The question of how to deal with the legacy of the National Socialist dictatorship and how to teach the period in West German schools has been and continues to be a controversial issue in the Federal Republic of Germany. During the 1950s and early 1960s history textbooks were severely criticized for their inadequate coverage of National Socialism, particularly regarding the persecution of the Jews and the Holocaust. Such criticism combined with a number of anti-Semitic incidents in 1959 led authorities to initiate major reforms on how schools should teach the Nazi period and consequently brought about major textbook revisions.The objective of this study was to determine how adequately textbooks used in the 1980s cover this period and whether what they are teaching is accurate and sufficient to deal with the enormity of the events and policies of that time. The study in four chapters analyzes textbooks regarding their coverage of such topics: I, Hitler's early life, his beginnings in politics to his nomination as chancellor; II, the consolidation of power and of social and political control; III, the treatment of the Jews; and IV, National Socialist foreign policy before and during World War II. Each chapter was divided into two parts, with the first part recommending material textbooks should include, and the second part analyzing this coverage based on criteria established in the first part.Findings showed that textbooks satisfactorily covered the majority of the topics examined and found them to be much improved, especially concerning the treatment of the Jews and the Holocaust.Despite marked improvements, areas of concern nevertheless remain, and coverage of some topics needs to be corrected and/or expanded in future textbook editions. Most topics on which coverage was weak or nonexistent concerned issues which are painful and embarrassing for German people to deal with. Among these issues were the German treatment of prisoners of war, German occupation policies in western Europe, forced relocations from areas such as Alsace and Lorraine, Nazi reprisal actions and the killing of hostages, activities of the SS Einsatz units, documentation concerning deportations and ghettos, medical experiments, and the role German industry played in the mass murder of innocent people.One of the more disturbing findings was that no changes had been made between the 1966 and 1978 (1983 printing) editions of one text and between the 1968 and later undated [1983?] editions of another text. It is strongly recommended that those responsible for the publication of German history textbooks take the necessary steps to correct these still existing errors and omissions before a new wave of criticism at home or from abroad forces them once again to do so.

This dissertation is a comparison of local church conditions in three German Protestant church districts during the National Socialist era: the Nauen district in the Brandenburg Church Province of the Old Prussian Union Church, the Pima district in the Saxon Evangelical Lutheran Land Church and the Ravensburg district in the Wurttemberg Evangelical Land Church. It focuses on the attitudes and roles of the pastors, curates and vicars who served in the primarily rural parishes of these districts, analyzes the effect of the 'national renewal' that accompanied the National Socialist seizure of power upon the church conditions in their parishes, and probes their own attitudes toward the prevalent religious nationalism of the day. Following a comparison of the controversies surrounding pastoral appointments in Nauen, Pima and Ravensburg, the study examines the nature and intensity of church-political conflict in each of the districts during the National Socialist era. Finally, the study closes with a consideration of clerical attitudes toward the National Socialist euthanasia programme and the antisemitism that led to the Holocaust. Drawing on official church correspondence at three levels (parish, district and land church), parish newsletters, accounts of meetings throughout the period, the study concludes that while these Protestant clergymen generally shared a common conservative nationalist outlook, the manifestation of the church struggle in their parishes took diverse forms. Parishioners in Nauen and especially Pima (but not Ravensburg) displayed a high level of interest in their churches in 1933, in part an effect of the strength of the national renewal in their regions. In Nauen, the church struggle was channelled into the quest for control of pastoral appointments. In Pima, the church struggle mirrored the course of events in Saxony as a whole, and included extreme 'German Christians,' radical members of the Confessing Church and a moderate movement for church

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Call number: LD2668 .T4 1956 W57 / Master of Science

This thesis is broadly concerned with how individuals within German society, the German Resistance to Hitler and the German military reacted to persecution of Jews in Germany before the start of the Second World War and also to reports of German atrocities within German-controlled areas of Europe during the conflict. / The specific focus of this study is an examination of the personal sentiments contained in the writings of Carl Goerdeler, Ulrich von Hassell and Helmuth von Moltke and the recorded reactions to the various and intensifying stages of Nazi persecution of Jews within German-controlled territory. These particular individuals were chosen, as a significant portion of their writings, in the form of diary entries, letters and memoranda have been published and offer a glimpse of personal sentiments and thoughts unaltered by the censors of the Nazi regime. In addition, this study examines the reactions of two German officers, Johannes Blaskowitz and Rudolf-Christoph von Gersdorff, to German atrocities committed in German-occupied Eastern Europe. Their reactions to and courageous protests against Nazi crimes are also a significant part of the overall context of German reactions to Nazi crimes. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This thesis examines and assesses the Gleichschaltung of the Germandom organizations from 1933 to 1939. The first chapter outlines the Peace Treaties of Versailles, Trianon and St. Germain and their effect upon the increased German minority in Europe. This body of Germans in countries outside Germany, Austria and Switzerland are referred to as the Volksdeutsche. The policies of the Weimar Government towards the German minorities in Europe are then examined. The second chapter outlines the minority policy of the National Socialist Party and various prominent National Socialist leaders. Chapter three outlines the major non-National Socialist and National Socialist Germandom organizations. Particular emphasis is given to the Verein fur Deutschtum im Ausland or the VDA, the Volksdeutscher Rat or the VR, Auslandsorganisation der NSDAP or AO, the Buro Kursell and the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle or VoMi. Chapters four through six deal with the events that lead to the Gleichschaltung of the Germandom organizations. Although the non-National Socialist Germandom organizations maintained a degree of independence from Nazi influence from 1933 until 2 July 1938, there was never any doubt that eventually the National Socialist Germandom organizations would gain ascendancy over them. In late 1936, the National Socialist Germandom organizations began to achieve lasting power and influence. By 1938, the non-National Socialist Germandom organizations were virtually impotent. The Gleichschaltung of the Germandom organizations, therefore, mirrors the Gleichschaltung that occurred on all levels of society in Germany following Adolf Hitler's appointment as Chancellor on 30 January 1933.

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Hitler claimed to have studied Clausewitz and Machiavelli, but violated the tenets of both by permitting ideology to override strategy. Hitler's ideology is revealed from documentary sources: Mein Kampf, his speeches, and Tischreden (table talks.) Operation Sea Lion, the planned 1940 invasion of England, was cancelled because the Fuhrer regarded the British as nordic cousins. Operation Citadel, the 1943 Battle of Kursk, was conceived because he decided the racially inferior Slav must be subdued. Doomed from the outset, Hitler nevertheless launched Citadel and squandered most of Germany's remaining armor and elite troops. A general staff officer is interviewed as witness to the period. His background, training, and opinions of the Fuhrer are presented. Thesis conclusion: flawed ideology brought disastrous decisions.