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In the Series:
Heritage, Society and National Identity in the European
Union
The series comprises six books: The Germans,
French, Spanish, and British are currently detailed on the website; the Italians,
and Dutch will be presented on the website in due course
The author’s blogspot is at: http://whoarethegermans.blogspot.com/
President of Israel Shimon Peres, in a speech
to the German Bundestag on 27 January 2010, convened to mark Holocaust
Day, voiced an often-repeated enigma that continues to trouble humanity
over a half a century after the Holocaust:
“The question still remains today why did the Nazis see in
the existence of Jews a great and immediate danger? What induced
them to invest in the killing machine such extensive resources?
What motivated the Nazis to continue operating with such determination
to the very end, even though their defeat had already appeared on
the horizon? . . . The Nazi rabid hatred cannot be solely defined
as ‘anti-Semitic’
. . . It does not fully explain the burning, murderous, beastly
drive that motivated the Nazi regime, and their obsessive resolve
to annihilate the Jews.”
A possible answer to this enigma is provided by Yehuda Cohen. Why
were the Germans of all people the perpetrators of the Holocaust?
This examination of in-group identity issues and the essence and
unique development of Germans’ national identity has direct
relevance for those who seek an answer to this question. The answer
lies in a ‘triangle’ of the fateful encounter of Germans
and their problematic historical development, Nazi race theory,
and the success of German Jewry. The author focuses on weaknesses
in German identity which led to the attraction of a blood-based
race theory as a national ethos – a narrative of German racial
superiority which was invalidated by the very presence and prominence
of Jews in German culture and society. Eliminating this ‘affront’
was an existential issue for Germans that impelled a Judenrein Europe
– whether by expulsion or extermination. Such a linkage
has been overlooked because scholars have concentrated on the Holocaust
as a Jewish experience, with anti-Semitism being deemed primarily
responsible. But as this new interpretation of the historical circumstances
forcefully indicates, it was the German national experience that
was the prime mover in the Holocaust enterprise.
… In
elucidating fundamental differences between anti-Semitism and race-theory,
ethnicity and nationhood, and Nazi race theory and other manifestations
of European racism, Yehuda Cohen brings to the surface underlying
reasons for the phenomenal attraction of Germans to race theory.
Covering new ground, comparison of the pattern of German development
with the path taken by other nationalities reveals German-specific
motifs that weakened German national development – first and
foremost the lack of an ancient national all-German heritage. This
and other under-researched facets of the German experience prevented
German-speaking people from forming a shared national identity.
With the exception of the Nazi period, Germans have never been a
nation, only an ethnicity. Only a German (Nazi) race theory provided
Germans with an assumed history and vision of Oneness around which
an Aryan national ethos very briefly coalesced into a genuine shared
national identity.
… In conclusion,
the author sets out how the European Union’s vision of an
overarching ‘European nationality’ provides a constructive
solution for Germans’ identity conflicts: it is a framework
that also, ironically, supports an innate German drive to dominate
the European sphere, albeit now through economic clout – a
dominance never achieved by Bismarck or Hitler.
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Introduction: The Disequilibrium of German
Identity
PART I The State of Holocaust Studies
Chapter One An Overview of Holocaust Studies
and Its Causes
Is There a Fundamental Scholarly Bias?
Chapter Two The Roots: Anti-Semitism or German
Theory of Race?
Anti-Semitism as a “Catch-all”
Nature of Religious Anti-Semitism
Modern Anti-Semitism – Economic and Nationalist Roots
Anti-Semitism vs. Race Theory – Summary
PART II Fateful Triangle: German Nationality –
Race Theory –Jews
Chapter Three The First Apex: The Problematic
Nature of the German National Identity
Weakness in German National Identity
Problematic Nature of All-German Origins
Flawed Fractured State of All-German Nation-Building
Seeds of a Lofty Founding Narrative
Divisive Role of Heimat on German Unity
Entrenched Undemocratic Tradition?
The Nature of German Identity – A Comparison
German Historiography – An Overview
German and European Paths to Nationality Compared
Confessional Cleavages – Seeds of a Culture of Exclusion?
Catholics in Germany: 1870–1890
Huguenots in France: 1685–1765
Was the Kulturkampf an Omen?
Are Germans an Ethnicity or Nationality?
Defining Ethnicity and Nationality
Ethnicity and Nationalism During the National Socialism Period
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Ethnicity and Nationalism in the Post-War Era
A Unique Kind of German Utilitarianism
Chapter Four The Second Apex: Race Theory
Reexamined
Where Colonial Race Theory and Nazi Race Theory Differ
Political and Economic Factors as a Holocaust Trigger
Refuting Humiliation as the Villain
Refuting the Great Depression as the Villain
Blood, A Unique German Tradition
The Role of Eugenics
Exceptionalism of German Race Theory
Italian and German Racism
Wartime European Racism
A Schematic of European Race Theories
Chapter Five The Third Apex: German Jewry
German Jews – An Overview
When did German Racial Theory Turn Genocidal and Why?
Judenrein as a Strategic Goal, Expulsion as a Tactic
The Transfer Agreement of 1933/4
The Madagascar Plan of 1940
When did German Race Theory Turn Genocidal and Why?
A New Paradigm
Chapter Six The Fateful Triangle: Some Insights
for the Future
PART III German Identity in the Post-Holocaust Era
Chapter Seven A Changing Self-Image vis-à-vis
the Holocaust
The Post-War German Psyche
Cold War Amnesia
The Zero Hour Concept
No Working through Grief
Irrelevance and Modernism as an Alibi
German Holocaust Scholarship
“Get on with it” Attitudes
German Victimology A Schematic of German Holocaust Historiography
The Palliative Role of a European Identity
Chapter Eight Post-War German Structure,
Attitudes and Identity
The European Union – An Overview
Europe as a Third Alternative Bloc
The Road to a Complete European Identity
Germany, German Identity and the European Union
Chapter Nine Conclusion: The Force of Nationality
in the Past and in the Future
Germans, the Holocaust and German Nationality: Where do
we go from here?
National Identity as a Special Subject of Inquiry
Markers of Virulent National Identity
Epilogue
APPENDIX
Was the Decision to Exterminate All Jews Taken, When and Why?
A critique of Raul Hilberg’s scholarship
The facts according to Hilberg
Conclusions
A critique of Shlomo Aronson’s scholarship
The facts according to Aronson
A critique of Christopher Browning’s scholarship
Notes
Bibliography
Index
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“In this impressive book Dr.
Yehuda Cohen has succeeded to thoughtfully and originally discuss
the German Nazi leaders’ basic aspiration to create an all-national
identity. This major goal played a decisive role in launching and
executing the Jewish Holocaust. Cohen’s book adds to our understanding
of nationalism, nationalization and their impacts on the behavior
of nations and states. Here is an original and interesting perspective.”
Prof. Gabriel Sheffer, The Political Science Department, The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem |
Publication Details
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Hardback ISBN: |
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978-1-84519-358-4 |
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Paperback ISBN: |
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978-1-84519-445-1 |
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Page Extent / Format: |
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200 pp. / 229 x 152 mm |
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Release Date: |
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Hardcover, February 2010;
paperback, December 2010 |
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Illustrated: |
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No |
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Hardback Price: |
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£49.95 / $74.95 |
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Paperback Price: |
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£19.95 / $34.95 |
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| This book can be ordered online or by telephone. |
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For the UK and Rest of the World:
Gazelle Book Services
tel. 44 (0)1524-68765 |
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For the United States:
International Specialized Book Services
tel. (1) 503 287-3093 or (800) 944-6190 |
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For Canada:
University of Toronto Distribution
tel. (1) 800-565-9523 |
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