An inability to mourn? The German Federal Republic and the Nazi past

2003 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 551-572
Author(s):  
FRISO WIELENGA
Keyword(s):  
Third Reich ◽  
German Federal Republic ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
National Socialists ◽  
Western Germany ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Nazi Past ◽  
Post War ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Probing Questions

Commonly, the second half of the 1960s is considered to be the period in which Western Germany actually started dealing with its National-Socialist past. The youth of that time is said to have opened the discussion and to have broken taboos by asking the elder generation probing questions and by exposing the careers of former National-Socialists in the politics and society of post-war Germany (the FRG). I make clear that this picture is very one-sided and I also give an overview on the different ways Western Germany coped with this past between 1945 and the end of the 1980s. Of course, these ways differed strongly over the years, but the ‘Third Reich’ has always remained present in German historical awareness and is branded into German identity – for better or for worse.

The Language of Ideology: Lingual Manipulation of Readers in German Literature of the Third Reich

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Michael Press
Keyword(s):  
German Literature ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Critical Studies ◽  
The Third ◽  
Historical Argument ◽  
Underlying Basis ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Post War ◽  
German People

In recognizing more than just hyperbole in their critical studies of National Socialist language, post-war philologists Viktor Klemperer (1946) and Eugen Seidel (1961) credit persuasive words and syntax with the expansion of Hitler's ideology among the German people. This popular explanation is being revisited by contemporary philologists, however, as new historical argument holds the functioning of the Third Reich to be anything but monolithic. An emerging scholarly consensus on the presence of more chaos than coherence in Nazi discourse suggests a new imperative for research. After reviewing the foundational works of Mein Kampf (1925) and Myth of the Twentieth Century (1930), the author confirms Klemperer and Seidel’s claim for linguistic manipulation in the rise of the National Socialist Party. Most importantly, this article provides a detailed explanation of how party leaders employed rhetorical language to promote fascist ideology without an underlying basis of logical argumentation.

Germany's Foreign Relations and the Nazi Past

2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-93
Author(s):  
CHRISTIAN HAASE ◽  
CHRISTIAN KRAIKER ◽  
JÖRN KREUZER
Keyword(s):  
Third Reich ◽  
Historical Inquiry ◽  
Political Activist ◽  
Foreign Office ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Auswärtiges Amt ◽  
Nazi Past ◽  
Post War ◽  
Set Up

On 7 November 1968, the political activist Beate Klarsfeld entered the stage of a CDU party convention in Berlin, slapped the West German chancellor Kurt-Georg Kiesinger in the face and cried ‘Nazi, Nazi’. During the Third Reich, Kiesinger had worked in one of the propaganda departments of the Auswärtiges Amt (Foreign Office). The history of the German foreign office received additional attention in 1968 due to the fact that the then vice-chancellor and foreign secretary of the Grand Coalition, Willy Brandt, was a former resistance fighter, who had been stripped of his citizenship by the Auswärtiges Amt in 1938. Despite numerous scandals about the post-war careers of former Nazi diplomats in the 1950s and 60s, the Auswärtiges Amt escaped closer scrutiny until 2005, when the then foreign secretary Joschka Fischer set up a historical inquiry commission. In his memoirs, Fischer has argued that his decision was influenced by the events of 1968.

The Sources of Hitler's Power

1942 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-408
Author(s):  
Waldemar Gurian
Keyword(s):  
Third Reich ◽  
General Interest ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Post War ◽  
German People

Are the Germans really behind the Nazi Government? Despite— or because of?—the steadily rising flood of books dealing with the Third Reich this question is answered in most different ways. There is no agreement concerning the relations between the German people and the National Socialist regime. But one's attitude towards the conduct of the war and the post-war problems is, to a large extent, determined by the opinion that one holds about these relations. Therefore, some remarks about the different answers which are given to the question: What are the sources of Hitler's power in Germany? may be of general interest.

Romano Guardini in the Weimar Republic and in National Socialist Germany: With a brief look into the National Socialist correspondences on Guardini in the early 1940s

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-96
Author(s):  
Paul Silas Peterson
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Weimar Republic ◽  
Intellectual Development ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Youth Movement ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
National Socialists ◽  
The Third Reich

Abstract Romano Guardini was one of the most important intellectuals of German Catholicism in the twentieth century. He influenced nearly an entire generation of German Catholic theologians and was the leading figure of the German Catholic youth movement as it grew exponentially in the 1920s. Yet there are many open questions about his early intellectual development and his academic contribution to religious, cultural, social and political questions in the Weimar Republic and in National Socialist Germany. This article draws upon Guardini’s publications, the secondary literature on Guardini and on some archival material, seeking to outline his early development and his engagement with the ideological context following World War I and in National Socialist Germany. Here Guardini’s criticisms of the modern age are presented. Besides this many other issues are addressed, such as his criticism of the women’s movement, his understanding of the youth movement, reception of Carl Schmitt, views of race, interpretation of the controversial Volk-concept, contribution to a Jewish journal in 1933, and his basic positions on the issues of obedience, order and authority. While Guardini was viewed critically by some National Socialists in the Third Reich, the administrative correspondences on him in the 1940s actually show that there was an internal debate about him among the National Socialist officials. This involved different figures, including a diplomat who came to Guardini’s defense. The internal disagreements were made more complicated because Guardini’s brothers were apparently members of the Fascist Party in Italy at this time.

Tailoring Truth

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-36
Author(s):  
Mikkel Dack
Keyword(s):  
Third Reich ◽  
Nazi Regime ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Family Stories ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
The Third ◽  
Personal Histories ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Post War ◽  
Insight Into

As part of the post-war denazification campaign, as many as 20 million Germans were screened for employment by Allied armies. Applicants were ordered to fill out political questionnaires (Fragebögen) and allowed to justify their membership in Nazi organizations in appended statements. This mandatory act of self-reflection has led to the accumulation of a massive archival repository, likely the largest collection of autobiographical writings about the Third Reich. This article interprets individual and family stories recorded in denazification documents and provides insight into how Germans chose to remember and internalize the National Socialist years. The Fragebögen allowed and even encouraged millions of respondents to rewrite their personal histories and to construct whitewashed identities and accompanying narratives to secure employment. Germans embraced the unique opportunity to cast themselves as resisters and victims of the Nazi regime. These identities remained with them after the dissolution of the denazification project and were carried forward into the post-occupation period.

German historians and the crucial dilemma

2006 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-384
Author(s):  
HERMANN W. VON DER DUNK
Keyword(s):  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Historical Consciousness ◽  
Imperial Germany ◽  
Historical Justice ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Post War ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Democratic Norms ◽  
Western Historiography

Post-war German historiography is an interesting example of changing norms and the problem of satisfying a balance between explanation and (moral) judgement. Whereas national historians of Imperial Germany could feel in harmony with History, defeat and the peace of Versailles destroyed the belief in historical justice, so the bulk of the craft sympathized with Hitler's policy, although not always with his methods. The fall of the Third Reich and the revelation of its crimes caused a deep crisis of historical consciousness and attempts to deny or belittle personal responsibility and cooperation. After the 1960s however, a generation took over who could internalize the democratic norms and, through that, closed the gap between German and Western historiography. With the next generation after the reunification, critical revisionism of the national past even increased in so far as it included the first wave of post-war historiography with its apologetic tendencies. Historiography so became a striking example of a thorough national metamorphosis.

Forschungen Zur Judenfrage: A Notorious Journal and Some of its Contributors

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-415
Author(s):  
Reinhard Markner
Keyword(s):  
Third Reich ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Jewish Question ◽  
Theory Of Relativity ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Many

AbstractAmong the many publishing ventures of the “Reichsinstitut für die Geschichte des neuen Deutschlands,” the journal Forschungen zur Judenfrage (1936–1944) has gained most notoriety. In its nine volumes, various aspects of the “Jewish question,” ranging from the Jews in antiquity to Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, were dealt with from a strictly National Socialist point of view. The ambitious project proved to be a failure even before the Third Reich collapsed. While some of the journal's contributors managed to pursue their academic careers in post-war West Germany, its founder, Walter Frank, committed suicide in 1945.

Relics of the Reich – dark tourism and Nazi sites in Germany

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Philpott
Keyword(s):  
Third Reich ◽  
Dark Tourism ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Museum Professionals ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Nazi Past ◽  
Post War ◽  
Self Examination

Purpose The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the fate of the buildings and public spaces created by the Nazis. By doing so, the author explains how Germany has handled this difficult legacy as part of a wider narrative of Germany’s post-war national reconciliation with its Nazi past. Design/methodology/approach Visits to Germany; interviews with German academics and museum professionals running memorials and museums relevant to the subject; study of literature related to specific Nazi sites and also literature related to the Nazi legacy in Germany more generally, as well as discussion with academics interested in dark tourism and national self-examination of difficult historical legacies. Findings Far more Nazi buildings remain in existence than is generally realised. For many years after 1945, Germany ignored the architectural legacy of the Nazi period through a mixture of shame, other more pressing priorities and pragmatism. Originally, it was pressure from survivors and families of victims of Nazi terror that led to public acknowledgement of the historical significance of some Nazi sites. In more recent years, German reunification, the passing of the complicit generations in Germany and growing national self-confidence have led to a greater willingness to acknowledge the importance of these sites. Originality/value First paper in English examining Nazi architecture in the round and the first one offering a critical analysis of Germany’s handling of the architectural legacy of the Third Reich.

Nazifying Christmas: Political Culture and Popular Celebration in the Third Reich

2005 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 572-605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe Perry
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Son Of God ◽  
The Third ◽  
National Socialists ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
The Relationship

Radicalregimes revolutionize their holidays. Like the French Jacobins and the Russian Bolsheviks, who designed festival cultures intended to create revolutionary subjects, National Socialists manipulated popular celebration to build a “racially pure” fascist society. Christmas, long considered the “most German” of German holidays, was a compelling if challenging vehicle for the constitution of National Socialist identity. The remade “people's Christmas” (Volksweihnachten) celebrated the arrival of a savior, embodied in the twinned forms of the Führer and the Son of God, who promised national resurrection rooted in the primeval Germanic forest and the “blood and soil” of the authenticVolk. Reinvented domestic rituals, brought to life by the “German mother” in the family home, embedded this revamped Christmas myth in intimate moments of domestic celebration. An examination of “people's Christmas” across this spectrum of public and private celebration offers a revealing case study of National Socialist political culture in action. It illuminates the ways Germans became Nazis through participation both in official festivities and the practices of everyday life and underscores the complexity of the relationship between popular celebration, political culture, and identity production in the “Third Reich.”

Die Landesversicherungsanstalten Baden und Württemberg im „Dritten Reich“. Personalpolitik, Verwaltung und Rentenpraxis 1933 bis 1945

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 193-213
Author(s):  
Christoph Wehner
Keyword(s):  
Health Policy ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Institutional History ◽  
Pension Policy ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
The Third ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Post War ◽  
Key Aspects

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag skizziert die institutionelle Entwicklung der Landesversicherungsanstalten (LVAen) Baden und Württemberg im „Dritten Reich“ und stellt die Einbindung der beiden Versicherungsträger in die nationalsozialistische Renten- und Gesundheitspolitik dar. Zentrale Untersuchungsaspekte bilden die personellen Umbrüche im Zuge der nationalsozialistischen Machteroberung, die Ausschaltung der Selbstverwaltung und die Etablierung des „Führerprinzips“, der Wandel der institutionellen Leistungspolitik vor dem Hintergrund sich verändernder gesundheitspolitischer Rahmenbedingungen und Zielsetzungen sowie das Verwaltungshandeln der Versicherungsanstalten im Rahmen der NS-Rentenpolitik, insbesondere in Hinsicht auf den Ausschluss und die Diskriminierung von „Staatsfeinden“ und Juden. In einem abschließenden Kapitel wird auf die unmittelbare Nachkriegsentwicklung und die Reorganisation der demokratischen Selbstverwaltung in Baden und Württemberg eingegangen. Wesentliche Teile dieses Beitrages basieren auf der zum Teil erstmaligen Auswertung von Archivbeständen aus dem Badischen Generallandesarchiv in Karlsruhe (GLAK), dem Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (HStAS), dem Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württembergs sowie dem Bundesarchiv (BArch). Abstract Institutional History of the Landesversicherungsanstalten (LVAen) Baden and Württemberg in the „Third Reich“ The article outlines the institutional history of the Landesversicherungsanstalten (LVAen) Baden and Württemberg in the “Third Reich” which is embedded in the shifting goals of national socialist pension- and health policy. Key aspects are the personnel policy changes during the “Machtergreifung”, the elimination of the principle of “Selbstverwaltung” and the implementation of the “Führerprinzip”, the change of institutional policies considering the shifting premises and goals in national socialist health policy and the role of the LVAen in the pension policy of the regime, especially regarding the exclusion and discrimination of “Staatsfeinden” and Jews. In a final chapter, the article gives an outlook on post-war developments and the reorganization of the democratic “Selbstverwaltung” in Baden and Württemberg. Large parts of this article are based on the – partial first time – evaluation of collections of records of the Badisches Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe (GLAK), the Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (HStAS), the Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (HStAS), the Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg and the Bundesarchiv (BArch).

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