1 Nazi Totemism By Boria Sax, PhD Abstract: The combination of concern for animals and brutality towards people is a characteristic of Nazi Germany that has often been observed yet never adequately explained. This article, employing the ontologies identified by anthropologist Philippe Descola, compares the culture of Nazi Germany to those of totemic societies. The Nazis were not fundamentally anthropocentric and aspired to a society which included animals, plants, and features of a landscape, yet excluded many human beings. It was characterized, in other words, by a solidarity based more on geography and on mythic history than on human form. The Nazis differed, however, from traditional totemic societies in many ways including their pervasive violence, their intensely hierarchic structure, their xenophobia, and their obsession with sacrifice. Aspects of Nazi totemism survived the fall of the Third Reich, and, despite the brutality that accompanied their genesis, may be able play a positive role as people endeavor to move beyond anthropocentrism. Keywords: Animal Protection, Australian aborigines, Philippe Descola, Nazi, Third Reich, Totemism, comparative genocide The Nazi combination of brutality towards human beings and solicitude towards animals had been frequently observed at least since the beginning of their reign. In November of 1933, just after they had come to power, the Nazis passed a detailed law on animal protection, which seriously limited the use of animals in medical experimentation, while giving numerous protections to livestock, farm animals, and pets. These protections were further strengthened in the next decade by a more detailed law passed in