The Third Reich in the Ivory Tower: Complicity and Conflict on American Campuses

by Stephen H. Norwood

• ISBN13: 9780521762434
• ISBN10: 052176243X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-05-25
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This is the first systematic exploration of the nature and extent of sympathy for Nazi Germany at American universities during the 1930s. Universities were highly influential in shaping public opinion and many of the nation's most prominent university administrators refused to take a principled stand against the Hitler regime. Universities welcomed Nazi officials to campus and participated enthusiastically in student exchange programs with Nazified universities in Germany. American educators helped Nazi Germany improve its image in the West as it intensified its persecution of the Jews and strengthened its armed forces. The study contrasts the significant American grass-roots protest against Nazism that emerged as soon as Hitler assumed power with campus quiescence, and administrators' frequently harsh treatment of those students and professors who challenged their determination to maintain friendly relations with Nazi Germany.

Table of Contents

Figures	p. vi
Abbreviations	p. ix
Germany Reverts to the Dark Ages: Nazi Clarity and Grassroots American Protest, 1933-1934	p. 1
Legitimating Nazism: Harvard University and the Hitler Regime, 1933-1937	p. 36
Complicity and Conflict: Columbia University's Response to Fascism, 1933-1937	p. 75
The Seven Sisters Colleges and the Third Reich: Promoting Fellowship Through Student Exchange	p. 103
A Respectful Hearing for Nazi Germany's Apologists: The University of Virginia Institute of Public Affairs Roundtables, 1933-1941	p. 133
Nazi Nests: German Departments in American Universities, 1933-1941	p. 158
American Catholic Universities' Flirtation with Fascism	p. 196
1938, Year of the Kristallnacht: The Limits of Campus Protest	p. 220
Epilogue	p. 243
Notes	p. 257
Bibliography	p. 305
Index	p. 317
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