A History of the Münster Anabaptists Inner Emigration and the Third Reich: A Critical Edition of Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen's Bockelson: A Tale of Mass Insanity

by von der Lippe, George; Reck-Malleczewen, Viktoria

• ISBN13: 9780230605473
• ISBN10: 0230605478
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780230612563
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-05-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
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Summary

Presented here for the first time in English, Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen's Bockelson: A Tale of Mass Insanity is one of the defining works of Germany's "Inner Emigration" literary movement, which arose in response to the Nazi regime. First published in 1937, Reck-Malleczewen's book is a bitter literary protest against Hitler and the Third Reich disguised as a historical novel about the tragedy of the sixteenth-century Anabaptist uprising in Munster, and it appropriates the historical figure Jan Bockelson-the charismatic, manipulative, and deadly "King of the Anabaptists"-as a thinly disguised stand-in for Adolf Hitler. The author's scathing depiction of state-sanctioned terror and violence not only offers a metaphorical portrait of prewar Germany, but also predicts the catastrophic end of the Third Reich. This critical edition includes scholarly commentary, detailed annotations, and an essay from Reck-Malleczewen's daughter. Book jacket.

Author Biography

George von der Lippe is a Professor of German at St. Anselm College. Viktoria Reck-Malleczewen is a translator and the daughter of Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Translator's Preface	p. xiii
Conservative Opposition: Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen's Antifascist Novel Bockelson: A History of Mass Hysteria	p. xxi
The Last Sunday	p. xxxiii
Prologue (Prologus)	p. 1
The Beginning of the Tragedy (Incipit Tragoedia)	p. 17
The City of God (Urbs Dei)	p. 39
The Sword (Gladius)	p. 53
The Last Whore (Deterrima Cunnus)	p. 71
King of the Sewer (Rex Cacans)	p. 85
Desperate Hope (Spes Desperata)	p. 113
Starvation (Fames)	p. 137
Day of Wrath (Dies Irae)	p. 153
Lest I Be Burned in Eternal Fire (Ne Perenni Cremer Igni)	p. 165
Works Cited/Consulted	p. 187
Anabaptist Bibliography	p. 191
Inner Emigration Bibliography	p. 199
Index	p. 209
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