Max Oehler (; December 29, 1875 – March 1946) was a German

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

and

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can consis ...

for the "Nietzsche-Archiv." Oehler pursued his career in the German Empire's military until the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the German November Revolution. Under the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is ...

, which he opposed, he served as an archivist in his cousin

Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche Therese Elisabeth Alexandra Förster-Nietzsche (10 July 1846 – 8 November 1935) was the sister of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the creator of the Nietzsche Archive in 1894. Förster-Nietzsche was two years younger than her brothe ...

's "Nietzsche-Archiv" in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

. After Förster-Nietzsche's death in 1935, he succeeded her as ''de facto'' leader of the Archiv. A devoted

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

since the early 1930s, Oehler tried to popularize his National Socialist view of Nietzsche. After the German defeat in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Oehler was imprisoned by Soviet occupation forces and died c. March 1946 in an improvised prison in Weimar.

Family

Max Oehler was born in Blessenbach im Taunus (today part of Weinbach). His father, Oskar Ulrich Oehler (1838–1901), was a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

minister and the brother of Franziska Nietzsche, Friedrich and Elisabeth Nietzsche's mother. Max Oehler's mother was Auguste Oehler (née Forst) (1847–1920). Like his brother Richard Oehler, a librarian, and his cousin Adalbert Oehler, a low-ranking government official, Max Oehler became involved in Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche's " Nietzsche-Archiv," which thus became sort of a family business. Oehler married then 18-year-old Annemarie Lemelson in 1911, with whom he had several children.

Life and work

Before 1919: In the military

From 1889 to 1895, Oehler was a student at Pforta. He then joined the Prussian Army, although he also showed considerable interest in literature and especially music. He would often express to his cousin Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche a wish to work at her "Nietzsche-Archiv" someday. Nevertheless, his main interest was his career in the army, whose values he deeply admired. He was made Oberleutnant in 1908,

Hauptmann is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian, and Swiss armies. While in contemporary German means 'main', it also has and originally had the meaning of 'head', i.e. ' literally ...

in 1912, and was allowed to call himself Major when he left the army in 1919. For a long time, he was stationed in Deutsch Eylau, today

Iława Iława (; german: Deutsch Eylau ) is a town in northern Poland with 32,276 inhabitants (2010). It is situated in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (since 1999); previously it was in Olsztyn Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Iława C ...

. He was granted leave from April 1 till December 31, 1908, to work at the "Nietzsche-Archiv" in

. In the summer, he travelled to Ernest Thiel in Stockholm as Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche's emissary. Thiel, a banker and patron, had agreed to give a considerable amount of money for the founding of Förster-Nietzsche's "Stiftung Nietzsche-Archiv" (''Nietzsche-Archiv

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

''), despite his being partly of Jewish ancestry. (Förster-Nietzsche had married

Bernhard Förster Ludwig Bernhard Förster (31 March 1843 – 3 June 1889) was a German teacher. He was married to Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, the sister of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Life Förster became a leading figure in the anti-Semitic ...

, an antisemitic agitator, but by this time had renounced antisemitism). At the end of 1908, Oehler became a member of the new Stiftung's

Vorstand In German corporate governance, a ''Vorstand'' is the executive board of a corporation (public limited company). It is hierarchically subordinate to the supervisory board (''Aufsichtsrat''), as German company law imposes a two-tier board of dir ...

, or managerial board, on which he remained until 1945. Oehler took part in the

Battle of Tannenberg (1914) The Battle of Tannenberg, also known as the Second Battle of Tannenberg, was fought between Russia and Germany between 26 and 30 August 1914, the first month of World War I. The battle resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Russ ...

early in World War I, but soon became unable to fight due to a case of

sciatica Sciatica is pain going down the leg from the lower back. This pain may go down the back, outside, or front of the leg. Onset is often sudden following activities like heavy lifting, though gradual onset may also occur. The pain is often described ...

. He performed bureaucratic activities for the remainder of the war, first in Marienburg ( Malbork), and then at the Ministry of War in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. He had great faith in the possibility of a German victory and was shocked by the German November Revolution. In the months following the war, Oehler stayed on at the Ministry of War and, together with other officers, tried to regain power from the revolutionary Soldatenräte (soldiers' councils, see

workers' council A workers' council or labor council is a form of political and economic organization in which a workplace or municipality is governed by a council made up of workers or their elected delegates. The workers within each council decide on what thei ...

), whom he despised.

After 1919: At the Nietzsche-Archiv

In 1919, Oehler left the military with the rank of Major and went to work with Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche at the Nietzsche-Archiv, beginning in April. He settled first in Bad Berka, and then in

. He was very deferential towards his much older cousin and soon became her "right hand". His family in a way also became hers, as she had long lost her brother and husband and had never had children. In addition to Max Oehler, Förster-Nietzsche's "Nietzsche-Archiv" also employed Richard Oehler (Max's brother) and Adalbert Oehler (a cousin). The Archiv operated like a family business. They had all shared an opposition to the democratic

and had been more or less sympathetic towards the Conservative Revolutionary movement and the rise of

Fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

. Max Oehler was especially favorable towards Benito Mussolini, whom in 1925 he declared a true follower of Nietzsche. Nevertheless, Oehler and his wife were members of

Hermann Graf Keyserling Hermann Alexander Graf von Keyserling ( – 26 April 1946) was a Baltic German philosopher from the Keyserlingk family. His grandfather, Alexander von Keyserling, was a notable geologist of Imperial Russia. Life Keyserling was born to a wealt ...

's anti-militarist "Schule der Weisheit". In 1931, Oehler became a member of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

and hitched the Archiv's connections to the growing Nazi movement. Like Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, he embraced

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

's rise to power. Hitler visited the Archiv on several occasions between 1932 and 1934. After Förster-Nietzsche's death in 1935, Oehler became the ''de facto'' leader of the Archiv, which lost completely the character of a salon: Oehler instead guided visitors such as students, soldiers and guests through the Archiv and tried to popularize his Nazi view of Nietzsche in speeches and essays. Following Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche's death, it became known within the Archiv that she had

forged Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die. Forging is often classified according to the temperature at which it ...

some documents and anecdotes relating to her brother Friedrich; this fact was not made public, however. In fact, Oehler seems to have publicly renounced only one of Förster-Nietzsche's legends: in 1937, he showed in an article that the Nietzsche family did not descend from Polish nobility, as was claimed by both Elisabeth and Friedrich Nietzsche himself on occasion. Oehler's conclusion is accepted as correct today, and was very much approved by Nazi ideology.Richard Frank Krummel, ''Nietzsche und der deutsche Geist'', vol. 3, p. 629; Oehler's article was printed in at least eight German journals between August 1937 and February 1938 The

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

occupied

in 1945, at the close of World War II, and later handed the city over to Soviet forces. Oehler attempted to defend the Nietzsche-Archiv from the charge of having supported the Nazi regime, claiming that it always had been politically neutral. He could maintain that soldiers did not use the Archiv rooms, but the Soviet administration nevertheless froze all the Archiv's accounts. On December 6, 1945, Oehler was picked up by someone claiming to be Soviet interpreter. He never returned. As the family later found out, he had been sentenced to penal labour in Siberia but had died, probably of hunger or freezing, in an improvised prison while still in Weimar.

Notes

References

*Richard Frank Krummel: ''Nietzsche und der deutsche Geist'',

de Gruyter Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. History The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in Be ...

, Berlin und New York 1998, vol. 3 (1919–1945), *Ursula Sigismund: ''Denken im Zwiespalt''. LIT Verlag, Münster 2001, . (Biographical work by one of Oehler's daughters, containing several writings and letters by Oehler.) *Roswitha Wollkopf: ''Die Gremien des Nietzsche-Archivs und ihre Beziehungen zum Faschismus bis 1933'' in: Hahn, Karl-Heinz (Hrsg.): ''Im Vorfeld der Literatur: vom Wert archivalischer Überlieferung für das Verständnis von Literatur und ihrer Geschichte''. Böhlau, Weimar 1991, , S. 227–241. {{DEFAULTSORT:Oehler, Max 1875 births 1946 deaths People from Limburg-Weilburg People from Hesse-Nassau German archivists Nazi Party politicians Friedrich Nietzsche German Army personnel of World War I Prussian Army personnel