Private Life and Privacy in Nazi Germany
Published on 18. June 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
412 pages
978-1-108-71903-2 (ISBN)
Description
Was it possible to have a private life under the Nazi dictatorship? It has often been assumed that private life and the notion of privacy had no place under Nazi rule. Meanwhile, in recent years historians of Nazism have been emphasising the degree to which Germans enthusiastically embraced notions of community. This volume sheds fresh light on these issues by focusing on the different ways in which non-Jewish Germans sought to uphold their privacy. It highlights the degree to which the regime permitted or even fostered such aspirations, and it offers some surprising conclusions about how private roles and private self-expression could be served by, and in turn serve, an alignment with the community. Furthermore, contributions on occupied Poland offer insights into the efforts by 'ethnic Germans' to defend their aspirations to privacy and by Jews to salvage the remnants of private life in the ghetto.
Reviews / Votes
'An extraordinary, inquisitive, immersing exploration of lives lived in the Third Reich, where the grit of detail and sharpness of insight exposes an entire century that stumbled in war and peace. You will be well-guided by the eloquence of the contributors and unsettled by their conclusions.' Peter Fritzsche, University of Illinois and author of An Iron Wind 'This volume looks at the Third Reich from a fresh and productive angle. A range of excellent chapters show that privacy was by no means absent from the supposedly 'collectivistic' dictatorship. Rather, it was reinterpreted, granted and denied in peculiar ways.' Moritz Foellmer, Universiteit van Amsterdam 'The contributors to this volume deepen and refine our understanding of the boundaries of the private sphere in a society suffused by propaganda and subjected to continual attempts at political mobilization. These important essays show us how millions of ordinary Germans experienced daily life in the Third Reich.' Alan E. Steinweis, University of Vermont 'The essays in this splendid volume, all fresh, readable and authoritative, remind us why the question 'What happened to the private sphere in Nazi Germany?' is important and offer persuasive approaches to answering it.' Eve Rosenhaft, University of Liverpool '... the volume's combination of new empirical research and theoretical sophistication is impressive, representing an important point of departure for anyone interested in the private and privacy in the Third Reich.' Eric Kurlander, European History QuarterlyMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises; 13 Halftones, unspecified
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
594 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-108-71903-2 (9781108719032)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Elizabeth Harvey | Johannes Huerter | Maiken Umbach
Private Life and Privacy in Nazi Germany
Book
07/2019
Cambridge University Press
€140.70
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Content
Part I. Interpreting the Private under National Socialism: New Approaches: 1. Introduction: reconsidering private life under the Nazi dictatorship Elizabeth Harvey, Johannes Huerter, Maiken Umbach and Andreas Wirsching; 2. A particular kind of privacy: accessing 'the private' in national socialism Janosch Steuwer; 3. Private lives, public faces: on the social self in Nazi Germany Mary Fulbrook; 4. Private and public moral sentiments in Nazi Germany Nicholas Stargardt; 5. (Re-)inventing the private under national socialism Maiken Umbach; Part II. The Private in the Volksgemeinschaft: 6. Private life in the people's economy: spending and saving in Nazi Germany Pamela E. Swett; 7. 'Hoist the flag!': flags as a sign of political consensus and distance in the Nazi period Karl Christian Fuehrer; 8. The vulnerable dwelling: local privacy before the courts Annemone Christians; 9. Walther von Hollander as an advice columnist on marriage and the family in the Third Reich Lu Seegers; Part III. The Private at War: 10. Personal relationships between harmony and alienation: aspects of home leave during the Second World War Christian Packheiser; 11. Working on the relationship: exchanging letters, goods, and photographs in wartime Andrew Stuart Bergerson, Laura Fahnenbruck and Christine Hartig; 12. Love letters from front and home: a private space for intimacy Cornelie Usborne; 13. 'A birth is nothing out of the ordinary here ...': mothers, midwives and the private sphere in the 'Reichsgau Wartheland' 1939-1945 Wiebke Lisner; 14. Transformations of the 'private': proximity and distance in the spatial confinement of the ghettos in occupied Poland 1939-1942 Carlos A. Haas.