The Rise and Fall of Comradeship: Hitler's Soldiers, Male Bonding and Mass Violence in the Twentieth Century
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- Synopsis
- This is an innovative account of how the concept of comradeship shaped the actions, emotions and ideas of ordinary German soldiers across the two world wars and during the Holocaust. Using individual soldiers' diaries, personal letters and memoirs, Kühne reveals the ways in which soldiers' longing for community, and the practice of male bonding and togetherness, sustained the Third Reich's pursuit of war and genocide. Comradeship fuelled the soldiers' fighting morale. It also propelled these soldiers forward into war crimes and acts of mass murders. Yet, by practising comradeship, the soldiers could maintain the myth that they were morally sacrosanct. Post-1945, the notion of kameradschaft as the epitome of humane and egalitarian solidarity allowed Hitler's soldiers to join the euphoria for peace and democracy in the Federal Republic, finally shaping popular memories of the war through the end of the twentieth century. Offers a cultural approach to military history, demonstrating the way in which ordinary soldiers thought, felt, made choices and coped with mass death and violence. Explores the multifaceted fabric of male bonding and how 'hard' and 'soft' features work together. Explains some of the discontinuities in Germany's twentieth century and how those engaged in brutal genocidal violence could then form one of the strongest democracies ever to be established.
- Copyright:
- 2017
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Publisher Quality
- ISBN-13:
- 9781316841440
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
- Date of Addition:
- 11/28/17
- Copyrighted By:
- Thomas Kühne
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- History, Military, Psychology
- Submitted By:
- Bookshare Staff
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.