Volk against Kaste: Non-Democratic Popular Sovereignty in Nazi Germany

Sabastian, Luna (2024) Volk against Kaste: Non-Democratic Popular Sovereignty in Nazi Germany. Journal of Modern History. (In Press)

Abstract

This article argues that a supposedly Indian idiosyncrasy, the concept of “caste” (Kaste) was pressed into service for a peculiar understanding of popular sovereignty without democracy in Nazi Germany. A fundamental critique of recent equations of “caste” with the racially oppressed, the article shows how the term was originally generalized into global political grammar as the designated enemy of “the people,” pointing to the aristocracy rather than the Indian Dalit or Black slave. Under the Nazis, Kaste continued to designate the major antithesis of the valorized idea of the Volk. A broad array of high-ranking Nazi politicians and ideologues is marshalled to reconstruct a unique vision of non-democratic popular sovereignty, in which ruler and ruled were reconciled through the annihilation of caste.

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