. Wildt is one of the most important historians of Nazism. This book, probably his most important so far though the others are, too, is about the 300 or so young men (only one woman among them) who formed the single most important group you've never heard of: the people who made Nazism into what it was.Soon after the book was published in German I wrote a longish review of it for Yad Vashem Studies, an important journal even if I'm biased in saying so. Apparently I wrote the review in Hebrew (YVS is bi-lingual), so the English review is a translation. Still, it's 14 pages, not 592, so if I can't talk you into reading Wildt's book you might be interested in my summary of it. (The top of the first page is in Hebrew but the article is in English).
13 comments:
Ya'acov,
Your link is broken. If you can fix it, you have our gratitude.
I fully agree. I had read both the Best biography and the Wildt book immediately when they were published and consider them as a couple to be the most "explaining" books about the inner nature of the Nazi elites. I'm fed up with any whisper about the "demonic" Adolf - these were the men who organized and led the Einsatzgruppen.
There's just one point where I have a doubt: I remember the case of Erwin Schulz as a mass murderer who nevertheless drew a red line: to kill women and children. That proves for me that these men like all COULD AND DID TAKE DECISIONS.
In this context I recommend "Jugend ohne Gott" ("youth without god") by Ödön von Horvath. Although this book deals with the psychology of the Hitlerjugend it is an interesting, yet terrifying read.
Regards, André
Wildt´d book in very good. There are a few typos but overall seems to be a good translation. I am almost to the end of it, in one of the most depressing parts of the book which describes how many murderers escaped justice, even some of those thad had a death sentence. All in the name of "political pragmatism" (cold war) and the "Schulsschnitt" mentality (making "tabula rasa" of history and going back to "normality").
Sergio
we locals call it Schlußstrich or SchlussStrich - final line like under a text or in a ledger
also common as the exasperated utterance "einmal muß doch damit Schluss sein" - damit standing for any reference to the 3rd Reich likely to make the perpetrators and their offspring feel any unease or discomfort. and then there is eminent German novelist Martin Walser for now well known to all for very different reasons for his "Auschwitz-Keule"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Walser
Keule is commonly used for the likes of this - clubs would normally translate as Schläger like in BaseBallSchläger http://www.dinotime.de/pictures/urmensch-papo.jpg
I googled Wildt a bit - no wonder y'all like him, he is from the "corner" of the Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung which did the famous or infamous Wehrmachtsausstellung (depending on which side you're on). (there is quite a number of articles by him online so thanks for the recommendation)
Silke
thanks André for the Jugend ohne Gott
it looks like the ideal follow-up once I'll be through Siegfried Krakauer's Die Angestellten the English title of which seems the rather pompous sounding The Salaried Masses
but first for now is Maimonides which has finally arrived today
Silke
Silke,
Sorry for the mangled german. :(
I´ll check the refs you mentioned.
The book is very good, but very depressing. Does anyone knows a good reference about the sham of de-nazification? It seems it began rather strongly and then, as the cold war gained momentum, the whole thing quickly and shamefully decomposed. Many murderers from the RSHA led peaceful and respectable lives. A disgusting shame. This is probably human nature at its worse. People are not ready to conceive of crimes of that magnitude and far away from home.
Sergio
no problem with the mangled German, I just thought the right one might be better for googling;-)
the takes most convincing to me on it stem from Sebastian Haffner in articles but there is likely to be also a book (his story of a German about his experience in pre-war Germany is very worth a look, he went to England because he was unwilling to part from his fiancee) and Fredrick Forsyth in the Odessa File
roughly speaking
the first "misstep" was to talk of common guilt (Gesamtschuld) thus creating a solidarity of "minor" haters and doers with the big ones, if they lump us together with them then we might as well stand by them (I think they are creating about the same kind of gut reaction now with insisting on calling East-Germany an Unrechtsstaat - state of unjustice which is perfectly correct of course but eminently unsuitable to drive a wedge between the go-along-with-its and the real doers)
second is the terrible fact that is maybe best illustrated by the fact that Hitler loved his dog i.e. even the most incredible monsters tend to have kind sides which people have experienced and which makes it hard to believe that they have been such monsters. I'm sure you know how Albert Speer managed to fool them at Nuremberg and his son who is an eminent architect in his own right said after there was a TV-movie linking his father without a doubt to Mittelbau Dora and similar stuff that his father can't have known "it". And there are all those stories of after the war well-liked doctors ...
I think if you combine the two and the allies getting more interested in turning Germany into a loyal battle field should the USSR go rogue you have an outline of the story. Needless to say I don't like neither Haffner nor Forsyth blaming the US (it's too much wise after the fact for my taste) but other than that their telling synchs with what I remember.
Silke
Silke,
I have to be more precise on Ödön von Horvaths book "Jugend ohne Gott".
It is written from the perspective of a teacher in Nazi Germany. He despises the nazi ideology. The description of the effects of this ideology on his pupils is truly terrifying. No wonder it was forbidden by the Gestapo.
"The Wave" by Morton Rhue and "Black Box" by Mario Giordano give more insight on psychological aspects of facism/totalitarian structures.
Regards, André
André
thanks but Horvath is what I want to get into
I've once read with unsurpassable horror a collection of eminent German writers about their time in school during "it"
- none of the Aryans in the book even in the late 70s or maybe even the 80s when I think the book was written reflected in any way on how it could have been that he "didn't notice anything" i.e. the horror is in what is not in the book and besides that I've always wanted to have a closer look at Horvath.
The more I read you guys on the books you read and what interests you the more I realise what a difference it makes for me that the people I grew up with were the perpetrators, so whenever I chose to dig I know all kinds of things about what made them tick first hand (not that I chose to dig often, I'm not masochistically inclined)
Silke
Silke
well, I am german.
Among many other things, I'm always interested in what makes people tick the way they do.
The Holocaust is a bloody and terrible legacy indeed. No german can deny the human and historical responsibility. There is an obligation to never forget.
This has nothing to do with masochism.
If you do not know the dark abyss of human nature, do you really understand the true meaning of good and evil? If you do not know history, how do you prevent history from repeating itself?
To stay with Ödön von Horvath, I happen to know "fishes". Highly intelligent people without a single spark of empathy for others. One is a successful manager. On a personal level they just give me the creeps.
Regards, André
André
I try as much as possible to take my stances based on the here and now
- and in the here and now Israel is at war and is threatened by the same mindset (fortified by weaponry) that wants me to wear a burqa. So Israel and my personal well-being are on the same side and closely linked i.e. if the "west" blinks related to Israel it will give the scowling minority of "our" muslims more than a bit of a leg up.
Of course there is also the point that I consider it for a German, any German, extremely bad manners to say anything against Israel. Whoever has a German passport and can't resist the urge to criticize has to have his mouth washed with something a lot less benevolent than soap, but then my ideal of good manners is to be found in Jane Austen's Emma as preached by Mr. Knightley.
Other than that I am really glad to meet another ol' European around here ;-)
Silke
Silke
First of all I'm human, then a happy father, a moral man (I'm constantly working on this!)and a german democrat. Everything else is not essential.
Agreed, Israel is at war since 62 years.
Dan Schueftan got it right. The democracies should stand together and not ask the rest. The arab world would needs a scapegoat for all their shortcomings. 1. Israel, 2. USA and then us.
For me its obvious that democracies share a lot more than economic or strategic interests. They are natural allies. All those people, who wish the Western World to hell, are trying very hard to ignore that a lot of other people do appreciate the western accomplishments: values, freedom, democracy, etc. Eventually they'll learn.
Yeah, it's good to see some fellow people from europe. :)
Regards, André
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