Nazi Germany and the Humanities: How German Academics Embraced Nazism

Anson Rabinbach · Wolfgang Bialas

Jul 2014 · Oneworld Publications

About this ebook

In 1933, Jews, and to a lesser extent, political opponents of the Nazis, suffered an unprecedented loss of positions and livelihood at Germany's universities. With few exceptions, the academic elite welcomed and justified the acts of the Nazi regime, uttered no word of protest when their Jewish and liberal colleagues were dismissed, and did not stir when Jewish students were barred admission.

The subject of how German scholars responded to the Nazi regime continues to fascinate and be an area of scholarship. In this collection, Rabinbach and Bialas bring some of the best scholarly contributions together in one cohesive volume, to deliver a shocking conclusion: whatever diverse motives German intellectuals may have had in 1933, the image of Nazism as an alien power imposed on German universities from without was a convenient fiction.

About the author

Dr. Wolfgang Bialas is a specialist in 19th- and 20th-century German culture, literature, intellectual history, and film. An associate professor of philosophy at United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, he lives in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.

Dr. Anson Rabinbach is a specialist in modern European history with an emphasis on intellectual and cultural history. He has published extensively on Nazi Germany, Austria, and European thought in the 19th and 20th centuries. The director of European Cultural Studies at Princeton University, he lives in Princeton, NJ.