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This thesis analyzes the causes and processes of the East German revolution of 1989. The first half explains the demise of the USSR and its East European allies in terms of their insertion into a changing global environment. A Marxist explanation is given of the economic and social decay of East European ‘Communism’ in general and of East Germany in particular. The latter state was characterized by two fundamental contradictions. The first was between its economic nationalist form and the developing internationalization of the world economy. The second was between the attractive power of the economically superior West and the GDR’s dependence upon the USSR. East Germany’s rulers, despite being uniquely grateful for Moscow’s ‘bear hug’, were also tempted to embrace the West. The East German economy became ever more entangled with and dependent upon Western businesses and states. Albeit to a lesser extent than their counterparts in Poland and Hungary, East Germany’s rulers found themselves seduced by the superior technologies, commodities, and economic structures of the West. They were torn between loyalty to orthodox Communism and to Moscow, and a tacit awareness of Western economic superiority. This contradiction was compounded when, under Gorbachev, the Kremlin ceased to be identified with Communist orthodoxy. The second half of the thesis is devoted to the revolution itself. The interaction between the regime’s reaction to the developing crisis and the mobilization of protest is examined. Among the questions addressed are why the SED was unable to prevent mass emigration and why the security forces were unable to crush the protests. In the context of a narrative of the protest movement three aspects are given particular attention. The first is the transformation of society. Over the course of some five months of weekly demonstrations in which millions participated, political institutions were transformed as well as other core features of social and political behaviour. Secondly, the importance of conscious deliberation, debate and strategy is emphasized. Detailed consideration is made of how people became conscious of the developing national crisis, how they scented the opportunity to protest, and how they acted to effect political change. Thirdly, the question of why a divergence developed between the ‘Citizens’ Movement’ and the rest of the movement is addressed. In particular the radicalization of the mass movement is examined, as are the strategies of the Citizens Movement and of the regime. Finally, the history of the overthrow of the forces of the old regime is narrated, culminating in the fall of the Berlin Wall.

This thesis investigates how far the political theory of Gramsci's Prison Notebooks (1929-35) had its immediate origins in the crisis going on in Germany at the time he wrote them. The crisis was a matter of burning interest to all European communists for whom the whole future of the revolutionary project started in 1917 depended on what happened in Germany. The thesis reconstructs the historical context of the Prison Notebooks year by year and identifies a series of notes - the 'German' notes - in which Gramsci theorises about questions suggested by current events in Germany. A few of these notes are in a concrete state and their German content is readily identified but many were written in general terms which must be decoded before their 'practical origins' in the German events become apparent. The method of decoding Gramsci's notes is to contextualise them. The order of chapters is chronological and each has three levels: (i) an account of Gramsci's personal drama - his moral struggle in the context of his deteriorating conditions of health - based largely on the Prison Letters. These letters are the outstanding human document of the European resistance to fascism, including resistance to German fascism at the hour of its victory; (ii) a reconstruction of Gramsci's knowledge of the German events based on a systematic reading of the political periodicals and newspapers he received on subscription in prison. These provided Gramsci with continuous news and comment on German affairs, the full extent of which has not been investigated (Appendix 2); (iii) a critical commentary on the 'German' notes following the chronological order established by Professor V. Gerratana in the critical edition of the Quaderni del Carcere (1975). The technical difficulties of determining the precise dates of the notes are sometimes considerable and have been a matter of scholarly dispute. Where the dates of the 'German' notes discussed in this thesis present particular problems, they are dealt with separately (Appendix 1). The conclusion draws together the conceptual threads running through the German notes and summarises the main features of Gramsci's interpretation. His theory of the rise of Hitler differs from those of other marxists inside and outside the Comintern for two reasons: firstly, his assimilation of concepts of non-marxist origin such as Weber's concept of the charismatic leader and Sorel's concept of the historical bloc; secondly, his rethinking from its Hegelian origins of marxism itself, which enables him to conceptualise aspects of the German crisis neglected by other marxists, notably the historic crisis of the traditional intellectuals, the counter revolutionary effects of civil society, and the role of the bureaucratic caste. In Gramsci's interpretation, Hitler comes to power in the context of a crisis of hegemony marked by the breakdown of the 'ruling ideas'. The traditional intellectuals, the Prussian nobles, are unable to provide leadership in politics or culture. Despite the catastrophic nature of the economic crisis after 1929, it does not develop into a revolutionary situation because of the resistance presented by the superstructures of civil society (private armies, newspaper concentrations, and other elements), a complex network of 'trenches' which make up the ideological front of the dominant class. The crisis is solved by the transformation of traditional into charismatic authority through the sudden appearance of a "man of destiny". The charisma of Hitler depends on reinventing tradition, a process most visible in the 'symbiotic' dependence of the parties and ideologies of the German Right. The element of race, a subordinate element in traditional nationalist ideology, now becomes the nucleus of a new utopia - the 'Third Reich', Gramsci regards the Third Reich not as a revolution (which it claimed to be) but as a dynamic restoration founded on the traditional solidarity of the dominant agrarian-industrial bloc. Despite this, his final word on the 'monstrous' phenomenon of Hitlerism, written in 1935 in response to the first laws of the racial State, unmistakably registered the shock of the new.

L’objet de la présente étude est de déterminer l’influence du sport dans les régimes totalitaires européens au XXe siècle, en prenant pour exemple le modèle de l’Allemagne nazie. Par influence, il faut comprendre la place et le rôle qu’occupe le sport, en tant que pratique sportive mais aussi en tant qu’éducation physique, dans ce type de régime politique. Ainsi, afin de cerner au mieux le modèle allemand, il était nécessaire de s’intéresser également aux autres modèles similaires, à savoir celui de l’Italie fasciste, et celui de l’Union soviétique avant 1945, mais aussi à la politique sportive d’un régime démocratique, celui de la France. L’étude des autres modèles, celle du modèle allemand spécifiquement, et celle de ce que n’est pas le modèle allemand, visent à définir le plus précisément l’influence du sport dans la politique du pouvoir national-socialiste.De plus, afin de donner un élément d’analyse concret de cette influence, les Jeux olympiques de 1936 sont étudiés en détail. En effet, lors de ces événements, tout ce que représente le sport dans le IIIe Reich est mis en exergue, et l’on voit que le sport est un instrument éminemment politique au service de l’État hitlérien. Enfin, toujours dans cette optique de livrer la grille d’analyse la plus complète possible à ce sujet, les questions de l’esthétisme et de l’art nazis sont mis en corrélation avec le sport, ce qui permet de rendre véritablement compte de l’importance du sport dans l’Allemagne nazie. / The purpose of this study is to determine the influence of sport in the European totalitarian regimes in the twentieth century, taking as example the model of Nazi Germany. By influence, one should understand the place and role occupied by sport, as a sporting activity but also as physical education, in this kind of political regime. Thus, in order to better figure out the German model, it was necessary to also look at other similar models, namely that of Fascist Italy and of the Soviet Union before 1945, but also at the sports policy of a democratic regime, that of France. The study of the German model and of other models, and the study of what the German model is not aims to define more precisely the influence of sport in the politics of the National Socialist power. In addition, to give a concrete element of analysis of this influence, the 1936 Olympics are studied in detail. Indeed, these events bring to the fore all what sport stands for in the Third Reich, and we can see that sport is a highly political instrument at the service of the Hitlerian State. Finally, and still in the perspective of providing the most complete analysis as possible, the issues of Nazi aesthetics and art are put in correlation with sport, allowing to fully account for the importance of sport in Nazi Germany.

This thesis examines the variety of representations and rhetorical deployments of the theme of British Imperialism within books published in the “Third Reich”. The thesis considers these books not only as vehicles for particular ideas and arguments but also as consumer objects and therefore as the product of a series of compromises between the needs of a host of actors, both official and commercial. It further traces the origins of the component parts of these texts via the history of reuse of images and extracts and by identifying earlier examples of particular tropes of “Englishness” and the British Empire. British imperial history was a rich source of material for National Socialist writers and educators to draw on and lent itself to a wide variety of arguments. Britain could be, in turns, a symbol of “Nordic” strength, a civilisation in decline, a natural ally and protector of Germany, or a weak, corrupt, outdated entity, controlled by Germany’s supposed enemies. Drawing on a long tradition of comparing European colonial records, the British Empire was also used as a benchmark for Germany’s former imperial achievements, particularly in moral arguments regarding the treatment of indigenous populations. Through its focus on books, which were less ephemeral than media such as newspaper and magazine articles, radio broadcasts or newsreels, the thesis demonstrates how newer writings sought to recontextualise older material in the light of changing circumstances. Through managing the context in which earlier British and Anglophile material was read, doubt could be cast on the integrity of such views and on the trustworthiness of what was styled as the “English national character”. This demonisation of Britain through her imperial record became a key focus of Anglophobic books published in Germany during the Second World War.

This thesis explores the representation of the sixth-century Merovingian Queen Brunhild. By examining seven of the divergent sources which present the queen, the construction of Brunhild, or multiple Brunhilds, is analysed through gendered, literary and political lenses. Rather than attempting to reconcile the extremities of depictions of this queen, during her life and after her death, I demonstrate that Brunhild is a series of historical and textual problems at different political moments. I also show that the themes damnatio memoriae, feud and queenship, commonly used to analyse her career, are inadequate to understand the queen herself, the authors who wrote about her, and the age in which they lived. Three main themes within Brunhild’s extensive career allow the exploration of the tensions inherent within the seven main sources which present her. The ‘construction of queenship’ is an examination into Brunhild’s move from Visigothic princess to Frankish queen, a transition often dismissed, but one which proves pivotal to understanding the queen’s later Visigothic dealings. The ways in which authors recognised her at the point of marriage is nuanced by their political context, looking back on the queen upon her husband’s death. The ‘politics of survival’ goes on to study Brunhild’s relationship with the church: first, the positive associations between a queen and piety, and then, the results when that relationship goes awry. It is Brunhild’s tension with the church which labels her ‘the second Jezebel’. Finally, ‘dynasty and destruction’ explores Brunhild’s relationship with her offspring. During three regencies, spanning three generations, the queen’s connection to her family was critiqued in different ways. Her involvement in Visigothic succession politics to the end of her career is examined, alongside Brunhild’s maternal image, and finally the accounts of her death. How Brunhild’s physical and political body is neutralised is crucial to understanding each author’s motives. There is no other early medieval queen with the textual afterlife of Brunhild and this thesis is the first full examination of the extremities of her representation. Subjected, it has been said, to damnatio memoriae, the vilification, or more literally, destruction of memory, Brunhild and her textual manifestation is read in an entirely new way. The contemporary recognition of this queen, together with her textual representation, betray a tension which illustrates that Brunhild was, in fact, more alive after she was dead.