The book explores the rise of antisemitic violence in Germany leading up to the Holocaust, highlighting the various forms of aggression faced by the Jewish community. It delves into the responses of German institutions and elites, many of whom had the ability to oppose the Nazi regime but opted for silence instead. Hermann Beck provides a critical analysis of this complicity and the societal dynamics that allowed such violence to escalate unchecked.
On 30 January 1933, Alfred Hugenberg's conservative German National People's Party (DNVP) formed a coalition government with the Nazi Party, thus enabling Hitler to accede to the chancellorship. This book analyzes in detail the complicated relationship between Conservatives and Nazis and offers a re-interpretation of the Nazi seizure of power - the decisive months between 30 January and 14 July 1933. The Machtergreifung is characterized here as a period of all-pervasive violence and lawlessness with incessant conflicts between Nazis and German Nationals and Nazi attacks on the conservative Bürgertum , a far cry from the traditional depiction of the takeover as a relatively bloodless, virtually sterile assumption of power by one vast impersonal apparatus wresting control from another. The author scrutinizes the revolutionary character of the Nazi seizure of power, the Nazis' attacks on the conservative Bürgertum and its values, and National Socialism's co-optation of conservative symbols of state power to serve radically new goals, while addressing the issue of why the DNVP was complicit in this and paradoxically participated in eroding the foundations of its very own principles and bases of support.
The book delves into the complex dynamics between the conservative German National People's Party and the Nazis during the critical months leading to Hitler's rise to power. It presents a re-interpretation of the Machtergreifung, emphasizing the pervasive violence and conflict that characterized this period, contrasting with the traditional view of a smooth transition of power. The author examines the revolutionary nature of the Nazis' actions, their attacks on conservative values, and the paradox of the DNVP's complicity in undermining its own principles while aligning with National Socialism's radical agenda.
Prussia's social and political structure, institutions, and values were in many ways formative for German history after 1871. After unification Prussia accounted for roughly two-thirds of the empire's size and population, but its weight within Germany was even greater because Prussia in large part molded the German identity and shaped Germany's image abroad.The Origins of the Authoritarian Welfare State in Prussia examines this Prussian/German identity. It investigates the complex traditions of ideas, institutions, and social policy measures that lay at the root of the conservative Prussian welfare state. The examination of the ideas and policies of Prussian officials brings out a peculiar welfare state mentality of benevolence and patriarchal concern, pervaded by authoritarian streaks, that was unique in nineteenth-century Europe. In addition, the study analyzes the historiographical implications of the question of continuity and discontinuity in German history.The Origins of the Authoritarian Welfare State in Prussia is of interest to scholars and students of German history as well as to students of governmental social policy and of the workings of a welfare state.Hermann Beck is Associate Professor of History, University of Miami.
Though often depicted as a rapid political transformation, the Nazi seizure of power was in fact a process that extended from the appointment of the Papen cabinet in the early summer of 1932 through the Röhm blood purge two years later. Across fourteen rigorous and carefully researched chapters, From Weimar to Hitler offers a compelling collective investigation of this critical period in modern German history. Each case study presents new empirical research on the crisis of Weimar democracy, the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship, and Hitler’s consolidation of power. Together, they provide multiple perspectives on the extent to which the triumph of Nazism was historically predetermined or the product of human miscalculation and intent.
Der Nachdruck des Originals von 1901 bietet einen authentischen Einblick in die damalige Zeit und deren literarische Strömungen. Die Leser können sich auf eine Wiederentdeckung von Themen und Stilmitteln freuen, die für die Epoche charakteristisch sind. Diese Ausgabe ermöglicht es, die historischen Kontexte und kulturellen Einflüsse nachzuvollziehen, die das Werk geprägt haben. Ideal für Literaturinteressierte, die die Wurzeln moderner Erzählkunst erkunden möchten.
