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Obedience unto Death: Each and every body belongs to the State
by Richard A. Koenigsberg
"Obedience unto death" was the slogan of the SS-man, who gave his body over to the nation-state. The Jew in the death-camp, similar, was compelled to be obedient unto death. The Holocaust attested to the omnipotence of Germany--a demonstration that no one could escape the will of the state.
As the attack on the Soviet Union began in 1941, General von Rundstedt admonished German soldiers to emulate the examples of their brothers in the First World War and "to die in the same way, to be as strong, unswerving and obedient, to go happily and as a matter of course to his death."
Goebbels was satisfied to note that German soldiers went into battle "with devotion, like congregations going into service." They went like sheep to the slaughter. Jews too are said to have gone to their fates "like lambs to the slaughter." In each case, the state demonstrated its omnipotent power--to kill.
Those who were about to die--soldiers and Jews alike--were unaware of what was going to happen to them. They were innocent of their fate. Both German soldiers and Jews trusted civilization. They could not imagine that society could produce such cruelty. The were unaware of the destructive power of the state; its lust to destroy.
This innocence persist to the present day. Historians and everyone believe there are "reasons" for each war or episode of genocide. Death and destruction are imagined as "by-products" of the reasons for which wars are fought. It is difficult to embrace the reality that this is what nation-states do: kill people.
The entire history of the 20th century testifies to this truth: hundreds of millions dead at the behest of nation-states. Yet and still, in our heart of hearts, we say, "I don't believe it." It happened, yet we don't believe it. The Nazi Joseph Mengele said about Jews: "The more we do to you, the less you seem to believe we are doing it."
Jews, for the Nazis, symbolized practicality, rationality, materialism, etc., in short, the reality principle: denial that there are omnipotent forces or entities in the world. The idea of bodies that do not submit to the state--do not acknowledge its power--destroys the ideal of omnipotence. The presence of "aliens"--not subject to the nation-state--negated faith in Germany. Jews were killed to restore the idea of the state's omnipotent power. The Final solution demonstrated that the Volk could not be evaded or resisted.
In Nazi ideology, the nation-state controlled life and death; "owned" the body of each human being. Sacrifice meant willingly giving over one's body to the state. The death camps demonstrated that submission to the state is not a matter of choice. Those who did not willingly embrace "dying for Germany"--would have to die anyway. Like the body of a German soldier, the Jew's body belonged to the state.
Hitler believed that the nation should control the life and death of each and every individual. "Obedience unto death" was the fundamental ideal. Obedience applied equally to SS-men and Jews. Each and every body and life belonged to the state and its leaders. The gas chambers came into being to demonstrate the absolute power of Germany; to show that the nation-state is inescapable; irresistible.
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