Blut und Boden

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the famous alt-right American supremacists chant “Blood and Soil,” which translates to Blut und Boden in German. It explains that Blut und Boden paid tribute to idealized pure German blood and the organic connection of pure German blood to the physical German landscape. Blut und Boden was appropriated by the Nazis and used to invoke an almost supernatural union between the authentic German–Nordic race and the territorial state of Germany, which contemplated those who were not of pure German blood as invading nomadic races, such as Jews. Jews were the worst of the invaders. The chapter also provides information on a book published in 1930 called Neuadel aus Blut und Boden (A new nobility based on blood and soil) by Richard Walther Darré who argued that Germany should pursue a systematic eugenics program to purify the German race and strengthen the nation.