Ernst Jünger’s “New Man” and the Weimar Republic as a “Post-war Society”

This article analyses Ernst Jünger’s concept of the “New Man” (Der Neue Mensch), developed through his experience of the First World War, and examines how this notion can be situated within the interpretive framework of the Weimar Republic as a “post-war society” (Nachkriegsgesellschaft). War did not merely signify destruction and tragedy for Jünger; rather, he perceived it as a kind of “school” in which adventures occurred and human character was newly forged. The New Man, emerging from this school, embodied a unique ethical and behavioral code, distinct from that of ordinary men. According to Jünger, the New Man was not only willing to risk his own life and kill his enemies without hesitation; he was also capable of recognizing the overwhelming power of modern technology, which he sought to master. Nonetheless, it is historically significant that Jünger’s war diaries and early post-war writings revealed little admiration for nationalism. At the time, he expressed a strong aversion to the German Empire and nationalism. It was only after the mid 1920s that he began to reinterpret his own idea of the New Man in the context of nationalism. From this point on, he argued that the New Man, born out of war, should serve as the bearer of a new German nationalism. Violence, a key motif in his thought, functioned not only as a means of struggle against external enemies, but also against internal adversaries - namely, the democracy and liberalism of the Weimar Republic. This article thus argues that Jünger’s concept of the New Man did not remain a literary construct, but rather that it served as a political worldview that posed fundamental threats to the republic. His idea resonated especially strongly among the so-called “National Revolutionaries” (Nationalrevolutionäre) and became a central element of their new nationalism. In this sense, Jünger’s concept of the New Man contributes to understanding the Weimar Republic as a society profoundly shaped by the experience of the First World War.