Hello,
There is little historical inquiry that has attracted so much debate as the direct causes of Hitler and the Nazi Party’s rise to power. Much scholarship has been written on the subject and far too much to master in one’s own lifetime. I was struck recently by Peter Watson’s contention in his book The German Genius that German cultural and intellectual achievement leading up to Nazi Germany far excelled its British and American counterparts. Five marks of modern German culture are given that give credence both to German excellence and its devastating fall:
- An Educated Middle Class
- “Inwardness” (Innerlichkeit)
- Bildung
- Research, the PhD, Scholarship and Modernity
- The Longing for a Redemptive Community
Watson centers in on the concept of an educated, secular middle class:
Originally Posted by Page 840
The failure of the educated middle class, Watson argues, is the crucial failure in leading to Hitler’s Germany.
Although the above concepts do not appear in Richard Evans’ monumental The Third Reich trilogy, his exhaustive survey of the existing literature points to multiple theses. Early on, German historian Friedrick Meinecke “blamed the rise of the Third Reich above all on Germany’s growing obsession with world power from the late nineteenth century onward, beginning with Bismarck and getting more intense in the age of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the First World War.” (The Coming of the Third Reich, xxi). Others, like William Shirer and A.J.P. Taylor, say the democratic and human rights spirit never became an active force in German life, somewhat related to Thomas Mann’s belief of minimal interest in politics among Germans. Then of course, there is the upheaval of law and order brought about by defeat in the First World War and the subsequent Weimar hyperinflation. All of these causes have been proposed, with debates surrounding their level of relevance.
What factors played the greatest role in the takeover of Hitler and the Nazis in Germany? And how can we relate to it in the twenty-first century?