Seduction and Terror: Hitler's Germany Instructor
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Revisiting Zero Hour 1945
REVISITING ZERO-HOUR 1945 THE EMERGENCE OF POSTWAR GERMAN CULTURE edited by STEPHEN BROCKMANN FRANK TROMMLER VOLUME 1 American Institute for Contemporary German Studies The Johns Hopkins University REVISITING ZERO-HOUR 1945 THE EMERGENCE OF POSTWAR GERMAN CULTURE edited by STEPHEN BROCKMANN FRANK TROMMLER HUMANITIES PROGRAM REPORT VOLUME 1 The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) alone. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies. ©1996 by the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies ISBN 0-941441-15-1 This Humanities Program Volume is made possible by the Harry & Helen Gray Humanities Program. Additional copies are available for $5.00 to cover postage and handling from the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, Suite 420, 1400 16th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036-2217. Telephone 202/332-9312, Fax 202/265- 9531, E-mail: [email protected] Web: http://www.aicgs.org ii F O R E W O R D Since its inception, AICGS has incorporated the study of German literature and culture as a part of its mandate to help provide a comprehensive understanding of contemporary Germany. The nature of Germany’s past and present requires nothing less than an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of German society and culture. Within its research and public affairs programs, the analysis of Germany’s intellectual and cultural traditions and debates has always been central to the Institute’s work. At the time the Berlin Wall was about to fall, the Institute was awarded a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to help create an endowment for its humanities programs. -
The Failed Post-War Experiment: How Contemporary Scholars Address the Impact of Allied Denazification on Post-World War Ii Germany
John Carroll University Carroll Collected Masters Essays Master's Theses and Essays 2019 THE FAILED POST-WAR EXPERIMENT: HOW CONTEMPORARY SCHOLARS ADDRESS THE IMPACT OF ALLIED DENAZIFICATION ON POST-WORLD WAR II GERMANY Alicia Mayer Follow this and additional works at: https://collected.jcu.edu/mastersessays Part of the History Commons THE FAILED POST-WAR EXPERIMENT: HOW CONTEMPORARY SCHOLARS ADDRESS THE IMPACT OF ALLIED DENAZIFICATION ON POST-WORLD WAR II GERMANY An Essay Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts & Sciences of John Carroll University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts By Alicia Mayer 2020 As the tide changed during World War II in the European theater from favoring an Axis victory to an Allied one, the British, American, and Soviet governments created a plan to purge Germany of its Nazi ideology. Furthermore, the Allies agreed to reconstruct Germany so a regime like the Nazis could never come to power again. The Allied Powers met at three major summits at Teheran (November 28-December 1,1943), Yalta (February 4-11, 1945), and Potsdam (July 17-August 2, 1945) to discuss the occupation period and reconstruction of all aspects of German society. The policy of denazification was agreed upon by the Big Three, but due to their political differences, denazification took different forms in each occupation zone. Within all four Allied zones, there was a balancing act between denazification and the urgency to help a war-stricken population in Germany. This literature review focuses specifically on how scholars conceptualize the policy of denazification and its legacy on German society. -
III. Zentralismus, Partikulare Kräfte Und Regionale Identitäten Im NS-Staat Michael Ruck Zentralismus Und Regionalgewalten Im Herrschaftsgefüge Des NS-Staates
III. Zentralismus, partikulare Kräfte und regionale Identitäten im NS-Staat Michael Ruck Zentralismus und Regionalgewalten im Herrschaftsgefüge des NS-Staates /. „Der nationalsozialistische Staat entwickelte sich zu einem gesetzlichen Zentralismus und zu einem praktischen Partikularismus."1 In dürren Worten brachte Alfred Rosen- berg, der selbsternannte Chefideologe des „Dritten Reiches", die institutionellen Unzu- länglichkeiten totalitärer Machtaspirationen nach dem „Zusammenbruch" auf den Punkt. Doch öffnete keineswegs erst die Meditation des gescheiterten „Reichsministers für die besetzten Ostgebiete"2 in seiner Nürnberger Gefängniszelle den Blick auf die vielfältigen Diskrepanzen zwischen zentralistischem Herrschafts<*«s/>r«c/> und fragmen- tierter Herrschaftspraus im polykratischen „Machtgefüge" des NS-Regimes3. Bis in des- sen höchste Ränge hinein hatte sich diese Erkenntnis je länger desto mehr Bahn gebro- chen. So beklagte der Reichsminister und Chef der Reichskanzlei Hans-Heinrich Lammers, Spitzenrepräsentant der administrativen Funktionseliten im engsten Umfeld des „Füh- rers", zu Beginn der vierziger Jahre die fortschreitende Aufsplitterung der Reichsver- waltung in eine Unzahl alter und neuer Behörden, deren unklare Kompetenzen ein ge- ordnetes, an Rationalitäts- und Effizienzkriterien orientiertes Verwaltungshandeln zuse- hends erschwerten4. Der tiefgreifenden Frustration, welche sich der Ministerialbürokra- tie ob dieser Zustände bemächtigte, hatte Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenburg schon 1 Alfred Rosenberg, Letzte Aufzeichnungen. Ideale und Idole der nationalsozialistischen Revo- lution, Göttingen 1955, S.260; Hervorhebungen im Original. Vgl. dazu Dieter Rebentisch, Führer- staat und Verwaltung im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Verfassungsentwicklung und Verwaltungspolitik 1939-1945, Stuttgart 1989, S.262; ders., Verfassungswandel und Verwaltungsstaat vor und nach der nationalsozialistischen Machtergreifung, in: Jürgen Heideking u. a. (Hrsg.), Wege in die Zeitge- schichte. Festschrift zum 65. Geburtstag von Gerhard Schulz, Berlin/New York 1989, S. -
Stunde Null: the End and the Beginning Fifty Years Ago." Their Contributions Are Presented in This Booklet
STUNDE NULL: The End and the Beginning Fifty Years Ago Occasional Paper No. 20 Edited by Geoffrey J. Giles GERMAN HISTORICAL INSTITUTE WASHINGTON, D.C. STUNDE NULL The End and the Beginning Fifty Years Ago Edited by Geoffrey J. Giles Occasional Paper No. 20 Series editors: Detlef Junker Petra Marquardt-Bigman Janine S. Micunek © 1997. All rights reserved. GERMAN HISTORICAL INSTITUTE 1607 New Hampshire Ave., NW Washington, DC 20009 Tel. (202) 387–3355 Contents Introduction 5 Geoffrey J. Giles 1945 and the Continuities of German History: 9 Reflections on Memory, Historiography, and Politics Konrad H. Jarausch Stunde Null in German Politics? 25 Confessional Culture, Realpolitik, and the Organization of Christian Democracy Maria D. Mitchell American Sociology and German 39 Re-education after World War II Uta Gerhardt German Literature, Year Zero: 59 Writers and Politics, 1945–1953 Stephen Brockmann Stunde Null der Frauen? 75 Renegotiating Women‘s Place in Postwar Germany Maria Höhn The New City: German Urban 89 Planning and the Zero Hour Jeffry M. Diefendorf Stunde Null at the Ground Level: 105 1945 as a Social and Political Ausgangspunkt in Three Cities in the U.S. Zone of Occupation Rebecca Boehling Introduction Half a century after the collapse of National Socialism, many historians are now taking stock of the difficult transition that faced Germans in 1945. The Friends of the German Historical Institute in Washington chose that momentous year as the focus of their 1995 annual symposium, assembling a number of scholars to discuss the topic "Stunde Null: The End and the Beginning Fifty Years Ago." Their contributions are presented in this booklet. -
German Transitions in the French Occupation Zone, 1945
Forgotten and Unfulfilled: German Transitions in the French Occupation Zone, 1945- 1949 A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Guy B. Aldridge May 2015 © 2015 Guy B. Aldridge. All Rights Reserved. 2 This thesis titled Forgotten and Unfulfilled: German Transitions in the French Occupation Zone, 1945- 1949 by GUY B. ALDRIDGE has been approved for the Department of History and the College of Arts and Sciences by Mirna Zakic Assistant Professor of History Robert Frank Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 3 Abstract ALDRIDGE, GUY B., M.A., May 2015, History Forgotten and Unfulfilled: German Transitions in the French Occupation Zone, 1945- 1949 Director of Thesis: Mirna Zakic This thesis examines how local newspapers in the French Occupation Zone of Germany between 1945 and 1949 reflected social change. The words of the press show that, starting in 1945, the Christian narrative was the lens through which ‘average’ Germans conceived of their past and present, understanding the Nazi era as well as war guilt in religious terms. These local newspapers indicate that their respective communities made an early attempt to ‘come to terms with the past.’ This phenomenon is explained by the destruction of World War II, varying Allied approaches to German reconstruction, and unique social conditions in the French Zone. The decline of ardent religiosity in German society between 1945 and 1949 was due mostly to increasing Cold War tensions as well as the return of stability and normality. -
American Experimental Music in West Germany from the Zero Hour To
Beal_Text 12/12/05 5:50 PM Page 8 one The American Occupation and Agents of Reeducation 1945-1950 henry cowell and the office of war information Between the end of World War I and the advent of the Third Reich, many American composers—George Antheil, Marc Blitzstein, Ruth Crawford, Conlon Nancarrow, Roger Sessions, Adolph Weiss, and others (most notably, Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, and Roy Harris, who studied with Nadia Boulanger in France)—contributed to American music’s pres- ence on the European continent. As one of the most adventurous com- posers of his generation, Henry Cowell (1897–1965) toured Europe several times before 1933. Traveling to the continent in early June 1923, Cowell played some of his own works in a concert on the ship, and visiting Germany that fall he performed his new piano works in Berlin, Leipzig, and Munich. His compositions, which pioneered the use of chromatic forearm and fist clusters and inside-the-piano (“string piano”) techniques, were “extremely well received and reviewed in Berlin,” a city that, according to the com- poser, “had heard a little more modern music than Leipzig,” where a hos- tile audience started a fistfight on stage.1 A Leipzig critic gave his review a futuristic slant, comparing Cowell’s music to the noisy grind of modern cities; another simply called it noise. Reporting on Cowell’s Berlin concert, Hugo Leichtentritt considered him “the only American representative of musical modernism.” Many writers praised Cowell’s keyboard talents while questioning the music’s quality.2 Such reviews established the tone 8 Beal_Text 12/12/05 5:50 PM Page 9 for the German reception of unconventional American music—usually performed by the composers themselves—that challenged definitions of western art music as well as stylistic conventions and aesthetic boundaries of taste and technique. -
PSS Holocaust FM
TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword by Stephen Feinstein, Director, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies . .xiii Preface . .xvii Introduction . 1 Chapter 1: Roots of Anti-Semitism . 3 Introduction . .5 1.1 Anti-Semitism from a Christian Religious Leader – 1543 . .9 Excerpt from “On Jews and Their Lies” by Martin Luther 1.2 Arguing the Superiority of the “Aryan” Race – 1853 . .15 Excerpt from The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of Races by Joseph Arthur Comte de Gobineau 1.3 Racist Theory on Aryans and Jews – 1899 . .20 Excerpt from The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century by Houston Stewart Chamberlain 1.4 The Myth of a Jewish Conspiracy – 1903 . .27 Excerpt from Protocols of the Meetings of the Zionist Men of Wisdom Chapter 2: World War I and the Rise of the Nazi Party . 31 Introduction . .33 2.1 The Treaty of Versailles – 1919 . .37 Text of the Treaty of Peace Between the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany 2.2 The Nazis Spell Out Their Political Goals – 1920 . .43 Program of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party 2.3 Social and Economic Upheaval in Postwar Germany – 1920s . .47 Excerpt from The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig v The Holocaust 2.4 Hitler Casts Himself as a Patriot – 1923 . .51 Excerpts from Adolf Hitler’s Trial Address after the Beer Hall Putsch 2.5 Hitler Rages against the Jews – 1923 . .53 Excerpt from Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler 2.6 A Childhood Shadowed by Anti-Semitism – 1920s . .62 Holocaust Survivor Henry Oertelt Remembers the Brown Shirts 2.7 Germany’s “Enabling Law” – 1933 . -
4. the Nazis Take Power
4. The Nazis Take Power Anyone who interprets National Socialism as merely a political movement knows almost nothing about it. It is more than a religion. It is the determination to create the new man. ADOLF HITLER OVERVIEW Within weeks of taking office, Adolf Hitler was altering German life. Within a year, Joseph Goebbels, one of his top aides, could boast: The revolution that we have made is a total revolution. It encompasses every aspect of public life from the bottom up… We have replaced individuality with collective racial consciousness and the individual with the community… We must develop the organizations in which every individual’s entire life will be regulated by the Volk community, as represented by the Party. There is no longer arbitrary will. There are no longer any free realms in which the individual belongs to himself… The time of personal happiness is over.1 How did Hitler do it? How did he destroy the Weimar Republic and replace it with a totalitarian government – one that controls every part of a person’s life? Many people have pointed out that he did not destroy democracy all at once. Instead, he moved gradually, with one seemingly small compromise leading to another and yet another. By the time many were aware of the danger, they were isolated and alone. This chapter details those steps. It also explores why few Germans protested the loss of their freedom and many even applauded the changes the Nazis brought to the nation. Historian Fritz Stern offers one answer. “The great appeal of National Socialism – and perhaps of every totalitarian dictatorship in this century – was the promise of absolute authority. -
Zero Hour Has Come and Gone : Allied Efforts to Alleviate the Ruhr Housing
by Cedric Boiz BA, Simon Fcaser University, 1991 PDJ?., Simon Fraser University, 1993 Thais submitted in partial hlfillment of the requirements for the degree of WIASTER OF ARTS in the Department of History The author has granted an E'auteur a accord6 me licence irrevocable non-exef usiwe licence irrbvocable et non exclusive allowing the National Library of permettant ii la Bibliothiique Canada to reproduce, ban, nationale du Canada de distribute or seil copies of reproduire, pr&x, disiribuer ou his/her thesis by any means and vendre des copies de sa these i_rq any form or form* making de quelque maniere et sous this thesis available to interested queique forme que ce soit pour persons. mettre des exemplaires de cette these a la disposition des personnes int6ressfks. 'The author retains ownership of Cauteur conserve la propriete du the copyright in his/her thesis. droit d'auteur qui prot6ge sa Neither the thesis nor substantial Wse. Ni la Wse ni des extraits extracts from it may be printed or substantieis de cefle-ci ne otherwise reproduced without doivent &re imprim6s ou his/her permission. aubement reproduits sans son autorisation. I hereby .gram to Simon Fraser Unl~crsitythe right lo ft*ntf 1n3 thesis, pm-ect trr extended essay {the title of which is show 1114~1x-) ts users oi the Simon Frasea University Libraq. mcl to rnakr partid or single capies snlv far such users or in rrsponsc to ;I request from the librar). ofmy olher uni\=crsity.or orher educaatianaf insBtuGsn, on its cwn behalf or for one of its uscars. -
At Zero Hour: the Government of Karl Dönitz, with Reflections As Seen in German Literature
AT ZERO HOUR: THE GOVERNMENT OF KARL DÖNITZ, WITH REFLECTIONS AS SEEN IN GERMAN LITERATURE Jonathan Edward Klein A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS May 2006 Committee: Beth Griech-Polelle, Advisor, History Theodore Rippey, Advisor, German Douglas Forsyth Kristie Foell ii ABSTRACT Drs. Beth Griech-Polelle and Theodore Rippey, Advisors With the suicide of Adolf Hitler at the end of April 1945, leadership of the Third Reich was passed, as per Hitler’s Testament, to Karl Dönitz. Dönitz had, up to that point, served as head of the U-boat or submarine fleet, and then as Grand Admiral of the entire German Navy, or Kriegsmarine. Very little analysis has been offered in current literature regarding the impact of the Dönitz government. Indeed, history texts rarely mention it. This thesis set out to do just that, using both historically oriented works and insights as provided by German literature of the period such as Heimkehrerliteratur and Trümmerliteratur. By investigating the works of Dönitz himself and those of various other personalities associated with his government, primary documents of the period, and secondary works on the period as well as the aforementioned literature genres, several conclusions were reached. The activities of the Dönitz government can be broken up into pre-surrender and post- surrender activities. Pre-surrender activities included the negotiations of surrender itself, which insofar as it was conducted in several stages, was not unconditional, as is often claimed. The other major pre-surrender activity was the decision to continue the war in the East while seeking peace with the West to allow evacuation of Germans from East Prussia. -
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson Erik Larson In the Garden of Beasts Summary: The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the New Germany, she has one affair after another, including with the surprisingly honorable first chief of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels. But as evidence of Jewish persecution mounts, confirmed by chilling first-person testimony, her father tele- “It is less graphs his concerns to a largely indifferent State Department back home. Dodd watches with alarm as Jews are important where attacked, the press is censored, and drafts of frightening new laws begin to circulate. As that first year unfolds and the shadows deepen, the Dodds experience days full of excitement, intrigue, romance and ultimately, hor- one lives than ror, when a climactic spasm of violence and murder reveals Hitler's true character and ruthless ambition. how one lives. ” In the Garden of Suffused with the tense atmosphere of the period, and with unforgettable portraits of the bizarre Goring and the the Beasts expectedly charming—yet wholly sinister—Goebbels, In the Garden of Beasts lends a stunning, eyewitness per- spective on events as they unfold in real time, revealing an era of surprising nuance and complexity. -
Richard Wagner's Legacy in Divided Germany
Composing Identity: Richard Wagner’s Legacy in Divided Germany Andrew Markoff A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for honors in International History. Mentor: Professor Anna von der Goltz Georgetown University Washington, DC Table of Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1 I. Richard Wagner ................................................................................................................................. 8 II. Music and Identity ......................................................................................................................... 34 III. Nazi Culture and the Allied Response ...................................................................................... 45 IV. Reconceptualizing Wagner in the GDR ................................................................................... 65 V. “Zero Hour” at Bayreuth: Rehabilitating Wagner in the Federal Republic of Germany ... 82 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 105 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................................... 109 Appendices ......................................................................................................................................... 117 I authorize the public release