Nietzche's Übermensch

Today in class, Ms. Deckard mentioned the Nazi concept of a "Superman", the strong, tall, blond-haired, blue eyed Aryan male. She mentioned the name of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche as the origin of this ideal. However, while Nietzsche is indeed the originator, there is a distinct difference between Nietzsche's Übermensch and the Nazi version.

Let's begin at the beginning. Friedrich Nietzsche was a philosopher of the late 19th century, about half a century before World War II. As you should know, Nietzsche is the one who said, "God is dead", but there is much more to Nietzsche then that statement. You can summarize Nietzsche's opinion of Christianity in one word: abhorrence. He saw Christianity as a sickness, and as proof of this he wrote an entire book bashing Christianity (along with many other religions) and appropriately titling it The Anti-Christ. Nietzsche saw nearly all Judeo-Christian ethics, especially pity, as decadent.

Seeing as how he damned Christianity, the obviously dominant moral and religious model in Western culture, Nietzsche needed an alternative. Therefore, he created his Übermensch, which is best personified by the eponymous character in his novel, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. His Übermensch was named after the famous Persian prophet, Zoroaster (Zarathustra being the German rendering of the name), and to my recollection was almost never given defining physical traits, such as blond hair, blue eyes, or even nationality. Other than his old age, the only time I can remember Zarathustra ever being given a definition in his character was when at one point Zarathustra spoke, "I shall speak in clear German to you."

So, how does this translate to Nazi Supermen? Simple, Nietzsche had a sister named Elizabeth, who was married to an anti-Semite. In 1889, Nietzsche suffered a mental breakdown (the causes are a mystery, but many suspect syphilis), and was put under the care of his sister. His sister was now entitled to all of his works, and after a few "edits", Nietzsche's work, including his beloved Zarathustra, wast changed to promote anti-Semitic views, and Nietzsche's Übermensch was changed from a goal intended for those who had morals without Christianity (Nietzsche also hated nihilists, as well as pessimists) to the Aryan superman Ms. Deckard was mentioning today in class.

As a final note, I'd like to explain that Nietzsche was in no way an anti-Semite, or even patriotic of his country. He even stated in one of his books that if he could go back, he wished he would have written Zarathustra in French. Furthermore, Übermensch has sprouted many arguments in its exact translation. The most common translations are superman or overman, but the prefix uber can mean superiority, transcendence, or excessiveness. Because of this, many modern translations of Nietzsche's work don't translate the word. If you are curious as to how he was not an anti-Semite, you can read more here.

P.S. During class, I briefly searched the topics we discussed in class, and failed to close it before leaving for art. Being a tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed male, I realized the potential situation in opening my laptop to have the Wikipedia page for Ethnic Cleansing viewable. Thanks, Ms. Deckard.