Page 27 - Romanticism: A Weapon of Satan

Romantic Nationalism

cut off from reality and live in a world created by their own
imaginations.)
The disease of schizophrenia provides a poignant analogy of the
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spiritual condition of romantic nationalism, which is based on a
number of errant ideas, chief among them being the notion of "blood"
and "fatherland," which it then idolizes and turns into obsessions to be
pursued blindly. In Germany, at the beginning of the twentieth
century, the idea of "Blut and Boden" (Blood and Fatherland) gained
momentum. According to this notion, German blood and the German
fatherland were holy, and those minorities within the country that did
not belong to the German race, were seen as polluting German blood
and sullying the German fatherland. This current of thought exercised
a great influence on the Nazi
ideology, which viewed the
spilling of blood as part of a
holy crusade. In the course
of an unsuccessful coup
attempt in 1923, Hitler took
a party flag stained with
Nazi blood and virtually
turned it into an idol of
worship. This flag came to
be known as "Blutfahne"
(Blood Flag). It was
preserved as it was and
became the most holy
symbol in all Nazi
gatherings. Other, new flags
were touched to it, so that it
might transmit something of
its "sacred" quality. 3 Above: A propaganda poster from the Nazi era
symbolising romantic nationalism, and extolling
the German race and people with heightened
sentimentality.