Volume
Two: The National Socialist
Movement
CHAPTER
3
SUBJECTS
AND CITIZENS
In
general the formation which today is erroneously designated
as a state knows only two varieties of people: citizens and
foreigners. Citizens are all those who either by their birth
or subsequent naturalization possess the right of citizenship.
Foreigners are all those who enjoy this same right in another
state. In between, there are comet-like phenomena: the so-called
stateless. These are people who have the honor of belonging
to no present-day state; in other words, who nowhere possess
the right of citizenship.
Today
the right of citizenship, as mentioned above, is primarily achieved
by birth within the borders of a state. In this, race
or nationality play no role whatever. A Negro, who formerly
lived in the German protectorates and now has his residence
in Germany, gives birth to a German citizen in the person of
his child. Likewise every Jewish or Polish, African or Asiatic
child can be declared a German citizen without further ado.
Aside
from becoming a citizen through birth, there is the possibility
of naturalization later. It is connected with certain requirements;
for example, that the candidate in question is if possible no
burglar or pimp; that he furthermore be politically unobjectionable,
in other words, a harmless political idiot; that finally he
should not fall a burden to the country which grants him citizenship.
In this materialistic age this means, of course, a financial
burden. Yes, it is even considered a desirable recommendation
if you are presumably a good future taxpayer to hasten the acquisition
of present-day citizenship.
Racial
objections play no role whatsoever in this.
The
whole process of acquiring citizenship takes place not far differently
than admission into an automobile club. The man makes his application,
it is examined and passed upon, and one day he receives a note
informing him that he has become a citizen, and even the form
of this is cute and kittenish. The former Zulu Kaffir in question
is informed: 'You have hereby become a German!'
This
magic trick is performed by a state president. What the heavens
could not accomplish, such an official Theophrastus Paracelsus
has accomplished in the twinkling of an eye. A simple dab of
the pen and a Mongolian Wenceslaus has suddenly become a regular
'German.'
But
not only do they not concern themselves about the race of such
a new citizen; they do not even pay any attention to his physical
health. Such a fellow may be as eaten by syphilis as he likes,
for the present state he is nevertheless highly welcome as a
citizen, provided that he does not, as above stated, represent
a financial burden and a political danger.
And
so every year these formations, called states, take into themselves
poison elements which they can scarcely ever overcome.
The
citizen himself then is only distinguished from the foreigner
by the fact that the road to all public offices is open to him,
that he may have to do military service, and that to make up
for this he can actively and passively participate in elections.
By and large this is all. For the protection of personal rights
and of personal freedom is equally enjoyed by foreigners, not
seldom more so; in any case, this applies in our present German
Republic.
I
know that people do not like to hear all this; but anything
more thoughtless, more hare-brained than our present-day citizenship
laws scarcely exists. There is today one state in which at least
weak beginnings toward a better conception are noticeable. Of
course, it is not our model German Republic, but the American
Union, in which an effort is made to consult reason at least
partially. By refusing immigration on principle to elements
in poor health, by simply excluding certain races from naturalization,
it professes in slow beginnings a view which is peculiar to
the folkish state concept.
The
folkish state divides its inhabitants into three classes:
citizens, subjects, and foreigners.
On
principle only the status of subject is acquired by birth.
The status of subject as such does not confer the right to hold
public office, nor to carry on political activity in the sense
of active or passive participation in elections. As a matter
of principle, the race and nationality of every subject must
be determined. The subject is free at any time to renounce his
status of subject and become a citizen in the country whose
nationality corresponds to his own. The foreigner is
distinguished from the subject only by the fact that he is a
subject of a foreign state.
The
young subject of German nationality is obligated to undergo
the schooling prescribed for every German. He thus submits to
education to make him a racially conscious and patriotic national
comrade. Later he must perform the supplementary physical exercises
prescribed by the state, and finally he enters the army. The
training in the army is general; it must embrace every individual
German and train him in the field of military service made possible
by his physical and intellectual ability. Thereupon, after completion
of his military duty, the right of citizenship is most
solemnly bestowed on the irreproachable, healthy young man.
It is the most precious document for his whole life on earth.
With it he enters upon all the rights of citizen and partakes
of all his advantages. For the state must make a sharp distinction
between those who, as national comrades, are the cause and bearer
of its existence and its greatness' and those who only take
up residence within a state, as 'earning' elements.
The
bestowal of the certificate of citizenship must be associated
with a solemn oath to the national community and the state.
In this document there must lie a common bond which bridges
all other gaps. It must be a greater honor to be a street-cleaner
and citizen of this Reich than a king in a foreign state.
The
citizen is privileged as against the foreigner. He is the lord
of the Reich. But this higher dignity also obligates. The
man with out honor or character, the common criminal, the traitor
to the fatherland, etc., can at any time be divested of this
honor. He thus again becomes a subject.
The
German girl is a subject and only becomes a citizen when she
marries. But the right of citizenship can also be granted to
female German subjects active in economic life.
........
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