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What did Hitler mean by this quote?
I found this quote on a history learning site and don't really understand the meaning: "The main plank in the National Socialist program is to abolish the liberalistic concept of the individual and the Marxist concept of humanity and to substitute for them the folk community, rooted in the soil and bound together by the bond of its common blood."
Does the common blood refer tot he German not living in Germany? What's a folk community? Thnks in advance!
4 Answers
- ?Lv 77 years agoFavourite answer
The folk community actually means all Germans, the word in German is Volk which is usually translated folk or people but has a much more tribal conetation.
- 7 years ago
I feel that by referring to the folk community, he is referencing a small community of people who are close with each other. I think of folk like a folk song, something that is older and alludes to a time in the past, before modern convienences. (Think banjos and cover wagons l, or at least that's what I do.)
And then by that same token, the common blood could be anything that's drawing them together into that folk community. In order to be close enough with someone you have to have something to bond over, be it location or a shared history.
- 7 years ago
He is saying that the Nazis' aim to create a united community of the German people, which is rooted in a joint historical, cultural identity. The Nazis' want to lead a country which is uniformly German in all aspects of life. As Hitler says, this rejects liberal focus on people being individual (separate to a community) and the Communist belief of removing country and nationalist borders to create a single body of humanity.
Also, Folk Community is a literal translation of 'Volksgemeinschaft', an important term/policy for the Nazis' justification of invading areas containing German people and purifying their own community of non-Germans. They wanted all Germans to live in one community/country/under one ruler.