From Weimar to Hitler

Hermann Beck is Professor of History at the University of Miami. He is the author of Conservatives, Bureaucracy, and the Social Question in Prussia, 1815-1870 (1995), and The Fateful Alliance: German Conservatives and Nazis in 1933 (2008).

• List of AbbreviationsIntroduction: The Nazi Seizure of Power in Historical and Historiographical PerspectiveHermann Beck and Larry Eugene JonesChapter 1. Taming the Nazi Beast: Kurt von Schleicher and the End of the Weimar RepublicLarry Eugene JonesChapter 2. Ausnahmezustand, Staatsnotstandsplan, and Ermächtigungsgesetz: Reappraising Carl Schmitt’s Political Constitutionalism and the Demise of WeimarJoseph W. BenderskyChapter 3. Ludwig Kaas and the End of the German Center PartyMartin MenkeChapter 4. The Nazi Seizure of Power in Bavaria and the Demise of the Bavarian People’s PartyWinfried BeckerChapter 5. German Big Business and the Nazi Revolution, 1933–34Peter HayesChapter 6. Violence against ‘Ostjuden’ in the Spring of 1933 and the Reaction of German AuthoritiesHermann BeckChapter 7. The SA in the Gleichschaltung: The Context of Power and ViolenceBruce B. CampbellChapter 8. Nationalist Socialism against National Socialism?: Perceptions of Nazism and Anti-Nazi Strategies in the Circle of the Neue Blätter für den Sozialismus, 1930–34Stefan VogtChapter 9. Nationalism, Socialism, and Organized Labor’s Response to the Dissolution of the Weimar RepublicWilliam L. Patch, Jr.Chapter 10. From Collegiality to the Führerprinzip: The 1933 Introduction of the Episcopacy in the Hamburg LandeskircheRainer HeringChapter 11. Friedrich von Bodelschwingh and the Protestant Appeasement of the Nazi Regime, 1933–34Edward SnyderChapter 12. In Search of Allies: Catholic Conservatives, the Alliance of Catholic Germans, and the Nazi Regime, 1933–34Larry Eugene Jones and Kevin P. SpicerChapter 13. German Youth between Euphoria and Resistance: Political Coercion and the Coordination of German YouthAndré PostertChapter 14. “German Youth, Your Leader!”: How National Socialism Entered Elementary Schools in 1933Katharine KennedyConclusion: Reaffirming the Value of Political HistoryHermann Beck and Larry Eugene JonesIndex

“These detailed, readable essays offer valuable evidence of how particular actors made the Nazi takeover possible, whether through active choice or passive behavior…This volume shows the combination of bad faith, naiveté, and outright moral hollowness that prevailed between 1932 and 1934, offering lessons about Germany’s past that remain relevant to our current political moment.” • Central European History“The editors have brought together a dozen contributions that are concise as well as gratifyingly homogenous and succeed in offering various corrections to a fairly well-known historical terrain.” • Historische Zeitschrift“The issues that the volume raises are not new…However, the essays offer valuable new perspectives on longstanding questions. The editors have written very helpful introductory and concluding essays which both provide an overview as well as suggesting future avenues of historical inquiry…This review cannot do justice to the high level of research and analysis which characterizes the scholarship in this volume. The essays provide an outstanding overview of new scholarship on the Nazi seizure of power and the early years of the Nazi dictatorship. From Weimar to Hitler should be of great interest to any scholar working in the field of modern German history.” • German History“This excellent, accessible volume will be of great interest to scholars and informed readers looking to gain new insight into the topic of Hitler’s seizure and consolidation of power.” • Barry Jackisch, University of Saint Francis