Germany and the Second World War Volume IX/I: German Wartime Society 1939-1945: Politicization, Disintegration, and the Struggle for Survival

by Blank, Ralf; Echternkamp, Jorg; Fings, Karola; Forster, Jurgen; Heinemann, Winfried; Jersak, Tobias; Nolzen, Armin; Rass, Christoph; Cook-Radmore, Derry

• ISBN13: 9780199282777
• ISBN10: 0199282773
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-09-17
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

The Second World War affected the lives and shaped the experience of millions of individuals in Germany - soldiers at the front, women, children and the elderly sheltering in cellars, slave laborers toiling in factories, and concentration-camp prisoners and POWs clearing rubble in the Reich's devastated cities. Taking a "history from below" approach, the volume examines how the minds and behaviour of individuals were moulded by the Party as the Reich took the road to Total War. The ever-increasing numbers of German workers conscripted into the Wehrmacht were replaced with forced foreign workers and slave labourers and concentration camp prisoners. The interaction in everyday life between German civilian society and these coerced groups is explored, as is that society's relationship to the Holocaust. From early 1943, the war on the home front was increasingly dominated by attack from the air. The role of the Party, administration, police, and courts in providing for the vast numbers of those rendered homeless, in bolstering civilian morale with "miracle revenge weapons" propaganda, and in maintaining order in a society in disintegration is reviewed in detail. For society in uniform, the war in the east was one of ideology and annihilation, with intensified indoctrination of the troops after Stalingrad. The social profile of this army is analysed through study of a typical infantry division. The volume concludes with an account of the various forms of resistance to Hitler's regime, in society and the military, culminating in the failed attempt on his life in July 1944.

Author Biography

Ralf Blank, M.A. (b. 1962). Studied history and classical and prehistoric archaeology at Cologne and Bochum, as well as applied and theoretical museology at Graz; curator and head of collections and documentation department at the Historischen Centrum Hagen; lecturer in modern and recent history at the Ruhr University at Bochum; preparing a doctoral thesis on the home front and the postwar period in Southern Westphalia (Prof. Norbert Frei);
Dr. Jorg Echternkamp (b. 1963). Studied science of history and Romance studies at the University of Bielefeld, University of Poitiers, and the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (USA); on the scientific staff of the Militargeschichtliches Forschungsamt [Research Institute for Military History], Potsdam; Dr. Karola Fings (b. 1962). Studied history and German language and literature at the Heinrich Heine University, Dusseldorf; deputy director of the National Socialism DocumentaSHtion Centre of the city of Cologne; lecturer at University of Cologne; Dr. Jurgen Forster (b. 1940). Studied English language and literature, philosophy, and history at Nottingham and Cologne (Ph.D. 1974); several visiting professorships, most recently as Miegunyah Distinguished Fellow at the University of Melbourne; adjunct professor at Freiburg University Col. Winfried Heinemann, Ph.D. (b.1956). Studied history and English language and literature at the Ruhr University, Bochum and at the Department of War Studies, King's College,London; on the scientific staff of the Militargeschichtliches Forschungsamt [Research Institute for Military History], Potsdam; Tobias Jersak Ph.D. (b. 1972). 1999-2000 Research assistant to the defence in Irving vs. Lipstadt; 2000-2004 lecturer in history (University of Stuttgart) and church history (University of Munster); published and edited several books and articles besides educational software on National Socialism, the Holocaust, and Enlightenment thought; moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2005 where he is now working with street-children; Armin Nolzen M.A. (b. 1968). Studied science of history, German language and literature (modern German literature), social science (political science), and philosophy at the Ruhr University, Bochum; member of the editorial board of Beitrage zur Geschichte des Nationalsozialismus; member of working group on historical peace research; preparing a doctoral thesis on the history of the NSDAP (Prof. Hans Mommsen); Dr. Christoph A. Rass, (b. 1969). Studied economic and social history, modern history, and information science at the University of the Saarland, Saarbrucken; assistant lecturer in the teaching and research department for economic and social history at the RWTH [Rhineland-Westphalia Institute of Technology] Aachen University;

Table of Contents

At War, Abroad and at Home

The Essential Features of German Society in the Second World War

Jorg Echternkamp

'War on Two Fronts'

A Coherent War Society?

Violence Given Free Reign

Principles for and Structure of the Volumes

Rule, Destroy, Surviveb

The NSDAP, the War, and German Society

Armin Nolzen

Pre-war Structure and Functions of the NSDAP

Mobilizing the Troops and Moulding Minds and Behaviour at Home (September 1939 to April 1941)

'People Management' on the Home Front (May 1941 to July 1943)

On the Road to Total War (August 1943 to May 1945)

The NSDAP and the Volksgemeinschaft

Slaves for the `Home Front'

War Society and Concentration Camps

Karola Fings

Public Awareness of the Concentration Camps

The Initial Stages of Prisoner Deployment

Urban Satellite Contentration Camps

The Camps and German Society

Concentration Camps Anchored in German Society

Decisions to Murder and to Lie

German War Society and the Holocaust

Tobias Jersak

Introduction

Holocaust and War

Society and Holocaust in the War

Normality of the Unimaginable: War within the War

Wartime Daily Life and the Air War on the Home Front

Ralf Blank

The Bombing War seen as an Historical Event

The War, as seen on the Home Front

'Fully Serving the Defence Efforts': The Administration, Police, and Courts

Coping with the Bombing War

Accommodation, Provisioning, and Replacement Homes

'Revenge' and Miracle Weapons Propaganda

The `Society in Disintegration', 1944/45

The Bombing War in Figures

The Uniformed Society

Introduction to Part II

Ideological Warfare in Germany 1919 to 1945

Jurgen Forster

The Legacy of the First World War

The Politicization of the Reichswehr/Wehrmacht

Ideological Warfare in the Early, Victorious Phase

The War of Ideology and Annihilation in the East

Between Optimism and Defiance: War Fought Under Military-Ideological Guidance

The Shock of Stalingrad and the Crisis of Military-Ideological Guidance

The `Fuhrer Order' of 22 December 1943

Ideological Indoctrination and Personnel Selection

The Totalness of National Socialism after 20 July 1944

The Social Profile of the German Army's Combat Units 1939-1945

Christoph Rass

Principles and Prospects for Researching the Social Structures of Wehrmacht Units

Changes in the Organizational Structure of the Army

Analysis of a Specimen Infantry Division

Results

Military Resistance Activities and the War

Winfried Heinemann

Resistance in German War Society

The Military Conspiracy

Military Motives for Resistance

The War as Crime

Communist Resistance During the War

The Battle with the Party and the SS

The Organization of the Coup D'Etat

General Staff Plans and the Military Putsch

Resistance and Ending the War

Resistance Activities Unconnected with 20 July 1944

Efforts and Consequences

Mutiny or Moral Revulsion

Bibliography

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