ABSTRACT
The Nazis’ paramilitary forces were established in 1920 in Munich to carry out propaganda work for the movement, to provide order at its public rallies and, last but not least, to break up the events of “enemy” organisations. The “beautiful death” is a myth that is ambivalent and dangerous in the extreme in its totalitarian construction. There were contemporaries who, with artistic sensibilities, warned of the intentionality and consequences of such thanatological aggrandisement of Germany. In the current global political landscape, ultra-nationalist politicians who claim to speak in the name of the people are gaining prominence. A totalitarian scenario such as that experienced in Nazi Germany is not to be found in any of the Western countries currently going through a populist phase and where national-populist parties have captured the public's attention, achieved electoral success and made their way into representative institutions.
