How will the man be who leads Germany back to greatness?

Rudolf Hess

[In November 1921, a German in Spain organized a competition on this topic. The then student Rudolf Hess received the first prize for the following essay, which targeted Adolf Hitler without mentioning his name.

If we want to seek the probable for the future, we must look back into the past. History repeats itself in broad strokes. Similar types of men emerge as doctors after the outbreak of similar diseases.]

What ails the German people?

Even before 1914, the body was not healthy. Mental and manual laborers opposed each other instead of respecting each other. The intellectually creative looked down with a certain arrogance on those who worked physically. Instead of providing leaders from within their own ranks, they left the others to themselves or even to leaders alien to the people, who cleverly exploited existing injustices to widen the gap.

This is terribly avenged when, after the tremendous effort of the four-year war, the nerves suddenly failed. The collapse was primarily the work of the same seducers and their helpers on the opposing side.

Since then, Germany has been writhing in fever. Barely able to stand upright anymore. Years of blood loss from the main arteries as a result of the Treaty of Versailles; wasteful state administration — empty coffers; reckless printing of money — grotesque inflation. Festivities shining among the people alongside screaming misery, indulgence alongside hunger, usury alongside struggling honesty. The last strength has vanished. Highest tensions that discharge at any moment into looting, murder, and rioting. Anyone who wants to help is persecuted; criminals are celebrated. At the top, a parliament that chatters and chatters, a "government" worthy of the whole.

Let's look back: Criminals with blind masses behind them, looting and burning — orgies — blood and filth — destroyed national assets — Assignats — talking parliaments: The French Revolution under the rule of the mob. The savior from the chaos: Napoleon as dictator. When the Roman Republic was on the verge of suffocation in the swamp, Caesar came. In our days, Mussolini saved the decaying Italian state from Bolshevism, which had already triumphantly raised the red flags over Milan's workshops. The chaos of sick popular rule gives birth to the dictator. So it will also come in Germany.

The dictators of the past, of course, were unable to keep their nations at their peak. Power became an end in itself, tore them away, and they perished. The man who will lead Germany upward again is indeed a dictator, but in sacred patriotism, he holds, above all his own ambition, the welfare and future greatness of his country as the sole objective. He will bring Germany back to reason like a doctor deals with a half-mad person — if necessary, with the most brutal force.

The foundation of all national greatness is national consciousness, the will of a people to assert themselves in the world. Napoleon encountered the mighty nationalism of the French Revolution. The German dictator must awaken and cultivate it anew.

Profound knowledge in all areas of state life and history, the ability to draw lessons from them, faith in the purity of one's own cause and in ultimate victory, an indomitable willpower give him the power of impassioned speech, which makes the masses cheer for him. For the sake of the nation's salvation, he does not hesitate to use the enemy's weapons, demagoguery, slogans, street processions, etc. Where all authority has vanished, populism alone creates authority. This was shown by Mussolini. The deeper the dictator is originally rooted in the broad masses, the better he understands how to treat them psychologically, the less distrust the workers will show him, and the more supporters he will gain from these most energetic ranks of the people. He himself has nothing in common with the masses; he is entirely a personality like any great leader. The power of personality emits something that captivates the surroundings and draws ever wider circles. The people thirst for a real leader, free from all party wrangling, for a pure leader with inner truthfulness.

Through the power of his speech, he, like Mussolini, leads the workers to ruthless nationalism, shatters the international socialist Marxist worldview. In its place, he establishes the national-social idea. For this, he educates manual laborers as well as the so-called intelligentsia: collective interest takes precedence over self-interest, first the nation, then the personal ego. This union of the national with the social is the pivot of our time, akin to the reforms of Baron vom Stein before the wars of liberation. The leader must absorb healthy intellectual currents of his time and then hurl them back condensed into an incendiary idea among the masses.

"Great political passion is a precious treasure; the lukewarm hearts of the majority of people offer little room for it. Blessed is the generation to whom a stern necessity imposes a lofty political idea, which, grand and simple, understandable to all, compels every other idea of the time into its service." (Treitschke)

From the ranks of the rapidly growing avalanche of supporters (see Fascists), he draws out the fighting force. More important than the number is their determination. History is made by energetic minorities in the hands of daring individuals.

"To dare the beginning in everything that must be done! That is the greatness and the hallmark of leadership. Afterward, everyone dares to continue easily." (Stammler)

At every opportunity, the leader proves his courage. This engenders blind trust in the organized power; through it, he achieves dictatorship. When necessity demands it, he does not hesitate to shed blood. Great questions have always been decided by blood and iron. And the question here is: decline or ascent.

The parliament may continue to chatter or not — the man acts. Now it becomes clear that despite his many speeches, he knew when to remain silent. His own supporters may be the most disappointed. Positions are filled based on people's abilities, not on "connections." He has only one goal in mind, and even if it means trampling over his closest friends, he will achieve it. The true dictator is rarely pleasing once in power, if he serves the welfare of the whole.

"A leader must not seek to please. Whoever seeks to please is weak before the one from whose favor he lives. But whoever wants to show the way must set the measure of approval himself." (Stammler)

For the sake of the great end goal, he must be willing to appear temporarily as a traitor to the nation in the eyes of the majority.

The frugalness of the Frederickan era becomes a principle. State enterprises are relieved of the excess of officials. The generous organizer directs all freed-up forces to value-creating work. Now, no less than during the war, it is about the nation's existence; even then, millions could perform unfamiliar work. A year of labor service, as in Bulgaria, ensured the youth's fitness, as long as universal conscription was not possible.

He is a master of journalism. With his endless energy, he educates the people politically and morally using all conceivable means. The entire de-Judaized press, cinema, etc., are subordinate to the dictator.

The legislator who proceeds with deterrent severity does not hesitate to punish with death those who expose the best parts of the nation to hunger, such as profiteers and speculators. Stock market speculation with the nation's goods is curtailed.

The seducers of the people are expelled from the country.

A terrible court of justice descends upon the traitors to the nation before, during, and after the war. In every direction, thorough work is done: "Freedom and the kingdom of heaven are not won by halves."

Despite all severity, his concern extends to all segments of the population. Through homestead laws, through increased individual participation in the fruits of labor, he advocates for the lower classes, but at the same time keeps them in check with an iron fist.

He remains free from the influence of Jews and Jewish-contaminated Freemasons. If he uses them, his mighty personality must always be able to surpass their influence.

The fate of a nation is determined beyond economics by politics. All internal reforms, all economic measures are ineffective as long as the treaties of Versailles and St. Germain persist. The politically and geographically educated leader has a comprehensive world view. He knows the peoples and influential individuals. Depending on the need, he can either trample down with cavalry boots or delicately weave threads with sensitive fingers even into the Pacific Ocean.

The foremost task is the restoration of German prestige in the world. He understands the significance of the intangible, knows that the old flag, under which millions bled in belief in their people, will flutter again high, that the fight against the lie of guilt must be fought with all means. Strong national sentiment internally, belief in oneself, strengthens a people as much as the restoration of honor externally.

Trust and respect from abroad mean economically the strengthening of the Mark (see also Italy's currency after Mussolini's appearance). Trust and respect from abroad mean political alliance capability. In one way or another, the enslavement treaties will fall. One day, the new Greater Germany will stand, encompassing all who are of German blood.

The last and not the least task is anchoring the new creation against the storms of the future. The construction must correspond to the inner nature of the German people. That is why the architect also maintains contact with the intellectual life of the nation. He seeks his relaxation in the art and literature of his people. Creative figures are inherently artistic personalities.

The work must not be tailored to the towering dimensions of the builder, otherwise, the whole will falter upon his passing, like the states of Frederick and Bismarck. New independent personalities, who will lead the future Germania once again into the saddle, do not flourish under the dictator. Therefore, he accomplishes the last great deed: Instead of fully enjoying his power, he relinquishes it and stands by as a faithful Ekkehardt.

So, we have the image of the dictator: sharp of mind, clear and true, passionate and yet controlled, cold and bold, purposefully weighing decisions, unrestrained in swift execution, ruthless against himself and others, mercilessly tough yet soft in love for his people, tireless in work, with an iron fist in a velvet glove, capable, ultimately, of overcoming himself. We still do not know when he, the "man," will intervene to save, but millions feel that he is coming. The day will come, as a poet sings:

“Storm, storm, storm, Ring the bells from tower to tower, Ring the men, the elders, the boys, Ring the sleepers from their rooms, Ring the girls down the stairs, Ring the mothers away from the cradles, Let them thunder and echo through the air, Roaring, raging in the thunder of revenge, Ring the dead from their graves, Germany awakens!”

(Dietrich Eckart.)

A year and a half before Hess wrote these sentences for the essay contest, he had attended one of those speaking evenings of the NSDAP, which were so abundant in Munich during the post-revolutionary weeks, and compressed his impression into these words full of faith:

"If anyone at all, it will be this unknown Hitler whom I heard yesterday, who will lift Germany up once again!”

It was May 1920.