In the spring of 1933, German society was deeply divided - in the Reichstag elections on 5 March, only a small percentage voted for Hitler. Yet, once he seized power, his creation of a socially inclusive Volksgemeinschaft, promising equality, economic prosperity and the restoration of honor and pride after the humiliating ending of World War I..
Violence against Jews in Provincial Germany, 1919-1939
Set against the backdrop of 1933 Germany, the narrative explores the societal shift as Hitler's regime promised unity and prosperity while simultaneously fostering exclusion and violence. The author highlights how bureaucratic discrimination and anti-Jewish actions dismantled civil order, leading to a deeply aggressive and racist society. Utilizing extensive source material, the book provides a thorough analysis of the transformation from a legal framework to one dominated by violence, revealing the unintended consequences of this radical change.
Follows the journey of a strikingly homogenous group of young academics - who came from the educated, bourgeois stratum of society - as they started to identify with the Nazi concept of Volksgemeinschaft, which labeled Jews as enemies of the people and justified their murder.