Mephisto in the Third Reich

Literary Representations of Evil in Nazi Germany

Emanuela Barasch Rubinstein

• Publisher: De Gruyter Oldenbourg
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9783110379389
• eBook ISBN: 9783110395785
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

The association of Nazism with the symbol of ultimate evil – the devil – can be found in the works of Klaus and Thomas Mann, Else Lasker-Schüler, and Rolf Hochhuth. He appears either as Satan of the Judeo-Christian tradition, or as Goethe's Mephisto. The devil is not only a metaphor, but a central part of the historical analysis. Barasch-Rubinstein looks into this phenomenon and analyzes the premise that the image of the devil had a substantial impact on Germans' acceptance of Nazi ideas. His diabolic characteristics, the pact between himself and humans, and his prominent place in German culture are part of the intriguing historical observations these four German writers embedded in their work. Whether writing before the outbreak of WWII, during the war, or after it, when the calamities of the Holocaust were already well-known, they all examine Nazism in the light of the ultimate manifestation of evil.

Chapter One

The Image of the Devil in Western Culture

This chapter is devoted to the development of the image of the devil in Western civilization. The short survey will focus mainly on the spiritual inclinations and motifs that affected, both directly and indirectly, the novel, plays and lecture discussed here.²

Throughout history man has always been aware of the existence of evil. Ancient tales created at the dawn of civilization describe evil in its various forms, but there was no one, distinct character that embodied evil. Evil is universal and eternal, but in man’s imagination, especially in the ancient world, there was no one entity that exemplifies it. The image of the devil, the ultimate representative of evil and its threats, crystallized slowly and gradually, until it became a distinct figure with an essential role in the human mind.

Scholars disagree as to where the devil made his first distinct, well-defined appearance. Some believe his origins are in the Persian religion.³ He had a profound role in the demonology of ancient Zoroastricism, a dualistic religion: the powers of light always struggle with the powers of darkness. The world of Persian beliefs was abundant with demons, led by Ahariman, the Prince of Darkness. The demons were perceived as spiritual, bodiless creatures, appearing in various forms. Only on rare occasions were they depicted in human form.⁴

There are several sources for the world of Demons. The rise of monotheism did not eradicate the belief in many gods. Most gods became demons, existing as figures with supernatural powers, now serving evil. The mythology of “Sons of God” survived and took the form of demonology. From these various demons slowly emerged the paramount demon, the enemy of all that is good and moral –the devil.

The Old Testament reveals how the devil emerged. Before the Babylon diaspora creatures that could be perceived as demons are rarely mentioned, and they are never depicted as independent beings. During that diaspora the figure of the devil gained in importance and became well defined. One of the ancient texts in which the devil is explicitly depicted is the Book of Job.

A vast body of research is devoted to understanding the nature and meaning of supernatural creatures in the Old Testament,⁵ but there is no agreement on this issue. Among the few texts that explicitly depict the devil are the Book of Zechariah and the Book of Job. Ignoring the complex question of which one precedes the other, one could safely argue that the future characteristics of the devil are already suggested here, though not yet fully developed. Zechariah says that “Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him” (Zechariah 3:1). The devil appears here – perhaps for the first time – as a distinct character, his role to accuse, to oppose, to harm. The devil assumes a similar role in the Book of Job, first chapter:

One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the Lord, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.’ Then Satan answered the Lord, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against him!’ So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. (Book of Job 1: 6–12)

In the Book of Job the devil is part of the divine entourage. He is not fully independent, as he would be in the future, but the nature of his actions is well defined, and it would be so throughout history. He has no permanent abode, he is “going to and fro on the earth” (Book of Job 2:2). This part of his nature is perhaps the source of the prominent future belief that the devil is a foreigner. And another characteristic suggested here is: he doubts virtue. In the beginning of the book the devil argues that Job is not a “blameless and upright man” (Job 2:3) as God believes he is. This quality would later become a central part of his nature.

In the development of the devil in European culture, his most important act would be to tempt man and inflict suffering and misery upon him. In the Book of Job the devil tries Job and causes endless disasters, with God’s approval. At this stage he is still a part of the divine entourage and does not resist God. But his affinity to evil and to the suffering of man is clear. One should keep in mind that in the Book of Job there is still no clear distinction between the kingdom of good and the kingdom of evil; they are not yet separate domains. Both God and the devil challenge Job’s belief. God does not protect Job. On the contrary, he allows the devil to abuse him only for the sake of trying him.

The devil is also described in 1Chronicles 21:1–27. The chapter begins with the words: “Satan stood up against Israel, and incited David to count the people of Israel.” Here the devil first appears as an inciter, seducer; he persuades David to do what is forbidden. The acts of the devil and his tempting man to sin – his most prominent trait – are explicitly described here.

The Old Testament introduced to European culture the image of the devil and some of his assistants, but some aspects of their nature and actions remained obscure. In the Deuterocanonical literature the character of the devil is more developed and complex. The depictions of his appearance and his acts become more unified and clear. It is a process that lasted centuries: first the demons tempt man to sin and then they punish him. A hierarchy is portrayed, headed by the devil.

At the time of the creation of the New Testament belief in superhuman creatures was widespread among both Jews and non-Jews. These demons were seen as concrete and powerful creatures, with immense importance in daily life. It is no wonder that the New Testament is abundant with rich and colorful depictions of demons and their work. Here an element of a battle between good and evil emerges, between the Holy and Satan. The story of Jesus as Savior of the world is presented as a struggle against evil forces. This inclination appears in the Gospels, especially in the attempt to seduce Jesus (see for example Mark 1:13; Luke 4:2–13). In these stories the temptation of Christ is interpreted not only as a spiritual trial but also as an event that took place in real life. This inclination reached a climax in Revelation, the Apocalyptic book of the New Testament. Its author created this scene:

The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world – he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (Revelation 12:9)

He envisages the final victory of the forces of light over darkness:

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and locked and sealed it over him, so that he would deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be let out for a little while. (Revelation 20:2–3)

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In the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) the devil is the embodiment of evil: “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path” (Matthew 13:19). He is the source of all sins and their ruler (Luke 10:18–19; 13:16; 23:31). With the help of his assistants the devil inflicts disease and misfortunes. These Gospels definitely reflect popular views of that time.

John, the fourth Gospel, is believed to reflect views prevailing in the upper social class, a metaphysical point of view.⁶ Here the devil is “the ruler of this world” (John 14:30), causing endless misfortunes. Lies and deceptions are his very nature. He brought sin into the world, and Christ was born to overcome him. In 1 John we see that “Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil” (3:8). In Acts the devil is already depicted as the explicit opponent of God:

I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles – to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. (Acts 26:17–18)

In early Christianity, between the fifth and sixth centuries, Christian thought was immersed in the question of evil, in the image and nature of the devil and his servants. The Fathers of the Church believed in the existence of “forces,” supernatural creatures, the most dominant among them is the devil. Within the spiritual world of early Christianity a theory emerged from pre-Christian cultures about the creation of the devil and his assistants. The myth of angels who fell because they wished to be too powerful and dominant is suggested in early Christian texts; this myth provides an answer to the fundamental question of any religion – how is it possible that evil came into the world?⁷

Already in the second century Athenagoras of Athens, one of the Fathers of the Eastern Orthodox Church, describes one angel as hostile to God. The name of this angel was the Devil. He calls him “a created being,” and his unique nature is that he objects to all that is good in the world, that is, he resists God. Clearly this depiction is typical of the common view in the Eastern Church.⁸ But also in the world of the Western Church, in Latin speaking areas, the devil had a unique place. The writing of Tertullian, one of the Fathers of the early Latin Church, is abundant with descriptions of demons and their acts. The demons, headed by Satan, are sinful angels that fell from the sky. The devil and his servants are the source of all diseases, misfortunes, of any evil part of life. Seduction is one of the ways in which they act, aiming to tempt man to sin and then punish him. One should keep in mind that from Tertullian’s perspective the devil and his servants act from their own free will.⁹

In late Antiquity and in the dawn of the Middle Ages the image of the devil became more developed and detailed. Two of his attributes are especially relevant to this study: the first, the unique link between him and the human soul; the other, his open and unconcealed appearance upon the earth. These were early Christian attempts to explain the manifestations of evil. These explanations were at the heart of theological, literary and philosophical discussions in future centuries.

The first aspect, the unique link between the devil and man’s soul, his desires and wishes, springs from the devil’s capacity to appear in endless ways, from his ability to impersonate. Only he can become visible in the form of human thoughts and inclinations. However, the devil can become visible not only as man’s ambitions but also as the embodiment of higher values, as the desire for progress, a curiosity to understand the secrets of the universe (as can be seen in the legend of Faust), or in an attempt to create a perfect work of art. The materialization of evil as thoughts, innocent wishes or a striving for higher values created a “psycholo-gization” of the devil, that is, transforming objective evil into an innocent human desire. This specific aspect was emphasized in later periods, especially in the era of secularization.¹⁰

Early Christianity laid the foundation for this psychological interpretation: it created a deep bond between the devil and the “vices” which are part of the human soul.¹¹ In writing from both early Christianity and the Middle Ages the vices are perceived as personifications, as though they were distinct, independent beings. But it was always accepted and stressed that they were human attributes, forces acting within man’s character and directing his actions. The Fathers of the Church suggested that these “vices” were mental forces acting from within us, but they are the messengers of the devil. Early Christian thinkers created lists of “vices” and ascribed specific sins to each one of them.

The worst sins – acts caused by the vices and the materialization of them –were called “mortal sins,” sins for which one cannot repent, either in life or after death. Gradually a list of seven mortal sins was created, but in early Christianity there was no defined list, and the number of mortal sins altered constantly. Some thinkers defined six sins as mortal, others extended the list to eight, but the fundamental sins were part of every list.¹²

These lists are imperative in the examination of evil. The lists often contain the sin of hubris, or arrogance. Christianity inherited from the Classical world, especially from Greek thought, the belief that ambitions and inclinations of man are independent forces. Plato described them as wild animals existing within us.¹³ The transition from this perception to the Christian belief was almost natural, since these internal forces were sometimes so fierce that they were irresistible, when in truth they were the demons, the servants of evil and powers acting upon his word.¹⁴

Greek thought saw pride (hubris) as a psychic element and often discussed it. Hubris, or excessive vanity, could have had various manifestations, but most of all it was an uninhibited ambition to be part of a high social class, or a ruling class. In Late Antiquity the Fathers of the Church saw ambition for social success as immoral, and sometimes it was indicative of temptation by the devil. Only the desire for sexual pleasures was as central as hubris. Already in the dawn of Christianity the story of Theophilus, a priest who had a pact with the devil and sold him his soul to reach high office in the Church, became widespread. This tale is probably the earliest version of the story of Faust, to which we will return later.

The Devil as an External Reality

So far we discussed interpretations of the devil acting from within man, disguised as human ambitions. But it would be incorrect to ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter One - The Image of the Devil in Western Culture
• Chapter Two - Mephisto by Klaus Mann
• Chapter Three - I and I by Else Lasker-Schüler
• Chapter Four - Germany and the Germans by Thomas Mann
• Chapter Five - The Deputy by Rolf Hochhuth
• Chapter Six - The Holocaust and the Future
• Bibliography
• Index