Political religion is the ‘sacralisation’, or making sacred, of formerly political entities –in this case the nation-state –as an item of worship.1Such a process is integral to totalitarian ideology, as it enables the manufacture of societal values.2In Nazism and Fascism, a specific ‘Idealised Historical Myth’ was created in order to present a nation worth worshiping –this manifested itself in the Italian Fascist ‘Romanita’, concerned with Imperial Roman values and architecture, and the Nazi ‘Germanentum’, likewise fixated with ancient Germanic and Norse culture.3In turn, these myths offered a ‘Meta-Temporal Space’ in which Fascist and Nazi values became eternal, and enabled individuals to transcend their decadent present selves. Thus, Nazi and Fascist political religion had a genuine transcendent, spiritual value comparable to the experience of conventional religions.
Spencer, Jack
Supervisors: Griffin, R
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Year: 2016
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