The Führerprinzip ˈfyːʀɐpʀɪnˌtsiːp, German
German language

 for "leader principle", prescribes the fundamental basis of political authority in the governmental structures of the Third Reich. This principle can be most succinctly understood to mean that "the Führers word is above all written law" and that governmental policies, decisions, and offices ought to work toward the realization of this end.


Social Darwinism


The ideology

Social responsibility

Führer , alternatively spelled Fuehrer in both English and German when the umlaut is not available, is a German title meaning leader or guide now most associated with Adolf Hitler, who modelled it on Benito Mussolini's title il Duce, as well as with Georg von Schönerer, whose followers also...

, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler

, answered to God and the German people. Giorgio Agamben
Giorgio Agamben
Giorgio Agamben is an Italian political philosopher best known for his work investigating the concepts of the state of exception and homo sacer....

 has argued that Hitler saw himself as an incarnation of auctoritas
Auctoritas is a Latin word and is the origin of English "authority." While historically its use in English was restricted to discussions of the political history of Rome, the beginning of phenomenological philosophy in the twentieth century expanded the use of the word.In ancient Rome, Auctoritas...

, and as the living law or highest law
Organic law

 itself, effectively combining in his persona executive power
Executive Power
Executive Power is Vince Flynn's fifth novel, and the fourth to feature Mitch Rapp, an American agent that works for the CIA as an operative for a covert counter terrorism unit called the "Orion Team."-Plot summary:...



This began as soon as the Beer Hall Putsch
Beer Hall Putsch



 and was later transferred onto the whole German


 society. Appointed mayors replaced elected local governments. Schools lost elected parents councils and faculty advisory boards, with all authority being put in the headmaster's hands. The Nazis suppressed associations and unions with elected leaders, putting in their place mandatory associations with appointed leaders. The authorities allowed private corporation

s to keep their internal organization, but with a simple renaming from hierarchy


In practice, the selection of unsuitable candidates often led to micromanagement

 and commonly to an inability to formulate coherent policy. Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...



Many propaganda films developed the importance of the Führerprinzip. Flüchtlinge
Flüchtlinge is a 1933 German film depicting Volga German refugees persecuted by the Bolsheviks on the Sino-Russian border in Manchuria in 1928.The film was directed by Gustav Ucicky and starred Hans Albers, Käthe von Nagy and Eugen Klopfer...

depicted Volga German
Volga German

 refugees saved from Communist persecution by a leader demanding unquestioning obedience. Der Herrscher
Der Herrscher
Der Herrscher is a 1937 German film directed by Veit Harlan. It was a propagandist demonstration of the Führerprinzip of Nazi Germany.-Plot:...

Carl Peters (film)
Carl Peters is a 1941 German anti-British propaganda film, directed by Herbert Selpin and starring Hans Albers.It depicts Karl Peters, one of the founders of German East Africa....



This combined with the glorification of the one, central Führer. During the Night of Long Knives, his decisive action saved Germany, though it meant (in Goebbels's description) suffering "tragic loneliness" from being a Siegfried forced to shed blood to preserve Germany. A speech explicitly proclaims, "The Führer is always right." Booklets given out for the Winter Relief donations included The Führer Makes History, a collection of Hitler photographs,, and The Führer’s Battle in the East 2 Films such as Der Marsch zum Führer and Triumph of the Will
Triumph of the Will

glorified him.

Carl Schmitt
Carl Schmitt
Carl Schmitt was a German jurist, philosopher, political theorist, and professor of law.Schmitt published several essays, influential in the 20th century and beyond, on the mentalities that surround the effective wielding of political power...

—drawn to the Nazi party by his admiration for a decisive leader— praised him in his pamphlet State, Volk and Movement because only the ruthless will of such a leader could save Germany and its people from the "asphalt culture" of modernity, to bring about unity and authenticity.


During the post-war
World War II

 Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials

, Nazi war criminals—and, later, Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann

 during his trial in Israel

—used the Führerprinzip concept to argue that they were not guilty for war crimes by claiming that they were only following orders. Eichmann explicitly declared having abandoned his conscience in order to "do his job" and follow the orders. In Eichmann in Jerusalem
Eichmann in Jerusalem
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil is a book written by political theorist Hannah Arendt, originally published in 1963...

, Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt was a German American political theorist. She has often been described as a philosopher, although she refused that label on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with "man in the singular." She described herself instead as a political theorist because her work centers on the fact...

Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...

Banality of Evil


's categorical imperative
Categorical imperative
The Categorical Imperative is the central philosophical concept in the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant, as well as modern deontological ethics...

. Arendt suggested that these statements most strikingly discredit the idea that Nazi criminals were manifestly psychopathic and different from common people. That even the most ordinary of people can commit horrendous crimes if placed in the catalyzing situation, and given the correct incentives, but Arendt disagreed with this interpretation—as Eichmann justified himself with the Führerprinzip. Arendt argued that children obey
The term obedience can refer to:* Obedience ** The educational film Obedience about the Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures* Vow of obedience as an evangelical counsel* Obedience training for dogs...

, whereas adults adhere to an ideology.

See also

  • Adolf Hitler
    Adolf Hitler

  • Charisma
    The term charisma has two senses: 1) compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others, 2) a divinely conferred power or talent. For some theological usages the term is rendered charism, with a meaning the same as sense 2...

  • Cult of personality
    Cult of personality

  • Führer

  • Functionalism versus intentionalism
    Functionalism versus intentionalism
    Functionalism versus intentionalism is a historiographical debate about the origins of the Holocaust as well as most aspects of the Third Reich, such as foreign policy...

  • Gleichschaltung

  • Milgram experiment
    Milgram experiment

  • World War II
    World War II

External links
