Ernst Bergmann (7 August 1881 – 16 April 1945) was a German philosopher. In the early 1930s, he was known as the most famous German opponent of patriarchy, and after 1933, Bergmann became a leading proponent of a new pagan German religion ("Deutschreligion", later called "Gemeinschaft Deutsche Volksreligion").

Biography

Ernst Bergmann was the son of

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 ...

pastor Ernst Albin Bergmann (1838–1894) and Swiss-born Marie Louise Linder (1846–1934), he studied philosophy and

German philology German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

and got his PhD in 1905. Subsequently, he continued his studies in Berlin. Later he returned to Leipzig, where he received the status of Privatdozent at the university in 1911. In 1916 he was awarded the position of Ausserordentlicher Professor (professor without chair). In 1917, he married Gertrud Landsberg, daughter of a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family from Posen. They became parents of two sons: Ulrich (1918–1940) and Dieter (1920–1995). Ulrich died in battle as a soldier of the Wehrmacht, Dieter became a physician and emigrated to the USA. In 1995, Dieter published a memoir, which is an important source for his father's biography. The marriage ended in divorce in 1925. Ernst Bergmann's philosophical works comprise a lot of different areas. During his early years before World War I, he was a noted expert on the philosophy of French philosopher

Jean-Marie Guyau Jean-Marie Guyau (28 October 1854 – 31 March 1888) was a French philosopher and poet. Guyau was inspired by the philosophies of Epicurus, Epictetus, Plato, Immanuel Kant, Herbert Spencer, and Alfred Fouillée, and the poetry and literature of ...

, after that he became a well-known German "Neofichteaner", with works on the philosophy of German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte and on the history of German thought. Although Bergmann joined the

National Socialist German Workers 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 ...

in 1930, he published in 1932 a book about the dangers and the harmfulness of patriarchy that ran contrary to the leading Nazi ideology ("Erkenntnisgeist und Muttergeist. Eine Soziosophie der Geschlechter"). After Hitler had become German Chancellor in 1933, Bergmann nevertheless hoped that the new regime would bring a cultural revolution, especially in the area of religion and philosophy. Bergmann was strongly opposed to both Christianity and Judaism and propagated a new kind of religiosity ("Deutschreligion") based on his own philosophy and the pre-Christian spiritual roots of the German people. His works during the Nazi area concentrated on religious and philosophical topics. In the years of World War II, Bergmann became alienated from the Hitler regime and was excluded from the NSDAP in 1943.W. Dieter Bergmann: Between Two Benches, 1995, p. 233.

Works and ideology

His works ''Die deutsche Nationalkirche'' (the German National Church) and ''Die natürliche Geistlehre'' (The Natural Doctrine of the Spirit) were placed on the '' Index Librorum Prohibitorum'', the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

list of banned books, in 1934 and 1937. In his pagan manifesto ''Die 25 Thesen der Deutschreligion'' (Twenty-five Points of the German Religion), Bergmann held that both the Old Testament and the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

were unsuitable for use in Germany. He was not interested in creating an "Aryan" version of Christianity or an "Aryan" Jesus, but emphasized the necessity of founding a new non-Christian belief and a non-Christian church ("Deutsche Nationalkirche") for the German people.

Heart attack and death

In the winter of either 1944 or 1945, Bergmann suffered a heart attack, and in April 1945 he died, according to the memoir of his son Dieter, due to his severe heart problems.

Works

* ''Erkenntnisgeist und Muttergeist. Eine Soziosophie der Geschlechter'', 1932. * ''Die Deutsche Nationalkirche'', 1933. * ''Deutschland, das Bildungsland der neuen Menschheit. Eine nationalsozialistische Kulturphilosophie'', 1933. * ''Die 25 Thesen der Deutschreligion. Ein Katechismus'', 1934. * ''Die natürliche Geistlehre. System einer deutsch nordischen Weltsinndeutung'', 1937. * ''Kleines System der Deutschen Volksreligion'', 1941.

Secondary Literature

* Karl-Heinrich Hunsche: ''Ernst Bergmann. Sein Leben und Werk'', 1936. * W. Dieter Bergman: ''Between Two Benches. Not Subject to Extermination'', 1995. *

Notes