Hitler And Hitlerism

The Atlantic Monthly V149, No. 3, March, 1932.

Why was Hitler able to obtain and hold the dictatorship in Germany? What are the real thoughts of this German people which has puzzled the world so frequently? In answer to these vital questions, Leonhard Guenther (pseud.), a native-born German doctor of philosophy and jurisprudence who emigrated to America for permanent residence, presents in A German Ace Tells Why. It contains the authentic diary entries (May 22, 1915 - September 3, 1939) of a high-ranking officer of the German Luftwaffe, who, at the time of first publication in 1942 was still in Germany. The original diary has been condensed and the author’s own experiences have been added. The picture thus obtained shows both the articulate and subconscious sentiments of the typical German of the better class. “This brief but eloquent chronicle of the development of political thinking in the mind of a typical educated German during the period between the First World War and the attack by Germany upon Poland seems to me of great value to every thoughtful American. [...] The author, an ardent lover of American democracy, gives us a picture of Germany that should become a significant element in American thinking about the new order which must follow the victory of the democracies.”—FREDERICK MAY ELIOT, Foreword

Originally published in 1941, the blurb read: "The aim of this work is to state and understand the psychological dynamics of the present conflict. The author is a medical psychologist who has had unusual opportunities for studying German mentality. He characterizes the condition of Germany as one of dæmonic possession and Hitler as the primitive medicine-man who gained a magical ascendency by playing the role of medium to the German unconscious. He analyses the fundamental instability of the collective German psychology and relates this to the dæmonic outbreak. The ambiguous personality of the Führer is seen as the indispensable symbol of a deeply divided nation striving for unity. Whereas the pagan-Christian conflict in the soul of Christendom is urging individual consciousness to a new statement of human values, it has produced in the soul of Germany a state of collective intoxication which is the negation of individuality. This book is the first serious attempt to depict the invisible underground causes of the European catastrophe and to state the issue in terms of epochal transition. It was German violence which started the conflagration, but the fires of anti-Christian revolt have long been smouldering in the general unconscious. Material of a varied kind, gathered from German myth and legend and from a number of contemporary witnesses has been pieced together into a comprehensive psychological survey, embracing both the personal and the impersonal aspects of the German scene. Hitler is discussed as personality, as symbol, and as a disease. The influence of the Wagnerian German myth upon Hitler's inflammable imagination is discussed and the basic ideas of Hitlerism are traced to their source. This is the attempt of psychology to elucidate the irrational and unintelligible elements in the present chaos."

How American race law provided a blueprint for Nazi Germany Nazism triumphed in Germany during the high era of Jim Crow laws in the United States. Did the American regime of racial oppression in any way inspire the Nazis? The unsettling answer is yes. In Hitler's American Model, James Whitman presents a detailed investigation of the American impact on the notorious Nuremberg Laws, the centerpiece anti-Jewish legislation of the Nazi regime. Contrary to those who have insisted that there was no meaningful connection between American and German racial repression, Whitman demonstrates that the Nazis took a real, sustained, significant, and revealing interest in American race policies. As Whitman shows, the Nuremberg Laws were crafted in an atmosphere of considerable attention to the precedents American race laws had to offer. German praise for American practices, already found in Hitler's Mein Kampf, was continuous throughout the early 1930s, and the most radical Nazi lawyers were eager advocates of the use of American models. But while Jim Crow segregation was one aspect of American law that appealed to Nazi radicals, it was not the most consequential one. Rather, both American citizenship and antimiscegenation laws proved directly relevant to the two principal Nuremberg Laws—the Citizenship Law and the Blood Law. Whitman looks at the ultimate, ugly irony that when Nazis rejected American practices, it was sometimes not because they found them too enlightened, but too harsh. Indelibly linking American race laws to the shaping of Nazi policies in Germany, Hitler's American Model upends understandings of America's influence on racist practices in the wider world.

“Hitlerland is a bit of a guilty pleasure. Reading about the Nazis is not supposed to be fun, but Nagorski manages to make it so. Readers new to this story will find it fascinating” (The Washington Post). Hitler’s rise to power, Germany’s march to the abyss, as seen through the eyes of Americans—diplomats, military officers, journalists, expats, visiting authors, Olympic athletes—who watched horrified and up close. “Engaging if chilling…a broader look at Americans who had a ringside seat to Hitler’s rise” (USA TODAY), Hitlerland offers a gripping narrative full of surprising twists—and a startlingly fresh perspective on this heavily dissected era.

"The book is a brief yet comprehensive survey of the institution, cultural, and social life of the Third Reich--and Hitler's role in it, the Second World War, and the Holocaust. Based on current research findings, it spans an era of economic, social, and political forces that made possible the rise and growth of Nazism. Coverage includes material on anti-Jewish policies and the involvement of ordinary Germans in the Holocaust, the social composition and membership of the Nazi party and its leaders, the mechanisms of terror and control, the machinery of the Final Solution, and the Jewish view of the Holocaust. An in-depth look at Adolf Hitler, the man and the leader, examines influences on his early development, character traits, oratorical skills, messianic pretensions, and provides an analysis of his ideology based on extensive quotations from his writings and speeches. For anyone trying to get more background into a panoramic view of 20th Century German history. " --

The first book to document Heidegger's close connections to Nazism-now available to a new generation of students