About the Book
The Second World War affected the lives and shaped the experience of millions of individuals in Germany - soldiers at the front, women, children and the elderly sheltering in cellars, slave labourers toiling in factories, and concentration-camp prisoners and POWs clearing rubble in the Reich's devastated cities. Taking a 'history from below' approach, the volume examines how the minds and behaviour of individuals were moulded by the Party as
the Reich took the road to Total War. The ever-increasing numbers of German workers conscripted into the Wehrmacht were replaced with forced foreign workers and slave labourers and concentration camp
prisoners. The interaction in everyday life between German civilian society and these coerced groups is explored, as is that society's relationship to the Holocaust. From early 1943, the war on the home front was increasingly dominated by attack from the air. The role of the Party, administration, police, and courts in providing for the vast numbers of those rendered homeless, in bolstering civilian morale with 'miracle revenge weapons' propaganda, and in maintaining order
in a society in disintegration is reviewed in detail. For society in uniform, the war in the east was one of ideology and annihilation, with intensified indoctrination of the
troops after Stalingrad. The social profile of this army is analysed through study of a typical infantry division. The volume concludes with an account of the various forms of resistance to Hitler's regime, in society and the military, culminating in the failed attempt on his life in July 1944.
Table of Contents:
A: At War, Abroad and at Home: The Essential Features of German Society in the Second World WarJörg Echternkamp:
1: 'War on Two Fronts'
2: A Coherent War Society?
3: Violence Given Free Reign
4: Principles for and Structure of the Volumes
PART 1: RULE, DESTROY, SURVIVE
B: The NSDAP, the War, and German SocietyArmin Nolzen:
1: Pre-war Structure and Functions of the NSDAP
2: Mobilizing the Troops and Moulding Minds and Behaviour at Home (September 1939 to April 1941)
3: 'People Management' on the Home Front (May 1941 to July 1943)
4: On the Road to Total War (August 1943 to May 1945)
5: The NSDAP and the Volksgemeinschaft
C: Slaves for the 'Home Front'. War Society and Concentration CampsKarola Fings:
1: Public Awareness of the Concentration Camps
2: The Initial Stages of Prisoner Deployment
3: Urban Satellite Contentration Camps
4: The Camps and German Society
5: Concentration Camps Anchored in German Society
D. Decisions to Murder and to Lie. German War Society and the HolocaustTobias Jersak:
1: Introduction
2: Holocaust and War
3: Society and Holocaust in the War
4: Normality of the Unimaginable: War within the War
E. Wartime Daily Life and the Air War on the Home FrontRalf Blank:
1: The Bombing War seen as an Historical Event
2: The War, as seen on the Home Front
3: 'Fully Serving the Defence Efforts': The Administration, Police, and Courts
4: Coping with the Bombing War
5: Accommodation, Provisioning, and Replacement Homes
6: 'Revenge' and Miracle Weapons Propaganda
7: The 'Society in Disintegration', 1944/45
8: The Bombing War in Figures
PART II: THE UNIFORMED SOCIETY
Introduction to Part II
A. Ideological Warfare in Germany 1919 to 1945Jürgen Förster:
1: The Legacy of the First World War
2: The Politicization of the Reichswehr/Wehrmacht
3: Ideological Warfare in the Early, Victorious Phase
4: The War of Ideology and Annihilation in the East
5: Between Optimism and Defiance: War Fought Under Military-Ideological Guidance
6: The Shock of Stalingrad and the Crisis of Military-Ideological Guidance
7: The 'Führer Order' of 22 December 1943
8: Ideological Indoctrination and Personnel Selection
9: The Totalness of National Socialism after 20 July 1944
B. The Social Profile of the German Army's Combat Units 1939-1945Christoph Rass:
1: Principles and Prospects for Researching the Social Structures of Wehrmacht Units
2: Changes in the Organizational Structure of the Army
3: Analysis of a Specimen Infantry Division
4: Results
C. Military Resistance Activities and the WarWinfried Heinemann:
1: Resistance in German War Society
2: The Military Conspiracy. Military Motives for Resistance
3: The War as Crime
4: Communist Resistance During the War
5: The Battle with the Party and the SS
6: The Organization of the Coup D'Etat. General Staff Plans and the Military Putsch
7: Resistance and Ending the War
8: Resistance Activities Unconnected with 20 July 1944
9: Efforts and Consequences
10: Mutiny or Moral Revulsion
Bibliography
About the Author :
Ralf Blank, M.A. (b. 1962). Studied history and classical and prehistoric archaeology at Cologne and Bochum, as well as applied and theoretical museology at Graz; curator and head of collections and documentation department at the Historischen Centrum Hagen; lecturer in modern and recent history at the Ruhr University at Bochum; preparing a doctoral thesis on the home front and the postwar period in Southern Westphalia (Prof. Norbert Frei);
Dr. Jörg Echternkamp (b. 1963). Studied science of history and Romance studies at the University of Bielefeld, University of Poitiers, and the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (USA); on the scientific staff of the Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt [Research Institute for Military History], Potsdam; Dr. Karola Fings (b. 1962). Studied history and German language and literature at the Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf; deputy director of the National Socialism
Documentation Centre of the city of Cologne; lecturer at University of Cologne; Dr. Jürgen Förster (b. 1940). Studied English language and literature, philosophy, and history at Nottingham and Cologne (Ph.D. 1974); several
visiting professorships, most recently as Miegunyah Distinguished Fellow at the University of Melbourne; adjunct professor at Freiburg University Col. Winfried Heinemann, Ph.D. (b.1956). Studied history and English language and literature at the Ruhr University, Bochum and at the Department of War Studies, King's College,London; on the scientific staff of the Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt [Research Institute for Military History], Potsdam; Tobias Jersak Ph.D. (b. 1972). 1999-2000
Research assistant to the defence in Irving vs. Lipstadt; 2000-2004 lecturer in history (University of Stuttgart) and church history (University of Münster); published and edited several books and articles
besides educational software on National Socialism, the Holocaust, and Enlightenment thought; moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2005 where he is now working with street-children; Armin Nolzen M.A. (b. 1968). Studied science of history, German language and literature (modern German literature), social science (political science), and philosophy at the Ruhr University, Bochum; member of the editorial board of Beiträge zur Geschichte des Nationalsozialismus; member of working group on
historical peace research; preparing a doctoral thesis on the history of the NSDAP (Prof. Hans Mommsen); Dr. Christoph A. Rass, (b. 1969). Studied economic and social history, modern history, and information
science at the University of the Saarland, Saarbrücken; assistant lecturer in the teaching and research department for economic and social history at the RWTH [Rhineland-Westphalia Institute of Technology] Aachen University;
Review :
Review from previous edition REVIEW OF OTHER VOLUMES IN SERIES
`'A meticulous, scholarly perspective on the conflict from Germany's side'
'
Max Hastings, Evening Standard
`'Brilliant analysis of how Germany fought its war''
Max Hastings, Evening Standard
`'authoritative and lavishly produced set of studies, co-authored in the present case by a half-dozen of the Federal Republic's leading military historians...Klink's over two-hundred-page summary of the actual conduct of operations...is a model of its kind. The translation reads flawlessly.'
'
International History Review
`monumental study of Germany and the Second World War'
'
Victor Rothwell, History
`It is a monumental work that provides extensive, copiously annotated, and cartographically illustrated coverage of the background, planning, and execution of the German attack and the Soviet response...a volume that almost certainly is the closest thing there ever will be to a definitively authoritative history of the opening phase of the German campaign that represented a turning point in the history of the war and of the world in the twentieth century.
'
World War Two Studies Association
`An indispensable new dimension is added to our understanding of the conflict...describes events in ruthless detail from the view point of the Third Reich
'
The Evening Standard
`'I assure you all that it is worth every penny! This one volume seems to be destined to become THE definitive study on the German planning and invasion of the Societ Union for decades to come. The wealth of detail and information included in this work is simply staggering...I wholeheartedly recommend this book.'
'
Axis Europa
``Should leave no doubt that the world's most distinguished company of military historians is to be found in the Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt.'
'
American Historical Review
`'the latest volume of Germany and the Second World War slices open the German war effort and examines the inner workings of war administration, economy, and manpower resources...every page is packed with a dense compilation of information and analysis...a rigorous, academic analysis packed with information impossible to find elsewhere in English, and it also forms an integral part of an exceedingly important series of books about Germany's role in the
world conflict. We can't recommend it to the casual reader, but it certainly belongs on the shelf of every serious historian of World War II as part of the ultimate autopsy of the German war effort.'
'
Stone & Stone
`By bringing out an English translation, OUP have put all scholars of the war in their debt. If any volume can lay claim to being definitive, this is surely it. The authors have read almost unbelievably widely in the primary and secondary sources...it will endure...an indispensable guide to the latest research on most key aspects of the war ...the range and intellectual energy...will make it an invaluable work of reference for undergraduate and
researchers...as valuable a commemoration of the war as any.'
Mark Mazower, History Today
