A Concise History of the Third Reich (Weimar and Now: German Cultural Criticism) - Hardcover

Benz, Wolfgang

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0520234898 ISBN 13: 9780520234895

Publisher: University of California Press, 2006

Synopsis

This well-illustrated, highly accessible book at last gives general readers and students a compact, yet comprehensive and authoritative history of the twelve years of the Third Reich—from political takeover of January 30, 1933 to the German capitulation of May 1945. Originally published to rave reviews in Germany, A Concise History of the Third Reich describes the establishment of the totalitarian dictatorship, the domestic and foreign politics of the regime, everyday life and terror in National Socialist Germany, the events leading to World War II and the war itself, various forms of resistance against Hitler, and the Holocaust. The book’s extensive illustrations are thoroughly treated as documents that illuminate the visual power of Nazi ideology.

About this title

About the Author

Wolfgang Benz is Professor of History and Director of the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the Technische Universität Berlin. Among his previous books is The Holocaust (1997).

Reviews

Does anyone really need yet another book on Nazi Germany? After the masterworks of Richard Evans's multivolume history and Ian Kershaw's two-volume biography of Hitler, a certain ennui sets in. Benz is a leading German historian, the director of Berlin's Center for Research on Antisemitism. In this book, he sets out to accomplish what he did previously in The Holocaust: provide a concise, authoritative account, this time for the entire history of the Third Reich. At this he succeeds. Everything is here: the rise of the Nazi movement, the establishment of the dictatorship, culture, war, Holocaust and, finally, the collapse. Yet the treatment is flat, almost textbooklike. So many of the major interpretive issues that have engaged historians worldwide and the broader public in Germany are absent. For instance, Benz writes of the Hitler youth organization, but overlooks the question of how to incorporate into our interpretation of the Third Reich the experience of girls in the organization who often felt a sense of emancipation from the strictures of home and church. What were the connections between other forms of persecution and the Holocaust? How modern was the Third Reich? A concise interpretive work would have made for a much more satisfying book. B&w photos. (Apr.)
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Benz's history of Germany covers the period from January 1933, when President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor, to Germany's surrender in May 1945. Originally published in Germany, the book examines such issues as the consolidation of power, the crisis and the triumph of the dictatorship, society under the Nazis, economic and social discontent with--and opposition to--the National Socialist state, and the persecution and murder of the Jews. Benz also discusses the nation's road to war and the war itself, daily life in wartime, and, finally, the collapse of the Third Reich. With 137 black-and-white photographs, this book will provide readers with a good foundation for understanding modern Germany under the rule of a madman. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0520234898
• ISBN 13: 9780520234895
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 331