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Straight Edge

There is no straight path from the renunciation of meat to a politics of virtue. Nazi vegetarianism raises obvious problems in this regard … Hitler’s strict adherence to a vegetarian diet was largely medical: “Throughout his life, Hitler continued to believe that abstaining from meat alleviated his chronic flatulence, constipation, sweating, nervous tension, trembling of muscles, and the stomach cramps that convinced him he was dying of cancer.” The Nazi leadership, however, sought to extrapolate ideologies of wider application from the Führer’s dietary choices. Himmler praised the constitutional virtues of vegetable consumption; he wanted the Waffen S.S. to go vegetarian and thought that once the Germans had dietetically cleansed themselves they would undoubtedly rule the world. Göring arrived at a twisted version of the humanitarian argument, threatening “those who still think they can treat animals as inanimate property” with the concentration camp … during the extreme food shortages at the beginning of the Third Reich, Göring inveighed against farmers who gave grain to animals which should have been used to feed Germans.

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