Re: EJ / Der Friede

[Andreas Heidelbauer <andreas.heidelbauer@student.uni-tuebingen.de>]

> Dear list members,
> 
> we should remember that the term "Widerstand" was used before 1933 by the
> rigth-winged opponents of Weimar. The best example was Ernst Niekisch and
> his "Widerstandskreis" - against Versailles, and another example ist the
> little broschure "Kriegsgeneration / Widerstand", written by Hans Henning
> Grote (Berlin w.y.). Men like Niekisch, Jünger and other
> "Nationalrevolutionäre" upholded their "Widerstandshaltung" after 1933 -
> because this was not the Drittes Reich they wanted. Too plebeian. In this
> way, Jünger was "widerständig", but it was no active "Widerstand".
That´s the point! Jünger and others wanted  the Dritte Reich, but they
were not d´accord with Hitler-and this doesn´t mean Widerstand!

> 
> We should forget the view on the Nationalsozialismus as a monolithic block,
> standing for a totally new and self-formed policy. Why was the NS so
> successfully? Because it absorbed - besides its own rass-policy - many
> parts of common german wishes and political targets. Like EJ himself said:
> he was "d´accord" with Hitlers politics in 1938. 
Perhaps Jünger, and I hope so he did, meant only the foreign politics.
Remember what happened even until 1938: Nürnberger Gesetze,
"Reichskristallnacht"...

> From 1940 to 1942 Jünger had several meetings with Werner Best in his
> hotel-room in Paris.
> Best had written an article "Der Krieg und das Recht" for the book "Krieg
> und Krieger, edited bey EJ in 1930. Best was after 1933 the organisator of
> the Gestapo and their second man behind Reinhard Heydrich until 1940. Then
> he was kicked off from the Gestapa (Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt) because of
> personal rivalries with Heydrich. From 1940 to 1942 Best was
> Kriegsverwaltungschef in Paris. There is no doubt, that Best was a Nazi,
> and it is clear that these meetings between Jünger and Best were in a
> friendly atmosphere.
So why did Jünger have to meet "Best"?

> (I have read the letters from Best to Jünger in Marbach - has anyone seen
> Best ementioned in the "Strahlungen? I am still waiting for the commented
> edition with an index!)
> 
> And, following Friedrich Hielscher, Best hold his hand on EJ after
> Stalingrad: "Es wäre erwogen worden, Jünger und mich (Hielscher)
> vorsorglich umzulegen, da der Einfluß solcher Geister in unseren Zeiten,
> wie sie nach jener Niederlage nicht mehr ausgeschlossen schienen, ärgerlich
> und unübersehbar zunehmen können. Da habe Best der Akte als sein Urteil
> hinzugefügt, daß Jünger und ich harmlos seien und auch nichts anderes
> wünschten als den Sieg Deutschlands..." (Hielscher, Fünfzig Jahre unter
> Deutschen, 287)
Personal friendships or protection from a nazi doesn´t mean WIDERSTAND!!!

> Jünger and Best keeped up their correspondance until the death of Best in
> 1989. 
> As I heard from a still living old man (no Nazi, but before and after 1933
> nationalist and "Volkstumsaktivist"): Best was one of the "good" Nazis...
There were no good nazis. Never!
> 
> We should see that single Nazis had different backgrounds and that there
> had been f.e. connections between parts of the "Konservative Revolution"
> and men who made later career in the NSDAP. One example is the "Bund
> Oberland": many members went to Niekisch in 1929/30, others went to the
> NSDAP like Richard Hildebrandt, later SS-Obergruppenführer and Höherer SS-
> und Polizeiführer in Danzig-Westpreußen.
> 
> I think we should start to discuss EJs "Der Friede". He wrote the first
> concept for it in the beginning of 1942 (Strahlungen, 5.1.42) - one month
> after the start of the the soviet winter-offensive and the crisis of
> moscow, two weeks after the dismissal of Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres v.
> Brauchitsch. Now the little Gefreiter Hitler was the new Oberbefehlshaber.
> Had EJ now seen that this war was no more to win?
> (I forgot: one month after Pearl Harbor)
> EJ burned his first concept for "Der Friede" on August 18th in 1942, before
> he left to Russia (See "Strahlungen").
> 
> Back in Paris, EJ wrote the second concept, starting on July 27th in 1943.
> After Stalingrad, after landing of the first allied troops on Sicily (July
> 10th).
> 
> Germany had still ocuppied almost the whole of Europe, it was still in a
> strong position. And it is clear to see, that EJ was writing "Der Friede"
> from a position of strength: "Die Waffen müssen den Raum zur Entscheidung
> schaffen, Raum für den geistigen Entwurf. In diesem Sinne ist es besser,
> länger zu leiden, als Teile des Ganges aufzuschieben, um zurückzukehren zur
> alten Welt (...) Der Friede kann kein Verständigungsfriede sein" 
> (the fear of a second Versailles...)
And yet it was so typical for EJ in this period: der alte Narziß hat
wieder einmal etwas geschrieben. 
> 
> In 1943 it seemed not too late, that Germany could decide alone on its
> destiny, make a knightly peace with keeping of its power. This was EJs
> view, and this was the view of the military opposition. In this way there
> was an accord between EJ and the military opposition. Hans Speidel and
> Rommel received "Der Friede" in 1943/44 before the 20th of July: "In den
> ersten Julitagen des Jahres 1944 gab mir Erwin Rommel die Weisung, die
> Friedensschrift `des großen Soldaten Ernst Jünger´ für eine
> Veröffentlichung im In- und Ausland vorzubereiten" (Hans Speidel: Briefe
> aus Paris und aus dem Kaukasus, in: Freundschaftliche Begegnungen.
> Festschrift für EJ zum 60. Geburtstag, Frankfurt a.M. 1955, 192)
And even if he did so, remember that Rommel´s role even nowaday remains
ambigous and enigmatic.
> 
> In contrary to the men of the 20th of July EJ did not recommend the
> assault: "Wenn Kniébolo fällt, so wird die Hydra einen neuen Kopf bilden."
> (Strahlungen, 497) And he was not the one to take an active part - he saw
> himself oncemore as the elitarian spectator and chronicler, standing over
> the things to happen. 
As he always did! And that is no resistance against the regime at all.
> 
> "Der Friede" - what kind of peace and how to receive it, meant EJ?
It certainly was an elite peace and where did he write about a democratic
government? Sorry, couldn´t find it. I think EJ dreamt of a new regime
without the warcrimes and pursuit of the jews.
 > 
> If some of you are interested to discuss "Der Friede" I could organize to
> send you some special prints of it. Please email me directly for your
> adresses.
What are "special prints"?
> 
> Regards,
> Jan Zimmermann
> 
> 
> 
> 

-- 
CU.....
Andreas

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