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NAZI CULTURE: INTELLECTUAL, CULTURAL AND SOCIAL LIFE IN THE THIRD REICH |
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Back Cover "For the sanity of the human race it is essential that the record of Hitler's Germany should remain alive and be retold again and again as a warning for the future. Professor Mosse's book helps keep the record alive." -- Saturday Review What was life like under the Third Reich? What went on between parents and children? What were the prevailing attitudes about sex, morality, religion? How did workers perceive the effects of the New Order in the workplace? What were the cultural currents in art, music, science, education, drama, and on the radio? Professor Mosse's extensive analysis of Nazi culture -- groundbreaking upon its original publication in 1966 -- is now offered to readers of a new generation, selections from newspapers, novellas, plays, and diaries as well as the public pronouncements of Nazi leaders, churchmen, and professors describe National Socialism in practice and explore what it meant for the average German, By recapturing the texture of culture and thought under the Third Reich, Mosse's work still resonates today as an illustration of everyday life in one of history's darkest eras and as a living memory that reminds us never to forget. "Very illuminating." -- Walter Laqueur, New York Times Book Review "A magnificently edited collection." -- Chicago Tribune "A full picture of the scope and methods of the anti-cultural vandalism of the Nazis." -- Christian Science Monitor George L. Mosse (1919-1999) was the John C. Bascom Professor of European History and the Weinstein-Bascom Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was also the Koebner Professor of History at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and was selected to be the first scholar-in-residence at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. He had also taught at the University of Iowa, Cornell University, Cambridge university, and Tel Aviv University. He was the author of more than two dozen books, including The Crisis of German Ideology, Nationalism and Sexuality, Toward the Final Solution, and his memoir, Confronting History. George L. Mosse Series in Modern European cultural and Intellectual History Steven E. Aschheim, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Annette Becker, Universiti Paris X-Nanterre Christopher Browning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Natalie Zemon Davis, University of Toronto Saul Friedlander, University of California, Los Angeles Emilio Gentile, Universitii di Roma "La Sapienza" Gert Hekma, University of Amsterdam Stanley G. Payne, University of Wisconsin-Madison Anson Rabinbach, Princeton University David J. Sorkin, University of Wisconsin-Madison John S. Tortorice, University of Wisconsin-Madison Joan Wallach Scott, Institute for Advanced Study Jay Winter, Princeton University I would like to express my special gratitude to Howard Fertig, who first suggested the making of this book and who as a sympathetic and understanding editor did much to further its completion. Jack Lynch proved to be a superb copy editor. Michael Ledeen helped with the research and the finding of documents. Burton Pines aided in reading the proofs. To all of these friends and colleagues I owe a debt of gratitude. Many of the documents and all of the illustrations were procured in the Wiener Library, London; in addition, that library's collection of newspaper clippings proved to be a treasure trove. The excellent National Socialist collection of the University of Wisconsin Library was also of great use in selecting the documents reproduced in this book. In all cases, the librarians concerned were helpful beyond the call of duty. This book deals with Nazi culture itself; those who want a closer look at the historical background which produced this culture are referred to my book The Crisis of German Ideology: Intellectual Origins of the Third Reich (Schocken Books). Finally, it seems most fitting to dedicate this book not to anyone individual but to all men of good will who are ready to learn a lesson for the present from the history of the past. G.L.M. None of the footnotes in this book were part of the original documents; all have been supplied by the editor. Also, in most cases, the editor is responsible for the titles of the various selections.
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