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The German Dictatorship
The origins, structure, and effects of national socialism
568 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
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About the author
Karl Dietrich Bracher
54 books8 followersKarl Dietrich Bracher was a German political scientist and historian of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. Born in Stuttgart, he served in the Wehrmacht during World War II and was captured by the Americans while serving in Tunisia in 1943. He was then held as a POW in Camp Concordia, Kansas. He was awarded a Ph.D. in the Classics by the University of Tübingen in 1948 and subsequently studied at Harvard University from 1949 to 1950. During World War II, Bracher taught at the Free University of Berlin from 1950 to 1958 and at the University of Bonn, where he was a professor of politics and contemporary history from 1959 to 1987. Bracher married Dorothee Schleicher, the niece of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 7, 2019
"A past not mastered is still alive." So warned German-American historian Karl Dietrich Bracher in his magnum opus that will always be among the few essential analyses of the Third Reich. This work, meant to challenge the Left’s “structural reaction” and theories of “generic fascism”, lays guilt for Hitler and Nazism on the moral choice – or lack thereof – of the German nation and people. But - there are problems with this interpretation, too.
Bracher takes us through the rise and fall of Das Dritte Reich, from its genesis in the failed revolution of 1848, its inception in the volkisch movement, the emphasis on race to unify a fragmented “German nation,” and the consolidation of a central state power under the Prussian autocracy; all of which led to imperial ambitions by 1900, and WW I, and collapse, and the shaky, “illegitimate” Weimar regime (shades of the GDR?) – which, in the wake of the Great Depression – gave birth to an offspring just as illegitimate. Bracher then traces the development of Nazi power, its consolidation and war-mongering, opponents and resisters, conquests and genocides, and then collapse; ending in the creeping rise of its successors in pre-unified West Germany of the early 1970s.
This is all very true, and necessary to remember. But in trying to lay the guilt for Nazism in the belly of German history, culture, and popular mentality is to indulge in collective guilt syndrome – something to guard against, no matter how convenient it was (and is) for weasels to exploit. Secondly, the Third Reich was not a dictatorship for nothing: if Nazism was so deep-rooted in the German soul then its repressive machinery, its attempt to create a “new Aryan Man,” would not have been necessary. And finally, alienation from politics – and the desire of “little people” for self-preservation – explains as much as cultural interpretation for Nazi rule.
In challenging Leftist interpretations that Nazism (and fascism in general) was “merely” the “tool of capitalist reaction,” Bracher overstates his case. He concedes that as long as Nazism was a beer-hall movement, spouting irresponsible radicalism, it was destined for the historical trash bin; only by attracting “investors” was it going to grow. This meant purging its radical wing, and cozying up to rightist but respectable businessmen and politicians – the “legal strategy” which Bracher rightly exposes as the fraud for fools it was. Hitler used them as much as they thought they were using him, which means Nazism came to power as a coalition regime. Bracher doesn’t explore the implications of this deeply enough. The German Establishment conceded politics to Hitler as long as he left them power in their own sphere: industry and the military. This was true for “soft power centers” too, like the church. Hitler hedged his military-industrial partners as the ‘30s progressed, but there was still as much continuity as change in Germany throughout the twelve years of the “Millennial Reich.” One major reason for war was to launch the “total revolution”: tactically impossible before 1941 and, and as we know, afterward as well. When the "primacy of politics" was truly realized in wartime it shredded Hitler's last sense of reality, severing Nazism from its economic and military pillars. Natural law did the rest.
Bracher’s analysis of Hitler’s opponents is detailed and fascinating; no doubt he personally knew some of these people as a young man and shared their passion. But his postwar survey is rather blinkered. He details the rise of Nazism’s successors in groups like the Socialist Reich Party, or the National Democrats, and details their polling percentages in the West German lander. But this was not the true measure of Nazi survival. As Tom Bower wrote in “Blind Eye to Murder,” ex-Nazis – including outright war criminals – found refuge as mainstream conservative businessmen and officials under Konrad Adenauer, with American and British support. This appeasement had the same motives as during Hitler - the “bulwark against Bolshevism” theory. Bracher rightly destroys this myth, as it was Hitler who opened the door to a divided Europe and Germany. But it was still exploited by former Nazis, and those who “needed” them to wage the cold war. Until well into the 1970s ex-SS men, Gestapo torturers, Party gauleiters, concentration camp guards, and battlefield criminals lived prosperous postwar lives, only occasionally troubled by accusations or prosecutions, and normally acquitted if ever brought to court. Hitler's coalition of 1933 still lingered. This was the real Nazi survival, and Bracher backs away from it because it casts doubt on how strongly democratic the Bonn Republic could be without an active Left.
He does warn against the revisionist, “patriotic” pop-culture view of the Third Reich and its war that went hand-in-hand with the Adenauer whitewash; and continued after his book, through Helmut Kohl and the “Bitburg incident,” becoming institutionalized following unification. The explosion of neo-Nazism in the former East would have come as no surprise to him. Yet his globalist solution – a unified Germany in a unified Europe – also came to pass, and so far it’s held the dark forces in check. But could it “happen again?” Bracher was too smart a man to say “never again.” His hope was that a new united Europe could stabilize itself against any political earthquakes. However, if globalism - tied to the “free market” and environmental catastrophe - ushers in a new crash worse than a hundred years ago, maybe we’ll get lucky this time around; and the world will end before it births a new Hitler to kill himself in a rubbled bunker.
Bracher takes us through the rise and fall of Das Dritte Reich, from its genesis in the failed revolution of 1848, its inception in the volkisch movement, the emphasis on race to unify a fragmented “German nation,” and the consolidation of a central state power under the Prussian autocracy; all of which led to imperial ambitions by 1900, and WW I, and collapse, and the shaky, “illegitimate” Weimar regime (shades of the GDR?) – which, in the wake of the Great Depression – gave birth to an offspring just as illegitimate. Bracher then traces the development of Nazi power, its consolidation and war-mongering, opponents and resisters, conquests and genocides, and then collapse; ending in the creeping rise of its successors in pre-unified West Germany of the early 1970s.
This is all very true, and necessary to remember. But in trying to lay the guilt for Nazism in the belly of German history, culture, and popular mentality is to indulge in collective guilt syndrome – something to guard against, no matter how convenient it was (and is) for weasels to exploit. Secondly, the Third Reich was not a dictatorship for nothing: if Nazism was so deep-rooted in the German soul then its repressive machinery, its attempt to create a “new Aryan Man,” would not have been necessary. And finally, alienation from politics – and the desire of “little people” for self-preservation – explains as much as cultural interpretation for Nazi rule.
In challenging Leftist interpretations that Nazism (and fascism in general) was “merely” the “tool of capitalist reaction,” Bracher overstates his case. He concedes that as long as Nazism was a beer-hall movement, spouting irresponsible radicalism, it was destined for the historical trash bin; only by attracting “investors” was it going to grow. This meant purging its radical wing, and cozying up to rightist but respectable businessmen and politicians – the “legal strategy” which Bracher rightly exposes as the fraud for fools it was. Hitler used them as much as they thought they were using him, which means Nazism came to power as a coalition regime. Bracher doesn’t explore the implications of this deeply enough. The German Establishment conceded politics to Hitler as long as he left them power in their own sphere: industry and the military. This was true for “soft power centers” too, like the church. Hitler hedged his military-industrial partners as the ‘30s progressed, but there was still as much continuity as change in Germany throughout the twelve years of the “Millennial Reich.” One major reason for war was to launch the “total revolution”: tactically impossible before 1941 and, and as we know, afterward as well. When the "primacy of politics" was truly realized in wartime it shredded Hitler's last sense of reality, severing Nazism from its economic and military pillars. Natural law did the rest.
Bracher’s analysis of Hitler’s opponents is detailed and fascinating; no doubt he personally knew some of these people as a young man and shared their passion. But his postwar survey is rather blinkered. He details the rise of Nazism’s successors in groups like the Socialist Reich Party, or the National Democrats, and details their polling percentages in the West German lander. But this was not the true measure of Nazi survival. As Tom Bower wrote in “Blind Eye to Murder,” ex-Nazis – including outright war criminals – found refuge as mainstream conservative businessmen and officials under Konrad Adenauer, with American and British support. This appeasement had the same motives as during Hitler - the “bulwark against Bolshevism” theory. Bracher rightly destroys this myth, as it was Hitler who opened the door to a divided Europe and Germany. But it was still exploited by former Nazis, and those who “needed” them to wage the cold war. Until well into the 1970s ex-SS men, Gestapo torturers, Party gauleiters, concentration camp guards, and battlefield criminals lived prosperous postwar lives, only occasionally troubled by accusations or prosecutions, and normally acquitted if ever brought to court. Hitler's coalition of 1933 still lingered. This was the real Nazi survival, and Bracher backs away from it because it casts doubt on how strongly democratic the Bonn Republic could be without an active Left.
He does warn against the revisionist, “patriotic” pop-culture view of the Third Reich and its war that went hand-in-hand with the Adenauer whitewash; and continued after his book, through Helmut Kohl and the “Bitburg incident,” becoming institutionalized following unification. The explosion of neo-Nazism in the former East would have come as no surprise to him. Yet his globalist solution – a unified Germany in a unified Europe – also came to pass, and so far it’s held the dark forces in check. But could it “happen again?” Bracher was too smart a man to say “never again.” His hope was that a new united Europe could stabilize itself against any political earthquakes. However, if globalism - tied to the “free market” and environmental catastrophe - ushers in a new crash worse than a hundred years ago, maybe we’ll get lucky this time around; and the world will end before it births a new Hitler to kill himself in a rubbled bunker.
February 22, 2018
An extensive and thorough book about everything related to the german dictatorship - from 19th century ideas that were the root of the nazi ideaology to after the end of WW2 and beyond.
At first I had my doubts about the writer serving in the vermacht himself during the war and how that might effect his writing, but this is an educatinv and well-written book.
At first I had my doubts about the writer serving in the vermacht himself during the war and how that might effect his writing, but this is an educatinv and well-written book.
June 27, 2020
A deep-into-the-historical weeds analysis of how The Third Reich came to be and how it was sustained. Bracher argues Naziism was inspired by the French Revolution, which I found fascinating. Also fascinating is his continuous reference to the assassination attempt of Hitler on Jul. 20, 1944 and Bracher’s detailed account of this fateful day. Bracher ends the book w/a chronicle of a postwar form of national socialism, which I found dry. But overall, this book wetted my history whistle.
to-keep-reference
October 11, 2023Recomendado en La llegada del tercer Reich.
December 3, 2020
If one does not wish to take the time to read Heiden and Fest; this is a good overview. The main point of departure for Bracher is in the origins and the all important question why?
February 14, 2011
This book waws pretty good. I personally like books on World War Two, and this one was very educational like. It says, pretty much, everything that happened during Adolf Hitler's reign. It's kinda hard to get into and to people who don't like educational.. do not read!!
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September 23, 2010"GERMAN DICTATORSHIP, The Origins, Structure, and Effects of National Socialism by Karl Dietrich. Translated by Jean Steinberg Bracher (1970)"
October 19, 2017
Very interesting and deep thought on the origins of the nazism
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews