# the Germans — The Genealogy of Morals character guide > the Germans in The Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche. **Role:** supporting **Also known as:** Germans, Young Germans, The Germans **First appearance:** 0010-the-genealogy-of-morals ## Snapshot The Germans, would-be 'Young Germans' of healthy sensuality, breed revilers of the body who worship chastity as the antithesis to their own ruined swine. ## Who they are They are the collective audience Wagner might have addressed with a bold 'Luther Comedy' praising both chastity and sensuality, since every good marriage transcends that antithesis. Instead, many among them turn chastity into a tragic opposition, worshipping the very contrast that exposes their own ruin. They matter because Nietzsche uses them to show how a culture's shame about the body feeds the ascetic ideal and prepares the ground for Parsifal's fraudulent Catholicism. ## Relationships ### [Feuerbach](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/characters/feuerbach) _psychological_ Feuerbach's humanistic critique of religion influenced German thought, but Nietzsche viewed him as part of the herd mentality he despised. ### [the Greeks](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/characters/the_greeks) _social_ Nietzsche contrasts the Germans' modern, weak morality with the noble, life-affirming ethos of the ancient Greeks. ### [Richard Wagner](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/characters/richard_wagner) _social_ Wagner was a cultural hero to the Germans, but Nietzsche viewed his popularity as a symptom of German spiritual decline. ### [Luther](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/characters/luther) _psychological_ Luther's Reformation is seen by Nietzsche as a rebellion of the German spirit that ultimately reinforced Christian slave morality. ### [Kant](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/characters/kant) _psychological_ Kant's moral philosophy, with its categorical imperative, is seen by Nietzsche as a sophisticated form of Christian slave morality that weakens the Germans. ### [Heracleitus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/characters/heraclitus) _rivalry_ Heraclitus's doctrine of eternal becoming and strife contrasts with the Germans' static, moralistic worldview. ### [the Greeks](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/characters/the_greeks) _social_ Nietzsche contrasts the Germans' modern, weak morality with the noble, life-affirming ethos of the ancient Greeks. ### [Luther](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/characters/luther) _psychological_ Luther's Reformation is seen by Nietzsche as a rebellion of the German spirit that ultimately reinforced Christian slave morality. ### [Richard Wagner](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/characters/richard_wagner) _social_ Wagner was a cultural hero to the Germans, but Nietzsche viewed his popularity as a symptom of German spiritual decline. ## In the story ### [The Etymology of 'Good' and the Aristocratic Origin of Morality](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/chapters/4) The German word 'schlecht' is analyzed as an example of the shift from plebeian to bad. ### [The Morality of Resentment and the Beast of Prey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/chapters/11) Nietzsche discusses the 'blonde Teuton beast' and the profound, icy mistrust that Germans provoke when they come to power, linking it to the historical horror of the aristocratic barbarian. ### [A Sigh and One Last Hope](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/chapters/12) Implicitly referenced as part of the European man being leveled and dwarfed. ### [Rome Against Judaea: The Thousand-Year Fight of Moral Values](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/chapters/16) Mentioned alongside the Chinese as nations with analogous moral gifts to the Jews, but of fifth-rate quality. ### [The Cruel Origins of Memory and Conscience](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/chapters/3) Cited as a nation that used terrible punishments to forge memory and overcome plebeian instincts, becoming a 'nation of thinkers'. ### [Chapter 9: The Community as Creditor and the Origins of Punishment](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/chapters/9) Referenced for the etymology of 'Elend' (misery) as originally meaning 'out of the land' or 'peaceless,' illustrating the ancient understanding of exile. ### [Chapter 12: The Will to Power and the Fluidity of Meaning](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/chapters/12) Implicitly referenced through the critique of modern misarchism and the intellectual climate that Nietzsche opposes. ### [Chapter 20](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/chapters/20) Implicitly referenced as inheritors of racial and tribal gods. ### [Chapter 2: The Ascetic Ideal and Richard Wagner's Transformation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/chapters/2) Referenced as a people among whom there are many revilers of sensuality, and whom Wagner might have enlightened with a 'Luther Comedy'. ### [Parsifal and the Ascetic Ideal](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/chapters/3) Referenced as 'Young Germans' who, like Wagner, were influenced by Feuerbach's motto. ### [The Danger of the Sick and the Will to Power of the Weakest](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/chapters/14) Mentioned as the context in which Dühring operates, particularly among anti-Semites. ### [Chapter 21](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/chapters/21) Nietzsche compares the destructive effect of the ascetic ideal to the specifically German influence of alcohol poisoning on Europe. ### [Chapter 26](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/chapters/26) Criticized for their intellectual desolation linked to diet of papers, politics, beer, and Wagnerian music, and for their national exclusiveness and vanity. ## 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