"German Conservatism" deals with two issues. The first issue I deal with is the hatred and propaganda against the Germans. The second issue has to do with conservatism itself. I show another side of the Germans that's obscured by prejudice and Germanophobia. I seek to give a precise, unifying definition of conservatism with this article.

1. German Conservatism
Andrew Langford (BA, Political Science)
July 17, 2017
Introduction:
There is lots of stigma against the Germans and anything German. People hated
the Germans or anything German for more than 2,000 years. Much of the history,
written on Germany, is focused on the rise of Prussia and Germany since the
Nineteenth Century. The Germans were perceived as “illiberal,” “undemocratic,”
authoritarian, barbaric, and militant.
The purpose of this piece is to move beyond the stigma and propaganda against
the Germans and their culture and lifestyle to show a side of them that’s
obscured by prejudice and Germanophobia. I seek to show the German culture
and lifestyle, derived from ancient mythology and developed in history, as
conservative. Part of the Ancient Germanic religion, a unique part of their
mythology, is the Nine Virtues of Asatru I will go more in depth about. I also listed
fourteen moral principles, connected with the Nine Virtues of Asatru, also to be
written about. These nine virtues and fourteen moral principles, kept by the
Germans through history and continued with their conversion to Christianity,
would be a vital part of the development of conservatism with Edmund Burke and
others in the Nineteenth Century and eventually after World War 2.
I seek to address another issue in this piece. There is confusion among many in
the world and especially in the United States, even among conservatives, about
the meaning and definition of conservatism. We see conservatism in the
Nineteenth Century and early Twentieth Century being associated with the old
aristocracy of the Middle Ages, hereditary mobility, and quickly fading
monarchies. There is not any clear consensus on the meaning and definition of
conservatism around the world and in the United States among the media,
academia, intellectuals, those who do not identify as conservative, and those
who claim to be conservative and identify as conservative. The Left and the
mainstream media denounce the conservatives as hard, cold, evil, selfish, and
stingy. Some who claim to be conservative like to say they are “Moderates” and
“Centrists” as their politics lean closer to the Left. Others who claim to be
conservative take more of a libertarian view in their politics. We have the
fiscal/market conservatives, neoconservatives, and social conservatives who are
often at odds with each other. Then, we got the paleo-conservatives, Reform
Conservatives, constitutional conservatives, traditional conservatives, religious
conservatives, Christian Conservatives, and the like. We got many different
versions of conservatism in conflict with each other, some overlapping. I hope to
clearly give a unifying definition of conservatism under the title, “German
Conservatism.”

2. Virtues and Principles:
The website, Odin’s Volk, lists the “Nine Virtues of Asatru,” or “Noble Virtues” as
they also call them. The website also lists fourteen moral principles in Ancient
Germanic Mythology. Odin’s Volk goes through and explains each of the “Noble
Virtues.” Some of the moral principles are the same as some of the noble virtues.
I group many of the moral principles with many of the noble virtues where I had
seen connections.
Courage, Boldness, and Strength:
The first Noble Virtue of Asatru is courage. Two of the moral principles Odin’s
Volk lists are boldness and strength. Courage, boldness, and strength are very
much part of the German character from the beginnings of their civilization. It is
possible this partially has to do where they settled. They began North of the Alps
up to just South of Denmark and between the Oder River and the Rhine River in
Central Europe. The Ancient Germanic tribes lived in swamps and bogs and
inhabited mountains and forests. Dense fogs often covered the land. The
Germans live in a climate zone in Central Europe where the temperatures
average from freezing in January to mildly hot in July.
Arminius and the Germanic tribes defeated the Roman General, Varus, and the
Army he led in the Teutoburg Forest with a combination of courage and the
rough terrain of the forest in AD 14. Germanic tribes started encroaching on the
Roman frontiers along the Rhine River and in the Alps in AD 3rd Century and
raided outposts and towns in Gaul, Spain, and Northern Italy. Roman Emperors
even started recruiting German auxiliaries as guards and to supplement the
Roman legions because of their strength, boldness, and courage. The erosion
and moral decay of the Roman Empire and the Germans the Emperors gave
land to proved the downfall of the Western Roman Empire. The Roman
Emperors and ruling class hung the albatross around their own necks as
Germanic tribes continued threatening the Roman Empire.
German towns and cities were constantly under threat from marauders and
robbers in the Middle Ages. First legally sanctioned by the German King, Henry I,
every German town and city started forming militias to defend and protect
themselves from threats on the outside. The strength of these local militias were
eventually a concern for the imperial authorities of the Holy Roman Empire. Even
the German-Americans formed militias in the late Nineteenth Century and early
Twentieth Century to protect their communities from mobs that threatened them.
The Teutonic Knights managed to conquer Northern Poland and the Baltic states
of Estonia and Latvia and parts of Lithuania in the Thirteenth Century and early
Fourteenth Century with an army largely made up of German contingents. The
Teutonic Order easily subdued the Pagan Prussians with its military might and
held Poland and Lithuania at bay in land disputes and power quests where the

3. Polish and Lithuanian Armies were outmaneuvered and outflanked by the Order.
The power of the Teutonic Knights in the Baltic was at last broken by Poland and
Lithuania in 1435, eventually being reduced to the Duchy of Prussia later in the
Century and the early Sixteenth Century, centered in Konigsberg. Created in
1523, the new state transformed from a tiny Duchy into a Kingdom in the
Seventeenth Century and into an Empire in the Nineteenth Century with military
might and strength and through diplomacy and alliances. The outnumbered
Prussian Armies defeated the Austrian Armies and French Armies and reunited
Germany in 1871 under the German Empire, centered in Berlin. The German
Armies boldly and valiantly engaged the French, Belgian, and British military in
the West for four years as the German military penetrated the Russian Empire in
the East in World War 1. A rebuilt German military gained control of Austria,
Czechoslovakia, and France and invaded Poland by 1939, starting World War 2.
The German military threatened the British Isles in 1940 with the Blitz and
advanced as far East as Leningrad (St. Petersburg) and Stalingrad (Volgagrad)
in 1941, keeping the war going until 1945.
Truth:
Truth is the second Noble Virtue of Asatru. It is also one of fourteen moral
principles that’s listed. Truth is honesty to ourselves, others, and a higher power.
It is integrity and the willingness to live the way one should regardless of any
situation and circumstance. The Germans like to boldly speak the truth and
appreciate one’s willingness to be straightforward and tell the truth.
The truth is uncomfortable to many today. It is hard for many to speak and hear
the truth. People do not like to be wrong. They do not want to admit any mistakes
or any errors. They are comfortable with dishonesty and honestly prefer to live a
lie. The truth gets hidden in and covered up with political correctness, “free
speech codes,” and censorship of speech and the press. Too many politicians
are inconsistent about where they stand and cover scandals and corruption up
with lies, stone walling, and blaming others.
Honesty is the best policy. But, not only that, honesty is the only policy. A life of
integrity is a life of substance and character. Truth is the beginning of every
relation and partnership. Society, humanity, and civilization function and thrive
with truth and trust.
Honor:
Honor is the third Noble Virtue of Asatru. It is also one of the moral principles.
Odin’s Volk defines honor as one’s inner worth and value. Honor is less about
one’s position and power for the Germans. It is personal for every German who
sees themselves as part of a whole. Their place in society has less to do with
station, status, and wealth. It has more to do with merit and what they do and
become. It is less about family as it is about them.

4. Honor is about contribution in tis context. There is a place for everybody in the
family, community, culture, kin, and nation. Every member contributes something
to the welfare of the whole. The early Germanic culture was rural, local, and
tribal. Communities were small with probably no more than ten families. Tribes
were likely to have been small. The size of the communities and tribes made the
contribution of every member to the community and tribe crucial and in turn had a
ripple effect on all of the German kin and their culture.
Some would interject and claim we live in a modern urban world now. We live in
a world where many turn to a big central bureaucratic government and powerful
global institutions to solve their problems and take car of them. Many feel they do
not have anything to contribute and just seem to waste living space that could be
suited better for somebody else and something more important. Many members
and citizens of Western democracies and republics around the world feel their
voice and vote do not matter because it does not make any difference in
elections. They do not benefit from the system anyways. So, the attitude goes, as
the voices and concerns of many get drowned out in the mass media and social
media that’s often twisted, doctored up, and transmitted to the world.
I learned much from what I read on the Germans through history around the
world and learned about them. The Germans are community-minded and small
scale in their thinking and decisions. They are microcosmic in their worldview and
culture. They do not think in terms of saving the whole world at once as we see in
this superhero culture with heroes like Superman, Spiderman, or the Avengers.
They prefer the idea of saving the world one person at a time, one family at a
time, and one community at a time in their immediate and intermediate influence
and so on up the scale. They do not see their belonging, temporal salvation, and
identity in big central bureaucratic government and global institutions. But, they
see their belonging, temporal salvation, and identity as being part of a whole
where their personal decisions and actions positively or negatively contribute to
humanity, society, and civilization.
Fidelity and Family Responsibility:
Fidelity is the fourth Noble Virtue of Asatru. Fidelity is another moral principle that
was listed.
Family was and is the vital part of German society. It is in fact the most essential
unit of every society. Germans had and have a moral responsibility to family.
They had the moral duty to their parents and siblings and their spouses and
children. If the family is dysfunctional, the rest of society is dysfunctional. The
beginning of every German family was and is a marriage between man and
woman as husband and wife. German children were and are raised and nurtured
in a home by a mother and father. This is the source of family stability. Family
stability is the source of stability in family and civilization.

5. Fidelity is crucial to the Germans as a virtue. It is crucial to every society and
civilization. The Germans have many loyalties from their beginnings to today.
They are loyal to family, loyal to parents, siblings, spouse, and children. They are
loyal to the community. They are loyal to their deity and religion. They are loyal to
their nation and kin. I would also even mention here they are loyal to their friends.
If any German is in a partnership or contract, they feel a duty and an obligation to
keep and fulfill their part.
Discipline and Strength:
The Germans value stability and order. They value consistency. They do not like
having chaos and anarchy. The Germans are uncomfortable with rapid change.
They like to stick to a routine and keep to a schedule. The German military is
highly skilled and disciplined. Having high social and moral standards and being
upright is important to German character.
It requires strength to have discipline and be disciplined. It is challenging to keep
to a schedule and a routine. One needs to have the desire, willpower, and
dedication for it. One needs to have focus to have discipline in life. Discipline is
the fifth Noble Virtue of Asatru. The moral principle of strength makes courage
and discipline possible. It is even possible to say these three characteristics are
connected.
Hospitality and Generosity:
Hospitality is the sixth Noble Virtue of Asatru. It is a moral principle as well.
Generosity is another moral principle for the Germans. Roman visitors who
visited the Ancient Germanic tribes on the other side of the Rhine observed the
Germans were hospitable and welcomed strangers and foreigners into their
homes and communities. Tacitus wrote of their kindness and hospitality in his
written work, Germania.
These very people we were led to believe are barbaric, monstrous, and evil are
welcoming and friendly to others who come their way. They are generous with
their time, homes, and substance with strangers, foreigners, and visitors. The
Germans are of a generous disposition with others among them. They hold good
will for each other and for others. They make kind gestures and a friendly nature
for all; friends, enemies, or in between.
Industry and Industriousness:
Industriousness is the seventh Noble Virtue of Asatru. Industry is a moral
principle. Industry and industriousness both mean production and labor. Both
words, rather the same term with one being a noun and the other being an
adjective, mean building, creation, or anything else involved with work. The

6. Germans produce, labor, build, work, and create. They built castles, towns, cities,
and villages. They are shepherds, herdsmen, and farmers. They work with metal,
iron, and ore and create as smiths. They are architects who design their own
architecture. The Germans had musicians who produced their own music and
artists who created their own art. Not to mention, they have unique food with a
unique appeal to foreigners and have their share of artisans.
Self-Reliance:
Self-reliance is the eighth Noble Virtue of Asatru. It is also a moral principle in
Ancient Germanic Mythology. Odin’s Volk explains the Ancient Germans were
encouraged to be self-reliant for themselves, their family, community, clan, tribe,
kin, and nation. The first Germans were subsistence farmers, growing enough
food for themselves and their families. The Germans are resourceful as well. The
Ancient Germans produced little iron and ore and largely used wood to make
utensils and dishes for eating, tools, weapons for war, and shields. Most Ancient
Germanic warriors fought with spears and clubs. The Ancient Romans name
these people “Germani,” meaning spearman. “Germani” is the Latin derivative of
German and Germany. The Germans built villages, towns, and cities out of the
resources they had and rebuilt Dresden of the rubble from the fire bombings by
the Allies after World War 2.
Perseverance and Steadfastness:
Perseverance is the ninth and last Noble Virtue of Asatru. Steadfastness is
another moral principle in Ancient Germanic Mythology. The Germans hold
steadfast to their traditions, principles, and culture. The changes they made to
their tradition and culture were made in reply to changing situations and
circumstances and kept consistent with their principles, norms, and lifestyle. The
Germans are resilient people. They always show the ability to recover from loss,
defeat, destruction, hardship, and adversity and come back strong. They have
the resolve and willpower to survive and thrive.
Troth:
Troth is pledged faithfulness. It is the root word in betrothal, meaning marriage.
Man and woman pledge love, support, and loyalty to each other for life in
marriage. Troth is important to the Germans, I would even claim, the most
important to them. They were loyal to their ancient religion and deity. They are
loyal, faithful Catholics, Lutherans, Quakers, Amish, Mennonites, Dunkers, and
the such. Their loyalty and faith is a matter of life and death for them.
Equality:
It is important to make a distinction here. Equality is not being common in all
ways and faculty here. The Germans certainly make distinctions among

7. themselves and others. German equality is not an equality of condition. It is not
egalitarianism. It is equality in terms of rights, law, and treatment. The Ancient
Germans believed in equal rights among all people in their kin and nationality.
Ancient Germanic law equally applied to all and equally protected all. Everybody;
German or non-German; friend, ally, or enemy; all were equally respected,
accepted, and valued. True equality is human dignity.
Wisdom:
The Germans value wisdom. They seek wisdom from older generations from the
past, a higher power, and education. They seek to learn and gain wisdom from
the past and from above the earth, from the heavens. The Germans seek true
knowledge and wisdom and gain their true power from their education. They gain
and share deep insight with the world with the potential to create positive change.
Orlog, Wyrd, and Hamingja:
Orlog:
Orlog is the ultimate purpose, the great plan, of creation. It is essentially cause
and effect. Everything was connected in Ancient Germanic Mythology. The
individual actions of everybody were believed to have a chain effect on
everything. The Germans believe in purpose beyond themselves. Orlog is what
one could call honor. Everybody has internal worth and value. The Germans
believe every member is important. What one person does makes a difference
and could make the difference for another, a group or nation, or human destiny.
Wyrd:
Wyrd is the Germanic goddess of Norns. It is destiny and becoming. Some
believe in fate and believe any fortune or misfortune happened by chance. Some
believe in predestination and the idea one’s life, fortune, and destiny is
predetermined. There are still others who rest their identity on their birth year,
Zodiac, and/or gem stone, a belief their life, fate, and destiny was set for them by
the month, day, and year they were born.
What’s different with Wyrd is the belief in a life journey to become somebody and
something. Everything is not set in stone when one is born. Destiny is not
determined at birth. It is not left to fate and chance. One is not predestined to
succeed, fail, do or not do something, be or not be. People have the power to
determine their destiny. They have the power to do what they want and become
anybody and anything through personal decision, choice, and action.

8. Hamingja:
Hamingja is the force believed to run through the family in Ancient Germanic
Mythology. It is family reputation. Ancient Germans believed each family came
from deity. They saw dying in battle as good and viewed it as martyrdom. An
assumption taught in Evolution is the belief humans evolved from apes. Social
Darwinism is the worldview some humans are superior, and others are inferior.
Marxism is the worldview humans are animals that could be controlled,
manipulated, and goaded along to “utopia.” Modernism treats humanity as
numbers, statistics, probability figures, raw data, trends, a means to an end, and
in the end insignificant. Globalism and technocracy view humanity as ignorant
and too dumb to figure anything out.
Humanity is divine. Human beings have the potential to be divine. They are the
eternal offspring of Divinity. The worth of a human being is beyond use for trivial
purposes, abuse, manipulation, a natural resource to be exhausted, and for the
entertainment of others. The worth of the human soul is in its divinity, perpetuity,
and dignity. It is in their unique nature and divine potential. Humans naturally
long for and desire more than a terrestrial existence. They are spiritual beings in
physical form on earth. They seek and long for a celestial life in perfect form.
Migration and Settlement:
The Germans are unique from most over civilizations in another way. They are
not a typical group of people who like to conquer lands, extort the wealth and
resources of the conquered territory for their national gain, and enslave the
peoples who they conquered. They did not seek and do not seek to build and
empire in the sense other civilizations did and seek to do. German families,
clans, and tribes migrated as a solution to overpopulation and scarcity of
resources. Germans migrated to and settled in lands where there were resources
and opportunity. They built communities everywhere they settled. German
communities could be found in Eastern Europe, as far as the Black Sea and
Kazakhstan, Australia, and in the United States. A characteristic of the German-
Americans was their opposition to slavery, paper currency and “free silver,” and
imperialism. Many Americans left the Democrat Party in 1896 to vote for William
McKinley in opposition to William Jennings Bryan. A portion of the German-
Americans returned and voted for William Jennings Bryan in opposition to
President McKinley’s foreign policy. The German-Americans opposed Woodrow
Wilson and the Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations and despised FDR
and Dwight Eisenhower because of US policy against the Germans in Europe.
Community:
Community is important to the Germans. Communities were built in and around
Germany, built and populated by Germans. They have communities where the
Germans have cultural influence. The German-Americans built and live in

9. communities in parts of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, Colorado,
Nevada, and the West Coast and all over Pennsylvania, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio,
Wisconsin, Minnesota, and all around the Midwest. Germans hold a position of
international influence on the world both through force and persuasion. Germans
all over the world hold several cultural celebrations every year.
Tradition, Stability, and Permanence:
Tradition:
I hinted to it earlier. But, it is important to stress this fact. The Germans value
tradition. It is vital to them. You see it in their annual celebrations. These include
Maifest, Volksfest, Schutzenfest, Germanfest, and Oktoberfest. The German
Christmas celebration, Christkindlmarket, reflects many of their traditions with
food, community, hospitality, charity, and the legendary Christkindl angel dressed
in a golden dress with a golden crown on her head and a golden scepter in her
hand, bearing gifts for German children.
Stability:
The Germans highly value stability. They like to have consistency in their
personal lives and in their neighborhoods and community. German culture
changed little over more than 2,000 years. They voted Adolf Hitler and the Nazis
into power in 1933 in reaction to the Weimar Republic. Many Germans despise
and protest the massive influx of refugees from the Middle East and immigrants
from North Africa into Germany. They prefer slow, gradual change. They adapted
their culture and tradition to social change in their land and remain consistent
with tradition, principle, and culture.
Permanence:
The Germans faithfully and steadfastly, almost defiantly, hold on to what Russell
Kirk described as the “permanent things.” What matters most in life is the most
important to them. Family, community, culture, tradition, and Divinity are most
important to them. They valiantly fight to defend those “permanent things.” They
are kind, hospitable, and loving to others. They are kind, generous, and helpful to
strangers and anybody in need. The Germans have a spirit of goodwill for and
toward all of humanity.
Conclusion:
You could tell much about a culture by its mythology. Every culture and ideology
is rooted in a worldview, usually derived from myth. Ancient Greek and Roman
Mythology is a belief in fate and predestination. It is the worldview, valuing
“logic,” rationalism, science, “civilization, and “progress.” You see their belief in
fate and predestination with the Zodiac. Their value of “democracy” and

10. “republicanism” turned Ancient Greece into a peninsula of petty despotates and
Ancient Rome into an imperial empire. The Greeks and Italians think they are
victims who are entitled and look to regional and global institutions to take care of
them and provide for them. Evolution and Social Darwinism make people into
vicious animals who hate, exploit, and kill each other. Marxism makes people into
cattle to be chased, rounded up, and herded into corners and tight spaces.
Modernism, globalism, and technocracy make people into test subjects to be
tested in their “laboratories of democracy” and experimented with.
What makes Ancient Germanic Mythology and German culture unique is the fact
it is empowering. It makes people fully human and encourages people to live to
their full potential and govern themselves. German culture makes human
flourishing and thriving possible. There is human dignity for all in the world and
among all in the culture. People are valued and treated the same. Others come
before self. Duty and responsibility come before rights and liberty. German
conservatism is what Edmund Burke described in Reflections on the Revolution
in France as “manly, moral, regulated liberty.”
German conservatism is also virtue and principle. It is connection and the power
of a single individual, becoming, divine destiny, divine nature, and human dignity.
It is resourcefulness, stewardship, and community. German conservatism is
tradition, stability, and permanence. It is everything conservatism is and should
be about.