Zachary Shore
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195154597
- eISBN:
- 9780199868780
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195154597.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This is a fascinating study of how the climate of fear in Nazi Germany affected Hitler's advisers, and shaped the decision-making process. It explores the key foreign policy decisions from the Nazi ...
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This is a fascinating study of how the climate of fear in Nazi Germany affected Hitler's advisers, and shaped the decision-making process. It explores the key foreign policy decisions from the Nazi seizure of power up to the hours before the outbreak of World War II. The author argues persuasively that the tense environment led the diplomats to a nearly obsessive control over the “information arsenal” in a desperate battle to defend their positions and to safeguard their lives. Unlike previous studies, this book draws the reader into the diplomats' darker world, and illustrates how Hitler's power to make informed decisions was limited by the very system he created. The result, the author concludes, was a chaotic flow of information between Hitler and his advisers that may have accelerated the march toward war.Less
This is a fascinating study of how the climate of fear in Nazi Germany affected Hitler's advisers, and shaped the decision-making process. It explores the key foreign policy decisions from the Nazi seizure of power up to the hours before the outbreak of World War II. The author argues persuasively that the tense environment led the diplomats to a nearly obsessive control over the “information arsenal” in a desperate battle to defend their positions and to safeguard their lives. Unlike previous studies, this book draws the reader into the diplomats' darker world, and illustrates how Hitler's power to make informed decisions was limited by the very system he created. The result, the author concludes, was a chaotic flow of information between Hitler and his advisers that may have accelerated the march toward war.
Azar Gat
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198207153
- eISBN:
- 9780191677519
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207153.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Military History, History of Ideas
Fascism is primarily associated with the Mussolini's regime in Italy and Hitler's government in Germany. While these two countries exhibited an explosive effect, this study was only marginally ...
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Fascism is primarily associated with the Mussolini's regime in Italy and Hitler's government in Germany. While these two countries exhibited an explosive effect, this study was only marginally concerned with their actual practices, their ‘modernizing’ nature and impact and their role in perpetrating the Second World War. The main concern of this study was the concept of fascism as an idea and a cultural mood which attracted intellectuals before the World War I and before fascism was transformed into mass political movements. Fascism in internationally deprived countries such as Italy and Germany were seen as tools for strong revisionist foreign policy element and a militaristic tendency which aided for procuring power. On the whole, fascism was more about domestic affairs. It was a cultural and political response to the rise of mass society, urbanization, and secularization. Fascists belonging to the nineteenth century looked for an alternative way to modernity that would preserve ‘civilization’ and elite culture from the threat of democratic and socialism, that would include the masses without being dominated and subjugated by them and that would change the ‘disenchantment of life ’ linked with modern rationalism.Less
Fascism is primarily associated with the Mussolini's regime in Italy and Hitler's government in Germany. While these two countries exhibited an explosive effect, this study was only marginally concerned with their actual practices, their ‘modernizing’ nature and impact and their role in perpetrating the Second World War. The main concern of this study was the concept of fascism as an idea and a cultural mood which attracted intellectuals before the World War I and before fascism was transformed into mass political movements. Fascism in internationally deprived countries such as Italy and Germany were seen as tools for strong revisionist foreign policy element and a militaristic tendency which aided for procuring power. On the whole, fascism was more about domestic affairs. It was a cultural and political response to the rise of mass society, urbanization, and secularization. Fascists belonging to the nineteenth century looked for an alternative way to modernity that would preserve ‘civilization’ and elite culture from the threat of democratic and socialism, that would include the masses without being dominated and subjugated by them and that would change the ‘disenchantment of life ’ linked with modern rationalism.
Charles K. Bellinger
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195134988
- eISBN:
- 9780199833986
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195134982.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
In the twentieth century, many thinkers have put forward theories that purport to explain the motivations underlying the violent behavior of human beings. This book presents Kierkegaard's thought as ...
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In the twentieth century, many thinkers have put forward theories that purport to explain the motivations underlying the violent behavior of human beings. This book presents Kierkegaard's thought as offering a way of interpreting violent behavior that is superior to the alternatives. The basic elements of Kierkegaard's psychology are drawn out of his published and unpublished works, concentrating on The Concept of Anxiety, Works of Love, and The Sickness unto Death. Violence, most fundamentally, arises out of human resistance to the possibility of psychological change and growth into maturity. Violence toward others seeks to fend off that potential for otherness within oneself that is entailed by the incompleteness of creation. Kierkegaard's theory of violence is compared and contrasted with Rene Girard's theory, and both thinkers are brought into conversation with Karl Barth and Eric Voegelin. Anabaptism's approach to interpreting the history of Christian violence is taken into consideration. Hitler and Stalin, as key contemporary examples of demonic violence, are analyzed in connection with Kierkegaard's aesthetic and ethical spheres of existence. The book closes with reflections on the Christian doctrine of atonement in light of the preceding discussion of the roots of human evil.Less
In the twentieth century, many thinkers have put forward theories that purport to explain the motivations underlying the violent behavior of human beings. This book presents Kierkegaard's thought as offering a way of interpreting violent behavior that is superior to the alternatives. The basic elements of Kierkegaard's psychology are drawn out of his published and unpublished works, concentrating on The Concept of Anxiety, Works of Love, and The Sickness unto Death. Violence, most fundamentally, arises out of human resistance to the possibility of psychological change and growth into maturity. Violence toward others seeks to fend off that potential for otherness within oneself that is entailed by the incompleteness of creation. Kierkegaard's theory of violence is compared and contrasted with Rene Girard's theory, and both thinkers are brought into conversation with Karl Barth and Eric Voegelin. Anabaptism's approach to interpreting the history of Christian violence is taken into consideration. Hitler and Stalin, as key contemporary examples of demonic violence, are analyzed in connection with Kierkegaard's aesthetic and ethical spheres of existence. The book closes with reflections on the Christian doctrine of atonement in light of the preceding discussion of the roots of human evil.
Zachary Shore
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195154597
- eISBN:
- 9780199868780
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195154597.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This introductory chapter begins with a brief description of the ominous situation faced by Hitler's diplomats in Nazi Germany. It then discusses the purpose of the book, which is to examine how ...
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This introductory chapter begins with a brief description of the ominous situation faced by Hitler's diplomats in Nazi Germany. It then discusses the purpose of the book, which is to examine how governmental officials reached decisions on foreign policy under the stresses and strains of a violent dictatorship. It considers both the regime's domestic political environment, and its control of information. The book shows how the control of knowledge—or information—affected decision-making in Nazi Germany, and is a portrait of how a dictator's seeming strength can actually be his weakest link.Less
This introductory chapter begins with a brief description of the ominous situation faced by Hitler's diplomats in Nazi Germany. It then discusses the purpose of the book, which is to examine how governmental officials reached decisions on foreign policy under the stresses and strains of a violent dictatorship. It considers both the regime's domestic political environment, and its control of information. The book shows how the control of knowledge—or information—affected decision-making in Nazi Germany, and is a portrait of how a dictator's seeming strength can actually be his weakest link.
Conan Fischer
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208006
- eISBN:
- 9780191716607
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208006.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
Poincaré's invasion of the Ruhr District in 1923 might have been driven by sincerely-held convictions, but inflicted untold damage on the political health of the fledgling German Republic. Passive ...
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Poincaré's invasion of the Ruhr District in 1923 might have been driven by sincerely-held convictions, but inflicted untold damage on the political health of the fledgling German Republic. Passive resistance by the people of the Ruhr was driven by their republican convictions, but the physical and moral price they paid during this campaign was compounded by its failure. Their commitment to the republican order was further compromised by the readiness of cash-strapped industrialists to renege on their promises to Weimar. A decade later Hitler's Nazis were arguably the indirect beneficiaries of the Ruhr Crisis. Despite this bleak scenario, there were moments when key players — French and German — seemed to recognise that the futures of France and Germany were inextricably linked if Europe was ever to enjoy peace and prosperity. That realisation has finally born fruit in the aftermath of World War Two with the creation of the European Union.Less
Poincaré's invasion of the Ruhr District in 1923 might have been driven by sincerely-held convictions, but inflicted untold damage on the political health of the fledgling German Republic. Passive resistance by the people of the Ruhr was driven by their republican convictions, but the physical and moral price they paid during this campaign was compounded by its failure. Their commitment to the republican order was further compromised by the readiness of cash-strapped industrialists to renege on their promises to Weimar. A decade later Hitler's Nazis were arguably the indirect beneficiaries of the Ruhr Crisis. Despite this bleak scenario, there were moments when key players — French and German — seemed to recognise that the futures of France and Germany were inextricably linked if Europe was ever to enjoy peace and prosperity. That realisation has finally born fruit in the aftermath of World War Two with the creation of the European Union.
Christian Goeschel
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199532568
- eISBN:
- 9780191701030
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199532568.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, Social History
The Third Reich met its end in the spring of 1945 in an unparalleled wave of suicides. Hitler, Goebbels, Bormann, Himmler and later Göring all killed themselves. These deaths represent only the tip ...
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The Third Reich met its end in the spring of 1945 in an unparalleled wave of suicides. Hitler, Goebbels, Bormann, Himmler and later Göring all killed themselves. These deaths represent only the tip of an iceberg of a massive wave of suicides that also touched upon ordinary lives. As this suicide epidemic has no historical precedent or parallel, it can tell us much about the Third Reich's peculiar self-destructiveness and the depths of Nazi fanaticism. The book looks at the suicides of both Nazis and ordinary people in Germany between 1918 and 1945, from the end of World War I until the end of World War II, including the mass suicides of German Jews during the Holocaust. It shows how suicides among different population groups, including supporters, opponents, and victims of the regime, responded to the social, cultural, economic and, political context of the time. The book also analyses changes and continuities in individual and societal responses to suicide over time, especially with regard to the Weimar Republic and the post-1945 era.Less
The Third Reich met its end in the spring of 1945 in an unparalleled wave of suicides. Hitler, Goebbels, Bormann, Himmler and later Göring all killed themselves. These deaths represent only the tip of an iceberg of a massive wave of suicides that also touched upon ordinary lives. As this suicide epidemic has no historical precedent or parallel, it can tell us much about the Third Reich's peculiar self-destructiveness and the depths of Nazi fanaticism. The book looks at the suicides of both Nazis and ordinary people in Germany between 1918 and 1945, from the end of World War I until the end of World War II, including the mass suicides of German Jews during the Holocaust. It shows how suicides among different population groups, including supporters, opponents, and victims of the regime, responded to the social, cultural, economic and, political context of the time. The book also analyses changes and continuities in individual and societal responses to suicide over time, especially with regard to the Weimar Republic and the post-1945 era.
Anthony Kauders
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206316
- eISBN:
- 9780191677076
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206316.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This book is a scholarly reassessment of the ‘Jewish Question’ in Germany (1910–1933). It challenges the view that, following Hitler's rise to power, anti-Semitism radically increased among the ...
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This book is a scholarly reassessment of the ‘Jewish Question’ in Germany (1910–1933). It challenges the view that, following Hitler's rise to power, anti-Semitism radically increased among the majority of Germans. It argues that the Weimar Republic was also very influential in changing people's attitudes towards the Jews and their place in German society. Through a study of Düsseldorf and Nuremberg, two German cities of comparable size but disparate regional, religious, and economic characteristics, it explores the attitudes of journalists, politicians, clerics, and ordinary people. Using local and national archival material, the book is able to show that, whereas before the First World War most Germans would distance themselves from racial anti-Semitism, after 1918 many Germans agreed with völkisch agitators that Jews were, in a variety of ways, alien to the national community.Less
This book is a scholarly reassessment of the ‘Jewish Question’ in Germany (1910–1933). It challenges the view that, following Hitler's rise to power, anti-Semitism radically increased among the majority of Germans. It argues that the Weimar Republic was also very influential in changing people's attitudes towards the Jews and their place in German society. Through a study of Düsseldorf and Nuremberg, two German cities of comparable size but disparate regional, religious, and economic characteristics, it explores the attitudes of journalists, politicians, clerics, and ordinary people. Using local and national archival material, the book is able to show that, whereas before the First World War most Germans would distance themselves from racial anti-Semitism, after 1918 many Germans agreed with völkisch agitators that Jews were, in a variety of ways, alien to the national community.
Timothy J. Gorringe
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198752462
- eISBN:
- 9780191695117
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198752462.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, History of Christianity
Karl Barth (1886–1968) was the most prolific theologian of the 20th century. Avoiding simple paraphrasing, this book places the theology in its social and political context, from the First World War ...
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Karl Barth (1886–1968) was the most prolific theologian of the 20th century. Avoiding simple paraphrasing, this book places the theology in its social and political context, from the First World War through to the Cold War by following Barth's intellectual development through the years that saw the rise of national socialism and the development of communism. Barth initiated a theological revolution in his two Commentaries on Romans, begun during the First World War. His attempt to deepen this during the turbulent years of the Weimar Republic made him a focus of theological resistance to Hitler after the rise to power of the Nazi party. Expelled from Germany, he continued to defy fashionable opinion by refusing to condemn communism after the Second World War. Drawing on a German debate largely ignored by Anglo-Saxon theology the book shows that Barth responds to the events of his time not just in his occasional writings, but in his magnum opus, the Church Dogmatics. In conclusion the book asks what this admittedly patriarchal author still has to contribute to contemporary theology, and in particular human liberation.Less
Karl Barth (1886–1968) was the most prolific theologian of the 20th century. Avoiding simple paraphrasing, this book places the theology in its social and political context, from the First World War through to the Cold War by following Barth's intellectual development through the years that saw the rise of national socialism and the development of communism. Barth initiated a theological revolution in his two Commentaries on Romans, begun during the First World War. His attempt to deepen this during the turbulent years of the Weimar Republic made him a focus of theological resistance to Hitler after the rise to power of the Nazi party. Expelled from Germany, he continued to defy fashionable opinion by refusing to condemn communism after the Second World War. Drawing on a German debate largely ignored by Anglo-Saxon theology the book shows that Barth responds to the events of his time not just in his occasional writings, but in his magnum opus, the Church Dogmatics. In conclusion the book asks what this admittedly patriarchal author still has to contribute to contemporary theology, and in particular human liberation.
Volker R. Berghahn
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691179636
- eISBN:
- 9780691185071
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691179636.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
This book takes an in-depth look at German journalism from the late Weimar period through the postwar decades. Illuminating the roles played by journalists in the media metropolis of Hamburg, the ...
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This book takes an in-depth look at German journalism from the late Weimar period through the postwar decades. Illuminating the roles played by journalists in the media metropolis of Hamburg, the book focuses on the lives and work of three remarkable individuals: Marion Countess Dönhoff, distinguished editor of Die Zeit; Paul Sethe, “the grand old man of West German journalism”; and Hans Zehrer, editor in chief of Die Welt. All born before 1914, Dönhoff, Sethe, and Zehrer witnessed the Weimar Republic's end and opposed Hitler. When the latter seized power in 1933, they were, like their fellow Germans, confronted with the difficult choice of entering exile, becoming part of the active resistance, or joining the Nazi Party. Instead, they followed a fourth path—“inner emigration”—psychologically distancing themselves from the regime, their writing falling into a gray zone between grudging collaboration and active resistance. During the war, Dönhoff and Sethe had links to the 1944 conspiracy to kill Hitler, while Zehrer remained out of sight on a North Sea island. In the decades after 1945, all three became major figures in the West German media. The book considers how these journalists and those who chose inner emigration interpreted Germany's horrific past and how they helped to morally and politically shape the reconstruction of the country. With fresh archival materials, the book sheds essential light on the influential position of the German media in the mid-twentieth century and raises questions about modern journalism that remain topical today.Less
This book takes an in-depth look at German journalism from the late Weimar period through the postwar decades. Illuminating the roles played by journalists in the media metropolis of Hamburg, the book focuses on the lives and work of three remarkable individuals: Marion Countess Dönhoff, distinguished editor of Die Zeit; Paul Sethe, “the grand old man of West German journalism”; and Hans Zehrer, editor in chief of Die Welt. All born before 1914, Dönhoff, Sethe, and Zehrer witnessed the Weimar Republic's end and opposed Hitler. When the latter seized power in 1933, they were, like their fellow Germans, confronted with the difficult choice of entering exile, becoming part of the active resistance, or joining the Nazi Party. Instead, they followed a fourth path—“inner emigration”—psychologically distancing themselves from the regime, their writing falling into a gray zone between grudging collaboration and active resistance. During the war, Dönhoff and Sethe had links to the 1944 conspiracy to kill Hitler, while Zehrer remained out of sight on a North Sea island. In the decades after 1945, all three became major figures in the West German media. The book considers how these journalists and those who chose inner emigration interpreted Germany's horrific past and how they helped to morally and politically shape the reconstruction of the country. With fresh archival materials, the book sheds essential light on the influential position of the German media in the mid-twentieth century and raises questions about modern journalism that remain topical today.
Helena Waddy
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195371277
- eISBN:
- 9780199777341
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195371277.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
In August 1934 Adolf Hitler attended the world-famous Oberammergau Passion Play, falsely branding the villagers as Nazi ideologues. In fact, the drama reflected traditional interpretations of the ...
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In August 1934 Adolf Hitler attended the world-famous Oberammergau Passion Play, falsely branding the villagers as Nazi ideologues. In fact, the drama reflected traditional interpretations of the biblical narrative, pitting Jewish leaders and crowds against Jesus and his loyal followers. Yet elite Europeans and Americans flocked to Oberammergau each decade after 1850 to witness the play because actors and audience shared the anti-Semitic messages they read into the Gospel story. Oberammergau’s population was split between Hitler’s supporters and opponents because some villagers were true believers and others tolerated the Nazi regime’s extreme cultural restructuring, while Catholic loyalists resisted efforts to replace their customary practices with Nazified alternatives. All sides united in defending their centuries-old tradition of dramatizing the Passion. Villagers appeared on stage as children and grew up hoping to perform major roles as adults, so their entire lives revolved around the play seasons. This commitment nurtured a powerful communal identity in Oberammergau, carving out maneuvering room for dissent at the margins of Nazi tyranny even by party members who defied superiors threatening Oberammergau’s special interests. Their actions represented an extreme example of the maxim: “All politics is local.” Drawing on a huge array of records, the book tells the up-close and personal story of a community in crisis, illuminating heart-wrenching decisions made by villagers alternatively wooed and threatened by their Nazi leaders. Biographies bring these everyday Germans to life as complex human beings struggling with the extreme challenges of the Nazi Era.Less
In August 1934 Adolf Hitler attended the world-famous Oberammergau Passion Play, falsely branding the villagers as Nazi ideologues. In fact, the drama reflected traditional interpretations of the biblical narrative, pitting Jewish leaders and crowds against Jesus and his loyal followers. Yet elite Europeans and Americans flocked to Oberammergau each decade after 1850 to witness the play because actors and audience shared the anti-Semitic messages they read into the Gospel story. Oberammergau’s population was split between Hitler’s supporters and opponents because some villagers were true believers and others tolerated the Nazi regime’s extreme cultural restructuring, while Catholic loyalists resisted efforts to replace their customary practices with Nazified alternatives. All sides united in defending their centuries-old tradition of dramatizing the Passion. Villagers appeared on stage as children and grew up hoping to perform major roles as adults, so their entire lives revolved around the play seasons. This commitment nurtured a powerful communal identity in Oberammergau, carving out maneuvering room for dissent at the margins of Nazi tyranny even by party members who defied superiors threatening Oberammergau’s special interests. Their actions represented an extreme example of the maxim: “All politics is local.” Drawing on a huge array of records, the book tells the up-close and personal story of a community in crisis, illuminating heart-wrenching decisions made by villagers alternatively wooed and threatened by their Nazi leaders. Biographies bring these everyday Germans to life as complex human beings struggling with the extreme challenges of the Nazi Era.
Konrad H. Jarausch (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691140421
- eISBN:
- 9781400836321
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691140421.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This book is a collection of the World War II letters of Dr. Konrad Jarausch, a German high-school teacher of religion and history who served in a reserve battalion of Adolf Hitler's army in Poland ...
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This book is a collection of the World War II letters of Dr. Konrad Jarausch, a German high-school teacher of religion and history who served in a reserve battalion of Adolf Hitler's army in Poland and Russia, where he died of typhoid in 1942. He wrote most of these letters to his wife, Elisabeth. His son, the author of this book, brings them together here to tell the gripping story of a patriotic soldier of the Third Reich who, through witnessing its atrocities in the East, began to doubt the war's moral legitimacy. The letters grow increasingly critical, and their vivid descriptions of the mass deaths of Russian prisoners of war are chilling. They reveal the inner conflicts of ordinary Germans who became reluctant accomplices in Hitler's merciless war of annihilation, yet sometimes managed to discover a shared humanity with its suffering victims, a bond that could transcend race, nationalism, and the enmity of war. The book is also the powerful story of the son, who for decades refused to come to grips with these letters because he abhorred his father's nationalist politics. Only now, late in his life, is he able to cope with their contents—and he is by no means alone. The book provides rare insight into the so-called children of the war, an entire generation of postwar Germans who grew up resenting their past, but who today must finally face the painful legacy of their parents' complicity in National Socialism.Less
This book is a collection of the World War II letters of Dr. Konrad Jarausch, a German high-school teacher of religion and history who served in a reserve battalion of Adolf Hitler's army in Poland and Russia, where he died of typhoid in 1942. He wrote most of these letters to his wife, Elisabeth. His son, the author of this book, brings them together here to tell the gripping story of a patriotic soldier of the Third Reich who, through witnessing its atrocities in the East, began to doubt the war's moral legitimacy. The letters grow increasingly critical, and their vivid descriptions of the mass deaths of Russian prisoners of war are chilling. They reveal the inner conflicts of ordinary Germans who became reluctant accomplices in Hitler's merciless war of annihilation, yet sometimes managed to discover a shared humanity with its suffering victims, a bond that could transcend race, nationalism, and the enmity of war. The book is also the powerful story of the son, who for decades refused to come to grips with these letters because he abhorred his father's nationalist politics. Only now, late in his life, is he able to cope with their contents—and he is by no means alone. The book provides rare insight into the so-called children of the war, an entire generation of postwar Germans who grew up resenting their past, but who today must finally face the painful legacy of their parents' complicity in National Socialism.
Simon Morrison
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195181678
- eISBN:
- 9780199870806
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195181678.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
The chapter begins with a chronicle of the breakup of Prokofiev's marriage to Lina Codina, his estrangement from his children, and his affair with the literary student and translator Mira Mendelson. ...
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The chapter begins with a chronicle of the breakup of Prokofiev's marriage to Lina Codina, his estrangement from his children, and his affair with the literary student and translator Mira Mendelson. The core of the chapter concerns Prokofiev's wartime evacuation from Moscow to the Northern Caucuses (Nalchik and Tbilisi), the conception of the first version of the opera War and Peace, and Prokofiev's arch-propagandistic work for Soviet cinema. The chapter describes the composer's earnest efforts to support his wife and children, who remained in Moscow during the war, as well as his relationship with Mikhaíl Khrapchenko, the Chairman of the Committee on Arts Affairs from 1939-48. Khrapchenko ordered the rewriting of War and Peace in an effort to make it more relevant to the Soviet struggle against Hitler.Less
The chapter begins with a chronicle of the breakup of Prokofiev's marriage to Lina Codina, his estrangement from his children, and his affair with the literary student and translator Mira Mendelson. The core of the chapter concerns Prokofiev's wartime evacuation from Moscow to the Northern Caucuses (Nalchik and Tbilisi), the conception of the first version of the opera War and Peace, and Prokofiev's arch-propagandistic work for Soviet cinema. The chapter describes the composer's earnest efforts to support his wife and children, who remained in Moscow during the war, as well as his relationship with Mikhaíl Khrapchenko, the Chairman of the Committee on Arts Affairs from 1939-48. Khrapchenko ordered the rewriting of War and Peace in an effort to make it more relevant to the Soviet struggle against Hitler.
Robert Gellately
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205609
- eISBN:
- 9780191676697
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205609.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter focuses on the so-called ‘race enemies’. Anti-Semitism was pushed from the beginning of Hitler's dictatorship, but in the first two and a half years, more cautiously than often supposed. ...
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This chapter focuses on the so-called ‘race enemies’. Anti-Semitism was pushed from the beginning of Hitler's dictatorship, but in the first two and a half years, more cautiously than often supposed. From May 1935, however, actions aimed at Jews accelerated, and by mid-July vandals were hitting stores on the best streets in downtown Berlin. Anti-Semitism of one kind or another was reported from all over the country. The Party insisted that its members boycott the Jews, with the obvious implication that all citizens should do so as well.Less
This chapter focuses on the so-called ‘race enemies’. Anti-Semitism was pushed from the beginning of Hitler's dictatorship, but in the first two and a half years, more cautiously than often supposed. From May 1935, however, actions aimed at Jews accelerated, and by mid-July vandals were hitting stores on the best streets in downtown Berlin. Anti-Semitism of one kind or another was reported from all over the country. The Party insisted that its members boycott the Jews, with the obvious implication that all citizens should do so as well.
Robert Gellately
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205609
- eISBN:
- 9780191676697
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205609.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
As the Jews were deported, a page in Hitler's dictatorship was turned as new ‘racially foreign’ people, literally millions of foreign workers, were brought into Germany to labour for the Reich. The ...
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As the Jews were deported, a page in Hitler's dictatorship was turned as new ‘racially foreign’ people, literally millions of foreign workers, were brought into Germany to labour for the Reich. The racist regime regarded Poles and other peoples from the east as racially inferior. They had to be used to win the war, but at all costs they had to be prevented from mixing with German blood. The authorities decided on nothing short of an ‘apartheid’ system, to keep these ‘race enemies’ in their place. This chapter discusses how this massive exploitative effort unleashed new social dynamics.Less
As the Jews were deported, a page in Hitler's dictatorship was turned as new ‘racially foreign’ people, literally millions of foreign workers, were brought into Germany to labour for the Reich. The racist regime regarded Poles and other peoples from the east as racially inferior. They had to be used to win the war, but at all costs they had to be prevented from mixing with German blood. The authorities decided on nothing short of an ‘apartheid’ system, to keep these ‘race enemies’ in their place. This chapter discusses how this massive exploitative effort unleashed new social dynamics.
Neville Wylie
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199547593
- eISBN:
- 9780191720581
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199547593.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
The final chapter examines the various strategies adopted by the Allied authorities in 1945 to influence German behaviour towards Allied POWs. Face‐to‐face meetings with the Swiss authorities in ...
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The final chapter examines the various strategies adopted by the Allied authorities in 1945 to influence German behaviour towards Allied POWs. Face‐to‐face meetings with the Swiss authorities in November 1944 strengthened British understanding of the conditions existing inside Germany and provided an insight into the minds of their enemies. The mass evacuation of Allied POWs from camps in Poland and eastern Germany in early 1945 nevertheless confounded Allied expectations and increased the danger of their men falling victim to disease and starvation. News of Hitler's violent reaction to the bombing of Dresden in early February likewise heightened concern about the possibility of revenge attacks against Allied airmen and other prisoners. The chapter shows how, though options were necessarily limited, the Allies were able to shore up the POW regime at this critical juncture, and were ultimately successful in persuading German officials to abide by excepted standards in their treatment of Allied prisoners.Less
The final chapter examines the various strategies adopted by the Allied authorities in 1945 to influence German behaviour towards Allied POWs. Face‐to‐face meetings with the Swiss authorities in November 1944 strengthened British understanding of the conditions existing inside Germany and provided an insight into the minds of their enemies. The mass evacuation of Allied POWs from camps in Poland and eastern Germany in early 1945 nevertheless confounded Allied expectations and increased the danger of their men falling victim to disease and starvation. News of Hitler's violent reaction to the bombing of Dresden in early February likewise heightened concern about the possibility of revenge attacks against Allied airmen and other prisoners. The chapter shows how, though options were necessarily limited, the Allies were able to shore up the POW regime at this critical juncture, and were ultimately successful in persuading German officials to abide by excepted standards in their treatment of Allied prisoners.
Helena Waddy
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195371277
- eISBN:
- 9780199777341
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195371277.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Chapter Three looks around Munich at the spot where Hitler celebrated war in 1914, at the defile where his 1923 Putsch ended in bloodshed, and at the ruined temples built to honor the Putsch’s ...
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Chapter Three looks around Munich at the spot where Hitler celebrated war in 1914, at the defile where his 1923 Putsch ended in bloodshed, and at the ruined temples built to honor the Putsch’s martyrs. In 1929 Oberammergau’s Nazi chapter was launched primarily by outsiders, but gradually insiders joined, including the architect who became the Nazi mayor, Raimund Lang. These Nazis clashed with a strong Catholic opposition, including Raimund’s cousin Anton Lang, who led charitable efforts to assist desperate villagers during the Depression. The local curate clashed dramatically with Lang in the repeated 1932 election campaigns. The July 1932 election brought the Nazis’ top vote of more than 37%, making them by far the largest party in Germany. Eventually, in January 1933 Hitler became chancellor, and although the Nazi seizure of power passed without much drama in the village, Nazi-Catholic tensions soon emerged, setting up years of confrontation in Oberammergau.Less
Chapter Three looks around Munich at the spot where Hitler celebrated war in 1914, at the defile where his 1923 Putsch ended in bloodshed, and at the ruined temples built to honor the Putsch’s martyrs. In 1929 Oberammergau’s Nazi chapter was launched primarily by outsiders, but gradually insiders joined, including the architect who became the Nazi mayor, Raimund Lang. These Nazis clashed with a strong Catholic opposition, including Raimund’s cousin Anton Lang, who led charitable efforts to assist desperate villagers during the Depression. The local curate clashed dramatically with Lang in the repeated 1932 election campaigns. The July 1932 election brought the Nazis’ top vote of more than 37%, making them by far the largest party in Germany. Eventually, in January 1933 Hitler became chancellor, and although the Nazi seizure of power passed without much drama in the village, Nazi-Catholic tensions soon emerged, setting up years of confrontation in Oberammergau.
Helena Waddy
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195371277
- eISBN:
- 9780199777341
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195371277.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Chapter Five focuses on a special 1934 anniversary Passion Play season, the success of which required a truce between Nazi and Catholic villagers soon threatened by an escalating feud between the ...
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Chapter Five focuses on a special 1934 anniversary Passion Play season, the success of which required a truce between Nazi and Catholic villagers soon threatened by an escalating feud between the local Motorstorm commander and the new Nazi mayor, Raimund Lang. Just before the first performance, Motorstorm troopers even mutinied over their commander’s confrontational activities. Both he and Lang faced danger during the murderous Night of the Long Knives in late June. Nazi leaders did not disrupt the traditional process by which Oberammergau’s actors were chosen, so party members received no preferential treatment, although Mayor Lang moved to control play proceeds in an unpopular way that set up a persistent negative dynamic once the Passion season’s unity had disintegrated into divisive confrontations. The 1934 season itself proceeded without incident, other than Chancellor Hitler’s visit to Oberammergau that thrilled visitors and villagers alike.Less
Chapter Five focuses on a special 1934 anniversary Passion Play season, the success of which required a truce between Nazi and Catholic villagers soon threatened by an escalating feud between the local Motorstorm commander and the new Nazi mayor, Raimund Lang. Just before the first performance, Motorstorm troopers even mutinied over their commander’s confrontational activities. Both he and Lang faced danger during the murderous Night of the Long Knives in late June. Nazi leaders did not disrupt the traditional process by which Oberammergau’s actors were chosen, so party members received no preferential treatment, although Mayor Lang moved to control play proceeds in an unpopular way that set up a persistent negative dynamic once the Passion season’s unity had disintegrated into divisive confrontations. The 1934 season itself proceeded without incident, other than Chancellor Hitler’s visit to Oberammergau that thrilled visitors and villagers alike.
Helena Waddy
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195371277
- eISBN:
- 9780199777341
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195371277.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Chapter Six introduces Oberammergau’s venerable Music Club, whose members, dressed in colorful uniforms, played a crucial role in both Catholic processions and the entertainment of tourists, as well ...
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Chapter Six introduces Oberammergau’s venerable Music Club, whose members, dressed in colorful uniforms, played a crucial role in both Catholic processions and the entertainment of tourists, as well as Passion seasons. Yet they led an oblique form of democratic opposition to Mayor Lang after the 1934 Passion Play season was completed. Both Nazis and Catholics pursued their separate cultural agendas in an increasingly hostile dynamic during the mid 1930s. Nazi organizations included the Women’s League, the German Labor Front and its Strength through Joy subsidiary, the Community Welfare Association, the Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls. Catholics faced increasing restrictions on their associational activities but maintained an active ritual round, despite eventual circumscription of their traditional processions. The single Jew living in Oberammergau was driven out during Kristallnacht in 1938 and forced into emigration following a brief stint in Dachau.Less
Chapter Six introduces Oberammergau’s venerable Music Club, whose members, dressed in colorful uniforms, played a crucial role in both Catholic processions and the entertainment of tourists, as well as Passion seasons. Yet they led an oblique form of democratic opposition to Mayor Lang after the 1934 Passion Play season was completed. Both Nazis and Catholics pursued their separate cultural agendas in an increasingly hostile dynamic during the mid 1930s. Nazi organizations included the Women’s League, the German Labor Front and its Strength through Joy subsidiary, the Community Welfare Association, the Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls. Catholics faced increasing restrictions on their associational activities but maintained an active ritual round, despite eventual circumscription of their traditional processions. The single Jew living in Oberammergau was driven out during Kristallnacht in 1938 and forced into emigration following a brief stint in Dachau.
Neville Wylie
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199547593
- eISBN:
- 9780191720581
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199547593.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter traces British policy towards POWs from the start of the war until the end of 1941, and highlights the steps taken to encourage German compliance with the POW regime. The development of ...
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This chapter traces British policy towards POWs from the start of the war until the end of 1941, and highlights the steps taken to encourage German compliance with the POW regime. The development of a consistent policy towards its POWs was frequently compromised by Winston Churchill's refusal to place the prisoners' humanitarian interests before the country's strategic and military objectives. The problem was exacerbated by the lack of care and attention paid by those in power to Britain's own responsibilities as a detaining power. Notwithstanding these difficulties and the outbreak of Hitler's ideological war of annihilation against the Soviet Union in July 1941, substantial progress had been made towards forging an effective working relationship with the German regime over the treatment of POWs. The sense of stability that had developed by the autumn of 1941 was thrown into doubt by Adolf Hitler's last‐minute refusal to countenance the repatriation of British sick and wounded POWs in October 1941, an act which called into question Germany's long‐term commitment to cooperative relations with the British government.Less
This chapter traces British policy towards POWs from the start of the war until the end of 1941, and highlights the steps taken to encourage German compliance with the POW regime. The development of a consistent policy towards its POWs was frequently compromised by Winston Churchill's refusal to place the prisoners' humanitarian interests before the country's strategic and military objectives. The problem was exacerbated by the lack of care and attention paid by those in power to Britain's own responsibilities as a detaining power. Notwithstanding these difficulties and the outbreak of Hitler's ideological war of annihilation against the Soviet Union in July 1941, substantial progress had been made towards forging an effective working relationship with the German regime over the treatment of POWs. The sense of stability that had developed by the autumn of 1941 was thrown into doubt by Adolf Hitler's last‐minute refusal to countenance the repatriation of British sick and wounded POWs in October 1941, an act which called into question Germany's long‐term commitment to cooperative relations with the British government.
David Redles
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195379655
- eISBN:
- 9780199777334
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195379655.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Following an inexplicably lost war and witnessing a Germany in a state of perpetual collapse, some Germans were left confused and feeling hopeless. The chaos of modernity was interpreted as a sign of ...
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Following an inexplicably lost war and witnessing a Germany in a state of perpetual collapse, some Germans were left confused and feeling hopeless. The chaos of modernity was interpreted as a sign of approaching apocalypse. This chapter shows how conversion to Nazism gave Germans a sense of hope and meaning. The fear of apocalyptic collapse was replaced with hope of a dawning millennial Reich of peace and prosperity, with all Volksgenossen (racial comrades) united for the betterment of all. National Socialism helped these individuals reconstruct a collapsed world into an ordered and consequently meaningful worldview.Less
Following an inexplicably lost war and witnessing a Germany in a state of perpetual collapse, some Germans were left confused and feeling hopeless. The chaos of modernity was interpreted as a sign of approaching apocalypse. This chapter shows how conversion to Nazism gave Germans a sense of hope and meaning. The fear of apocalyptic collapse was replaced with hope of a dawning millennial Reich of peace and prosperity, with all Volksgenossen (racial comrades) united for the betterment of all. National Socialism helped these individuals reconstruct a collapsed world into an ordered and consequently meaningful worldview.
