Description
Book Synopsis 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.
Trade Review “These detailed, readable essays offer valuable evidence of how particular actors made the Nazi takeover possible, whether through active choice or passive behavior…This volume shows the combination of bad faith, naiveté, and outright moral hollowness that prevailed between 1932 and 1934, offering lessons about Germany’s past that remain relevant to our current political moment.” • Central European History
“The editors have brought together a dozen contributions that are concise as well as gratifyingly homogenous and succeed in offering various corrections to a fairly well-known historical terrain.” • Historische Zeitschrift
“The issues that the volume raises are not new…However, the essays offer valuable new perspectives on longstanding questions. The editors have written very helpful introductory and concluding essays which both provide an overview as well as suggesting future avenues of historical inquiry…This review cannot do justice to the high level of research and analysis which characterizes the scholarship in this volume. The essays provide an outstanding overview of new scholarship on the Nazi seizure of power and the early years of the Nazi dictatorship. From Weimar to Hitler should be of great interest to any scholar working in the field of modern German history.” • German History
“This excellent, accessible volume will be of great interest to scholars and informed readers looking to gain new insight into the topic of Hitler’s seizure and consolidation of power.” • Barry Jackisch, University of Saint Francis
Table of Contents List of Abbreviations
Introduction: The Nazi Seizure of Power in Historical and Historiographical Perspective
Hermann Beck and Larry Eugene Jones
Chapter 1. Taming the Nazi Beast: Kurt von Schleicher and the End of the Weimar Republic
Larry Eugene Jones
Chapter 2. Ausnahmezustand, Staatsnotstandsplan, and Ermächtigungsgesetz: Reappraising Carl Schmitt’s Political Constitutionalism and the Demise of Weimar
Joseph W. Bendersky
Chapter 3. Ludwig Kaas and the End of the German Center Party
Martin Menke
Chapter 4. The Nazi Seizure of Power in Bavaria and the Demise of the Bavarian People’s Party
Winfried Becker
Chapter 5. German Big Business and the Nazi Revolution, 1933–34
Peter Hayes
Chapter 6. Violence against ‘Ostjuden’ in the Spring of 1933 and the Reaction of German Authorities
Hermann Beck
Chapter 7. The SA in the Gleichschaltung: The Context of Power and Violence
Bruce B. Campbell
Chapter 8. Nationalist Socialism against National Socialism?: Perceptions of Nazism and Anti-Nazi Strategies in the Circle of the Neue Blätter für den Sozialismus, 1930–34
Stefan Vogt
Chapter 9. Nationalism, Socialism, and Organized Labor’s Response to the Dissolution of the Weimar Republic
William L. Patch, Jr.
Chapter 10. From Collegiality to the Führerprinzip: The 1933 Introduction of the Episcopacy in the Hamburg Landeskirche
Rainer Hering
Chapter 11. Friedrich von Bodelschwingh and the Protestant Appeasement of the Nazi Regime, 1933–34
Edward Snyder
Chapter 12. In Search of Allies: Catholic Conservatives, the Alliance of Catholic Germans, and the Nazi Regime, 1933–34
Larry Eugene Jones and Kevin P. Spicer
Chapter 13. German Youth between Euphoria and Resistance: Political Coercion and the Coordination of German Youth
André Postert
Chapter 14. “German Youth, Your Leader!”: How National Socialism Entered Elementary Schools in 1933
Katharine Kennedy
Conclusion: Reaffirming the Value of Political History
Hermann Beck and Larry Eugene Jones
Index
