Antisemitism in völkisch thinking often goes hand in hand with a romanticizing belief in nature, conspiracy fantasies, and esoteric interpretations of the world. The lecture by Isolde Vogel in the Gedenkdienst series „Geh denken!“ is devoted to the historical as well as substantive continuities from the belief in a „natural way of life“ and the right of the strongest, rejection of science and vaccination, the cult of the Volkskörper, natural healing, and last but not least antisemitism.
Historically and from an ideology-critical perspective, these phenomena are to be embedded in the ambivalent relationship to modern society, and approaches to explaining an antisemitic and völkisch-based belief in nature will be presented. The ideology-critical classification reveals not only historical connections but also calls for a critical engagement with contemporary forms of reactionary and anti-Enlightenment belief in nature.