Hitler's Body And The Body Politic
Essay by 24 • September 17, 2010 • 448 Words (2 Pages) • 1,712 Views
HITLER'S BODY AND THE BODY POLITIC
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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.
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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
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