The 'Hitler Myth': Image and Reality in the Third Reich

ISBN-13: 9780192802064 / Angielski / Miękka / 2001 / 320 str.

University of Sheffield) Kershaw Ian (

Opis

Few, if any, twentieth-century political leaders have enjoyed greater popularity among their own people than Hitler did in the decade or so following his rise to power in 1933. The personality of Hitler himself, however, can scarcely explain this immense popularity or his political effectiveness in the 1930s and '40s. His hold over the German people lay rather in the hopes and perceptions of the millions who adored him.
Based largely on the reports of government officials, party agencies, and political opponents, Ian Kershaw's groundbreaking study charts the creation, growth, and decline of the "Hitler myth." He demonstrates how the manufactured "Fuhrer-cult" served as a crucial integrating force within the Third Reich and a vital element in the attainment of Nazi political aims. Masters of the new techniques of propaganda, the Nazis used "image-building" to exploit the beliefs, phobias, and prejudices of the day. Kershaw greatly enhances our understanding of the German people's attitudes and behavior under Nazi rule and the psychology behind their adulation of Hitler.

Recenzje

Review from previous edition a book which should be read by everyone interested in the history of 20th-century Europe ... perhaps the most revealing study available of popular opinion in Nazi Germany Times Higher Education Supplement

O autorze

Ian Kershaw is Professor of History at the University of Sheffield. His publications include Popular Opinion and Political Dissent in the Third Reich: Bavaria 1933-45 (OUP, 1983); (ed.), Weimar: Why did German Democracy Fail? (Weidenfeld, 1990); Hitler: A Profile in Power (Longman, 1991); The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation (Edward Arnold, 3rd edn, 1993); (ed., with Moshe Lewin), Stalinism and Nazism: Dictatorships in Comparison (Cambridge U. P., 1997); Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris (Penguin, 1998). His focus includes numerous aspects of German history in the periods of the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the postwar era. His research interests extend to include numerous aspects of German history in the periods of the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the postwar era.