Dear list members, we should remember that the term "Widerstand" was used before 1933 by the rigth-winged opponents of Weimar. The best example was Ernst Niekisch and his "Widerstandskreis" - against Versailles, and another example ist the little broschure "Kriegsgeneration / Widerstand", written by Hans Henning Grote (Berlin w.y.). Men like Niekisch, Jünger and other "Nationalrevolutionäre" upholded their "Widerstandshaltung" after 1933 - because this was not the Drittes Reich they wanted. Too plebeian. In this way, Jünger was "widerständig", but it was no active "Widerstand".
We should forget the view on the Nationalsozialismus as a monolithic block, standing for a totally new and self-formed policy. Why was the NS so successfully? Because it absorbed - besides its own rass-policy - many parts of common german wishes and political targets. Like EJ himself said: he was "d´accord" with Hitlers politics in 1938. From 1940 to 1942 Jünger had several meetings with Werner Best in his hotel-room in Paris. Best had written an article "Der Krieg und das Recht" for the book "Krieg und Krieger, edited bey EJ in 1930. Best was after 1933 the organisator of the Gestapo and their second man behind Reinhard Heydrich until 1940. Then he was kicked off from the Gestapa (Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt) because of personal rivalries with Heydrich. From 1940 to 1942 Best was Kriegsverwaltungschef in Paris. There is no doubt, that Best was a Nazi, and it is clear that these meetings between Jünger and Best were in a friendly atmosphere. (I have read the letters from Best to Jünger in Marbach - has anyone seen Best ementioned in the "Strahlungen? I am still waiting for the commented edition with an index!) And, following Friedrich Hielscher, Best hold his hand on EJ after Stalingrad: "Es wäre erwogen worden, Jünger und mich (Hielscher) vorsorglich umzulegen, da der Einfluß solcher Geister in unseren Zeiten, wie sie nach jener Niederlage nicht mehr ausgeschlossen schienen, ärgerlich und unübersehbar zunehmen können. Da habe Best der Akte als sein Urteil hinzugefügt, daß Jünger und ich harmlos seien und auch nichts anderes wünschten als den Sieg Deutschlands..." (Hielscher, Fünfzig Jahre unter Deutschen, 287) Jünger and Best keeped up their correspondance until the death of Best in 1989. As I heard from a still living old man (no Nazi, but before and after 1933 nationalist and "Volkstumsaktivist"): Best was one of the "good" Nazis... We should see that single Nazis had different backgrounds and that there had been f.e. connections between parts of the "Konservative Revolution" and men who made later career in the NSDAP. One example is the "Bund Oberland": many members went to Niekisch in 1929/30, others went to the NSDAP like Richard Hildebrandt, later SS-Obergruppenführer and Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer in Danzig-Westpreußen. I think we should start to discuss EJs "Der Friede". He wrote the first concept for it in the beginning of 1942 (Strahlungen, 5.1.42) - one month after the start of the the soviet winter-offensive and the crisis of moscow, two weeks after the dismissal of Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres v. Brauchitsch. Now the little Gefreiter Hitler was the new Oberbefehlshaber. Had EJ now seen that this war was no more to win? (I forgot: one month after Pearl Harbor) EJ burned his first concept for "Der Friede" on August 18th in 1942, before he left to Russia (See "Strahlungen"). Back in Paris, EJ wrote the second concept, starting on July 27th in 1943. After Stalingrad, after landing of the first allied troops on Sicily (July 10th). Germany had still ocuppied almost the whole of Europe, it was still in a strong position. And it is clear to see, that EJ was writing "Der Friede" from a position of strength: "Die Waffen müssen den Raum zur Entscheidung schaffen, Raum für den geistigen Entwurf. In diesem Sinne ist es besser, länger zu leiden, als Teile des Ganges aufzuschieben, um zurückzukehren zur alten Welt (...) Der Friede kann kein Verständigungsfriede sein" (the fear of a second Versailles...) In 1943 it seemed not too late, that Germany could decide alone on its destiny, make a knightly peace with keeping of its power. This was EJs view, and this was the view of the military opposition. In this way there was an accord between EJ and the military opposition. Hans Speidel and Rommel received "Der Friede" in 1943/44 before the 20th of July: "In den ersten Julitagen des Jahres 1944 gab mir Erwin Rommel die Weisung, die Friedensschrift `des großen Soldaten Ernst Jünger´ für eine Veröffentlichung im In- und Ausland vorzubereiten" (Hans Speidel: Briefe aus Paris und aus dem Kaukasus, in: Freundschaftliche Begegnungen. Festschrift für EJ zum 60. Geburtstag, Frankfurt a.M. 1955, 192) In contrary to the men of the 20th of July EJ did not recommend the assault: "Wenn Kniébolo fällt, so wird die Hydra einen neuen Kopf bilden." (Strahlungen, 497) And he was not the one to take an active part - he saw himself oncemore as the elitarian spectator and chronicler, standing over the things to happen. "Der Friede" - what kind of peace and how to receive it, meant EJ? If some of you are interested to discuss "Der Friede" I could organize to send you some special prints of it. Please email me directly for your adresses. Regards, Jan Zimmermann
