Nietzsche, Wagner & Hitler: Nihilism, Nationalism & Antisemitism.

Nihilistic, nationalist movements of the 1930’s needed an enemy on which to pin their anger, their hatred & their resentment. The Jews were a soft target & suffered dreadfully because of it. Today as the memory of WWII fades, the spectre of extreme nationalist sentiments is on the rise again in Germany & across the West…is it all about to happen again?

Peter Winn-Brown
22 min readSep 29, 2023
A scene from Parsifal where, much to Nietzsche’s consternation, Wagner depicted liturgical and eucharistic communion in some of the operas most dramatic scenes.

“His simplifying approach (to shoe-making) would be universally applicable, but was especially pertinent to the Catholic Church, in whose doctrine his elders had educated him. Drawing on the sayings of the prophets of the Old Testament, he objected first to the ceremonial ostentation of papal elections and then to their very necessity. Having done so, he then dedicated himself to repudiating the teachings of the catechism and the advisability of infant baptism. Unaware that he was following, step by step, the secularization process of different Protestant heresies, he then launched an attack on the dogma of Mary’s Virginity and the Immaculate Conception of Jesus, which received his most offensive sermons. And having settled this topic, he showed no mercy…

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Peter Winn-Brown

The past can illuminate the present if we shine the light of inquiry openly, truthfully, with attention to detail & care for the salient facts.