Nazism

Untangling Fact and Fiction in the Story of a Nazi-Era Brothel

Kitty Schmidt's Berlin brothel has been the subject of lurid speculation that its owner was forced by the Nazis to spy on her clients for evidence of subversion and disloyalty. A new book tries to untangle the more complicated history of commercial sex in the Weimar and Nazi eras, but struggles against the pervasiveness of myth. 

Was "Passive Resistance" to the Nazis Enough?

Burkhard Bilger's memoir "Fatherland" examines how his family dealt with the reality that his grandfather had been a Nazi party chief in his Alsace hometown—but not, apparently, a very effective one. 

Dangerous Records: Why LGBTQ Americans Today Fear the Weaponization of Bureaucracy

by Emily Hand

Requests made by Texas's Attorney General for information about gender change requests on drivers' licenses and other documents alarmed transgender advocates because the data could support an official list of trans Texans at a moment when the group faces public vilification. History shows that innocent bureaucratic records can be used oppressively.

A Small Village's History During the Third Reich Raises Big Questions about Complicity

by Julia Boyd

A new history of the personal experiences of the residents of a small Bavarian village show that, while Nazism was driven by ideologues, it was able to maintain power because the personal risks of nonsupport convinced many to put their moral objections aside.

The Children of the Nazis' Genetics Project

While much of Nazism was associated with destruction, it's racist ideological core was also preoccupied with creating or restoring racial purity, including through the Lebensborn program which viewed officers of the SS as the fathers of a new Aryan vanguard. 

Reissued 1933 Novel in Translation Captures Fascism's Rise Around You

Lion Feuchtwanger's "The Oppermans" captures the complexity of a dilemma faced by German Jews in 1933: whether a society has become sufficiently hostile to a minority group to force its members to leave. 

Why are Harvard, Stanford and NASA Honoring Nazis?

Major American institutions are loath to acknowledge that they enabled the rehabilitation of Nazi scientists and industrialists to benefit from their knowledge or wealth. 

Take Calls for a "Fourth Reich" Seriously

by Gavriel Rosenfeld

The concept of a new German Reich emerged almost immediately after the fall of Hitler, and reflected the incomplete effort to remove the far-right from German politics as well as the growth of an international authoritarian movement. 

"Ultra" Podcast Tells the Story of an Attempted Far-Right Subversion of the US

"Ultra is the all-but-forgotten true story of good, old-fashioned American extremism getting supercharged by proximity to power."

From Persecution to Pride: The Pink Triangle Symbol

by Jake Newsome

2022 is the worst year on record for anti-LGBTQ legislation in America, making the historical persecution of sexual minorities even more important to remember. 

Doug Mastriano's Political Mad Libs

by Judith Giesberg and Paul Steege

"Ultimately, if American political movements decide to mimic Nazis, we should take them at their word."

A Warning from Weimar: The Danger of Courts Hostile to Democracy

by Samuel Huneke

Far from being guardrails for democracy, Weimar courts were implacably hostile to it, and paved the way for its overthrow by leniency toward right-wing political violence. 

The US Response to the Holocaust Was Part of a Longer Pattern of Appeasing Fascism

by Roger Peace

The Roosevelt administration's refusal to accept large numbers of Jewish refugees was of a piece with a pattern of diplomatic and economic solicitousness toward Nazi Germany. 

A Pro-Nazi Camp Run by the German American Bund Subject of New Play

The Long Island town of Yaphank was eager to erase the memory of Camp Siegfried, which closed after the American entry into World War II. Playwright Bess Wohl wants to use it as a warning about the seductive potential of ideology. 

The Nazi use of Legalism to Consolidate Power and Eliminate Democracy

by Christopher R. Browning

Hitler's lesson after a token prison sentence for organizing a coup attempt was to work to seize power through legal means with the support of ideologically sympathetic courts. Non-MAGA conservatives appear to be missing important lessons. 

There Are Two Ways America Can Go After January 6

by Thomas Zimmer

In some respects, the January 6 attack resembles the failed 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. What should concern us is what could happen if the Justice Department decides to give similarly lenient treatment to the Capitol conspirators and their leader. 

My Husband the War Criminal

The posthumous release of Nancy Dougherty's biography of the Nazi secret police chief emphasizes his bureaucratic cunning. Does it minimize his ideological commitment to Nazism, or the crimes he carried out? 

Poland Seeking $1.3 Trillion in World War II Reparations from Germany

The Polish government referenced a recently completed report documenting the costs to Poland of war, and argued that reconciliation between the nations could best be served by a payment. 

Review: What Took Freud So Long to See the Danger of Remaining in Occupied Austria?

by Patrick Blanchfield

"If Freud himself, so attuned to the dark undercurrents of human behavior and so critical of our wishful illusions, proved unable to think clearly even as his country became unrecognizable around him and as nightmare after nightmare became real, what are our chances now?"

Is it Deja Vu All Over Again with "Appeasing Dictators," or Time for A New Lens?

by Charles Spicer

Invoking Chamberlain and appeasement is never a particularly useful response to an international crisis. Do the efforts, albeit unsuccessful, of a small group of British diplomatic outsiders to "civilize" leading Nazis, point in a better direction?