Planning and building under the National Socialists pervaded all areas of life between 1933 and 1945 and were inseparably linked to the regime’s totalitarian practices – both in the German Reich and in the European territories it occupied. The members of the Independent Commission of Historians – Wolfgang Benz, Tilman Harlander, Elke Pahl-Weber, Wolfram Pyta, Adelheid von Saldern, Wolfgang Schäche and Regina Stephan – were tasked by what is now the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building with the research project “Planning and Building under the National Socialists: Prerequisities, Institutions, Impacts”. The research findings are presented in their essays, each of which draws on contemporary photographs and plans with accompanying commentary to amplify seven areas of focus: Housing and Settlements; Party and State Architecture; Camps in the National Socialist Era; Infrastructure and Spatial Planning; Internationality; Continuities in Urban Planning and Architecture in the East and West after 1945; The Building Legacies of National Socialism. Included in the book are biographies of fifty architects, landscape designers, construction specialists and civil servants.
Wolfgang J. Mommsen Book order
Wolfgang Mommsen was a German historian whose work focused on 19th and 20th-century British and German history. His expertise spanned diplomatic, social, intellectual, and economic aspects of history. Mommsen championed a "special path" interpretation of German history, arguing for Germany's partial modernization which was accompanied by economic but not political progress. His comparative studies between Britain and Germany explored why Britain achieved both political and economic modernization, while Germany only the latter.







- 2023
- 2021
The Age of Capitalism and Bureaucracy
Perspectives on the Political Sociology of Max Weber
- 140 pages
- 5 hours of reading
Wolfgang Mommsen provides a comprehensive exploration of Max Weber's ideas, contextualizing them within the historical, social, and intellectual landscapes of his time. The book delves into Weber's academic journey, his ties to German nationalism, and his interactions with Marxist thought. Enhanced by a new foreword, updated bibliography, and a postscript discussing contemporary debates on Weber, this concise volume is an invaluable resource for both scholars and students seeking to understand Weber's impact and legacy.
- 2021
In this new edition of Wolfgang Mommsen's illuminating study, Max Weber is presented in terms of the major questions that preoccupied him as one of the towering social scientists of his time, with insights that are persistently relevant as we deal with the structures and dynamics of modern industrial societies.
- 2007
Antisemitismus und radikaler Islamismus
- 218 pages
- 8 hours of reading
In den letzten Jahren hat sich gezeigt, dass der Antisemitismus zu einem ernst zu nehmenden Problem in den Zuwanderergesellschaften Europas geworden ist. Vor allem muslimische Jugendliche projizieren ihren Hass gegenüber Israel auf die in den europäischen Ländern lebenden Juden. Antisemitische Stereotype und Propaganda aus den arabischen Ländern finden via Satellitenfernsehen und über radikale Islamisten Eingang in die Gedankenwelt der Migranten. Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler, Expertinnen und Experten aus Deutschland, Großbritannien, den Niederlanden und Schweden beleuchten in diesem Band sowohl historische als auch aktuelle Hintergründe dieses Phänomens.
- 2006
This is an authoritative history of the twelve years of the Third Reich from its political takeover of January 30, 1939 to the German capitulation in May 1945.
- 2000
A concise history of the Holocaust, covering all the major topics and issues important to that history - the first to be written by a German (non-Jewish) scholar of the younger generation. The History of the Holocaust keeps being written and rewritten in ever greater detail, but almost always by Jewish writers and historians. Wolfgang Benz's book makes an important contribution by bringing German perspectives to that terrible event. His goal is to provide and analyse all the incontrovertible facts and political decisions that led to the dehumanisation and systematic murder of millions of Jews and other ethnic minorities during the Nazi regime. He details the laws, the events, the individuals, and the decisions from 1933 to 1945. The book concludes with a discussion of what the German people really knew. A masterpiece of historical compression, this book is a powerful introduction to the history of the Holocaust.
- 1997
Part 1: ten essays survey the main groups of the Nazi regime, including Communists, socialists, Jews, Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses, the military, women, young people and emigres. Part 2: shorter articles on specific groups and eventsPart 3: 550 brief biographies of the main opponents of National Socialism mentioned in the first two parts
- 1994
The long way to Europe
- 254 pages
- 9 hours of reading
Prominent historians from Eastern and Western Europe speculate on the political and economic future of the continent.