Hitler and the Germans / Erich Voegelin ; translated, edited, and with an introduction by Detlev Clemens and Brendan Purcell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Voegelin, Eric, 1901-1985.

Contributor:

Clemens, Detlev.

Purcell, Brendan.

Series:

Voegelin, Eric, 1901-1985. 1989 ; Works. v. 31.

The collected works of Eric Voegelin ; v. 31

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945.

Hitler, Adolf.

Heads of state--Germany--Biography.

Heads of state.

Germany.

National socialism--Philosophy.

National socialism.

Germany--Politics and government--1933-1945.

Politics and government.

Racism--Germany.

Racism.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

285 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri Press, [1999]

Summary:

Between 1933 and 1938, Eric Voegelin published four books that brought him into increasingly open opposition to the Hitler regime in Germany. As a result, he was forced to leave Austria in 1938, narrowly escaping arrest by the Gestapo as he fled to Switzerland and later to the United States. Twenty years later, he was invited to Munich to become Director of the new Institute of Political Science at Ludwig-Maximilian University. In 1964, Voegelin gave a series of memorable lectures on what he considered "the central German experiential problem" of his time: Adolf Hitler's rise to power, the reasons for it, and its consequences for post-Nazi Germany. For Voegelin, these questions demanded a scrutiny of the mentality of individual Germans and of the order of German society during and after the Nazi period. Hitler and the Germans, published here for the first time, offers Voegelin's most extensive and detailed critique of the Hitler era.

Contents:

Eric Voegelin's "Hitler and the Germans"

Lectures in the Context of the Germans'

Treatment of Their Nazi Past / Detlev Clemens

The Philosophical Context of the "Hitler and the Germans" Lectures / Brendan Purcell 21

Part I. Descent into the Abyss

2. Development of Diagnostic Tools 70

3. Descent into the Academic Abyss as Manifested by Schramm's "Anatomy of a Dictator" 110

4. Descent into the Ecclesiastical Abyss: The Evangelical Church 155

5. Descent into the Ecclesiastical Abyss: The Catholic Church 184

6. Descent into the Legal Abyss 213

Part II. Toward a Restoration of Order

7. First and Second Reality in Ancient, Post-medieval, and Modern Times of Crisis 239

8. The Greatness of Max Weber 257.

Notes:

Lectures delivered in the summer of 1964 at the University of Munich.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0826212166

OCLC:

40783845