Duncan Kelly
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197262870
- eISBN:
- 9780191734892
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197262870.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter discusses the thought of Franz Neumann, up to and including the publication of his famous work Behemoth in 1942. It shows how Neumann's legal and constitutional ideas developed largely ...
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This chapter discusses the thought of Franz Neumann, up to and including the publication of his famous work Behemoth in 1942. It shows how Neumann's legal and constitutional ideas developed largely from Schmitt's terms of reference, and how his account of rationality and the modern state drew upon Weber. This cross-fertilization of conceptual ideas, coupled with his own political sympathy for a socialist state under a fully democratized Weimar Constitution, offers an intriguing context within which to explore his route to Behemoth. This chapter also presents a detailed assessment of his analysis of National Socialism.Less
This chapter discusses the thought of Franz Neumann, up to and including the publication of his famous work Behemoth in 1942. It shows how Neumann's legal and constitutional ideas developed largely from Schmitt's terms of reference, and how his account of rationality and the modern state drew upon Weber. This cross-fertilization of conceptual ideas, coupled with his own political sympathy for a socialist state under a fully democratized Weimar Constitution, offers an intriguing context within which to explore his route to Behemoth. This chapter also presents a detailed assessment of his analysis of National Socialism.
Kristen Renwick Monroe
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691151373
- eISBN:
- 9781400840366
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691151373.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Psychology and Interaction
This chapter showcases a Dutch collaborator named Fritz. Fritz shared many of Tony's prewar conservative opinions in favor of the monarchy and traditional Dutch values, although he was of ...
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This chapter showcases a Dutch collaborator named Fritz. Fritz shared many of Tony's prewar conservative opinions in favor of the monarchy and traditional Dutch values, although he was of working-class origins, unlike Tony and Beatrix, who were Dutch bourgeoisie. But unlike Beatrix or Tony, Fritz joined the Nazi Party, wrote propaganda for the Nazi cause, and married the daughter of a German Nazi. When he was interviewed in 1992, Fritz indicated he was appalled at what he later learned about Nazi treatment of Jews but that he still believed in many of the goals of the National Socialist movement and felt that Hitler had betrayed the movement. Fritz is thus classified as a disillusioned Nazi supporter who retains his faith in much of National Socialism, and this chapter is presented as illustrative of the psychology of those who once supported the Nazi regime but who were disillusioned after the war.Less
This chapter showcases a Dutch collaborator named Fritz. Fritz shared many of Tony's prewar conservative opinions in favor of the monarchy and traditional Dutch values, although he was of working-class origins, unlike Tony and Beatrix, who were Dutch bourgeoisie. But unlike Beatrix or Tony, Fritz joined the Nazi Party, wrote propaganda for the Nazi cause, and married the daughter of a German Nazi. When he was interviewed in 1992, Fritz indicated he was appalled at what he later learned about Nazi treatment of Jews but that he still believed in many of the goals of the National Socialist movement and felt that Hitler had betrayed the movement. Fritz is thus classified as a disillusioned Nazi supporter who retains his faith in much of National Socialism, and this chapter is presented as illustrative of the psychology of those who once supported the Nazi regime but who were disillusioned after the war.
Ulrike Ehret
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719079436
- eISBN:
- 9781781702017
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719079436.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This book compares the worldviews and factors that promoted or, indeed, opposed anti-semitism amongst Catholics in Germany and England after the First World War. As a prequel to books on Hitler, ...
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This book compares the worldviews and factors that promoted or, indeed, opposed anti-semitism amongst Catholics in Germany and England after the First World War. As a prequel to books on Hitler, fascism and genocide, it turns towards ideas and attitudes that preceded and shaped the ideologies of the 1920s and 1940s. Apart from the long tradition of Catholic anti-Jewish prejudices, the book discusses new and old alternatives to European modernity offered by Catholics in Germany and England. Numerous events in the interwar years provoked anti-Jewish responses among Catholics: the revolutionary end of the war and financial scandals in Germany; Palestine and the Spanish Civil War in England. At the same time, the rise of fascism and National Socialism gave Catholics the opportunity to respond to the anti-democratic and anti-semitic waves these movements created in their wake. The book is a political history of ideas that introduces Catholic views of modern society, race, nation and the ‘Jewish question’. It shows to what extent these views were able to inform political and social activity.Less
This book compares the worldviews and factors that promoted or, indeed, opposed anti-semitism amongst Catholics in Germany and England after the First World War. As a prequel to books on Hitler, fascism and genocide, it turns towards ideas and attitudes that preceded and shaped the ideologies of the 1920s and 1940s. Apart from the long tradition of Catholic anti-Jewish prejudices, the book discusses new and old alternatives to European modernity offered by Catholics in Germany and England. Numerous events in the interwar years provoked anti-Jewish responses among Catholics: the revolutionary end of the war and financial scandals in Germany; Palestine and the Spanish Civil War in England. At the same time, the rise of fascism and National Socialism gave Catholics the opportunity to respond to the anti-democratic and anti-semitic waves these movements created in their wake. The book is a political history of ideas that introduces Catholic views of modern society, race, nation and the ‘Jewish question’. It shows to what extent these views were able to inform political and social activity.
Maiken Umbach
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199557394
- eISBN:
- 9780191721564
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199557394.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History, European Modern History
This epilogue compares German bourgeois modernism with Nazi cultural politics. It argues that continuities should not be studied in terms of isolated ideas, but through the constellations in which ...
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This epilogue compares German bourgeois modernism with Nazi cultural politics. It argues that continuities should not be studied in terms of isolated ideas, but through the constellations in which such ideas were operationalized politically. This approach is explored through a comparison of different uses of red brick, the archetypal Heimat material. For Schumacher, red brick invoked local traditions that invited an identification with place and civitas. For Fritz Höger, however, red brick embodied the archaic roots of civilization, and a spiritualist vision of collective salvation. Höger looked to material culture to forge a sense of social unity and political totality. He saw this as compatible with Nazi ideology, although after 1933, his work was rejected as excessively irrational. By contrast, bourgeois modernism, however repressive, also remained pluralist, thriving on the visible juxtaposition of history and memory, order and nature, nation and region, the progressive and the archaic.Less
This epilogue compares German bourgeois modernism with Nazi cultural politics. It argues that continuities should not be studied in terms of isolated ideas, but through the constellations in which such ideas were operationalized politically. This approach is explored through a comparison of different uses of red brick, the archetypal Heimat material. For Schumacher, red brick invoked local traditions that invited an identification with place and civitas. For Fritz Höger, however, red brick embodied the archaic roots of civilization, and a spiritualist vision of collective salvation. Höger looked to material culture to forge a sense of social unity and political totality. He saw this as compatible with Nazi ideology, although after 1933, his work was rejected as excessively irrational. By contrast, bourgeois modernism, however repressive, also remained pluralist, thriving on the visible juxtaposition of history and memory, order and nature, nation and region, the progressive and the archaic.
Ingo Farin
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780262034012
- eISBN:
- 9780262334631
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262034012.003.0019
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter situates the Black Notebooks within the relevant hermeneutical, i.e., historical and philosophical, situation in which they were written. It is argued that Heidegger’s involvement with ...
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This chapter situates the Black Notebooks within the relevant hermeneutical, i.e., historical and philosophical, situation in which they were written. It is argued that Heidegger’s involvement with National Socialism is a short-lived episode, based on his initial hopes in the charismatic Führer, but with little ideological overlap between Heidegger’s themes and official Nazi programs and policies. The Black Notebooks show how Heidegger’s growing disaffection with and criticism of National Socialism leads to his signature critique of metaphysical subjectivism as the crucial problem of modernity. Contra Trawny, it is argued that Heidegger developed no systematic or “ontohistorical anti-Semitism,” although a certain kind of non-racially based cultural anti-Semitism does seep into his texts. Philosophically speaking, the Black Notebooks show how Heidegger gradually frees himself from metaphysical thinking and eventually abandons the key-focus on the historical in favour of the topological domain of being.Less
This chapter situates the Black Notebooks within the relevant hermeneutical, i.e., historical and philosophical, situation in which they were written. It is argued that Heidegger’s involvement with National Socialism is a short-lived episode, based on his initial hopes in the charismatic Führer, but with little ideological overlap between Heidegger’s themes and official Nazi programs and policies. The Black Notebooks show how Heidegger’s growing disaffection with and criticism of National Socialism leads to his signature critique of metaphysical subjectivism as the crucial problem of modernity. Contra Trawny, it is argued that Heidegger developed no systematic or “ontohistorical anti-Semitism,” although a certain kind of non-racially based cultural anti-Semitism does seep into his texts. Philosophically speaking, the Black Notebooks show how Heidegger gradually frees himself from metaphysical thinking and eventually abandons the key-focus on the historical in favour of the topological domain of being.
Ulrike Ehret
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719079436
- eISBN:
- 9781781702017
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719079436.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
The Catholic right has been a stepchild of historical research into German conservatism and its relationship to National Socialism. The antisemitism of the Catholic right was certainly the most ...
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The Catholic right has been a stepchild of historical research into German conservatism and its relationship to National Socialism. The antisemitism of the Catholic right was certainly the most virulent form of Jew-hatred amongst Catholics in Weimar Germany. The German National People's Party (DNVP) would express its hope for an ‘unconditional denominational peace’ and stress the need for Germany's rebirth in a Christian spirit, and for a German culture and economy based on a ‘true Christian-religious worldview’. The antisemitism expressed across the network of the Catholic right was an amalgam of Christian, cultural and Darwinian anti-Jewish sentiments and reflects their Catholic faith and their discontent with the political and economic changes in Germany. The organisations of the Rechtskatholiken and Distributism worked with similar methods for the same aim: Christian national re-education. Negative images of Jews remained an unfailing part of the public discourse in both Catholic communities.Less
The Catholic right has been a stepchild of historical research into German conservatism and its relationship to National Socialism. The antisemitism of the Catholic right was certainly the most virulent form of Jew-hatred amongst Catholics in Weimar Germany. The German National People's Party (DNVP) would express its hope for an ‘unconditional denominational peace’ and stress the need for Germany's rebirth in a Christian spirit, and for a German culture and economy based on a ‘true Christian-religious worldview’. The antisemitism expressed across the network of the Catholic right was an amalgam of Christian, cultural and Darwinian anti-Jewish sentiments and reflects their Catholic faith and their discontent with the political and economic changes in Germany. The organisations of the Rechtskatholiken and Distributism worked with similar methods for the same aim: Christian national re-education. Negative images of Jews remained an unfailing part of the public discourse in both Catholic communities.
Corey Ross
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199278213
- eISBN:
- 9780191707933
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278213.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter investigates how republican political elites participated in the discourse discussed in Chapter 7, and how they attempted to devise a more democratic form of public relations distinct ...
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This chapter investigates how republican political elites participated in the discourse discussed in Chapter 7, and how they attempted to devise a more democratic form of public relations distinct from the negative connotations of ‘propaganda’ reverberating after the excesses of the war. The attempt to devise a rational form of democratic ‘instruction’ is discussed. The chapter then analyses the challenge posed by the aggressive and in many ways cutting-edge image campaigns of the radical anti-republican movements, especially the National Socialists, and how both the deepening crisis of the early 1930s and the ‘lessons’ of the wider discourse on propaganda eventually led to a hesitant yet fateful process of re-thinking on these issues within government and democratic circles.Less
This chapter investigates how republican political elites participated in the discourse discussed in Chapter 7, and how they attempted to devise a more democratic form of public relations distinct from the negative connotations of ‘propaganda’ reverberating after the excesses of the war. The attempt to devise a rational form of democratic ‘instruction’ is discussed. The chapter then analyses the challenge posed by the aggressive and in many ways cutting-edge image campaigns of the radical anti-republican movements, especially the National Socialists, and how both the deepening crisis of the early 1930s and the ‘lessons’ of the wider discourse on propaganda eventually led to a hesitant yet fateful process of re-thinking on these issues within government and democratic circles.
Anthony Kauders
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206316
- eISBN:
- 9780191677076
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206316.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter qualifies statements regarding Adolf Hitler's supposed lack of interest in the ‘Jewish question’ towards the end of the Republic. Not only do such arguments overlook what happened at ...
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This chapter qualifies statements regarding Adolf Hitler's supposed lack of interest in the ‘Jewish question’ towards the end of the Republic. Not only do such arguments overlook what happened at local and regional levels, where National Socialists continued their campaign against the Jews, they also ignore the fact that ‘saturation’ can set in fairly early for an electorate to believe in the contents of a given piece of propaganda. The chapter then attempts to recapitulate some of the developments which led to this confidence on Hitler's part. It is divided into four sections, the first giving an account of the more general attitudes towards the ‘Jewish question’ in both cities, the second discussing possible explanations for differences in approach, the third assessing the extent to which both cities were representative of Germany at large, and the fourth offering concluding remarks on the implications of the discussions above.Less
This chapter qualifies statements regarding Adolf Hitler's supposed lack of interest in the ‘Jewish question’ towards the end of the Republic. Not only do such arguments overlook what happened at local and regional levels, where National Socialists continued their campaign against the Jews, they also ignore the fact that ‘saturation’ can set in fairly early for an electorate to believe in the contents of a given piece of propaganda. The chapter then attempts to recapitulate some of the developments which led to this confidence on Hitler's part. It is divided into four sections, the first giving an account of the more general attitudes towards the ‘Jewish question’ in both cities, the second discussing possible explanations for differences in approach, the third assessing the extent to which both cities were representative of Germany at large, and the fourth offering concluding remarks on the implications of the discussions above.
David S. Luft
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226496474
- eISBN:
- 9780226496481
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226496481.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
Although we usually think of the intellectual legacy of twentieth-century Vienna as synonymous with Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalytic theories, other prominent writers from Vienna were also ...
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Although we usually think of the intellectual legacy of twentieth-century Vienna as synonymous with Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalytic theories, other prominent writers from Vienna were also radically reconceiving sexuality and gender. This study recovers the work of three such writers: Otto Weininger, Robert Musil, and Heimito von Doderer. It emphasizes the distinctive intellectual world of liberal Vienna, especially the impact of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche in this highly scientific intellectual world. According to the author, Otto Weininger viewed human beings as bisexual and applied this theme to issues of creativity and morality. Robert Musil developed a creative ethics that was closely related to his open, flexible view of sexuality and gender, and Heimito von Doderer portrayed his own sexual obsessions as a way of understanding the power of total ideologies, including his own attraction to National Socialism. For the author, the significance of these three writers lies in their understandings of eros and inwardness, and in the roles that both play in ethical experience and the formation of meaningful relations to the world—a process that continues to engage artists, writers, and thinkers today.Less
Although we usually think of the intellectual legacy of twentieth-century Vienna as synonymous with Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalytic theories, other prominent writers from Vienna were also radically reconceiving sexuality and gender. This study recovers the work of three such writers: Otto Weininger, Robert Musil, and Heimito von Doderer. It emphasizes the distinctive intellectual world of liberal Vienna, especially the impact of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche in this highly scientific intellectual world. According to the author, Otto Weininger viewed human beings as bisexual and applied this theme to issues of creativity and morality. Robert Musil developed a creative ethics that was closely related to his open, flexible view of sexuality and gender, and Heimito von Doderer portrayed his own sexual obsessions as a way of understanding the power of total ideologies, including his own attraction to National Socialism. For the author, the significance of these three writers lies in their understandings of eros and inwardness, and in the roles that both play in ethical experience and the formation of meaningful relations to the world—a process that continues to engage artists, writers, and thinkers today.
Henning Grunwald
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199609048
- eISBN:
- 9780191744280
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199609048.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, Political History
What role did the courts play in the demise of Germany's first democracy and Hitler's rise to power? This book challenges the orthodox interpretation of Weimar political justice. It argues that an ...
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What role did the courts play in the demise of Germany's first democracy and Hitler's rise to power? This book challenges the orthodox interpretation of Weimar political justice. It argues that an exclusive focus on reactionary judges and a preoccupation with number-crunching verdicts has obscured precisely that aspect of trials most fascinating to contemporary observers: its drama. Drawing on untapped sources and material previously inaccessible in English, it shows how an innovative group of party lawyers transformed dry legal proceedings into spectacular ideological clashes. Supported by powerful party legal offices (hitherto almost entirely disregarded), they developed a sophisticated repertoire of techniques at the intersection of criminal law, politics, and public relations. Harnessing the emotional appeal of tens of thousands of trials, Communists and (emulating them) National Socialist institutionalized party legal aid in order to build their ideological communities. Defendants turned into martyrs, trials into performances of ideological self-sacrifice, and the courtroom into a ‘revolutionary stage’, as one prominent party lawyer put it. This political justice as ‘revolutionary stage’ powerfully impacted Weimar political culture. This book's argument about the theatricality of justice helps explain Weimar's demise but transcends interwar Germany. Trials were compelling not because they offered instruction about the revolutionary struggle, but because in a sense they were the revolutionary struggle, admittedly for the time being played out in the grit-your-teeth, clench-your-fist mode of the theatrical ‘as if’. The ideological struggle, their message ran, left no room for fairness, no possibility of a ‘neutral platform’: justice was unattainable until the Republic was destroyed.Less
What role did the courts play in the demise of Germany's first democracy and Hitler's rise to power? This book challenges the orthodox interpretation of Weimar political justice. It argues that an exclusive focus on reactionary judges and a preoccupation with number-crunching verdicts has obscured precisely that aspect of trials most fascinating to contemporary observers: its drama. Drawing on untapped sources and material previously inaccessible in English, it shows how an innovative group of party lawyers transformed dry legal proceedings into spectacular ideological clashes. Supported by powerful party legal offices (hitherto almost entirely disregarded), they developed a sophisticated repertoire of techniques at the intersection of criminal law, politics, and public relations. Harnessing the emotional appeal of tens of thousands of trials, Communists and (emulating them) National Socialist institutionalized party legal aid in order to build their ideological communities. Defendants turned into martyrs, trials into performances of ideological self-sacrifice, and the courtroom into a ‘revolutionary stage’, as one prominent party lawyer put it. This political justice as ‘revolutionary stage’ powerfully impacted Weimar political culture. This book's argument about the theatricality of justice helps explain Weimar's demise but transcends interwar Germany. Trials were compelling not because they offered instruction about the revolutionary struggle, but because in a sense they were the revolutionary struggle, admittedly for the time being played out in the grit-your-teeth, clench-your-fist mode of the theatrical ‘as if’. The ideological struggle, their message ran, left no room for fairness, no possibility of a ‘neutral platform’: justice was unattainable until the Republic was destroyed.
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.
George Michael
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813033501
- eISBN:
- 9780813038698
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813033501.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
This chapter examines the far right's disillusionment with Christianity, which originally commenced in Germany and Austria in the early part of the twentieth century, but later spread to America ...
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This chapter examines the far right's disillusionment with Christianity, which originally commenced in Germany and Austria in the early part of the twentieth century, but later spread to America after World War II. Over the past few decades, other non-Christian religions have gained currency. Increasingly, Aryan revolutionaries in both North America and Europe are adopting neopaganism as their new religion. This development is suggestive of a trend in which the far right has moved away from mainstream Christianity. Arguably, there is an inherent tension between contemporary Christianity and some variants of right-wing extremism. To better understand the influence of non-Christian religions on the contemporary extreme right, this chapter examines the events surrounding the rise of the Third Reich. Not only did various neopagan and nature cults influence National Socialism, but the historical period of the Third Reich looms large in the mythos of contemporary rightist pagans and Creators as well.Less
This chapter examines the far right's disillusionment with Christianity, which originally commenced in Germany and Austria in the early part of the twentieth century, but later spread to America after World War II. Over the past few decades, other non-Christian religions have gained currency. Increasingly, Aryan revolutionaries in both North America and Europe are adopting neopaganism as their new religion. This development is suggestive of a trend in which the far right has moved away from mainstream Christianity. Arguably, there is an inherent tension between contemporary Christianity and some variants of right-wing extremism. To better understand the influence of non-Christian religions on the contemporary extreme right, this chapter examines the events surrounding the rise of the Third Reich. Not only did various neopagan and nature cults influence National Socialism, but the historical period of the Third Reich looms large in the mythos of contemporary rightist pagans and Creators as well.
Franz Neumann
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691134130
- eISBN:
- 9781400846467
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691134130.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Military History
This chapter examines the function of anti-Semitism within the framework of the Nazi system. Anti-Semitism had been the most constant single ideology of the Nazi Party, but its understanding was ...
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This chapter examines the function of anti-Semitism within the framework of the Nazi system. Anti-Semitism had been the most constant single ideology of the Nazi Party, but its understanding was impaired by the widely accepted scapegoat theory according to which the Jews were used as scapegoats for all evils of society. The slaughter or the expulsion of the scapegoat, however, marks in mythology the end of a process, while the persecution of the Jews, as practiced by National Socialists, was only the beginning of more horrible things to come. While anti-Semitism had thus been a constant and consistent policy of National Socialism, its manifestations changed considerably from 1933 to 1943. The chapter discusses these changes in anti-Semitic policies in order to gain insights not so much into the fate of the Jews but rather into the structure of the Nazi system.Less
This chapter examines the function of anti-Semitism within the framework of the Nazi system. Anti-Semitism had been the most constant single ideology of the Nazi Party, but its understanding was impaired by the widely accepted scapegoat theory according to which the Jews were used as scapegoats for all evils of society. The slaughter or the expulsion of the scapegoat, however, marks in mythology the end of a process, while the persecution of the Jews, as practiced by National Socialists, was only the beginning of more horrible things to come. While anti-Semitism had thus been a constant and consistent policy of National Socialism, its manifestations changed considerably from 1933 to 1943. The chapter discusses these changes in anti-Semitic policies in order to gain insights not so much into the fate of the Jews but rather into the structure of the Nazi system.
Jacob C. Senholt
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199779239
- eISBN:
- 9780199979646
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199779239.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter analyzes The Order of the Nine Angles (ONA), a Satanist group which for the last three decades has moved in and out of the public sight, while its main ideologist David Myatt has ...
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This chapter analyzes The Order of the Nine Angles (ONA), a Satanist group which for the last three decades has moved in and out of the public sight, while its main ideologist David Myatt has actively participated in violent neo-Nazi and Islamist terrorist groups, hoping to bring down the “old order”. A manual on Aryan revolution by Myatt inspired nail-bomber David Copeland's deeds, and a text by Myatt defending suicide attacks was featured on Hamas' website. Both his Nazism and Islamism, the chapter demonstrates, are however merely instruments for the ONA's underlying sinister esoteric plots, ultimately aiming to create an “Imperium” based on a species of satanic god-men. Myatt's writings contain a blueprint for fusing disparate ideologies such as National Socialism, Satanism and Radical Islam, resonating with similar ideas in the larger context of religion and politics—such as the critique of modernity and the West as it has been presented both by the European radical Right and by fundamentalist Muslims—which makes it potentially dangerous to ignore a group like the ONA, however limited its membership might be.Less
This chapter analyzes The Order of the Nine Angles (ONA), a Satanist group which for the last three decades has moved in and out of the public sight, while its main ideologist David Myatt has actively participated in violent neo-Nazi and Islamist terrorist groups, hoping to bring down the “old order”. A manual on Aryan revolution by Myatt inspired nail-bomber David Copeland's deeds, and a text by Myatt defending suicide attacks was featured on Hamas' website. Both his Nazism and Islamism, the chapter demonstrates, are however merely instruments for the ONA's underlying sinister esoteric plots, ultimately aiming to create an “Imperium” based on a species of satanic god-men. Myatt's writings contain a blueprint for fusing disparate ideologies such as National Socialism, Satanism and Radical Islam, resonating with similar ideas in the larger context of religion and politics—such as the critique of modernity and the West as it has been presented both by the European radical Right and by fundamentalist Muslims—which makes it potentially dangerous to ignore a group like the ONA, however limited its membership might be.
Ulrike Ehret
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719079436
- eISBN:
- 9781781702017
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719079436.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter describes how the ‘Jewish question’ and its ‘solution’ were defined in Catholic publications. The call to strengthen Christian values in the modern age and the call to convert the Jews ...
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This chapter describes how the ‘Jewish question’ and its ‘solution’ were defined in Catholic publications. The call to strengthen Christian values in the modern age and the call to convert the Jews were the most common solutions offered in English Catholic newspapers. The Tablet, the Catholic Times and the Catholic Herald did not change their view that the Jews brought their fate upon themselves, despite anger at the brutality of the pogrom. The Gelben Hefte did not share the self-restraint that the papers of political Catholicism tried to practise. National Socialism could tap into a stream of antisemitic stereotypes that were popular and common since the First World War. Most literature on Catholic antisemitism asserts that racial antisemitism was firmly rejected by Catholics. Generally, this discussion shows the nature of anti-Jewish prejudices and times and occasions when the intensity of antisemitic articles was specifically high.Less
This chapter describes how the ‘Jewish question’ and its ‘solution’ were defined in Catholic publications. The call to strengthen Christian values in the modern age and the call to convert the Jews were the most common solutions offered in English Catholic newspapers. The Tablet, the Catholic Times and the Catholic Herald did not change their view that the Jews brought their fate upon themselves, despite anger at the brutality of the pogrom. The Gelben Hefte did not share the self-restraint that the papers of political Catholicism tried to practise. National Socialism could tap into a stream of antisemitic stereotypes that were popular and common since the First World War. Most literature on Catholic antisemitism asserts that racial antisemitism was firmly rejected by Catholics. Generally, this discussion shows the nature of anti-Jewish prejudices and times and occasions when the intensity of antisemitic articles was specifically high.
Herbert Marcuse, Franz Neumann, and Hans Meyerhoff
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691134130
- eISBN:
- 9781400846467
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691134130.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, Military History
This chapter focuses on morale in Nazi Germany. Psychological warfare operations are not concerned with what people feel and think about their governments but rather to what extent these feelings and ...
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This chapter focuses on morale in Nazi Germany. Psychological warfare operations are not concerned with what people feel and think about their governments but rather to what extent these feelings and thoughts will and can affect their behavior within the framework of the enemy society. The answer to this question cannot be sought in what is understood by “morale” but rather in the sum total of the enemy's institutional and social arrangements. The system of National Socialism was devised for the very purpose of making a repetition of 1918 impossible—that is, to make morale dispensable. Morale, so to speak, had become a democratic luxury. The chapter considers the morale of various groups in Germany, including the ruling groups and the middle classes.Less
This chapter focuses on morale in Nazi Germany. Psychological warfare operations are not concerned with what people feel and think about their governments but rather to what extent these feelings and thoughts will and can affect their behavior within the framework of the enemy society. The answer to this question cannot be sought in what is understood by “morale” but rather in the sum total of the enemy's institutional and social arrangements. The system of National Socialism was devised for the very purpose of making a repetition of 1918 impossible—that is, to make morale dispensable. Morale, so to speak, had become a democratic luxury. The chapter considers the morale of various groups in Germany, including the ruling groups and the middle classes.
Nicholas Attfield
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780197266137
- eISBN:
- 9780191865206
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266137.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
The epilogue contributes to efforts to map continuities in musical thought between the Weimar and Nazi eras, and deals with issues of advocacy. There was not the straightforward rise to influence ...
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The epilogue contributes to efforts to map continuities in musical thought between the Weimar and Nazi eras, and deals with issues of advocacy. There was not the straightforward rise to influence that is sometimes implied. Walter Abendroth had to overcome Pfitzner’s cantankerousness and fast-fading relevance. Heuss’s work was paraded by Fritz Stege in both the Zeitschrift für Musik and Rosenberg’s Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur (‘Combat League for German Culture’). The Austrian musicologist Robert Haas encountered resistance against the project that, above all, symbolized his intended mediation of the Nazi party, the Austrian National Library, and the International Bruckner Society: the ‘complete edition’ of the composer’s scores. Gustav Wyneken transformed his image of Halm from the cosmopolitan socialist and impassioned music critic of the early 1920s and emphasized Halm’s place in the national pantheon of ignored symphonic composers. Halm became the latest composer-leader in a tradition of syntheses towards which his own work on the ‘third culture’ had pointed.Less
The epilogue contributes to efforts to map continuities in musical thought between the Weimar and Nazi eras, and deals with issues of advocacy. There was not the straightforward rise to influence that is sometimes implied. Walter Abendroth had to overcome Pfitzner’s cantankerousness and fast-fading relevance. Heuss’s work was paraded by Fritz Stege in both the Zeitschrift für Musik and Rosenberg’s Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur (‘Combat League for German Culture’). The Austrian musicologist Robert Haas encountered resistance against the project that, above all, symbolized his intended mediation of the Nazi party, the Austrian National Library, and the International Bruckner Society: the ‘complete edition’ of the composer’s scores. Gustav Wyneken transformed his image of Halm from the cosmopolitan socialist and impassioned music critic of the early 1920s and emphasized Halm’s place in the national pantheon of ignored symphonic composers. Halm became the latest composer-leader in a tradition of syntheses towards which his own work on the ‘third culture’ had pointed.
Ulrike Ehret
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719079436
- eISBN:
- 9781781702017
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719079436.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This book compares the worldviews and factors that promoted or indeed opposed antisemitism amongst Catholics in Britain and Germany. It reviews the sources of attraction or rejection of fascism and ...
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This book compares the worldviews and factors that promoted or indeed opposed antisemitism amongst Catholics in Britain and Germany. It reviews the sources of attraction or rejection of fascism and National Socialism and the role antisemitism played in this context. It then highlights the hypernationalism in Europe that was further inflamed by the widespread fear of Russian Bolshevism and of indigenous socialist movements. Catholics moved, as well as the strength and density of a Catholic organisational infrastructure, to multiply or counter antisemitism. Furthermore, it argues that there was no universal Catholic antisemitism in Britain and Germany nor can Catholic views of Jews be reduced to a traditional religious prejudice. The Catholic and Jewish communities in Britain and Germany are then explored. The history of Jews both in Britain and in Germany is a story of economic success and social improvement.Less
This book compares the worldviews and factors that promoted or indeed opposed antisemitism amongst Catholics in Britain and Germany. It reviews the sources of attraction or rejection of fascism and National Socialism and the role antisemitism played in this context. It then highlights the hypernationalism in Europe that was further inflamed by the widespread fear of Russian Bolshevism and of indigenous socialist movements. Catholics moved, as well as the strength and density of a Catholic organisational infrastructure, to multiply or counter antisemitism. Furthermore, it argues that there was no universal Catholic antisemitism in Britain and Germany nor can Catholic views of Jews be reduced to a traditional religious prejudice. The Catholic and Jewish communities in Britain and Germany are then explored. The history of Jews both in Britain and in Germany is a story of economic success and social improvement.
Martina Steber and Bernhard Gotto (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- June 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199689590
- eISBN:
- 9780191768316
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199689590.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
When the Nazis seized power in Germany in 1933 they promised to create a new, harmonious society under the leadership of the Führer, Adolf Hitler. The concept of Volksgemeinschaft, lit. ‘the people’s ...
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When the Nazis seized power in Germany in 1933 they promised to create a new, harmonious society under the leadership of the Führer, Adolf Hitler. The concept of Volksgemeinschaft, lit. ‘the people’s community’, enshrined the Nazis’ vision of society. It was based on racist, social-Darwinist, anti-democratic, and nationalist thought. The regime defined who belonged to the National Socialist ‘community’ and who did not. Being accorded the status of belonging granted citizenship rights, access to the benefits of the welfare state, and opportunities of advancement. All those denied the privilege to belong lost their right to live. They were shamed, excluded, imprisoned, murdered. Volksgemeinschaft was the Nazis’ project of social engineering, to be realized by a plethora of means: state action, administrative procedure, party practice, propaganda, and individual initiative. It unleashed an enormous dynamism, which gave social change a particular direction. However, the Volksgemeinschaft concept was not strictly defined; it was marked by a plurality of meaning and emphasis which resulted in a range of readings in the Third Reich. Often, they stood in continuity to non-Nazi notions of Volksgemeinschaft prevalent in the Weimar Republic, which, however, now had to comply with the racist and social-Darwinist rationale of the National Socialist Volksgemeinschaft concept. In this way, Volksgemeinschaft drew people in. The book scrutinizes Volksgemeinschaft as the Nazis’ central vision of community, it engages with individual appropriations, examines projects of social engineering, analyzes the social dynamism unleashed, and shows how deeply private lives were affected by this murderous vision of society.Less
When the Nazis seized power in Germany in 1933 they promised to create a new, harmonious society under the leadership of the Führer, Adolf Hitler. The concept of Volksgemeinschaft, lit. ‘the people’s community’, enshrined the Nazis’ vision of society. It was based on racist, social-Darwinist, anti-democratic, and nationalist thought. The regime defined who belonged to the National Socialist ‘community’ and who did not. Being accorded the status of belonging granted citizenship rights, access to the benefits of the welfare state, and opportunities of advancement. All those denied the privilege to belong lost their right to live. They were shamed, excluded, imprisoned, murdered. Volksgemeinschaft was the Nazis’ project of social engineering, to be realized by a plethora of means: state action, administrative procedure, party practice, propaganda, and individual initiative. It unleashed an enormous dynamism, which gave social change a particular direction. However, the Volksgemeinschaft concept was not strictly defined; it was marked by a plurality of meaning and emphasis which resulted in a range of readings in the Third Reich. Often, they stood in continuity to non-Nazi notions of Volksgemeinschaft prevalent in the Weimar Republic, which, however, now had to comply with the racist and social-Darwinist rationale of the National Socialist Volksgemeinschaft concept. In this way, Volksgemeinschaft drew people in. The book scrutinizes Volksgemeinschaft as the Nazis’ central vision of community, it engages with individual appropriations, examines projects of social engineering, analyzes the social dynamism unleashed, and shows how deeply private lives were affected by this murderous vision of society.
Jane O. Newman
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801476594
- eISBN:
- 9780801460883
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801476594.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
This concluding chapter discusses a particularly uncanny afterlife for Benjamin's Baroque in National Socialism. This post-Benjaminian version of the Baroque resonates uneasily with some of the same ...
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This concluding chapter discusses a particularly uncanny afterlife for Benjamin's Baroque in National Socialism. This post-Benjaminian version of the Baroque resonates uneasily with some of the same issues that he addresses in the Tragic Drama, namely the ability of “works,” both literal Baroque texts and the ideas associated with them, to play a role in arguments about modernity and the nation. Yet the invocation of Benjamin in direct association with the political and social movement of National Socialism, which might well be said to have caused his death, nevertheless reveals a great deal about the importance of taking periodization claims seriously whenever they occur.Less
This concluding chapter discusses a particularly uncanny afterlife for Benjamin's Baroque in National Socialism. This post-Benjaminian version of the Baroque resonates uneasily with some of the same issues that he addresses in the Tragic Drama, namely the ability of “works,” both literal Baroque texts and the ideas associated with them, to play a role in arguments about modernity and the nation. Yet the invocation of Benjamin in direct association with the political and social movement of National Socialism, which might well be said to have caused his death, nevertheless reveals a great deal about the importance of taking periodization claims seriously whenever they occur.
