Ernst Niekisch: An Ideologist between Class and Nation

This paper aims to analyse Ernst Niekisch’s thinking on Nazism. The analysis focuses on two of his texts in particular. The first, Hitler - ein deutsches Verhängnis (Hitler - a German Fatality), published in 1932, examines the rise of Hitler in the Weimar Republic. The second, Das Reich der niederen Dämonen (The Realm of the Inferior Demons), published in 1953, considers the path of the so-called "Third Reich"until its collapse. Using an approach that is located between political history and the history of ideas, an analysis of these two writings reveals the continuities and discontinuities of Niekisch’s peculiar right-wing anti-Nazism. His original reflection questions an overly simplistic dichotomy between democratic and anti-democratic thoughts, and reveals a peculiar intermixing of languages and ideas from different political cultures.