Donald W. Shriver, Jr.
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195151534
- eISBN:
- 9780199785056
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195151534.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Foreigners still wonder if Germans can really be trusted to remember the evils of Nazism. This chapter documents the array of public measures which the country has taken in the past 60 years to ...
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Foreigners still wonder if Germans can really be trusted to remember the evils of Nazism. This chapter documents the array of public measures which the country has taken in the past 60 years to educate its upcoming generations of citizens about those evils, with the hope, “Never again”. Documented here are the Holocaust memorials, anniversaries, museums, and school texts that have qualified Germany now as having established a “culture of memory” with few equals elsewhere in the world.Less
Foreigners still wonder if Germans can really be trusted to remember the evils of Nazism. This chapter documents the array of public measures which the country has taken in the past 60 years to educate its upcoming generations of citizens about those evils, with the hope, “Never again”. Documented here are the Holocaust memorials, anniversaries, museums, and school texts that have qualified Germany now as having established a “culture of memory” with few equals elsewhere in the world.
Kevin C. Karnes
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195368666
- eISBN:
- 9780199867547
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368666.003.0008
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter examines the reception of trends in the late 19th-century musicological discourse over the course of the next half-century and considers the politicization of these trends under the ...
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This chapter examines the reception of trends in the late 19th-century musicological discourse over the course of the next half-century and considers the politicization of these trends under the pressures of new ideological realities. It compares the reception of Arnold Schoenberg's empiricist accounts of the creative process, which were widely hailed in the postwar years, with the instinctual and later neglected accounts of the once-influential theorist Ernst Kurth. It suggests that the reception of these figures' work reflects the intellectual climate of postwar German and North American academe, in which subjective and irrationalist modes of humanistic inquiry were widely associated with the Nazi reception of Nietzsche and Wagner. The stringent positivism characteristic of much musicological work in the postwar years, it suggests in conclusion, seems to constitute a radical reinterpretation of nineteenth-century trends, undertaken within this new ideological context.Less
This chapter examines the reception of trends in the late 19th-century musicological discourse over the course of the next half-century and considers the politicization of these trends under the pressures of new ideological realities. It compares the reception of Arnold Schoenberg's empiricist accounts of the creative process, which were widely hailed in the postwar years, with the instinctual and later neglected accounts of the once-influential theorist Ernst Kurth. It suggests that the reception of these figures' work reflects the intellectual climate of postwar German and North American academe, in which subjective and irrationalist modes of humanistic inquiry were widely associated with the Nazi reception of Nietzsche and Wagner. The stringent positivism characteristic of much musicological work in the postwar years, it suggests in conclusion, seems to constitute a radical reinterpretation of nineteenth-century trends, undertaken within this new ideological context.
Rudy Koshar
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520217683
- eISBN:
- 9780520922525
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520217683.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This book provides a powerful framework in which to examine the subject of German collective memory, which for more than a half century has been shaped by the experience of Nazism, World War II, and ...
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This book provides a powerful framework in which to examine the subject of German collective memory, which for more than a half century has been shaped by the experience of Nazism, World War II, and the Holocaust. Finding the assumptions of many writers and scholars shortsighted, the author surveys the evidence of postwar German memory in the context of previous traditions. The book follows the evolution of German “memory landscapes” all the way from national unification in 1870–71 through the world wars and political division to reunification in 1990. The memory landscapes of any society may incorporate monuments, historical buildings, memorials and cemeteries, battlefields, streets, or natural environments that foster shared memories of important events or personalities. They may also be designed to divert public attention from embarrassing or traumatic histories. The author argues that in Germany, memory landscapes have taken shape according to four separate paradigms—the national monument, the ruin, the reconstruction, and the trace—which he analyzes in relation to the changing political agendas which have guided them over time. Despite the massive ruptures of Germany's history, we see that significant continuities have served to counterbalance the traumas of the German past.Less
This book provides a powerful framework in which to examine the subject of German collective memory, which for more than a half century has been shaped by the experience of Nazism, World War II, and the Holocaust. Finding the assumptions of many writers and scholars shortsighted, the author surveys the evidence of postwar German memory in the context of previous traditions. The book follows the evolution of German “memory landscapes” all the way from national unification in 1870–71 through the world wars and political division to reunification in 1990. The memory landscapes of any society may incorporate monuments, historical buildings, memorials and cemeteries, battlefields, streets, or natural environments that foster shared memories of important events or personalities. They may also be designed to divert public attention from embarrassing or traumatic histories. The author argues that in Germany, memory landscapes have taken shape according to four separate paradigms—the national monument, the ruin, the reconstruction, and the trace—which he analyzes in relation to the changing political agendas which have guided them over time. Despite the massive ruptures of Germany's history, we see that significant continuities have served to counterbalance the traumas of the German past.
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/9780198205609.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to trace the events that occurred in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. It shows how and why a social consensus emerged in favour of ...
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This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to trace the events that occurred in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. It shows how and why a social consensus emerged in favour of Hitler and Nazism within months of Hitler's appointment as Chancellor. This consensus took many forms, and was fluid rather than firm, active rather than passive, differently constituted according to context and theme, and constantly in the process of being formed. The book also details how anti-Semitism changed and slowly spread after 1933, and how media reports and press stories were an essential dimension of life and death in Hitler's dictatorship.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to trace the events that occurred in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. It shows how and why a social consensus emerged in favour of Hitler and Nazism within months of Hitler's appointment as Chancellor. This consensus took many forms, and was fluid rather than firm, active rather than passive, differently constituted according to context and theme, and constantly in the process of being formed. The book also details how anti-Semitism changed and slowly spread after 1933, and how media reports and press stories were an essential dimension of life and death in Hitler's dictatorship.
Karl Kraus
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780300236002
- eISBN:
- 9780300252804
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300236002.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
Now available in English for the first time, this book was written in immediate response to the Nazi seizure of power in 1933 but withheld from publication for fear of reprisals against Jews trapped ...
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Now available in English for the first time, this book was written in immediate response to the Nazi seizure of power in 1933 but withheld from publication for fear of reprisals against Jews trapped in Germany. Acclaimed when finally published by Kösel Verlag in 1952, it is a devastatingly prescient exposure, giving special attention to the regime's corruption of language as masterminded by Joseph Goebbels. Bertolt Brecht wrote to the author that, in his indictment of Nazism, “You have disclosed the atrocities of intonation and created an ethics of language.” This masterful translation aims for clarity where the author had good reason to be cautious and obscure.Less
Now available in English for the first time, this book was written in immediate response to the Nazi seizure of power in 1933 but withheld from publication for fear of reprisals against Jews trapped in Germany. Acclaimed when finally published by Kösel Verlag in 1952, it is a devastatingly prescient exposure, giving special attention to the regime's corruption of language as masterminded by Joseph Goebbels. Bertolt Brecht wrote to the author that, in his indictment of Nazism, “You have disclosed the atrocities of intonation and created an ethics of language.” This masterful translation aims for clarity where the author had good reason to be cautious and obscure.
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/9780198207153.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Military History, History of Ideas
German fascism is inevitably marked by Nazism which had created a great impact across the modern German, Western, and the world history. However the Nationalist Socialist party and its leader, Adolf ...
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German fascism is inevitably marked by Nazism which had created a great impact across the modern German, Western, and the world history. However the Nationalist Socialist party and its leader, Adolf Hitler only became significant political forces in the beginning of the 1930s. Their emergence to power only came about when a complex circumstance catapulted them into power hence paving an excuse where they can exhibit their gruesomeness in a grand scale manner. This chapter discusses the emergence of German right-wing radicalism which took shape in the late nineteenth century in the wake of Germany's industrialization. This chapter focuses on Adolf Hitler's regime and its attitude towards modernist fascism. Of all fascist movements, Hitler's regime was the least modern. Hitler suppressed the most radical and avant-garde elements of his movements after assuming power. On the other hand, Hitler and his regime exalted the most spectacular and dynamic products of technology. They associated themselves with and made extensive use of aircraft and fast car. Nazism and the orientation of the right-wing radicals within the armed forces redirected German rearmament towards modern means of war, revolutionary doctrines, and radical operational schemes.Less
German fascism is inevitably marked by Nazism which had created a great impact across the modern German, Western, and the world history. However the Nationalist Socialist party and its leader, Adolf Hitler only became significant political forces in the beginning of the 1930s. Their emergence to power only came about when a complex circumstance catapulted them into power hence paving an excuse where they can exhibit their gruesomeness in a grand scale manner. This chapter discusses the emergence of German right-wing radicalism which took shape in the late nineteenth century in the wake of Germany's industrialization. This chapter focuses on Adolf Hitler's regime and its attitude towards modernist fascism. Of all fascist movements, Hitler's regime was the least modern. Hitler suppressed the most radical and avant-garde elements of his movements after assuming power. On the other hand, Hitler and his regime exalted the most spectacular and dynamic products of technology. They associated themselves with and made extensive use of aircraft and fast car. Nazism and the orientation of the right-wing radicals within the armed forces redirected German rearmament towards modern means of war, revolutionary doctrines, and radical operational schemes.
Lewis A. Erenberg
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195177749
- eISBN:
- 9780199788729
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177749.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
Contemporary political tensions gave a boxing match greater significance than it otherwise would have. Held on June 22, 1938, in Yankee Stadium, “the greatest fight of our generation” took place ...
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Contemporary political tensions gave a boxing match greater significance than it otherwise would have. Held on June 22, 1938, in Yankee Stadium, “the greatest fight of our generation” took place between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. This was the second fight between these two men, the first having been won by Schmeling when he knocked out Loius in the twelfth round. Schmeling became a German national hero and an unwilling symbol of Aryan superiority. Louis and Schmeling's second fight was seen around the world in symbolic terms — as a match between Nazism and American democracy. This book discusses how Louis' dramatic first-round victory (only two minutes into the match) was a devastating blow to Hitler, who turned on Schmeling and, during the war, had the boxer (then serving as a paratrooper) sent on a series of dangerous missions. Louis, meanwhile, went from being a hero of his race — “Our Joe” — to the first black champion embraced by all Americans, black and white. This was an important step forward in American race relations. The book also describes how, after the war, the two boxers became symbols of German-American reconciliation. Schmeling became a Coca Cola executive and, when Louis was down on his luck, the former foes became friends. When Louis died, Schmeling helped to pay for his funeral.Less
Contemporary political tensions gave a boxing match greater significance than it otherwise would have. Held on June 22, 1938, in Yankee Stadium, “the greatest fight of our generation” took place between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. This was the second fight between these two men, the first having been won by Schmeling when he knocked out Loius in the twelfth round. Schmeling became a German national hero and an unwilling symbol of Aryan superiority. Louis and Schmeling's second fight was seen around the world in symbolic terms — as a match between Nazism and American democracy. This book discusses how Louis' dramatic first-round victory (only two minutes into the match) was a devastating blow to Hitler, who turned on Schmeling and, during the war, had the boxer (then serving as a paratrooper) sent on a series of dangerous missions. Louis, meanwhile, went from being a hero of his race — “Our Joe” — to the first black champion embraced by all Americans, black and white. This was an important step forward in American race relations. The book also describes how, after the war, the two boxers became symbols of German-American reconciliation. Schmeling became a Coca Cola executive and, when Louis was down on his luck, the former foes became friends. When Louis died, Schmeling helped to pay for his funeral.
Franz Neumann, Herbert Marcuse, and Otto Kirchheimer
Raffaele Laudani (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691134130
- eISBN:
- 9781400846467
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691134130.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Military History
During World War II, three prominent members of the Frankfurt School—Franz Neumann, Herbert Marcuse, and Otto Kirchheimer—worked as intelligence analysts for the Office of Strategic Services, the ...
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During World War II, three prominent members of the Frankfurt School—Franz Neumann, Herbert Marcuse, and Otto Kirchheimer—worked as intelligence analysts for the Office of Strategic Services, the wartime forerunner of the CIA. This book brings together their most important intelligence reports on Nazi Germany, most of them published here for the first time. These reports provide a fresh perspective on Adolf Hitler's regime and the Second World War, and a fascinating window on Frankfurt School critical theory. They develop a detailed analysis of Nazism as a social and economic system and the role of anti-Semitism in Nazism, as well as a coherent plan for the reconstruction of postwar Germany as a democratic political system with a socialist economy. These reports played a significant role in the development of postwar Allied policy, including denazification and the preparation of the Nuremberg Trials. They also reveal how wartime intelligence analysis shaped the intellectual agendas of these three important German–Jewish scholars who fled Nazi persecution prior to the war. The book features a foreword and a comprehensive general introduction that puts these writings in historical and intellectual context.Less
During World War II, three prominent members of the Frankfurt School—Franz Neumann, Herbert Marcuse, and Otto Kirchheimer—worked as intelligence analysts for the Office of Strategic Services, the wartime forerunner of the CIA. This book brings together their most important intelligence reports on Nazi Germany, most of them published here for the first time. These reports provide a fresh perspective on Adolf Hitler's regime and the Second World War, and a fascinating window on Frankfurt School critical theory. They develop a detailed analysis of Nazism as a social and economic system and the role of anti-Semitism in Nazism, as well as a coherent plan for the reconstruction of postwar Germany as a democratic political system with a socialist economy. These reports played a significant role in the development of postwar Allied policy, including denazification and the preparation of the Nuremberg Trials. They also reveal how wartime intelligence analysis shaped the intellectual agendas of these three important German–Jewish scholars who fled Nazi persecution prior to the war. The book features a foreword and a comprehensive general introduction that puts these writings in historical and intellectual context.
Anne Norton
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691157047
- eISBN:
- 9781400846351
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691157047.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter examines the link between “Islamofascism” and the Holocaust, which “left the West with a grief too great to bear, and a shame too bitter to acknowledge.” In Terror and Liberalism, Paul ...
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This chapter examines the link between “Islamofascism” and the Holocaust, which “left the West with a grief too great to bear, and a shame too bitter to acknowledge.” In Terror and Liberalism, Paul Berman shares how he came to recognize “Islamofascism.” In the days of the fist Gulf War, Berman found himself at odds with those, formerly his allies, who opposed the war. According to Berman, “Islamofascism” is the successor to Nazism and the Soviet Union, as a form of totalitarianism fundamentally opposed to the freedoms of Western civilization. The chapter argues that if the West is to bear true witness to the evil of the Holocaust, it must meet ethical demands that go beyond the construction of memorials and an ethic of remembrance; it must close the camps and take the Muselmänner—the most abject prisoners of the Nazi concentration camps—as its own.Less
This chapter examines the link between “Islamofascism” and the Holocaust, which “left the West with a grief too great to bear, and a shame too bitter to acknowledge.” In Terror and Liberalism, Paul Berman shares how he came to recognize “Islamofascism.” In the days of the fist Gulf War, Berman found himself at odds with those, formerly his allies, who opposed the war. According to Berman, “Islamofascism” is the successor to Nazism and the Soviet Union, as a form of totalitarianism fundamentally opposed to the freedoms of Western civilization. The chapter argues that if the West is to bear true witness to the evil of the Holocaust, it must meet ethical demands that go beyond the construction of memorials and an ethic of remembrance; it must close the camps and take the Muselmänner—the most abject prisoners of the Nazi concentration camps—as its own.
Michael L. Morgan
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195148626
- eISBN:
- 9780199870011
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195148622.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
From 1945 to 1965, the Holocaust and the Nazi destruction of European Jewry came to occupy the attention of a small number of intellectuals whose work would have a significant impact on ...
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From 1945 to 1965, the Holocaust and the Nazi destruction of European Jewry came to occupy the attention of a small number of intellectuals whose work would have a significant impact on post‐Holocaust Jewish thought. One of the most important, Raul Hilberg, was a political scientist by training, but his work was primarily historical; The Destruction of the European Jews, which appeared in 1961, meticulously examined the destruction process, but this massive and detailed work was rarely read. The most influential books were those of Hannah Arendt, Elie Wiesel, and Primo Levi; these writers provided powerful, important views of the death camps and the Nazi horrors, and they also introduced modes of discourse for describing and discussing the crimes perpetrated, the criminals, and the victims. This chapter is primarily devoted to a study of Arendt's examination of Nazism and totalitarianism, published in articles in the 1940s, and culminating in her tremendously important hook, The Origins of Totalitarianism, in 1951; discussion of various critiques of her work is also included. The writings of Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi are discussed in the next chapter.Less
From 1945 to 1965, the Holocaust and the Nazi destruction of European Jewry came to occupy the attention of a small number of intellectuals whose work would have a significant impact on post‐Holocaust Jewish thought. One of the most important, Raul Hilberg, was a political scientist by training, but his work was primarily historical; The Destruction of the European Jews, which appeared in 1961, meticulously examined the destruction process, but this massive and detailed work was rarely read. The most influential books were those of Hannah Arendt, Elie Wiesel, and Primo Levi; these writers provided powerful, important views of the death camps and the Nazi horrors, and they also introduced modes of discourse for describing and discussing the crimes perpetrated, the criminals, and the victims. This chapter is primarily devoted to a study of Arendt's examination of Nazism and totalitarianism, published in articles in the 1940s, and culminating in her tremendously important hook, The Origins of Totalitarianism, in 1951; discussion of various critiques of her work is also included. The writings of Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi are discussed in the next chapter.
Michael L. Morgan
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195148626
- eISBN:
- 9780199870011
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195148622.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
The views of various American liberal intellectuals and Jewish writers on the Nazi death camps are discussed, starting with Lionel Trilling, a postwar New York literary critic, who addressed the ...
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The views of various American liberal intellectuals and Jewish writers on the Nazi death camps are discussed, starting with Lionel Trilling, a postwar New York literary critic, who addressed the issue of the death of the novel and the impotence of the mind in relation to the horror of the Nazi camps. The main part of the chapter is devoted to a discussion of the testimonies of three death camp survivors – Elie Wiesel, Primo Levi, and Jean Améry. Levi's viewpoint of the camps is not that of a religious Jew, but as a scientist and secular humanist, and he discusses the fact that normal prisoners (like Wiesel and Améry) were perhaps not in the best position to report on the camps, while those who held privileged positions (like himself) perhaps were.Less
The views of various American liberal intellectuals and Jewish writers on the Nazi death camps are discussed, starting with Lionel Trilling, a postwar New York literary critic, who addressed the issue of the death of the novel and the impotence of the mind in relation to the horror of the Nazi camps. The main part of the chapter is devoted to a discussion of the testimonies of three death camp survivors – Elie Wiesel, Primo Levi, and Jean Améry. Levi's viewpoint of the camps is not that of a religious Jew, but as a scientist and secular humanist, and he discusses the fact that normal prisoners (like Wiesel and Améry) were perhaps not in the best position to report on the camps, while those who held privileged positions (like himself) perhaps were.
Steven Aschheim (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520220560
- eISBN:
- 9780520923669
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520220560.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
For many years Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) has been the object of intense debate. After her bitter critiques of Zionism, which seemed to nullify her early involvement with that movement, and her ...
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For many years Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) has been the object of intense debate. After her bitter critiques of Zionism, which seemed to nullify her early involvement with that movement, and her extremely controversial Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963), Arendt became virtually a taboo figure in Israeli and Jewish circles. Challenging the “curse” of her own title, this book carries the scholarly investigation of this much-discussed writer to the very place where her ideas have been most conspicuously ignored. Sometimes sympathetically, sometimes critically, these distinguished contributors reexamine crucial aspects of Arendt's life and thought: her complex identity as a German Jew; her commitment to and critique of Zionism and the state of Israel; her works on “totalitarianism,” Nazism, and the Eichmann trial; her relationship to key twentieth-century intellectuals; her intimate and tense connections to German culture; and her reworkings of political thought and philosophy in the light of the experience of the twentieth century.Less
For many years Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) has been the object of intense debate. After her bitter critiques of Zionism, which seemed to nullify her early involvement with that movement, and her extremely controversial Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963), Arendt became virtually a taboo figure in Israeli and Jewish circles. Challenging the “curse” of her own title, this book carries the scholarly investigation of this much-discussed writer to the very place where her ideas have been most conspicuously ignored. Sometimes sympathetically, sometimes critically, these distinguished contributors reexamine crucial aspects of Arendt's life and thought: her complex identity as a German Jew; her commitment to and critique of Zionism and the state of Israel; her works on “totalitarianism,” Nazism, and the Eichmann trial; her relationship to key twentieth-century intellectuals; her intimate and tense connections to German culture; and her reworkings of political thought and philosophy in the light of the experience of the twentieth century.
Donald Bloxham
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208723
- eISBN:
- 9780191717017
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208723.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter studies the prosecution of prominent war criminals within the context of the broader trial policy of the British and Americans. It brings out the distinctly American flavour of the ...
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This chapter studies the prosecution of prominent war criminals within the context of the broader trial policy of the British and Americans. It brings out the distinctly American flavour of the International Military Tribunal (IMT) concept, particularly the controversial strategy employed to ensnare the diverse individuals and organizations brought to trial and simultaneously to scrutinize the history of Nazism. The chapter proceeds to examine the interrelationship of trial strategy and broader political aims and influences, and the way in which these combined to shape the subsequent Nuremberg programme. Alongside this analysis, it considers the course of the British Royal Warrant trial series and how that defined itself in regard to further prosecutions of ‘major’ and other important war criminals.Less
This chapter studies the prosecution of prominent war criminals within the context of the broader trial policy of the British and Americans. It brings out the distinctly American flavour of the International Military Tribunal (IMT) concept, particularly the controversial strategy employed to ensnare the diverse individuals and organizations brought to trial and simultaneously to scrutinize the history of Nazism. The chapter proceeds to examine the interrelationship of trial strategy and broader political aims and influences, and the way in which these combined to shape the subsequent Nuremberg programme. Alongside this analysis, it considers the course of the British Royal Warrant trial series and how that defined itself in regard to further prosecutions of ‘major’ and other important war criminals.
Donald Bloxham
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208723
- eISBN:
- 9780191717017
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208723.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter examines the specific question of the treatment of anti-Jewish crimes within the general framework of the trials. It suggests continuities between the latter and the attitude of the ...
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This chapter examines the specific question of the treatment of anti-Jewish crimes within the general framework of the trials. It suggests continuities between the latter and the attitude of the liberal democracies to the Jewish plight in wartime. Thus, in crude terms, on both sides of the German surrender, responses were characterized either by a failure to recognize the fate of the European Jews or a reluctance to act upon any such recognition.Less
This chapter examines the specific question of the treatment of anti-Jewish crimes within the general framework of the trials. It suggests continuities between the latter and the attitude of the liberal democracies to the Jewish plight in wartime. Thus, in crude terms, on both sides of the German surrender, responses were characterized either by a failure to recognize the fate of the European Jews or a reluctance to act upon any such recognition.
Donald Bloxham
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208723
- eISBN:
- 9780191717017
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208723.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter concerns the record of Nazism and its specific crimes that the trials created for posterity. It shows that the preconceptions of the Allied lawyers took no account of many criminal ...
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This chapter concerns the record of Nazism and its specific crimes that the trials created for posterity. It shows that the preconceptions of the Allied lawyers took no account of many criminal groupings whilst inflating the role of others. Thus, for instance, some of the lesser-known police organizations that murdered Jews and others in eastern Europe received lenient treatment despite some evidence at Nuremberg as to their activities. These absences, and some of the exaggerations that are their counterparts, have found remarkably accurate reflection in the historiography of Nazi genocide. With reference to both the judicial and historical examination of criminal groupings and actions, it suggests a linkage between the earliest investigation of Nazi genocidal policy and most of the major historiographical debates about that subject in the succeeding half-century. These are brought together in the largest, and concluding, case study, which concerns the complicated and oft-misunderstood subject of the Nazi exploitation of Jewish slave labour.Less
This chapter concerns the record of Nazism and its specific crimes that the trials created for posterity. It shows that the preconceptions of the Allied lawyers took no account of many criminal groupings whilst inflating the role of others. Thus, for instance, some of the lesser-known police organizations that murdered Jews and others in eastern Europe received lenient treatment despite some evidence at Nuremberg as to their activities. These absences, and some of the exaggerations that are their counterparts, have found remarkably accurate reflection in the historiography of Nazi genocide. With reference to both the judicial and historical examination of criminal groupings and actions, it suggests a linkage between the earliest investigation of Nazi genocidal policy and most of the major historiographical debates about that subject in the succeeding half-century. These are brought together in the largest, and concluding, case study, which concerns the complicated and oft-misunderstood subject of the Nazi exploitation of Jewish slave labour.
Donald Bloxham
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198208723
- eISBN:
- 9780191717017
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198208723.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It argues that a mixture of structural limitation and judicial assumption characterized the judgement on the Einsatzgruppen leaders and ...
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This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It argues that a mixture of structural limitation and judicial assumption characterized the judgement on the Einsatzgruppen leaders and the ‘Nuremberg’ depiction of the Nazi state as a whole. The evidence pointed to a staggering number of deaths and broad complicity. Some of the guilty men stood in the dock, clearly linked to mass murder by the documentation to hand. The racist motivation seemed obvious, and as Nazism had been an authoritarian/totalitarian system, it was also assumed that, as some of the defendants pleaded, superior orders were the be-all and end-all of policy implementation. The legal process did not demand that anyone read between the lines of the documents to discern that complicity was even broader than it appeared, and stemmed from many different roots. Nor did it require that the defences of the accused be broken down to find that not every murder had been ordered from Berlin, and that alongside broad genocidal directives killing policy could develop incrementally and locally, and sometimes inconsistently.Less
This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It argues that a mixture of structural limitation and judicial assumption characterized the judgement on the Einsatzgruppen leaders and the ‘Nuremberg’ depiction of the Nazi state as a whole. The evidence pointed to a staggering number of deaths and broad complicity. Some of the guilty men stood in the dock, clearly linked to mass murder by the documentation to hand. The racist motivation seemed obvious, and as Nazism had been an authoritarian/totalitarian system, it was also assumed that, as some of the defendants pleaded, superior orders were the be-all and end-all of policy implementation. The legal process did not demand that anyone read between the lines of the documents to discern that complicity was even broader than it appeared, and stemmed from many different roots. Nor did it require that the defences of the accused be broken down to find that not every murder had been ordered from Berlin, and that alongside broad genocidal directives killing policy could develop incrementally and locally, and sometimes inconsistently.
Klaus J. Arnold and Eve M. Duffy
Konrad H. Jarausch (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691140421
- eISBN:
- 9781400836321
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691140421.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
In this introductory chapter, the author narrates how he searched for his missing father, Konrad Jarausch, who had died in the USSR in January 1942. After providing a background on Jarausch's ...
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In this introductory chapter, the author narrates how he searched for his missing father, Konrad Jarausch, who had died in the USSR in January 1942. After providing a background on Jarausch's nationalism and involvement in Protestant pedagogy, the chapter discusses his experiences during World War II. It then explains how Jarausch grew increasingly critical of the Nazis after witnessing the mass deaths of Russian prisoners of war. It also considers how the author, and his family, tried to keep the memory of his father alive. The author concludes by reflecting on his father's troubled legacy and how his search for his father poses the general question of complicity with Nazism and the Third Reich on a more personal level, asking why a decent and educated Protestant would follow Adolf Hitler and support the war until he himself, his family, and the country were swallowed up by it.Less
In this introductory chapter, the author narrates how he searched for his missing father, Konrad Jarausch, who had died in the USSR in January 1942. After providing a background on Jarausch's nationalism and involvement in Protestant pedagogy, the chapter discusses his experiences during World War II. It then explains how Jarausch grew increasingly critical of the Nazis after witnessing the mass deaths of Russian prisoners of war. It also considers how the author, and his family, tried to keep the memory of his father alive. The author concludes by reflecting on his father's troubled legacy and how his search for his father poses the general question of complicity with Nazism and the Third Reich on a more personal level, asking why a decent and educated Protestant would follow Adolf Hitler and support the war until he himself, his family, and the country were swallowed up by it.
Dale C. Copeland
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691161587
- eISBN:
- 9781400852703
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691161587.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter explores the origins of three of the four most important wars of the first half of the twentieth century: the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–5, World War I, and World War II in Europe. These ...
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This chapter explores the origins of three of the four most important wars of the first half of the twentieth century: the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–5, World War I, and World War II in Europe. These three wars had more than just a chronological connection to one another. The Russo-Japanese War helped solidify the diplomatic and economic alignments of the great powers in the decade before 1914, while the disaster of the First World War clearly set the stage for the rise of Nazism and the outbreak of yet another global war a generation later. This chapter focuses on providing a fairly comprehensive account of the causes of the Russo-Japanese War, confining the discussion of the world wars to the economic determinants of those conflicts.Less
This chapter explores the origins of three of the four most important wars of the first half of the twentieth century: the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–5, World War I, and World War II in Europe. These three wars had more than just a chronological connection to one another. The Russo-Japanese War helped solidify the diplomatic and economic alignments of the great powers in the decade before 1914, while the disaster of the First World War clearly set the stage for the rise of Nazism and the outbreak of yet another global war a generation later. This chapter focuses on providing a fairly comprehensive account of the causes of the Russo-Japanese War, confining the discussion of the world wars to the economic determinants of those conflicts.
Herbert Marcuse
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691134130
- eISBN:
- 9781400846467
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691134130.003.0017
- Subject:
- History, Military History
This chapter proposes the dissolution of the Nazi Party and its affiliated organizations. The reports suggests When the Allies march into Nazi Germany, they will probably find the regime in a state ...
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This chapter proposes the dissolution of the Nazi Party and its affiliated organizations. The reports suggests When the Allies march into Nazi Germany, they will probably find the regime in a state of disintegration. Some of the agencies and institutions of Nazism may still be functioning, but the key positions of political control and terror will have been abandoned. The occupying authorities are committed not only to safeguarding the security of the Allied forces and to maintaining public law and order, but also to the destruction of Nazism. Nazism can be eliminated only through an internal political movement in Germany. The first step in this undertaking would be the dissolution of the National Socialist Party as well as its affiliate and controlled organizations, and the removal and apprehension of all officials who participated in the formulation of policy or had considerable responsibility in carrying it out.Less
This chapter proposes the dissolution of the Nazi Party and its affiliated organizations. The reports suggests When the Allies march into Nazi Germany, they will probably find the regime in a state of disintegration. Some of the agencies and institutions of Nazism may still be functioning, but the key positions of political control and terror will have been abandoned. The occupying authorities are committed not only to safeguarding the security of the Allied forces and to maintaining public law and order, but also to the destruction of Nazism. Nazism can be eliminated only through an internal political movement in Germany. The first step in this undertaking would be the dissolution of the National Socialist Party as well as its affiliate and controlled organizations, and the removal and apprehension of all officials who participated in the formulation of policy or had considerable responsibility in carrying it out.
Herbert Marcuse
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691134130
- eISBN:
- 9781400846467
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691134130.003.0019
- Subject:
- History, Military History
This chapter focuses on the policy toward the revival of old political parties and the establishment of new ones in post-war Germany from the point of view of the security of the occupying forces and ...
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This chapter focuses on the policy toward the revival of old political parties and the establishment of new ones in post-war Germany from the point of view of the security of the occupying forces and the elimination of Nazism. It evaluates the prospective parties according to their probable attitude toward these two objectives of Allied military government. It also makes recommendations solely on the basis of these objectives. It is assumed, however, that the elimination of Nazism, as one of the purposes of the military occupation of Germany, includes the gradual restoration to the German people of the liberties necessary for the reconstruction of their society in a democratic form, which alone can eliminate the roots of Nazism in Germany. Accordingly, the parties and organizations which may be expected to oppose a democratic reconstruction of Germany are considered in relation to a possible revival of Nazism.Less
This chapter focuses on the policy toward the revival of old political parties and the establishment of new ones in post-war Germany from the point of view of the security of the occupying forces and the elimination of Nazism. It evaluates the prospective parties according to their probable attitude toward these two objectives of Allied military government. It also makes recommendations solely on the basis of these objectives. It is assumed, however, that the elimination of Nazism, as one of the purposes of the military occupation of Germany, includes the gradual restoration to the German people of the liberties necessary for the reconstruction of their society in a democratic form, which alone can eliminate the roots of Nazism in Germany. Accordingly, the parties and organizations which may be expected to oppose a democratic reconstruction of Germany are considered in relation to a possible revival of Nazism.
