To Die for Germany: Heroes in the Nazi Pantheon

by Jay W. Baird

"In this chilling study of Nazi heroic mythology, Baird sheds a bright light on the dark, death-enthralled underpinnings of the German political and cultural psyche during the years 1918–45." ―Booklist

"Baird blends first-rate historical reconstruction with expert cultural analysis." ―American Historical Review

"Baird's fascinating account of Nazi heroism provides real understanding of the Nazi employment of aesthetics as politics and will be welcomed by students of twentieth-century German and European culture." ―The Historian

Genres: Germany, History

352 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 1990

Reviews

[Paul Janiszewski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revisited this book after a few years and its relevance has only become apparent after stacking up the reading of event based histories. History (record of existence) as is taught in school traces events rather than ideas, colouring our vision with acts rather than thoughts. The result is that the reader is invited to interpret these acts in their own way using their conditioned sense of reality in the way of context, values and ideas. In order to discover the true record one needs to begin with the ideas and thoughts of the time as it is from here that the events spring forth. This then is the unadulterated record and is found in no less than the culture of the time. Its painting, sculpture, architecture, music, prose, poetry, pageantry, propaganda and film etc. Jay Baird focuses on these things rather than the events and paints a picture of a romantically heroic vision of a regime that followed its ideals to its catastrophic end. It is said that only true heroes die for their ideals. So to did the worlds greatest despotic villain.