This up-to-date, succinct, and highly readable survey presents a new synthesis of the origins, development, and downfall of Nazi Germany, making accessible classic and recent research and focusing on the interplay of Nazi violence and the readiness of Germans to accommodate themselves to the new regime.
Early in his political career, Adolf Hitler declared the importance of what he called “an antisemitism of reason.” Determined not to rely solely on traditional, cruder forms of prejudice against Jews, he hoped that his exclusionary and violent policies would be legitimized by scientific scholarship. The result was a disturbing, and long-overlooked, aspect of National Socialism: Nazi Jewish Studies. Studying the Jew investigates the careers of a few dozen German scholars who forged an interdisciplinary field, drawing upon studies in anthropology, biology, religion, history, and the social sciences to create a comprehensive portrait of the Jew—one with devastating consequences. Working within the universities and research institutions of the Third Reich, these men fabricated an elaborate empirical basis for Nazi antisemitic policies. They supported the Nazi campaign against Jews by defining them as racially alien, morally corrupt, and inherently criminal. In a chilling story of academics who perverted their talents and distorted their research in support of persecution and genocide, Studying the Jew explores the intersection of ideology and scholarship, the state and the university, the intellectual and his motivations, to provide a new appreciation of the use and abuse of learning and the horrors perpetrated in the name of reason.
The Reich Chambers of Music, Theater, and the Visual Arts
Focusing on the years 1933 to 1945, this study delves into the Reich Chamber of Culture's significant impact on German artists and entertainers, particularly in music, theater, and visual arts. It explores the intricate dynamics between Nazi leaders, cultural officials, artists, and audiences while highlighting the regime's systematic efforts to exclude Jews and other marginalized groups from the arts. This comprehensive examination sheds light on the complex interplay of culture and politics during a tumultuous period in history.
On November 7, 1938, a Jewish teenager, Herschel Grynszpan, fatally shot a German diplomat in Paris. Within three days anti Jewish violence erupted throughout Germany, initially incited by local Nazi officials, and ultimately sanctioned by the decisions of Hitler and Goebbels at the pinnacle of the Third Reich. As synagogues burned and Jews were beaten in the streets, police stood aside. Men, women, and children, many neighbors of the victims, participated enthusiastically in acts of violence, rituals of humiliation, and looting. By the night of November 10th, a nationwide antisemitic pogrom had inflicted massive destruction on synagogues, Jewish schools, and Jewish owned businesses. During and after this spasm of violence and plunder, 30,000 Jewish men were rounded up and sent to concentration camps, where hundreds would perish in the following months. Kristallnacht revealed to the world the intent and extent of Nazi Judeophobia. However, it was seen essentially as the work of the Nazi leadership. Now, the author counters that view in his vision of Kristallnacht as a veritable pogrom, a popular cathartic convulsion of antisemitic violence that was manipulated from above but executed from below by large numbers of ordinary Germans rioting in the streets, heckling and taunting Jews, cheering Stormtroopers' hostility, and looting Jewish property on a massive scale. Based on original research in the trials of the pogrom's perpetrators and the testimonies of its Jewish survivors, the author brings to light the evidence of mob action by all sectors of the civilian population. This work reveals the true depth and nature of popular antisemitism in Nazi Germany on the eve of the Holocaust
While we often tend to think of the Third Reich as a zone of lawlessness, the Nazi dictatorship and its policies of persecution rested on a legal foundation set in place and maintained by judges, lawyers, and civil servants trained in the law. This volume offers a concise and compelling account of how these intelligent and welleducated legal professionals lent their skills and knowledge to a system of oppression and domination. The chapters address why German lawyers and jurists were attracted to Nazism; how their support of the regime resulted from a combination of ideological conviction, careerist opportunism, and legalistic selfdelusion; and whether they were held accountable for their Nazi-era actions after 1945. This book also examines the experiences of Jewish lawyers who fell victim to anti-Semitic measures. The volume will appeal to scholars, students, and other readers with an interest in Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, and the history of jurisprudence.
The book offers a comprehensive examination of Nazi Germany, tracing its origins, evolution, and eventual collapse. It synthesizes both classic and contemporary research, highlighting the complex relationship between the regime's violent policies and the willingness of the German populace to adapt to its rule. This accessible survey aims to provide readers with a clear understanding of the historical dynamics that shaped this critical period in history.
The essays address the nature of Nazism as reflected in contemporary perceptions of Nazi Germany in the United States; the origins and character of fascism; the many forms of antisemitism; German scholars' efforts to promote persecution in the Third Reich; the role of ethnic Germans in the anti-Jewish and anti-Slavic policies of the Reich; the actions of German police in the occupation of eastern Europe and in the Holocaust; Hitler's style of leadership; the nazification of the German military high command; and the politics surrounding the memory of Nazism and the Holocaust after 1945."--BOOK JACKET.
From 1933 to 1945, the Reich Chamber of Culture significantly impacted German artists and entertainers, encompassing various sectors like music, theater, and visual arts. This organization, which included hundreds of thousands of professionals, influenced millions of amateur artists and musicians. Alan Steinweis's study delves into the complex interactions among leading Nazi figures, cultural functionaries, and ordinary artists, challenging the notion that the German artistic establishment was entirely at the mercy of a totalitarian regime. He posits that this view oversimplifies the reality, failing to recognize continuities in the cultural agenda from the Weimar Republic to the Nazi era and misjudging the relationship between officialdom and the cultural elite. Steinweis explores the political, professional, and economic conditions that shaped artists' experiences, detailing how cultural policies were formulated in the interests of specific stakeholders. He addresses critical issues such as work creation, social insurance, and minimum wage statutes, which remained priorities for artists before and after the Nazis came to power. By examining the economic and professional context of cultural life, Steinweis sheds light on the responses of German artists to cultural Gleichschaltung and elucidates their widespread acquiescence to censorship and racial and political purification.