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“fashionable ideas of personality and charisma, derived from a misreading of Nietzsche’s idea of the ‘superman’ as a political phenomenon”.28 Fundamen- tal to this is the fact that in Nordenholt’s Million clear distinctions are made between “types” of people: the sacrificed majority, workers for the Nitrogen Area, Nordenholt’s “gang” and Nordenholt himself. Such distinctions can be read in Nietzschean terms. As Richard Schacht explains, Nietzsche “takes hu- man beings to fall into one or other of two radically different and widely dispa- rate groups, one very numerous and occupying ‘the human lowlands,’ and the other, ‘very small in number,’ constituting ‘a higher, brighter humanity’ stand- ing far ‘above’ the rest”.29 Essentially, although Nietzsche states in Thus Spake Zarathustra that “mankind is a rope, tied between animal and Overman”,30 in- dicating a spectrum of human development, he broadly distinguishes between “higher” and “lower” types of individuals in terms of their power and ability.31 In Nordenholt’s Million the creation of the Nitrogen Area facilitates the sepa- ration of the “higher” and “lower” types. While the workers have been subject to eugenically intended selection – they are those deemed “most fitted to sur- vive” out of the “human lowlands” – those who work directly for Nordenholt are distinguished by their exceptional abilities.32 They represent, in Nietzschean terms, “higher” types “in relation to the general run of mankind”.33 Schacht notes that in Nietzsche’s writings the Übermensch is the apotheosis of these “higher” types.34 While the Übermensch is only prophesied in Nietzsche’s work, he is realised in Nordenholt himself. He is described as “Jagannatha” and a “Ti- tan” worshipped by his “gang”.35 He is established as “above” the rest of the population. Furthermore, while “Nordenholt’s gang” represent “higher” men who have the potential to develop into the Übermensch, Nordenholt is a fully realised “higher man”: an exceptional individual guided by his own will and mas- tery over himself.36 His characterisation as the apotheosis of the “higher type” of man ensures that he is a formidable dictator. As Flint remarks, while work progresses in the Nitrogen Area: behind us, seated at the nucleus of that complex web of activities, there was Nord- enholt … the presence of that cool intelligence behind us had a moral effect upon our minds. He never lessened our initiative, never showed any sign of vexation when 28 Overy 2007, 68. 29 Nietzsche 1968, 4:1053–4:1067. 30 Nietzsche 2006, Thus Spake Zarathustra, 1:4. 31 Schacht 2002, 381. 32 Connington 1923, 61 33 See Schacht 2002, 340. 34 Schacht 2002, 349. 35 Connington 1923, 259; 199; 237. 36 See Nietzsche 2002, 1:19 and Diethe 2007, 128. Totalitarian Opportunism | 57www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/2, 51–68