Anthony Kauders
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206316
- eISBN:
- 9780191677076
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206316.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This book is a scholarly reassessment of the ‘Jewish Question’ in Germany (1910–1933). It challenges the view that, following Hitler's rise to power, anti-Semitism radically increased among the ...
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This book is a scholarly reassessment of the ‘Jewish Question’ in Germany (1910–1933). It challenges the view that, following Hitler's rise to power, anti-Semitism radically increased among the majority of Germans. It argues that the Weimar Republic was also very influential in changing people's attitudes towards the Jews and their place in German society. Through a study of Düsseldorf and Nuremberg, two German cities of comparable size but disparate regional, religious, and economic characteristics, it explores the attitudes of journalists, politicians, clerics, and ordinary people. Using local and national archival material, the book is able to show that, whereas before the First World War most Germans would distance themselves from racial anti-Semitism, after 1918 many Germans agreed with völkisch agitators that Jews were, in a variety of ways, alien to the national community.Less
This book is a scholarly reassessment of the ‘Jewish Question’ in Germany (1910–1933). It challenges the view that, following Hitler's rise to power, anti-Semitism radically increased among the majority of Germans. It argues that the Weimar Republic was also very influential in changing people's attitudes towards the Jews and their place in German society. Through a study of Düsseldorf and Nuremberg, two German cities of comparable size but disparate regional, religious, and economic characteristics, it explores the attitudes of journalists, politicians, clerics, and ordinary people. Using local and national archival material, the book is able to show that, whereas before the First World War most Germans would distance themselves from racial anti-Semitism, after 1918 many Germans agreed with völkisch agitators that Jews were, in a variety of ways, alien to the national community.
Michael Banton
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198280613
- eISBN:
- 9780191598760
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198280610.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Action after World War I led to the creation of the League of Nations. During World War II, a War Crimes Commission was set up, which led to the proceedings before the Nuremberg Tribunal. The ...
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Action after World War I led to the creation of the League of Nations. During World War II, a War Crimes Commission was set up, which led to the proceedings before the Nuremberg Tribunal. The Tribunal's judgement was a foundation for the development of international human rights law by the UN.Less
Action after World War I led to the creation of the League of Nations. During World War II, a War Crimes Commission was set up, which led to the proceedings before the Nuremberg Tribunal. The Tribunal's judgement was a foundation for the development of international human rights law by the UN.
Geoffrey Blest
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206996
- eISBN:
- 9780191677427
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206996.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Military History
This chapter discusses the contributions of the international Courts in relation to the clarification and development of the law of war with the possible exception of the Nuremberg Principles. It ...
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This chapter discusses the contributions of the international Courts in relation to the clarification and development of the law of war with the possible exception of the Nuremberg Principles. It explains that the Nuremberg Principles originated in a Resolution of the General Assembly (Resolution 95, adopted on 11 November 1946). It notes that the resolution is reaffirmed in some fashion by the UN's International Law Commission in mid-1950. It clarifies that the GA's unanimous vote ‘indicated subscription by a large number of States to the substantive law of war crimes, including the principle of individual criminal responsibility, and to the lawful exercise of criminal jurisdiction over such individuals’. It emphasizes that in the International Military tribunals known to history as the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, defendants were also tried for other alleged offences. It stresses the importance of determining the relationship of those other offences with the law of war.Less
This chapter discusses the contributions of the international Courts in relation to the clarification and development of the law of war with the possible exception of the Nuremberg Principles. It explains that the Nuremberg Principles originated in a Resolution of the General Assembly (Resolution 95, adopted on 11 November 1946). It notes that the resolution is reaffirmed in some fashion by the UN's International Law Commission in mid-1950. It clarifies that the GA's unanimous vote ‘indicated subscription by a large number of States to the substantive law of war crimes, including the principle of individual criminal responsibility, and to the lawful exercise of criminal jurisdiction over such individuals’. It emphasizes that in the International Military tribunals known to history as the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, defendants were also tried for other alleged offences. It stresses the importance of determining the relationship of those other offences with the law of war.
Geoffrey Blest
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206996
- eISBN:
- 9780191677427
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206996.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Military History
This chapter discusses the systematic review of the Geneva side of the law which issued in the four Geneva Conventions of the summer of 1949. It notes that the review is discreetly orchestrated by ...
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This chapter discusses the systematic review of the Geneva side of the law which issued in the four Geneva Conventions of the summer of 1949. It notes that the review is discreetly orchestrated by the International Committee of the Red Cross and confined within what that body understood to be its prudent limits. It further notes that this review is so long-drawn-out and so undramatic that it attracted hardly any public attention, yet some of its debates and achievements would have profoundly interested the more reflective members of the public. It compares the ‘Nuremberg’ and ‘Tokyo’ stories which attracted great publicity from the outset, and have not ceased to engage historians' attention. In this chapter the author tells the ‘Geneva’ story more amply and historically, since it has scarcely been told except by lawyers to lawyers for their own professional interest and purposes.Less
This chapter discusses the systematic review of the Geneva side of the law which issued in the four Geneva Conventions of the summer of 1949. It notes that the review is discreetly orchestrated by the International Committee of the Red Cross and confined within what that body understood to be its prudent limits. It further notes that this review is so long-drawn-out and so undramatic that it attracted hardly any public attention, yet some of its debates and achievements would have profoundly interested the more reflective members of the public. It compares the ‘Nuremberg’ and ‘Tokyo’ stories which attracted great publicity from the outset, and have not ceased to engage historians' attention. In this chapter the author tells the ‘Geneva’ story more amply and historically, since it has scarcely been told except by lawyers to lawyers for their own professional interest and purposes.
Adil E. Shamoo and David B. Resnik
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195368246
- eISBN:
- 9780199867615
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368246.003.0012
- Subject:
- Biology, Disease Ecology / Epidemiology, Biochemistry / Molecular Biology
This chapter discusses the history of human experimentation, with special attention to cases that have helped to shape ethical guidelines and policies. It discusses important codes, such as the ...
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This chapter discusses the history of human experimentation, with special attention to cases that have helped to shape ethical guidelines and policies. It discusses important codes, such as the Nuremberg Code and the Declaration of Helsinki, and it provides an overview of U.S. federal regulations. The chapter also addresses some key concepts and principles in human research, such as informed consent, risk/benefit ratios, minimal risk, and research versus therapy.Less
This chapter discusses the history of human experimentation, with special attention to cases that have helped to shape ethical guidelines and policies. It discusses important codes, such as the Nuremberg Code and the Declaration of Helsinki, and it provides an overview of U.S. federal regulations. The chapter also addresses some key concepts and principles in human research, such as informed consent, risk/benefit ratios, minimal risk, and research versus therapy.
Onora O'Neill
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195325195
- eISBN:
- 9780199776412
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195325195.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, General
Contemporary work on research ethics often points to Nazi inhumanity and abuse of research subjects as a prelude to arguing that research on human subjects requires their fully informed consent. By ...
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Contemporary work on research ethics often points to Nazi inhumanity and abuse of research subjects as a prelude to arguing that research on human subjects requires their fully informed consent. By contrast, the Nuremberg Code of 1947 demanded more robustly that fundamental obligations not to force, deceive, or use duress be respected, in order to ensure that research participation would be voluntary. Subsequent codes, such as the Declaration of Helsinki, set more exacting regulatory requirements aimed at securing highly specific and explicit consent. This supposed improvement may be neither feasible nor ethically superior.Less
Contemporary work on research ethics often points to Nazi inhumanity and abuse of research subjects as a prelude to arguing that research on human subjects requires their fully informed consent. By contrast, the Nuremberg Code of 1947 demanded more robustly that fundamental obligations not to force, deceive, or use duress be respected, in order to ensure that research participation would be voluntary. Subsequent codes, such as the Declaration of Helsinki, set more exacting regulatory requirements aimed at securing highly specific and explicit consent. This supposed improvement may be neither feasible nor ethically superior.
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/9780198208723.003.0007
- 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.
Harold James
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153407
- eISBN:
- 9781400841868
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153407.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter debunks the myth that Krupp had been a driving force behind the high-level making of Nazi policy, rather than a participant in a massive web of ideologically driven immorality. It ...
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This chapter debunks the myth that Krupp had been a driving force behind the high-level making of Nazi policy, rather than a participant in a massive web of ideologically driven immorality. It examines the Nuremberg trial of the Krupp directors, considering the issue of the extent to which businessmen had choices or a freedom to maneuver in the Nazi era. Furthermore, though the prospect of rearmament was an issue within the company, the chapter argues that the rise and fall of profitability did not correspond directly to the political stance of the company, its owners, and its management. Financial incentives alone did not determine the political orientation of the Krupp business, particularly as the company soon found itself embroiled in the Nazis' politics and the Second World War loomed over the horizon.Less
This chapter debunks the myth that Krupp had been a driving force behind the high-level making of Nazi policy, rather than a participant in a massive web of ideologically driven immorality. It examines the Nuremberg trial of the Krupp directors, considering the issue of the extent to which businessmen had choices or a freedom to maneuver in the Nazi era. Furthermore, though the prospect of rearmament was an issue within the company, the chapter argues that the rise and fall of profitability did not correspond directly to the political stance of the company, its owners, and its management. Financial incentives alone did not determine the political orientation of the Krupp business, particularly as the company soon found itself embroiled in the Nazis' politics and the Second World War loomed over the horizon.
Dr. David Nersessian
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199588909
- eISBN:
- 9780191594557
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199588909.003.0002
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration, Public International Law
This chapter details the rapid development of genocide from an academic concept to a substantive international crime. It provides a brief overview of the etymology of the term ‘genocide’ following ...
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This chapter details the rapid development of genocide from an academic concept to a substantive international crime. It provides a brief overview of the etymology of the term ‘genocide’ following its first usage by Professor Raphael Lemkin in 1944 to describe Nazi atrocities during World War II. It details the early usages of the concept in subsequent criminal trials of Nazi offenders, as well as the definition of genocide in the 1948 Genocide Convention. It also discusses the critical (and controversial) decision of the Convention's drafters to exclude political groups, thereby limiting the Convention to national, ethnic, racial, and religious collectives. Acts intended physically or biologically to destroy these four groups thus are condemned as ‘genocide’, whereas the identical criminal conduct—directed instead at other human collectives—is not.Less
This chapter details the rapid development of genocide from an academic concept to a substantive international crime. It provides a brief overview of the etymology of the term ‘genocide’ following its first usage by Professor Raphael Lemkin in 1944 to describe Nazi atrocities during World War II. It details the early usages of the concept in subsequent criminal trials of Nazi offenders, as well as the definition of genocide in the 1948 Genocide Convention. It also discusses the critical (and controversial) decision of the Convention's drafters to exclude political groups, thereby limiting the Convention to national, ethnic, racial, and religious collectives. Acts intended physically or biologically to destroy these four groups thus are condemned as ‘genocide’, whereas the identical criminal conduct—directed instead at other human collectives—is not.
Seyla Benhabib
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691167251
- eISBN:
- 9780691184234
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691167251.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter begins by analyzing Judith Shklar's early book, Legalism. An Essay on Law, Morals and Politics, in which she distinguishes among aspects of legalism as ideology, as creative policy, and ...
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This chapter begins by analyzing Judith Shklar's early book, Legalism. An Essay on Law, Morals and Politics, in which she distinguishes among aspects of legalism as ideology, as creative policy, and as an ethos of the law. Shklar was unable to explain how these various dimensions of legalism could be reconciled plausibly with one another. Furthermore, while her critique of criminal international law is being revived today in the name of a certain skepticism toward institutions of international law, this critique needs to be balanced against her full-throated defense of the legitimacy of the Nuremberg trials. The final part of this chapter presents the complicated relationship of law and politics in Hannah Arendt's and Shklar's works.Less
This chapter begins by analyzing Judith Shklar's early book, Legalism. An Essay on Law, Morals and Politics, in which she distinguishes among aspects of legalism as ideology, as creative policy, and as an ethos of the law. Shklar was unable to explain how these various dimensions of legalism could be reconciled plausibly with one another. Furthermore, while her critique of criminal international law is being revived today in the name of a certain skepticism toward institutions of international law, this critique needs to be balanced against her full-throated defense of the legitimacy of the Nuremberg trials. The final part of this chapter presents the complicated relationship of law and politics in Hannah Arendt's and Shklar's works.
Jann K. Kleffner
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199238453
- eISBN:
- 9780191716744
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199238453.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
This chapter places complementarity into the broader context of allocating the respective competences of international and domestic courts and tribunals. It traces the emergence of complementarity in ...
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This chapter places complementarity into the broader context of allocating the respective competences of international and domestic courts and tribunals. It traces the emergence of complementarity in the negotiations leading up to the adoption of the Rome Statute. This drafting history reveals that the relationship between the ICC and national criminal jurisdictions was a recurring phenomenon of fundamental importance. Agreement was reached at an early stage on the generic idea that national suppression should be the first line of defence in the fight against impunity, while the Court should fill the gaps left by ineffective national criminal jurisdictions. Yet the details of regulating complementarity proved contentious. States regarded complementarity as the core avenue to reconcile their concerns about their sovereignty with the establishment of an international criminal court. The detailed rules on complementarity thus assumed a vital role in making the Statute as widely acceptable to States as possible.Less
This chapter places complementarity into the broader context of allocating the respective competences of international and domestic courts and tribunals. It traces the emergence of complementarity in the negotiations leading up to the adoption of the Rome Statute. This drafting history reveals that the relationship between the ICC and national criminal jurisdictions was a recurring phenomenon of fundamental importance. Agreement was reached at an early stage on the generic idea that national suppression should be the first line of defence in the fight against impunity, while the Court should fill the gaps left by ineffective national criminal jurisdictions. Yet the details of regulating complementarity proved contentious. States regarded complementarity as the core avenue to reconcile their concerns about their sovereignty with the establishment of an international criminal court. The detailed rules on complementarity thus assumed a vital role in making the Statute as widely acceptable to States as possible.
Thomas J. Laub
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199539321
- eISBN:
- 9780191715808
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199539321.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Military History, European Modern History
Introductory remarks trace the historiography of the German army and occupied France from war crimes trials held immediately after the war to the present. As they adjudicated cases of treason and war ...
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Introductory remarks trace the historiography of the German army and occupied France from war crimes trials held immediately after the war to the present. As they adjudicated cases of treason and war crimes, jurists at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg defined a standard of appropriate conduct, convicted criminals, and exonerated those who resisted the Nazi regime. Building upon recent French scholarship, this manuscript rejects the binary model of collaboration and resistance in favor of Philippe Burrin's notion of accommodation. Both French society and the German army in France embraced elements of Nazi ideology and, at the same time, resisted select directives from Berlin. They balanced personal ideals against the necessities of life and accommodated demands from superiors in Berlin without necessarily endorsing all the goals of the Nazi regime.Less
Introductory remarks trace the historiography of the German army and occupied France from war crimes trials held immediately after the war to the present. As they adjudicated cases of treason and war crimes, jurists at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg defined a standard of appropriate conduct, convicted criminals, and exonerated those who resisted the Nazi regime. Building upon recent French scholarship, this manuscript rejects the binary model of collaboration and resistance in favor of Philippe Burrin's notion of accommodation. Both French society and the German army in France embraced elements of Nazi ideology and, at the same time, resisted select directives from Berlin. They balanced personal ideals against the necessities of life and accommodated demands from superiors in Berlin without necessarily endorsing all the goals of the Nazi regime.
Joel F. Harrington
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226317274
- eISBN:
- 9780226317298
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226317298.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
The baby abandoned on the doorstep is a phenomenon that has virtually disappeared from our experience, but in the early modern world, unwanted children were a very real problem for parents, ...
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The baby abandoned on the doorstep is a phenomenon that has virtually disappeared from our experience, but in the early modern world, unwanted children were a very real problem for parents, government officials, and society. This book recreates sixteenth-century Nuremberg to explore what befell abandoned, neglected, abused, or delinquent children in this critical period. The author tackles this question by focusing on the stories of five individuals. He recounts the experiences of an unmarried mother-to-be, a roaming mercenary who drifts in and out of his children's lives, a civic leader handling the government's response to problems arising from unwanted children, a homeless teenager turned prolific thief, and orphaned twins who enter state care at the age of nine. Braiding together these portraits, the author uncovers and analyzes the key elements that link them, including the impact of war and the vital importance of informal networks among women. The book paints a picture of life on the streets five centuries ago.Less
The baby abandoned on the doorstep is a phenomenon that has virtually disappeared from our experience, but in the early modern world, unwanted children were a very real problem for parents, government officials, and society. This book recreates sixteenth-century Nuremberg to explore what befell abandoned, neglected, abused, or delinquent children in this critical period. The author tackles this question by focusing on the stories of five individuals. He recounts the experiences of an unmarried mother-to-be, a roaming mercenary who drifts in and out of his children's lives, a civic leader handling the government's response to problems arising from unwanted children, a homeless teenager turned prolific thief, and orphaned twins who enter state care at the age of nine. Braiding together these portraits, the author uncovers and analyzes the key elements that link them, including the impact of war and the vital importance of informal networks among women. The book paints a picture of life on the streets five centuries ago.
Valerie Hartouni
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814738498
- eISBN:
- 9780814738993
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814738498.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This book takes Hannah Arendt's provocative and polarizing account of the 1961 trial of Nazi official Adolf Eichmann as its point of departure for reassessing some of the serviceable myths that have ...
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This book takes Hannah Arendt's provocative and polarizing account of the 1961 trial of Nazi official Adolf Eichmann as its point of departure for reassessing some of the serviceable myths that have come to shape and limit our understanding both of the Nazi genocide and totalitarianism's broader, constitutive, and recurrent features. These myths are inextricably tied to and reinforced viscerally by the atrocity imagery that emerged with the liberation of the concentration camps at the war's end and played an especially important, evidentiary role in the postwar trials of perpetrators. At the 1945 Nuremberg Tribunal, particular practices of looking and seeing were first established with respect to these images that were later reinforced and institutionalized through Eichmann's trial in Jerusalem as simply part of the fabric of historical fact. They have come to constitute a certain visual rhetoric that now circumscribes the moral and political fields and powerfully assists in contemporary mythmaking about how we know genocide and what is permitted to count as such. In contrast, Arendt's claims about the “banality of evil” work to disrupt this visual rhetoric. More significantly still, they direct our attention well beyond the figure of Eichmann to a world organized now as then by practices and processes that while designed to sustain and even enhance life work as well to efface it.Less
This book takes Hannah Arendt's provocative and polarizing account of the 1961 trial of Nazi official Adolf Eichmann as its point of departure for reassessing some of the serviceable myths that have come to shape and limit our understanding both of the Nazi genocide and totalitarianism's broader, constitutive, and recurrent features. These myths are inextricably tied to and reinforced viscerally by the atrocity imagery that emerged with the liberation of the concentration camps at the war's end and played an especially important, evidentiary role in the postwar trials of perpetrators. At the 1945 Nuremberg Tribunal, particular practices of looking and seeing were first established with respect to these images that were later reinforced and institutionalized through Eichmann's trial in Jerusalem as simply part of the fabric of historical fact. They have come to constitute a certain visual rhetoric that now circumscribes the moral and political fields and powerfully assists in contemporary mythmaking about how we know genocide and what is permitted to count as such. In contrast, Arendt's claims about the “banality of evil” work to disrupt this visual rhetoric. More significantly still, they direct our attention well beyond the figure of Eichmann to a world organized now as then by practices and processes that while designed to sustain and even enhance life work as well to efface it.
Richard Landes
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199753598
- eISBN:
- 9780199897445
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199753598.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter traces the millennial dimensions of Hitler's career and his attempt to inaugurate the Tausendjähriges Reich. It shows how Hitler inserted himself into earlier German messianic traditions ...
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This chapter traces the millennial dimensions of Hitler's career and his attempt to inaugurate the Tausendjähriges Reich. It shows how Hitler inserted himself into earlier German messianic traditions around a Führer who would save the German people in a time of total catastrophe;how he linked them to the racist, millennial ideology of the Ariosophists; and how, once in power, he exploited modern technology to create a mass movement that swept up a nation in millennial enthusiasm (Nüremberg Rallies). Hitler's genocidal anti-Semitism appears as a form of hard zero-sum millennial competition between two “chosen people.”Less
This chapter traces the millennial dimensions of Hitler's career and his attempt to inaugurate the Tausendjähriges Reich. It shows how Hitler inserted himself into earlier German messianic traditions around a Führer who would save the German people in a time of total catastrophe;how he linked them to the racist, millennial ideology of the Ariosophists; and how, once in power, he exploited modern technology to create a mass movement that swept up a nation in millennial enthusiasm (Nüremberg Rallies). Hitler's genocidal anti-Semitism appears as a form of hard zero-sum millennial competition between two “chosen people.”
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/9780198206316.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This book sets out to examine the nature and meaning of political anti-Semitism in Düsseldorf and Nuremberg between 1910 and 1933. It takes the study of anti-Semitism to be not an ‘experimental ...
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This book sets out to examine the nature and meaning of political anti-Semitism in Düsseldorf and Nuremberg between 1910 and 1933. It takes the study of anti-Semitism to be not an ‘experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning’. While the book shall try to account for the forces that may have had an effect on the ‘Jewish question’ — economics, religion, individual agents — the topic under discussion is such that any analysis remains ‘intrinsically incomplete’. The book merely offers a further description, hoping that in the course of this, the understanding of Jew-hatred in Germany between 1910 and 1933 will improve and the debate centring on it will become more refined. The subject of anti-Semitism also gives rise to questions concerning the significance of Jewish-Gentile conflict in the ‘greater order of things’.Less
This book sets out to examine the nature and meaning of political anti-Semitism in Düsseldorf and Nuremberg between 1910 and 1933. It takes the study of anti-Semitism to be not an ‘experimental science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning’. While the book shall try to account for the forces that may have had an effect on the ‘Jewish question’ — economics, religion, individual agents — the topic under discussion is such that any analysis remains ‘intrinsically incomplete’. The book merely offers a further description, hoping that in the course of this, the understanding of Jew-hatred in Germany between 1910 and 1933 will improve and the debate centring on it will become more refined. The subject of anti-Semitism also gives rise to questions concerning the significance of Jewish-Gentile conflict in the ‘greater order of things’.
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/9780198206316.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
A number of interpretations have been advanced to explain Nuremberg's history of right-wing extremism in the Weimar Republic. Ian Kershaw, for example, emphasizes the role of Bavarian Protestantism ...
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A number of interpretations have been advanced to explain Nuremberg's history of right-wing extremism in the Weimar Republic. Ian Kershaw, for example, emphasizes the role of Bavarian Protestantism in the evolution of anti-democratic traditions. Other historians contend that Nuremberg was an industrial city which retained a large number of small businesses, making it a centre of the ‘old Mittelstand’, a group more likely to support the far Right after the war than other sectors in society. Whatever the arguments, however, a majority of specialists agree that Nuremberg and Franconia were ‘prime anti-Semitic territory’, and that Julius Streicher was able to play on much existing resentment to create an atmosphere of hostility towards the Jews. Surprisingly, most evidence supporting this line of argument covers the period between 1918 and 1933. Thus little material exists on Franconian anti-Semitism before the war, leaving scholars heavily dependent on evidence from the Weimar and Nazi years.Less
A number of interpretations have been advanced to explain Nuremberg's history of right-wing extremism in the Weimar Republic. Ian Kershaw, for example, emphasizes the role of Bavarian Protestantism in the evolution of anti-democratic traditions. Other historians contend that Nuremberg was an industrial city which retained a large number of small businesses, making it a centre of the ‘old Mittelstand’, a group more likely to support the far Right after the war than other sectors in society. Whatever the arguments, however, a majority of specialists agree that Nuremberg and Franconia were ‘prime anti-Semitic territory’, and that Julius Streicher was able to play on much existing resentment to create an atmosphere of hostility towards the Jews. Surprisingly, most evidence supporting this line of argument covers the period between 1918 and 1933. Thus little material exists on Franconian anti-Semitism before the war, leaving scholars heavily dependent on evidence from the Weimar and Nazi years.
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/9780198206316.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
The events surrounding the Revolution gave rise to questions about Jews in prominent positions of leadership. If before 1914 complaints had centred on ‘Jewish influence’ in the media or the arts, in ...
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The events surrounding the Revolution gave rise to questions about Jews in prominent positions of leadership. If before 1914 complaints had centred on ‘Jewish influence’ in the media or the arts, in the period after 1918 it was far easier to preserve, invent, and inculcate anti-Semitic stereotypes. Because the post-war era was also characterized by higher levels of violence, less respect for traditional forms of authority, and a general lack of natural purpose and direction, propaganda against the Jews could more easily be disseminated and later accepted. In short, the context of moderation prevailing before the war was now deprived of its basis, and collapsed under the strains of a radically new situation. To see how these developments affected different localities in the country, this chapter turns to a discussion of Düsseldorf and Nuremberg between 1918 and 1921.Less
The events surrounding the Revolution gave rise to questions about Jews in prominent positions of leadership. If before 1914 complaints had centred on ‘Jewish influence’ in the media or the arts, in the period after 1918 it was far easier to preserve, invent, and inculcate anti-Semitic stereotypes. Because the post-war era was also characterized by higher levels of violence, less respect for traditional forms of authority, and a general lack of natural purpose and direction, propaganda against the Jews could more easily be disseminated and later accepted. In short, the context of moderation prevailing before the war was now deprived of its basis, and collapsed under the strains of a radically new situation. To see how these developments affected different localities in the country, this chapter turns to a discussion of Düsseldorf and Nuremberg between 1918 and 1921.
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/9780198206316.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter illustrates both the continuity of Weimar history and the varieties of local and regional experience. By and large, anti-Semitic activities were suspended in this period, when the ...
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This chapter illustrates both the continuity of Weimar history and the varieties of local and regional experience. By and large, anti-Semitic activities were suspended in this period, when the economy showed signs of recovery and ideology was replaced with pragmatism in local politics. However, there remained, especially in Nuremberg, an undercurrent of hostility to Jewry which was the result of previous efforts to isolate the Jews and which could erupt at any moment. Hermann Broch's image of ‘starched shirts’, quoted at the beginning of this chapter, was the sense of bourgeois tranquillity and repose that came with improvement of the economy and greater domestic peace. These ‘starched shirts’, however, were not enough to hold back the forces that had been unleashed after the war, even where dormancy seemed to be pronounced enough to make a difference. What was missing was a democratic consensus independent of temporary recuperation. What was missing was the equality of the Jewish citizen.Less
This chapter illustrates both the continuity of Weimar history and the varieties of local and regional experience. By and large, anti-Semitic activities were suspended in this period, when the economy showed signs of recovery and ideology was replaced with pragmatism in local politics. However, there remained, especially in Nuremberg, an undercurrent of hostility to Jewry which was the result of previous efforts to isolate the Jews and which could erupt at any moment. Hermann Broch's image of ‘starched shirts’, quoted at the beginning of this chapter, was the sense of bourgeois tranquillity and repose that came with improvement of the economy and greater domestic peace. These ‘starched shirts’, however, were not enough to hold back the forces that had been unleashed after the war, even where dormancy seemed to be pronounced enough to make a difference. What was missing was a democratic consensus independent of temporary recuperation. What was missing was the equality of the Jewish citizen.
