A German generation: an experiential history of the twentieth century

348 Pages·2.193 MB·English

by  Kohut, Thomas August

A GERMAN GENERATION
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THOMAS A. KOHUT
A German Generation
AN EXPERIENTIAL HISTORY
OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
New Haven & London
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Published with assistance from the Mary Cady Tew Memorial Fund.
Copyright © 2012 by Yale University.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations,
in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S.
Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written
permission from the publishers.
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ness, or promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected]
(U.S. offi ce) or [email protected] (U.K. offi ce).
Designed by Mary Valencia.
Set in Sabon type by Newgen North America.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kohut, Thomas August.
A German generation : an experiential history of the twentieth century /
Thomas A. Kohut.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-300-17003-0 (hardback)
1. Germany—History—20th century. 2. Germany—Social conditions—
20th century. 3. Germans—Ethnic identity. 4. World War, 1914–1918—
Germany. 5. World War, 1939–1945—Germany. 6. National socialism.
7. Oral history—Germany. I. Title.
dd232.k645 2012
943.087—dc23
2011016844
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48–1992 (Permanence
of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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In memory of my father, Heinz Kohut, proud Austrian Pfadfi nder
and contemporary of those at the heart of this study
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The historical events and decisions that really count play themselves out
among all of us who are anonymous, in the heart of every accidental and
private individual person. The most powerful dictators, ministers, and
generals are completely powerless in the face of these simultaneous mass
decisions, often made by people who are unaware that they have decided
anything. And it is characteristic of these decisive events that they never
appear as mass phenomena. . . . Instead these decisive events occur only as
the result of the apparently private experiences of thousands and millions
of individuals.
—SEBASTIAN HAFFNER, Geschichte eines Deutschen
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contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: “We Have All, Always, Sought the Collective” 1
PART I. Germany during World War I and the Weimar Republic
1 Interviews: Youth 21
2 Analysis: Finding the Collective in the Youth Movement “Group” 59
3 Essays 72
The Experience of War, Revolution, Disorder, and Infl ation 72
Gemeinschaft, Gesellschaft, and the Collective 76
Sexuality, Identity, and Equality in the Youth Movement 77
The Youth Movement and National Socialism 80
PART II. Germany during the Third Reich and World War II
4 Interviews: Young Adulthood 85
5 Analysis: Extending the Collective in the Community of the Volk 124
6 Essays 150
The Popularity of National Socialism and the Volksgemeinschaft with
Younger Germans 150
National Socialism and Women 152
National Socialism and Modernization 156
vii
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viii CONTENTS
The Experiential and Racial Reality of the Volksgemeinschaft 158
“Looking Away” from Jews in Nazi Germany 161
German Knowledge of the “Final Solution” before 1945 162
German Anti-Semitism during the Third Reich 167
National Socialist Terror and the Germans 172
Men and Women during the War and in Its Aftermath 174
PART III. Postwar Germany
7 Interviews: Maturity 181
8 Analysis: Resurrecting the Collective in the Generational “Circle” 211
9 Essays 224
Men, Women, and the Reassertion of the Family in Postwar
Germany 224
The Mitscherlichs’ “The Inability to Mourn” 230
The National Socialist Past in West German Families 234
Conclusion: The Authority of Historical Experience 237
Notes 243
Bibliography 309
Index 323
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acknowledgments
Over the more than fi fteen years that I have worked on this project, so many
people generously provided advice and support that not all of them can be
acknowledged here. I would like to begin, however, by thanking three his-
torians whose support long predates my work on this project. Ronald Suny
was one of my teachers when I was a student at Oberlin College. His courses
prompted me to apply to graduate school in history. Ron’s infl uence testi-
fi es to the power of a teacher to inspire a student, even when the teacher
is standing at the front of a large lecture hall and the student is a wholly
unremarkable undergraduate sitting quietly at the back of the room. Peter
Gay and John Demos have been constant sources of inspiration and support
throughout the course of my career, beginning in Peter’s case when I was still
a graduate student at the University of Minnesota. Their sophisticated, cre-
ative, and courageous scholarship has provided a model of psychologically
sensitive history to emulate. What successes I have achieved as a historian
over the years I owe as much to Peter and to John as to anyone. Indeed, when
I sought a publisher for the manuscript of this book, I turned to John for
advice. His willingness to read the manuscript and to contact the history edi-
tor at Yale University Press about it launched the process that has led to this
book’s publication. I would like to thank Peter Gay and John Demos most,
however, for their faith in me as a historian.
I would like to thank Christopher Rogers, editorial director at Yale Uni-
versity Press, for his excellent advice to shorten the manuscript by about a
third as well as for his more intangible intellectual and moral support. I would
also like to acknowledge Christina Tucker, assistant editor at Yale, for her pa-
tience, gentle prodding, and intelligent suggestions, as well as Laura D avulis
ix
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