The Nazis - the Ultimate Greens

"We recognize that separating humanity from nature, from the whole of life, leads to humankind’s own destruction and to the death of nations. Only through a re-integration of humanity into the whole of nature can our people be made stronger. That is the fundamental point of the biological tasks of our age. Humankind alone is no longer the focus of thought, but rather life as a whole . . . This striving toward connectedness with the totality of life, with nature itself, a nature into which we are born, this is the deepest meaning and the true essence of National Socialist thought." ~ Ernst Lehmann (Biologischer Wille. Wege und Ziele biologischer Arbeit im neuen Reich, München, 1934)

Many Greens do not know the real origin of their Party. It may come as a bit of surprise to them that the founder of the present-day Green Party is non-other than August Haussleiter. A National Socialist of the old school, a veteran who stood by Hitler's side during the 'beer-hall putsch' in Munich, at the start of Hitler's political career.

Haussleiter formed the Green Party in 1974, organized it, was the first chairman, imbued it with the principles it now embraces - and was then booted out for his troubles due to his Nazi past! He was replaced by left-wing extremists and ex-communists of the Joschka Fischer type.

The Nazis were indeed the ultimate Greens. Their animal legislation, protecting animal rights, was the most advanced in the world. Hitler was a vegetarian since he could not bear the thought of slaughtered hens and cows. All those who knew him intimately or worked closely with him testify to this truth. He was a non-smoker and a non-drinker - A fanatic for the preservation of Nature...

We would do well to examine more closely its most notorious historical incarnation, the so-called "green wing" of German National Socialism. Despite an extensive documentary record, the subject remains an elusive one, under appreciated by professional historians and environmental activists alike. In English-speaking countries as well as in Germany itself, the very existence of a "green wing" in the Nazi movement, much less its inspiration, goals, and consequences, has yet to be adequately researched and analyzed. Most of the handful of available interpretations succumb to either an alarming intellectual affinity with their subject, or a naive refusal to examine the full extent of the ideological overlap between nature conservation and National Socialism. 

Nonetheless, of all of the countries of the world - in the 1930s and 1940s - it was Nazi Germany who led the way in the protection of Nature, animal rights, and a deep concern for the environment. The communist and capitalist 'allies' only saw Nature as something to be exploited in their mad quest for material gain....