German Schoolteachers, National Socialism, and the Politics of Culture at the End of the Weimar Republic

2001 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-82
Author(s):  
Marjorie Lamberti
Keyword(s):  
Weimar Republic ◽  
National Socialism ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
School Teaching ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
National Congress ◽  
The Third Reich

In the Third Reich a high percentage of the civil servants in the cadres of functionaries of the National Socialist Party on the local and district levels were teachers. It is thus not surprising that some historians who studied the elementary school teaching profession in the Weimar Republic began their research with assumptions about the “ideological affinities” of teachers to fascism and discussed “the specific predispositions that made it easy for them to identify with National Socialism.” The German Teachers' Association, one scholar wrote, “proved to be more a precursor than an opponent of fascism.” At its national congress in May 1932, another historian related, the representatives of the chapters voted for a policy which, in effect, abandoned the democratic republic and “indirectly helped those political forces that would create a dictatorship in Germany within a year.” In 1932 and 1933, on the other hand, recruiters for the National Socialist Teachers’ League often complained about “hard and difficult soil” and “unpenetrable” regions.

Hitler, for Example: Registers of National Socialist Exemplarity in Contemporary Germany

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Nitzan Shoshan
Keyword(s):  
National Socialism ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Moral Life ◽  
Far Right ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Moral Exemplars ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The Third Reich

Abstract This article examines whether and how the figure of Adolf Hitler in particular, and National Socialism more generally, operate as moral exemplars in today’s Germany. In conversation with similar studies about Mosely in England, Franco in Spain, and Mussolini in Italy, it seeks to advance our comparative understanding of neofascism in Europe and beyond. In Germany, legal and discursive constraints limit what can be said about the Third Reich period, while even far-right nationalists often condemn Hitler, for either the Holocaust or his military failure. Here I revise the concept of moral exemplarity as elaborated by Caroline Humphry to argue that Hitler and National Socialism do nevertheless work as contemporary exemplars, in at least three fashions: negativity, substitution, and extension. First, they stand as the most extreme markers of negative exemplarity for broad publics that understand them as illustrations of absolute moral depravity. Second, while Hitler himself is widely unpopular, Führer-substitutes such as Rudolf Hess provide alternative figures that German nationalists admire and seek to emulate. Finally, by extension to the realm of the ordinary, National Socialism introduces a cast of exemplars in the figures of loving grandfathers or anonymous fallen soldiers. The moral values for which they stand, I show, appear to be particularly significant for young nationalists. An extended, more open-ended notion of exemplarity, I conclude, can offer important insights about the lingering afterlife of fascist figures in the moral life of European nationalists today.

Ägyptologen im Dritten Reich: Biographische Notizen anhand der sogenannten „Steindorff-Liste“

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 120-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Schneider
Keyword(s):  
National Socialism ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Second World War ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
The Third ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
John Wilson ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Second World

Abstract The history of Egyptology in the Third Reich has never been the subject of academic analysis. This article gives a detailed overview of the biographies of Egyptologists in National Socialist Germany and their later careers after the Second World War. It scrutinizes their attitude towards the ideology of the Third Reich and their involvement in the political and intellectual Gleichschaltung of German Higher Education, as well as the impact National Socialism had on the discourse within the discipline. A letter written in 1946 by Georg Steindorff, one of the emigrated German Egyptologists, to John Wilson, Professor at the Oriental Institute Chicago, which incriminated former colleagues and exonerated others, is first published here and used as a framework for the debate.

Von der 'Polizei der Demokratie' zum 'Glied und Werkzeug der nationalsozialistischen Gemeinschaft'

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Vera
Keyword(s):  
Weimar Republic ◽  
National Socialism ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Police Force ◽  
Role Function ◽  
The Third ◽  
Highly Effective ◽  
State Authority ◽  
Effective Instrument ◽  
The Third Reich

Interwar Germany represents a highly interesting period from the perspective of police history. This book focuses on the German police force as an instrument of state authority and analyses its role, function and importance in interwar Germany based on the articles published between 1918 and 1939 in the journal ‘Die Polizei’. It reveals that the failure of the Weimar police as an instrument of state authority contributed significantly to the rise of National Socialism and the destruction of the Weimar Republic. After the Nazi takeover, the German police rapidly became a loyal and highly effective instrument of rule for the regime. Hence, the German police in the Third Reich blatantly failed in moral terms, but not as an instrument of state authority.

Performing the Nation: Sports, Spectacles, and Aesthetics in Germany, 1926–1936

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 616-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine Rossol
Keyword(s):  
Weimar Republic ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Nazi Party ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
The Third ◽  
Political Aesthetics ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Set Up

National Socialist propaganda has created an aesthetic legacy that is difficult to shake off. Filmic images of well-trained athletes preparing for the Berlin Olympics or mass scenes from Nazi Party rallies have become familiar features in history documentaries. While many of us lack personal memories of the Third Reich, we think we know what Nazism looked like. In addition, Walter Benjamin's concept stressing the use of aesthetics in politics has become commonplace in interpretations of Nazi representation. “Gesamtkunstwerkof political aesthetics” or “formative aesthetics” are terms used to analyze festivities and spectacles in the Third Reich, suggesting that the Nazis developed a specific style with a focus on aesthetics, symbols, and festive set-up. This allegedly distinctive Nazi style is emphasized even more by contrasting it favorably with celebrations of the Weimar Republic. Once again, the German republican experience is placed in “the antechamber of the Third Reich.”

scholarly journals Morality and Language of National Socialism

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-99
Author(s):  
Andreas Buller ◽  
Keyword(s):  
National Socialism ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Public Language ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Socialist Morality ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Relationship Of

This article presents an analysis of the diaries of the well-known German philologist of Jew­ish origin Victor Klemperer, who kept them in the Third Reich. From the perspective of these diaries, the author of the article examines the three central problems of the totalitarian language: the problem of its genesis and dissemination, the problem of the relationship of language with the ideology and morality of Nazi society, and, finally, the problem of per­sonal responsibility, especially the responsibility of public persons for the public language. Klemperer asks himself a question that we must ask ourselves as well: how can the language of a minor extremist (racist, religious, revolutionary) minority become the language of the majority? Furthermore, under what conditions does this linguistic change happen? Under what conditions does the totalitarian language emerge and spread? The danger of the totalitarian language is that it creates a seemingly legitimate basis to exclude a particular group or even specific groups from the society, thereby turning certain people into outsiders. The totalitarian language allows people to draw, mark and select. But behind this linguistic selection there is always a certain morality that implies concrete moral convictions and ethi­cal ideas. And so it was with the morality of National Socialism. The National Socialist morality was characterized by the spirit of racism and anti-Semitism, which manifested it­self primarily in the language of National Socialism. For this reason, we need to study the National Socialist language. But it also presupposes the study of National Socialist morality. This morality appears from time to time in the modern German language, esp. in the language of modern German extremists and racists. It poses a great danger to our soci­ety. In this respect, the study of the language of extremism can help us a lot, not only in or­der to recognize the close relationship between language and morality, but also possibly to avoid social catastrophes.

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.

The One Hundred Days

2021 ◽  
pp. 336-356
Author(s):  
Peter Fritzsche
Keyword(s):  
New Deal ◽  
Weimar Republic ◽  
National Socialism ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
The Third ◽  
Great Achievement ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
The One ◽  
The New Deal

This chapter studies how the transformations which occurred in less than “one hundred days” in Germany evoked the original template for the one hundred days: Napoleon Bonaparte's return from Elba and the reestablishment of the empire until his abdication in the wake of Waterloo in 1815. Each of the hundred days—Napoleon's, Franklin D. Roosevelt's, and Adolf Hitler's—recharged history. The one hundred days consolidating the New Deal and the Nazi seizure of power gave new shape to the future in the extraordinary year of 1933. Ultimately, the great achievement of the Third Reich was getting Germans to see themselves as the Nazis did: as an imperiled people who had created for themselves a new lease on collective life. Not everyone agreed with the Nazis on every point, but most adjusted to National Socialism by interpreting it in their own way, adhering to old ideas by pursuing them in new forms. As a result, more and more Germans had accepted the Third Reich. This reassembly closed off any consideration of returning to the democratic governments of the Weimar Republic; it was neither recognized as a possibility nor desired.

„Denn mit dem Pogrom war ich und werde gewesen sein“

2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tilman Venzl
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
Weimar Republic ◽  
National Socialism ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Postwar Period ◽  
Politics Of Memory ◽  
German Politics ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Transitional Time

Abstract:Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition is juxtaposed to Lotte Paepcke’s descriptions of the disrespect for Jews in Germany from the Weimar Republic, through the Third Reich, to the Federal Republic. While Paepcke’s depiction of the transitional time to National Socialism can be well understood in terms of Honneth’s theory as a continuous erosion of the various spheres of recognition, the theory is not fully adequate to describe her position on the German politics of memory of the postwar period. Paepcke is convinced that a renewed recognition of Jews in Germany after the Shoah can only be obtained by a broad acceptance of the concept of ‘negative symbiosis’ (Dan Diner), both publicly and individually.

Secret suffering: the victims of compulsory sterilization during National Socialism

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 483-487
Author(s):  
Stefanie Westermann
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
National Socialism ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Human Reproduction ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
The Third ◽  
Compulsory Sterilization ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Genetically Determined ◽  
The 19Th Century

From the second half of the 19th century, eugenics claimed the medical and social need to intervene in human reproduction. During National Socialism, 300,000–400,000 people in Germany were subjected to compulsory sterilization because they had psychological diseases, impairments and social behavioural problems, which were regarded as genetically determined. After the end of the Third Reich, these interventions were not recognized as National Socialist injustice, and the victims were initially excluded from ‘compensation’. As shown in letters and interviews, the victims of compulsory sterilization suffered physically and psychologically throughout their lives. In particular, feelings of social ‘inferiority’, and of shame and suffering from compulsory childlessness and broken relationships, are found in many of the sources examined.

scholarly journals THE AMBIVALENCE OF MODERNISM FROM THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC TO NATIONAL SOCIALISM AND RED VIENNA

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 223-234
Author(s):  
SIEGFRIED MATTL
Keyword(s):  
National Socialism ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
Artistic Style ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Critical Studies ◽  
The Third ◽  
Art Policy ◽  
Jazz Music ◽  
The Third Reich

Focusing on the spectacular propaganda exhibitions “Degenerate Art” and “Degenerate Music,” critical studies of Nazism's art policy long considered the regime's public attack on modernism and the turn to pseudo-classicism as decisive proof of Nazism's reactionary character. Studies such as Die Kunst im Dritten Reich (1974), which inspired broader research on the topic in the early 1970s, subscribed to a modern conception of aesthetics in which art expresses complex systems of ideas in progress. Artistic style, from this perspective, corresponded to political tendencies and reflected the traditional divide between conservatism and progressivism. But those boundaries have become blurred in the wake of more recent research, which has demonstrated the involvement of modernist artists in Nazi art (e.g. members of the Bauhaus involved in National Socialist architecture or avant-garde filmmakers such as Walter Ruttmann in National Socialist propaganda films) and, conversely, the continual performance of popular jazz music in the Third Reich (e.g. in radio programmes). Seen against such instances of modernist collaboration and its own occasional mimicry of modernism, National Socialism acquires a more ambivalent profile, characterized by the ongoing conflict between reactionary factions and those who favoured modernization for various reasons.

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