Thèse de doctorat : ETUDES GERMANIQUES : Metz : 1997. / 1997METZ016L. 188 ref.

La présente recherche doctorale retrace l’histoire de la politique de « formation idéologique » (weltanchauliche Schulung ou weltanschauliche Erziehung) mise en oeuvre entre 1933 et 1945 par la SS (Schutzstaffel), organisation qui se voulait l’élite du nazisme. Elle s’attache à croiser quatre approches : L’histoire du réseau des institutions chargées de l’elaboration et de l’application de cette politique, au centre duquel se trouvait l’ « office de l’instruction » (Schulungsamt) de la SS, qui supervisait le travail d’un « appareil d’instruction » (Schulungsapparat) de plus d’un milliers d’instructeurs présents a tous les échelons de l’organisation; l’étude des discours idéologiques et des pratiques éducatives élaborés par ces institutions et de leurs tentatives pour vulgariser et transmettre l’ideologie nazie ; les biographies des hommes qui animèrent ces institutions, constituant un groupe particulier au sein de la hiérarchie nazie; et enfin l’analyse de l’impact de ces politiques sur la masse des militants et hommes des unités militaires et policières SS. En analysant la nature de la formation prodiguée par la SS à ses hommes – à la fois tentative de forger par l’education un homme nouveau considérant tous les domaines de l’existence à l’aune du national-socialisme et volonté de constituer un corps homogène de « soldats politiques » au service du regime – et en reconstituant l’evolution de cette formation dans le contexte de la croissance, de l’expansion et des transformations de la SS, cette étude tente d’apporter une contribution à la compréhension des mentalités des hommes qui se sont engagés et ont persécuté, combattu et tué au service du « Troisième Reich ». / The following doctoral research traces the history of the policy of « ideological schooling » (weltanschauliche Schulung or weltanschauliche Erziehung) developed between 1933 and 1945 by the SS (Schutzstafel), the organization that considered itself the elite of Nazism. It combines four complementary methodological approaches: an institutional history of the network of organizations tasked with elaborating and implementing the SS’s schooling program, at the center of which stood the SS-Schulungsamt (educational office), that oversaw the work an « educational apparatus » (schulungsapparat) of more than a thousand instructors present at all levels; an analysis of the ideological discourses and teaching methods elaborated by these institutions in their attempts to relay nazi ideology to the rank and file of the SS; the biographies of the men who operated the « educational apparatus », constituting a specific group of perpetrators in the Nazi hierarchy; and an evaluation of the way the SS’s own brand of education impacted those who served in its civil, military or police units. By assessing the nature of the ideological training the SS provided to its members, fruit of the attempt of forging both a new man seeing all fields of life through the lens of Nazi ideology and an homogenous troop of « political soldiers » at the service of the regime, and tracing the evolution of this educational project within the framework of the SS’s growth and transformations, this study seeks to bring a new perspective to the understanding of the mentalities of the men who committed to the cause of the « Third Reich » and fought and murdered in its name.

German industrialization in the nineteenth century had brought forward a variety of conflicting ideas when it came to the agrarian community. One of them was the agrarian romantic movement led by Adam Műller, who feared the loss of the traditional German peasant. Műller influenced Reichdeutsche Richard Walther Darré, who argued that large cities were the downfall of the German people and that only a healthy peasant stock would be able to ‘save' Germany. Under Darré's definition, “Geopolitik” was the defense of the land, the defense with Pflug und Schwert (plow and sword) by Wehrbauern, an ‘Űberbauer-fusion' of soldier and peasant. In order to accomplish these goals, new settlements had to be established while moving from west to east. The specific focus of this study is on the original Hegewald resettlement ideas of Richard Walther Darré and how his philosophy was taken over by Himmler and fit into his personal needs and creed after 1941. It will shed some light on the interaction of Darré and Himmler and the notorious internal fights and power struggles between the various governmental agencies involved. The Ministry for Food and Agriculture under the leadership of Darré was systematically pushed into the background and all previous, often publicly announced re-settlement policies were altered; Darré was pushed aside once the eastern living space was actually occupied.

This thesis analyzes the historiography of Neville Chamberlain and appeasement through the lens of Oswald Mosley and British Fascism, arguing that an acute and unexpected convergence emerges between the ardent radicalism of Mosley and the utter rationality of Chamberlain, illustrating the uncanny degree to which appeasement as a policy dovetailed with fascism as an ideology. Beginning at the Spanish Civil War and ending in March 1939, politicians in the vein of Chamberlain - subsequently dubbed 'appeasers' - pursued appeasement as a means to placate German aggression. The British Union of Fascists, with Mosley at the helm, enthusiastically supported this movement and urged the British Government to intensify the appeasement campaign. Ultimately, the convergence of appeasement and fascism illustrates the severe lack of alternatives available to Chamberlain, and underscores the degree to which his pragmatic politics supported fascism abroad. / by Michael Ortiz. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.