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Suicide in Nazi Germany
The suicides of Hitler, Goebbels, Bormann, Himmler, and later Goering at the end of World War II were only the most prominent in a suicide epidemic that has no historical parallel and that can tell us much about the Third Reich's peculiar self-destructiveness and the depths of Nazi fanaticism.
Looking at the suicides of both Nazis and ordinary people in Germany from the end of World War I until the end of World War II, Christian Goeschel shows how suicides among different population groups, including supporters, opponents, and victims of the regime, responded to the social, cultural, economic, and political context of the time. Richly grounded in gripping and previously unpublished source material Suicide in Nazi Germany offers a new perspective on the central social and political crises of the era, from revolution, economic collapse, and the rise of the Nazis, to Germany's total defeat in 1945.
Looking at the suicides of both Nazis and ordinary people in Germany from the end of World War I until the end of World War II, Christian Goeschel shows how suicides among different population groups, including supporters, opponents, and victims of the regime, responded to the social, cultural, economic, and political context of the time. Richly grounded in gripping and previously unpublished source material Suicide in Nazi Germany offers a new perspective on the central social and political crises of the era, from revolution, economic collapse, and the rise of the Nazis, to Germany's total defeat in 1945.
264 pages, Hardcover
First published February 26, 2009
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230 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 28, 2024
A Horrific System with a Split Personality about The End
When it suited the Nazis, suicide was proof of "cowardice;" when it suited Nazis, suicide was a powerful example of a noble end.
In both eras, the Third Reich publicly recognized suicide as a serious social problem. Newspapers reported on suicides. Pastors in local churches talked about it as a danger worthy of condemnation from their pulpits. At points in the war, however, German soldiers were drawn to that tragic choice. Throughout the entire Third Reich, many Jews, homosexuals and other targeted minorities considered the option, in part to avoid being forced to name the names of friends under torture. And, in the spring of 1945, a tidal wave of suicides engulfed many fervent Nazis whose world was collapsing.
Of course, this is a deeply troubling subject—and Oxford University Press really should have included a note in this volume mentioning the "988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline." People drawn toward this subject often are contemplating this choice. And, in posting this review to Goodreads, I want to underline that I'm not darkly depressed. I'm a journalist who has reported on issues surrounding death (as part of my work on religious and cultural diversity) over many years. I'm the co-author of the 1997 book, The Suicide Machine, produced by The Detroit Free Press staff about the assisted suicide campaign of Dr. Jack Kevorkian.
That's why I am well aware of the cultural and psychological environment surrounding suicide—and that's what historian Christian Goeschel explores in this deeply researched book.
If you don't recognize the name, here's a bit of background: One of the mentors he credits in this book is the scholar Richard J. Evans, who I also admire as a model of World War II research. Goeschel's own research has taken him around the world, including a half-year residence at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's highly esteemed Mandel Center—and that was about the time in 2005 and 2006 that he was preparing to publish some of his research on Nazi-era suicides in peer-reviewed journals. Then, this summer, Goeschel also shows up as one of the main "on camera" historians in the Netflix six-part documentary, Hitler and the Nazis.
The latter project was directed by Joe Berlinger, in part, as a fresh warning to the world about the dangers of fascist-empowered nationalism in taking over democracies and leading to overwhelming death and destruction. I've watched the entire series, which is what prompted me to get Goeschel's book and, now, to post this review.
I grew up in a family immersed in history, religious study, psychology and philosophy. In high school, I read Erich Fromm's disturbing analysis of the human attraction to death, The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness. And, I know Fromm has both supporters and critics for his body of work, but I still think this book from the early 1970s raises powerful and timely questions. Hitler and the Nazis were a central case study in Fromm's book, arguing that the Reich was an overwhelmingly oppressive culture that was pathologically attracted to death.
That's not Goeschel's conclusion in this 2009 Oxford Press book, which is one reason I can see that he is contributing to a better understanding of that horrific era. In fact, Goeschel resists lumping suicides in Germany, before and after the Reich, into one statistical or psychological model. The waves of suicide were too distinct—and each group of motives needs to be understood on its own terms, he argues. For example, German soldiers on the infamous Eastern Front, after the Reich began losing the war, chose suicide for much different reasons than homosexuals caught up in Nazi dragnets. The former were desperate, isolated and often in physical pain as well. The latter were humiliated, facing torture until they named friends who might soon suffer the same fate—and saw suicide as a noble way to save other lives.
What is most astonishing, I think, is the way Goeschel documents the Nazis' general loathing of suicide—to the point that they further humiliated those who died that way, even their own soldiers and their families—but then, when it suited their purposes, the leadership (including lots of regional and local Nazi leaders) made a pivot and tried to shroud this "way out" with an image of military glory.
This book is not for everyone and it is, indeed, a challenge to read an entire book about suicide. Nevertheless, for journalists and historians, I highly recommend this nuanced exploration of what led so many to end their lives.
When it suited the Nazis, suicide was proof of "cowardice;" when it suited Nazis, suicide was a powerful example of a noble end.
In both eras, the Third Reich publicly recognized suicide as a serious social problem. Newspapers reported on suicides. Pastors in local churches talked about it as a danger worthy of condemnation from their pulpits. At points in the war, however, German soldiers were drawn to that tragic choice. Throughout the entire Third Reich, many Jews, homosexuals and other targeted minorities considered the option, in part to avoid being forced to name the names of friends under torture. And, in the spring of 1945, a tidal wave of suicides engulfed many fervent Nazis whose world was collapsing.
Of course, this is a deeply troubling subject—and Oxford University Press really should have included a note in this volume mentioning the "988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline." People drawn toward this subject often are contemplating this choice. And, in posting this review to Goodreads, I want to underline that I'm not darkly depressed. I'm a journalist who has reported on issues surrounding death (as part of my work on religious and cultural diversity) over many years. I'm the co-author of the 1997 book, The Suicide Machine, produced by The Detroit Free Press staff about the assisted suicide campaign of Dr. Jack Kevorkian.
That's why I am well aware of the cultural and psychological environment surrounding suicide—and that's what historian Christian Goeschel explores in this deeply researched book.
If you don't recognize the name, here's a bit of background: One of the mentors he credits in this book is the scholar Richard J. Evans, who I also admire as a model of World War II research. Goeschel's own research has taken him around the world, including a half-year residence at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's highly esteemed Mandel Center—and that was about the time in 2005 and 2006 that he was preparing to publish some of his research on Nazi-era suicides in peer-reviewed journals. Then, this summer, Goeschel also shows up as one of the main "on camera" historians in the Netflix six-part documentary, Hitler and the Nazis.
The latter project was directed by Joe Berlinger, in part, as a fresh warning to the world about the dangers of fascist-empowered nationalism in taking over democracies and leading to overwhelming death and destruction. I've watched the entire series, which is what prompted me to get Goeschel's book and, now, to post this review.
I grew up in a family immersed in history, religious study, psychology and philosophy. In high school, I read Erich Fromm's disturbing analysis of the human attraction to death, The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness. And, I know Fromm has both supporters and critics for his body of work, but I still think this book from the early 1970s raises powerful and timely questions. Hitler and the Nazis were a central case study in Fromm's book, arguing that the Reich was an overwhelmingly oppressive culture that was pathologically attracted to death.
That's not Goeschel's conclusion in this 2009 Oxford Press book, which is one reason I can see that he is contributing to a better understanding of that horrific era. In fact, Goeschel resists lumping suicides in Germany, before and after the Reich, into one statistical or psychological model. The waves of suicide were too distinct—and each group of motives needs to be understood on its own terms, he argues. For example, German soldiers on the infamous Eastern Front, after the Reich began losing the war, chose suicide for much different reasons than homosexuals caught up in Nazi dragnets. The former were desperate, isolated and often in physical pain as well. The latter were humiliated, facing torture until they named friends who might soon suffer the same fate—and saw suicide as a noble way to save other lives.
What is most astonishing, I think, is the way Goeschel documents the Nazis' general loathing of suicide—to the point that they further humiliated those who died that way, even their own soldiers and their families—but then, when it suited their purposes, the leadership (including lots of regional and local Nazi leaders) made a pivot and tried to shroud this "way out" with an image of military glory.
This book is not for everyone and it is, indeed, a challenge to read an entire book about suicide. Nevertheless, for journalists and historians, I highly recommend this nuanced exploration of what led so many to end their lives.
March 11, 2013
A sociological study of suicide in Germany during the chaotic later Weimar Republic years and the Third Reich. I didn't find it as interesting as I had hoped, but that's probably not the author's fault. He talks about suicides committed for political reasons as well as murders the Nazis committed and disguised as suicides, and he has a special chapter about suicide among the Jewish population, before and during the war.
In spite of what Nazi propaganda wanted people to believe, the suicide rate rose considerably during Hitler's regime. A state of war usually decreases the number suicides in a county (probably because of the feeling of national solidarity that war engenders), but even after World War II started the suicide rate didn't drop back down to pre-Hitler levels. As for the Nazi attitudes towards it, they saw suicide as a sign of racial weakness and believed it was better off if such people removed themselves from the gene pool -- although under certain circumstances, suicide in the SS could be seen as an honorable act.
A good enough read if you're interested in that sort of thing, which I happen to be.
In spite of what Nazi propaganda wanted people to believe, the suicide rate rose considerably during Hitler's regime. A state of war usually decreases the number suicides in a county (probably because of the feeling of national solidarity that war engenders), but even after World War II started the suicide rate didn't drop back down to pre-Hitler levels. As for the Nazi attitudes towards it, they saw suicide as a sign of racial weakness and believed it was better off if such people removed themselves from the gene pool -- although under certain circumstances, suicide in the SS could be seen as an honorable act.
A good enough read if you're interested in that sort of thing, which I happen to be.
September 20, 2024
Autor podszedł do tematu bardzo wnikliwie. Przytacza i analizuje dane zarówno w skali makro, jak i mikro. Cały rozdział poświęca opisowi stanu badań nad zjawiskiem samobójstwa, przybliża też własną strategię metodologiczną.
Goeschel wykonał też solidny research. Objętość przypisów i bibliografii sugeruje mocarną kwerendę, zwłaszcza jeśli chodzi o źródła pierwotne. Często cytuje lub odsyła do innych badaczy (OCZYWIŚCIE przypisy umieszczono na końcu książki, bo czytelnik musi cierpieć, wiadomo).
Niestety, za dobrym przygotowaniem i researchem nie poszło, moim zdaniem, równie solidne wykonanie. Wiele razy łapałem się na tym, że nie miałem pojęcia co ja właściwie przeczytałem. No i ok, na przeszkodzie mogły stać moje intelektualne predyspozycje, ale rzucanie liczbami i datami przez kilka stron jest zwyczajnie nieczytelne.
Problem mam również z odważnymi wnioskami autora wyciągniętymi na podstawie wyłącznie jakościowych danych. Podważanie popularnych teorii w oparciu o treść kilku listów pożegnalnych jest dość brawurowym podejściem do uprawiania nauki - mnie nie przekonał, a jestem totalnym laikiem.
Na koniec przyznam, że jest to pierwszy raz, gdy spotykam się z clickbaitowym tytułem książki non-fiction xD. Oryginalny tytuł to po prostu “Suicide in Nazi Germany” - bez dopisku o listach, który, przynajmniej dla mnie, sugerował bardziej skupiony na jednostce reportaż, niż coś aspirującego do miana naukowej rozprawy, na którą akurat w momencie sięgania po tę książkę nie miałem specjalnie ochoty.
Goeschel wykonał też solidny research. Objętość przypisów i bibliografii sugeruje mocarną kwerendę, zwłaszcza jeśli chodzi o źródła pierwotne. Często cytuje lub odsyła do innych badaczy (OCZYWIŚCIE przypisy umieszczono na końcu książki, bo czytelnik musi cierpieć, wiadomo).
Niestety, za dobrym przygotowaniem i researchem nie poszło, moim zdaniem, równie solidne wykonanie. Wiele razy łapałem się na tym, że nie miałem pojęcia co ja właściwie przeczytałem. No i ok, na przeszkodzie mogły stać moje intelektualne predyspozycje, ale rzucanie liczbami i datami przez kilka stron jest zwyczajnie nieczytelne.
Problem mam również z odważnymi wnioskami autora wyciągniętymi na podstawie wyłącznie jakościowych danych. Podważanie popularnych teorii w oparciu o treść kilku listów pożegnalnych jest dość brawurowym podejściem do uprawiania nauki - mnie nie przekonał, a jestem totalnym laikiem.
Na koniec przyznam, że jest to pierwszy raz, gdy spotykam się z clickbaitowym tytułem książki non-fiction xD. Oryginalny tytuł to po prostu “Suicide in Nazi Germany” - bez dopisku o listach, który, przynajmniej dla mnie, sugerował bardziej skupiony na jednostce reportaż, niż coś aspirującego do miana naukowej rozprawy, na którą akurat w momencie sięgania po tę książkę nie miałem specjalnie ochoty.
April 24, 2022
took me a while to get through because of how dense the information is, however the detail itself was very methodical. an eye opening insight into the mental health of germans during this period, especially as it did not just cover the 1939-45 period. the weimar and post-war sections were very interesting to me as it compared the suicide rates before, during and after - as well as the change in motive.
i’ve been trying to read more academically written nonfiction (i’m doing a history undergrad degree rn) it’s a bit hefty but an interesting read nonetheless!
i’ve been trying to read more academically written nonfiction (i’m doing a history undergrad degree rn) it’s a bit hefty but an interesting read nonetheless!
July 22, 2021
Testo interessante che ripercorre il modo in cui governo, società e stampa in Germania trattarono il suicidio nel dopoguerra del primo conflitto mondiale e durante la fase nazista. Presenti numerose testimonianze sotto forma di lettere, articoli di giornale e stralci di testi (l'autore, per questo lavoro, ha condotto una meticolosa ricerca d'archivio).
Alcune storture: in certi casi sembra troppo prolisso o insiste eccessivamente su alcuni punti che intende portare avanti. Altre volte, invece, stranamente ripete frasi già scritte precedentemente, appesantendo.
Alcune storture: in certi casi sembra troppo prolisso o insiste eccessivamente su alcuni punti che intende portare avanti. Altre volte, invece, stranamente ripete frasi già scritte precedentemente, appesantendo.
February 16, 2022
That's not really an easy book. First of all the subcject is not easy, but that's not the main point.
Author brings various examples of suicide cases - in time of 20. and 30. of the XX century. We receive various statistics and just the same social reactions. But it's only a start. Those numbers were many times used in political games or as a means to reach certain goals.
We can learn how the government dealt with those acts of self destruction and the reasons leading to them. Were they accepted? Were they justified?
As the regim in the pre-war Germany got more strict and radical, so did some cases of "suicides", which also gets its place in the book.
Author brings various examples of suicide cases - in time of 20. and 30. of the XX century. We receive various statistics and just the same social reactions. But it's only a start. Those numbers were many times used in political games or as a means to reach certain goals.
We can learn how the government dealt with those acts of self destruction and the reasons leading to them. Were they accepted? Were they justified?
As the regim in the pre-war Germany got more strict and radical, so did some cases of "suicides", which also gets its place in the book.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews