War And The German Mind

A pathbreaking study of the psychic afflictions of German soldiers returning from the Second World War

For 150 years Germany has surpassed many other countries in economic prowess despite devastating wars, political strife, and shrinking territory and natural resources. Why? Perhaps it's because of the psychology and culture of the German people. Wieland shows that simplistic explanations are wrong. The German people are not workaholics, working longer hours than others. Nor is achievement motivation higher among Germans. Several personality syndromes seem very important. Key is conscientiousness: which includes traits of being organized, orderly, systematic, efficient, precise, prompt, meticulous, and frugal. The syndrome of neuroticism also plays a role in German industriousness. Germans have a strong need to avoid uncertainties, and this fosters the rules, planning, systematization, and reliability that are hallmarks of German culture. There is some evidence that personality is primary and determines culture, not vice versa. In addressing the question of origins for German economic prowess, Wieland covers many other questions about the peculiarities of German culture. For example: Can the German emphasis on order and efficiency explain how Germany outperforms other countries economically? Why do Germans seem disagreeable in temperament? Why are punishments rather than rewards often used to control behaviors in Germany? Germans have long had a reputation as thinkers and philosophers. They seem to love information. Do these traits contribute to Germany's economic achievements? Does angst, a severe general anxiety that is a distinctive feature of the German psyche, help or hinder achievement? Could the modern study of epigenetics explain how the repeated traumas of war paradoxically seem to have made Germany even stronger in some ways? Does the American theory of "terror management" help explain Germany's economic success? How might East Germany's forty-five years under Communism contribute an understanding of German economic power? Other peculiarities of German culture: Why do Germans prefer to do one thing at a time rather than multitask? Is the German dislike of uncertainty a factor in economic achievement? Why are many Germans reluctant to smile? Why do they suffer from negativism and hypochondria? Why do Germans love to criticize but also love to take criticisms from others? Why are Germans more pessimistic about the future than people in other countries despite their nation's strong economy? Why are they politically conservative? Why do they suffer from what some call "paralysis by analysis?" And why did the German equivalent of Time magazine once devote forty pages to a history of the bathroom? These and many other unusual aspects of German personality and culture are covered. The German Mind includes an index of terms and pages where located as well as 218 literature references for further reading.

This volume contains the most important contributions by distinguished historians who have thoroughly demolished this Wehrmacht myth. The picture that emerges from this collection is a depressing one and raises many questions about why "ordinary men" got involved as perpetrators and bystanders in an unprecedented program of extermination of "racially inferior" men, women, and children in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union during the Second World War."--Pub. desc.

Throughout the 1930s and early 1940s, approximately ninety thousand German Jews fled their homeland and settled in the United States, prior to that nation closing its borders to Jewish refugees. And even though many of them wanted little to do with Germany, the circumstances of the Second World War and the postwar era meant that engagement of some kind was unavoidable—whether direct or indirect, initiated within the community itself or by political actors and the broader German public. This book carefully traces these entangled histories on both sides of the Atlantic, demonstrating the remarkable extent to which German Jews and their former fellow citizens helped to shape developments from the Allied war effort to the course of West German democratization.

Madman, tyrant, animal—history has given Adolf Hitler many names. In Mein Kampf (My Struggle), often called the Nazi bible, Hitler describes his life, frustrations, ideals, and dreams. Born to an impoverished couple in a small town in Austria, the young Adolf grew up with the fervent desire to become a painter. The death of his parents and outright rejection from art schools in Vienna forced him into underpaid work as a laborer. During the First World War, Hitler served in the infantry and was decorated for bravery. After the war, he became actively involved with socialist political groups and quickly rose to power, establishing himself as Chairman of the National Socialist German Worker's party. In 1924, Hitler led a coalition of nationalist groups in a bid to overthrow the Bavarian government in Munich. The infamous Munich "Beer-hall putsch" was unsuccessful, and Hitler was arrested. During the nine months he was in prison, an embittered and frustrated Hitler dictated a personal manifesto to his loyal follower Rudolph Hess. He vented his sentiments against communism and the Jewish people in this document, which was to become Mein Kampf, the controversial book that is seen as the blue-print for Hitler's political and military campaign. In Mein Kampf, Hitler describes his strategy for rebuilding Germany and conquering Europe. It is a glimpse into the mind of a man who destabilized world peace and pursued the genocide now known as the Holocaust.