LEBENDIGE WELT

Picture book for the training of the Hitler-Youth

Produced in cooperation with the racial-political office of the NSDAP, under direction of the Reich.

“All living members never contradict each other; they work together to create life.”

Goethe

In the forest all the great laws of nature are united. Togetherness and struggle are the basic powers of all natural life and are visible in every corner of the forest. The entire forest is a wonderful unity of many shimmering, colorful and living things and creatures. Sunlight falls on all kinds of plants and grasses, mushrooms, lichens and moss; branches, fir needles and brownish foliage lie on the ground surrounding young plants and then become earth. Birds of many different types and families live in the forest: roebucks, deer, wild boars, rabbits, weasels, squirrels and other small animals. Insects, ants, worms and snails creep between the leaves on the ground. The trees in the forest itself and the bushes, through which wind, sun, stars and rain penetrate, complete the entire picture.

Within this colorful community, however, there is order that makes possible the living together of so many parts. The earth, the bushes and the trees are separate regions with various laws that do not contradict each other. The varying depth of the roots and the differing height of the bushes and trees allow each group to find sustenance and light. The same applies to the thousands of animals who have their definite and strictly limited areas for living. The wonderful part is that they not only share their living space and with other living creatures, but also they could not be there without the others. They are all dependent upon each other. In families such as the roebuck, birds and hedgehog there is conscious concern for each other. It has actually happened that an unknown bird will hatch the eggs in a deserted nest. The completely unknown living-for-each-other phenomenon can be observed everywhere in the forest. Without the shadow of the forest trees, the nightshade creatures would die, and without water-saving moss, the forest would have insufficient water.

The other side of this kind of existence, however, is the struggle. It is carried on against similar living things, against other differing types and against the elements with the same intensity as before. In the case of the stronger and the nobler to which the right of existence is granted, deer, roebucks and even beetles will struggle. The greatest struggle of all exists for sustenance. It takes place relentlessly and without any consideration. Whoever wants to live, must provide himself with new energy. Seemingly senseless killing serves only life itself. Here in the forest the cycle of life and death repeats itself, even though it may seem incomprehensible to humans in its harshness; it is the life cycle between birth and death.

However fateful and unchangeable the struggle for life may be, and however seemingly chaotic it appears, it still provides life, and the struggle of living beings against the forces of nature seems equally fateful. Lightning splits a tree down the middle and often the tree is strong enough to withstand it. Even a storm with its endless pressure against the living is able only to bend the tree and change its form, but not to destroy it. Whatever is weak or in the wrong place, is broken.

Occasionally the forest encounters the hardest fate on the seashore. With the soil washed away, it plunges into the water to die. Sometimes it will succeed in taking root and will live. If the water takes all the soil with it, nothing of life remains. The soil will appear in a different place on earth, and in time it will support new life and a new forest.

Birth and death, struggle and peace, community and individuality, belonging together and in opposition—all of that will meaningfully represent the various dimensions of life. From powers and counter powers in constant struggle, a new, healthful and blooming life will appear.

STRUCTURE OF THE PICTURES

  1. Pictures 1-17: The community of the forest.
  2. Pictures 18-36: Life is a struggle.

a)Pictures 18-21: Struggle for the right of the stronger within the species.

b)Pictures 22-27: Struggle and sustenance.

c)Pictures 28-36: Struggle against forces of nature.

OVERVIEW OF THE PICTURES

  1. National socialism is basically nothing other than a wonderful declaration to the organic, to growth, and to joining together, and simultaneously, a declaration to God.

(Hans Schlemm)

  1. The forest, composed of countless members, lives in the contrast of bright-dark.

The German forest is a living community. Deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests are composed of numerous living parts. Trees, bushes, flowers, moss and ferns belong to the living parts.

  1. From the branches, between flowers and grass we find cobwebs.

The nets of the spiders are extremely delicate. No human hand could make them finer and more artistic.

  1. Deer come in the morning and in the evening from the high forest.

The slender doe, accompanied by the small fawn, takes advantage of the darkness in order to find sustenance in the quiet forest meadow. They are shy animals, but always prepared to disappear at the slightest sound in the forest.

  1. Rabbits hide under roots and under the earth.

Rabbits have their dwelling places under the earth. Personal, artistically constructed hollows provide these fearful animals protection and security.

  1. The fox sleeps, exhausted from hunting.

When the animals of the forest lie down to rest, they look for a protected place. In excess carelessness this young fox has forgotten to be careful.

  1. Nature is a reflection of the whole in each corner of the earth.

(Alexander von Humboldt)

  1. Ants construct their own artistic world on the forest floor.

In the anthills hundreds of thousands of ants live in an ordered state system. This state system has king, queen, workers and soldiers. Even artificial facilities for the sustenance of the ant colony, such as mushroom gardens or stalls for the leaf lice are present in the construction of the anthill. Whatever a tiny ant cannot achieve, the community of ants can achieve it a concentrated effort.

  1. Foxglove blooms in bright colors.

In the German middle mountain range we often find foxglove with reddish flowers. The unusual shape of the blossoms has given rise to many types of sagas. The bright colors are deceptive, however, since the plant is very poisonous.

  1. …and the mushrooms, hidden and surrounded by the plants in the forest, sprout everywhere.

Numerous types of mushrooms grow in the German forests. We divide them into poisonous and non-poisonous types. In the household of nature they are all usable. The poisonous ones provide food for the snails and other small creatures.

  1. High in the trees the squirrel has its nest…

The squirrel’s nest is made of dry twigs and moss. It serves not only dwelling as space and refuge for this cute animal, but also as a storage room, in which large amounts of nuts, acorns, beechnuts and cones are stored for winter. In the most severe winters the squirrel also hibernates.

  1. …and there is where the falcon lives.

In the treetops of the highest trees is where the falcon builds its nest. There the falcon mother incubates her eggs for weeks. Here the eternally hungry newly hatched birds live for the first few days, where they are constantly fed doves and other small birds by both parents.

  1. A forest stream reflects trees and light.

14. Ferns and flowers grow on the banks.

On the banks of the forest streams an especially luxurious plant world grows. Ferns as high as a man and soft swamp moss alternate in colorful patterns. Here and there is a blooming water plant.

  1. Dragonflies play on the water.

The tender dragonflies hover gracefully in the sun-drenched air above the forest streams. This game lasts only a short time of their life. The greater part of their life is spent as awkward and voracious larva in the water.

  1. And now the frogs, between water lilies and reeds…

In the vicinity of the mouth, the stream becomes wider and forms a small delta. Water lilies, reeds and many other water plants have their location here. Toads, turtles and frogs are at home in this dense plant world. Here and there we can see one of the frogs lazily sunning himself on a leaf of the water lily. At the slightest sound he plunges quickly into the water with a big jump.

  1. …flows into the lake.

After a long hindrance-filled journey, the waters of the forest stream reach a broad forest lake. At dusk the large animals of the forest appear, in order to quench their thirst and to cool off after the excitement of the day. The deer, the king of the German forest, is among them.

  1. Imagine what kind of law the creator has laid upon this world and upon this life. It is the great law that every life must assert itself, and it will collapse, if each living creature cannot preserve it.

(Walter Gross)

  1. Stag-beetles fight against one another.

Life is a struggle, and victory is survival. This law prevails everywhere. Even the smallest animals have to struggle, in order to defend themselves and in order to survive. Nature has provided some animals with special weapons for the struggle for life. The stag-beetles exert their weapons menacingly and dangerously against each other.

  1. Wherever I have found living beings, I have found the desire for power.

(Friedrich Nietzsche)

  1. Plants struggle with each other for light.

Even in the world of plants there is a struggle. In this situation the plants usually struggle against each other for light. Wherever the plants are not strong enough to reach light through their own efforts, they attach themselves to other plants by means of tendrils and feelers and thereby are able to reach higher.

  1. A yellow-edged beetle chokes a weaker frog.

The struggle for life also exists in the water. When a yellow-edged beetle satisfies his hunger by attacking older, weaker frogs, he then fulfills a law of nature, according to which the weaker must die, so that the stronger can live. At the same time the beetle is a kind of “health police.” Dead and decaying flesh could lead to poisoning of the water.

  1. In the pit between the fir needles the lion ant finds his booty.

Nature has also provided trickery in the struggle for life. The ant lion cleverly builds its ant trap, from which there is no escape. Each ant that climbs over the edge and falls down to the bottom of the trap will lose its life.

  1. The ants themselves attack an earthworm.

That which formerly was booty, has now become a robber. Like an entire military battalion the ants attack their booty. It is possible for them to carry pieces that exceed their own body weight.

  1. What we see in nature is power that swallows power.

(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

  1. The little Neuntöter skewers its next meal.

The little Neuntöter is a big robber. When the opportunity presents itself, he strikes his booty: larva, insects and even lizards. What is not immediately eaten is skewered on the thorns of a tree in which he has his permanent residence.

  1. The face of the robber.

The face of this falcon is noble and proud. Power and strength are spoken from his characteristics. The innocence of life has here a visible transfiguration.

  1. All things are baptized at the fountain of eternity and opposite from good and evil.

(Nietzsche)

  1. Storms threaten and destroy thousands of kinds of life.

Floods are natural catastrophes that threaten the life of nature. That which cannot flee in time, or has the ability to live in water, must drown miserably.

  1. The forest dies when the dunes change.

On the shores of the Baltic Sea the forest is threatened by the changing dunes. The trees reach ever higher, in order to escape death by suffocation. Yet the sand becomes higher and higher. Ultimately the sand has become victorious.

  1. “Die and become.” Land plunges into the water.

On the coasts where land and water touch each other, the stormy sea nibbles and tears away unendingly at the land. Large masses of land plunge into the water. What is torn away here and seems to have been destroyed, is swept ashore and built up at another place. In an eternal circulatory system between dying and becoming, the living forces of nature are continuously restructured and rebuilt. Nothing becomes lost.

  1. Snow and cold create difficult conditions for life.

Winter is a difficult time for all animals in the forest, except for those that hibernate. Snow, cold and frost make food inaccessible for the animals. Only with considerable effort can the deer find sustenance.

  1. Trees defend themselves against the storm.

Even the storm can be a destroyer of life. The trees resist with all their might. The Windkiefern have adapted to their stormy life environment by their shape. Through their small area of attack they are able to resist the storm

  1. Roots grow down deeply, looking for earth.

The higher and more nobly the tree reaches into the heights, the greater the danger of being uprooted by the wind. With thick roots the trees attempt to anchor themselves in the earth and gain support.

  1. That which cannot withstand fate, must die.

Not every tree has the ability to defend itself against the storms. Such trees become bent over and windswept, and finally die.

36. Whoever wants to live must struggle; therefore, whoever does not want to fight the eternal conflict, does not deserve to live.

(Adolf Hitler)