HITLER YOUTH OFFICER, A LETTER WRITTEN TO HIS MOTHER BEFORE HE DIED ON THE WESTERN FRONT: “If I die mother, you must bear it. Because you have the privilege of offering a sacrifice. This is what we mean when we say Germany.”

The core of National Socialism: the "privilege" of dying. 

The desire to achieve "heroic" death.

Hitler promoted this destiny, requiring his soldiers to be "obedient unto death."

The idea of "conquest" is a smokescreen; a fantasy holding historians in thrall. The pretense of heroism disguising abject masochism.

The ending is foretold at the beginning. The privilege of offering a sacrifice.

RICHARD KOENIGSBERG