I am a literary person interested in history, and as such, I tend not to overlook certain details that may seem trivial at best. In this connection, there was a thread on this site about the reversal of roles between France and Germany that I found thought-provoking; when I read the premises, I remember thinking to myself, "how would it be possible for the French to develop a culture that would have anything to do with the Third Reich?".
As all nations are interested in aesthetics, often for propaganda reasons, I recalled that Walter Benjamin had written that fascism was the "aestheticization of politics". This is a profound statement indeed.
Then I recalled the theory propounded by one of our greatest philosophers (I am French), Jean-Jacques Rousseau, about the inherent superiority of the French and the people with light-brown hair. It seems very mild, and even quite amusing to some extent, even more so when you come to think that Rousseau was a humanist philosopher (and had light brown hair and hazel eyes). As a matter of fact, it is funny because no one had to suffer from his statements, and no one took him seriously, much to the credit of my countrymen.
However, some people took the Nordicists such as Madison Grant or Hitler very seriously.That is why, I suppose, there is no longer anything amusing about those theories.
In Russia, today, a group called the "Nashi" (which means "our own" in Russia) has taken a very strong nationalistic stance. Being an aesthete myself (and somewhat frivolous), I noticed on TV that most of those Nashi had blond hair, and if not, blue eyes. Their opponents, the Communists, were, for the most part, not endowed with those striking characteristics, and had darker shades of hair and eyes: they did not look as "slavic" as the Nashi, and I suppose that for this reason,they did not feel obliged nor in fact, authorized, to support a jingoistic agenda.
Besides, "Nashi" sounds odd...What does it remind me of? Gee, I must have forgotten. Silly me...
Let us just imagine, then, that Jean-Jacques Rousseau was taken seriously by a young man in the 1920s in a France utterly defeated and humbled by Germany, the country of the "Rights of Man" and the German revolution.
In 1918, Napoleon's dynasty is finally overthrown by the Allies. Germany, Austria and Italy share the spoils of the French colonial empire. Alsace-Lorraine is returned to Germany, Wallony to the Netherlands and Nice to Italy. The French therefore develop a considerable hatred for Germans and Italians. The British, allied with France, have also suffered from the defeat, but have fared better, and they have managed to avoid major territorial losses thanks to the support of the United States which has remained neutral during the war.The Russian democratic government, however, has collapsed. Although Russia was on the right side during the war and sent troops on the Western front, they were not given any significant territories.
The corrupt government was replaced by a Communist dictatorship, based on the writings of Charles Marche, a French philosopher, author of "Le Capital".
In France, the war is followed by famine and a flu epidemic that claims many lives, especially in the lower and middle classes. Julien Rossant, who had studied art in Paris, is an unsuccesful painter who has pledged his life to save his country from Germans and Italians. He has seen his younger sister, Jeanne, die at the age of 11. She was a beautiful young girl with light brown hair and hazel eyes, whom he loved dearly.
In "Mon Combat", Julien Rossant describes the death of his sister:
"Jeanne, my beloved sister, suffered for long hours. Her beautiful eyes were red and swollen. Her skin, before so pale and translucent, had turned into an unhealthy yellowish tinge. When she looked at me, her eyes were filled with tears. I saw love in her eyes. I could not stand it. I could not stare at her. I retired in the next room to cry, silently. She was not ready to die. There was so much yet for her to experience, and this was taken away from her, in one night of agony. Our enemies, those monsters, had brought this untimely death upon her. I hated them with all my heart. First,those dull, stupid Germans, with their little, narrow eyes devoid of expression, frozen like that of a rotten fish. And those swarthy Italians, dark and sadistic, our traditional enemies, those Roman hordes that had subdued the proud Gallic race by their petty schemes. Those cowards. They had come like rats upon us. We stood alone. The Brits abandoned us.
From this day, I knew that my sacred duty was to avenge the death of every French child who had been slaughtered by our enemies. Our Gallic race, the master race, would no longer live under the yoke of tyranny. Everything that is great and good upon this earth is the work of our race. No one in his sane mind can dispute this fact. The Germans, with their rotten "Aufklärung", "Rights of Man", and internationalist ideas will try to subdue us again, until our total annihilation. However, nature is on our side, and we shall prevail."
In 1933, the painter has become dictator and is now the ruler of the P.N.S. (Parti National-Socialiste). His minister of propaganda, Goubelle, publicizes the theories of Rousseau, and brings to light the imbalance and degeneracy of other races. The French, unlike the Germans and Italians, represent a fine mixture of temperaments, lacking the stupidity of Germans, or the treachery and cruelty of Italians.The archetype of the master race, the Gallic man of average height with light-brown hair and hazel eyes, is the highest and finest achievement of human evolution. A pseudo-scientific classification of races is thus established, following Rossant's own aesthetic and sexual preferences, changing the lives of millions of individuals and changing history forever.
Soon, the Alsatians who have remained loyal to France and the Corsicans are made responsible for the defeat. Thousands of them are sent into detention camps, in which Rossant later plans to exterminate them.
In September 1939, Rossant launches an attack on Wallony to liberate the Gallic masses oppressed by the "dull, idiotic, vulgar Hollanders, lackeys of German imperialism". At the same time, the Russians invade Poland, and swifltly head towards Germany. In Ireland, a French-supported guerilla declares war on the British, and Rossant plans to send troops to further help the insurgents, and as a result, to save "our fellow Celts from Anglo-Saxon tyranny".
Who says that aesthetics is not one of the greatest forces that shape history?
As all nations are interested in aesthetics, often for propaganda reasons, I recalled that Walter Benjamin had written that fascism was the "aestheticization of politics". This is a profound statement indeed.
Then I recalled the theory propounded by one of our greatest philosophers (I am French), Jean-Jacques Rousseau, about the inherent superiority of the French and the people with light-brown hair. It seems very mild, and even quite amusing to some extent, even more so when you come to think that Rousseau was a humanist philosopher (and had light brown hair and hazel eyes). As a matter of fact, it is funny because no one had to suffer from his statements, and no one took him seriously, much to the credit of my countrymen.
However, some people took the Nordicists such as Madison Grant or Hitler very seriously.That is why, I suppose, there is no longer anything amusing about those theories.
In Russia, today, a group called the "Nashi" (which means "our own" in Russia) has taken a very strong nationalistic stance. Being an aesthete myself (and somewhat frivolous), I noticed on TV that most of those Nashi had blond hair, and if not, blue eyes. Their opponents, the Communists, were, for the most part, not endowed with those striking characteristics, and had darker shades of hair and eyes: they did not look as "slavic" as the Nashi, and I suppose that for this reason,they did not feel obliged nor in fact, authorized, to support a jingoistic agenda.
Besides, "Nashi" sounds odd...What does it remind me of? Gee, I must have forgotten. Silly me...
Let us just imagine, then, that Jean-Jacques Rousseau was taken seriously by a young man in the 1920s in a France utterly defeated and humbled by Germany, the country of the "Rights of Man" and the German revolution.
In 1918, Napoleon's dynasty is finally overthrown by the Allies. Germany, Austria and Italy share the spoils of the French colonial empire. Alsace-Lorraine is returned to Germany, Wallony to the Netherlands and Nice to Italy. The French therefore develop a considerable hatred for Germans and Italians. The British, allied with France, have also suffered from the defeat, but have fared better, and they have managed to avoid major territorial losses thanks to the support of the United States which has remained neutral during the war.The Russian democratic government, however, has collapsed. Although Russia was on the right side during the war and sent troops on the Western front, they were not given any significant territories.
The corrupt government was replaced by a Communist dictatorship, based on the writings of Charles Marche, a French philosopher, author of "Le Capital".
In France, the war is followed by famine and a flu epidemic that claims many lives, especially in the lower and middle classes. Julien Rossant, who had studied art in Paris, is an unsuccesful painter who has pledged his life to save his country from Germans and Italians. He has seen his younger sister, Jeanne, die at the age of 11. She was a beautiful young girl with light brown hair and hazel eyes, whom he loved dearly.
In "Mon Combat", Julien Rossant describes the death of his sister:
"Jeanne, my beloved sister, suffered for long hours. Her beautiful eyes were red and swollen. Her skin, before so pale and translucent, had turned into an unhealthy yellowish tinge. When she looked at me, her eyes were filled with tears. I saw love in her eyes. I could not stand it. I could not stare at her. I retired in the next room to cry, silently. She was not ready to die. There was so much yet for her to experience, and this was taken away from her, in one night of agony. Our enemies, those monsters, had brought this untimely death upon her. I hated them with all my heart. First,those dull, stupid Germans, with their little, narrow eyes devoid of expression, frozen like that of a rotten fish. And those swarthy Italians, dark and sadistic, our traditional enemies, those Roman hordes that had subdued the proud Gallic race by their petty schemes. Those cowards. They had come like rats upon us. We stood alone. The Brits abandoned us.
From this day, I knew that my sacred duty was to avenge the death of every French child who had been slaughtered by our enemies. Our Gallic race, the master race, would no longer live under the yoke of tyranny. Everything that is great and good upon this earth is the work of our race. No one in his sane mind can dispute this fact. The Germans, with their rotten "Aufklärung", "Rights of Man", and internationalist ideas will try to subdue us again, until our total annihilation. However, nature is on our side, and we shall prevail."
In 1933, the painter has become dictator and is now the ruler of the P.N.S. (Parti National-Socialiste). His minister of propaganda, Goubelle, publicizes the theories of Rousseau, and brings to light the imbalance and degeneracy of other races. The French, unlike the Germans and Italians, represent a fine mixture of temperaments, lacking the stupidity of Germans, or the treachery and cruelty of Italians.The archetype of the master race, the Gallic man of average height with light-brown hair and hazel eyes, is the highest and finest achievement of human evolution. A pseudo-scientific classification of races is thus established, following Rossant's own aesthetic and sexual preferences, changing the lives of millions of individuals and changing history forever.
Soon, the Alsatians who have remained loyal to France and the Corsicans are made responsible for the defeat. Thousands of them are sent into detention camps, in which Rossant later plans to exterminate them.
In September 1939, Rossant launches an attack on Wallony to liberate the Gallic masses oppressed by the "dull, idiotic, vulgar Hollanders, lackeys of German imperialism". At the same time, the Russians invade Poland, and swifltly head towards Germany. In Ireland, a French-supported guerilla declares war on the British, and Rossant plans to send troops to further help the insurgents, and as a result, to save "our fellow Celts from Anglo-Saxon tyranny".
Who says that aesthetics is not one of the greatest forces that shape history?