The distinctive Nazi trait was a rejection of the liberal ideals of the Enlightenment and the nineteenth century. They magnified, instead, a primitive, idealized past portrayed in Wagnerian operas and ancient Germanic sagas where the complexities of modern life had no place. The concern with race was central to Nazi ideology. They preached that Germans possessed unique qualities arising from their homeland. “Soil” and “blood” set the Germans apart from all other people, so the Nazis considered foreign ideas and persons as corrupting, especially Jewish people and ideas.
