat for Dansk Samling i Varde, modtog fra Jørgen Diemer opfordringen til at danne en modstandsgruppe under besættelsen.
Ved valget til Folketinget i marts 1943 anbefalede digterpræsten Kaj Munk at stemme på partiet. Senere i 1943 gik Dansk Samlings netværk af unge og ældre lærere, præster og landmænd ind i den aktive modstandskamp mod Besættelsen. Særligt sabotørgruppen Holger Danske i København ydede en stor indsats. Mange af disse modstandsfolk kom til at spille en rolle i Danmark efter Befrielsen.
I befrielsesregeringen blev Dansk Samling repræsenteret af kirkeminister Arne Sørensen og minister uden portefølje gårdejer og sognerådsformand Kr. Juul Christensen. Dansk Samling udgav Morgenbladet, hvor Poul Dam var redaktør 1946–47. Dam blev senere folketingsmedlem for SF.
I 1961 besluttede Dansk Samling at modarbejde Danmarks indtræden i Fællesmarkedet af nationale grunde. I denne forbindelse kom partiets sekretær Knud P. Pedersen til at spille en afgørende rolle. Ved valgene til Folketinget i 1966 og 1968 blev Liberalt Centrum støttet af en fløj i partiet.
I 1972 var Dansk Samling medstifter af Folkebevægelsen mod EF. I 1990’erne var højskolemanden og forfatteren Jens Rosendal et fremtrædende medlem af partiet, der også støttedes af Karl Otto Meyer, tidligere redaktør af Flensborg Avis og forhenværende medlem af landdagen i Slesvig-Holsten.
Dansk samlings hjemmeside: http://www.dksamling.dk/
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