Nazi Culture: Intellectual, Cultural and Social Life in the Third Reich

by George L. Mosse, Salvador Attanasio (Translator)

Describes National Socialism in practice and what it meant for the average German. Includes excerpts from newspapers, novellas, plays, and diaries, as well as public pronouncements of Nazi leaders, churchmen, and professors.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Germany, Cultural, World War II, Sociology

386 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

German-born American social and cultural historian.

Mosse authored 25 books on a variety of fields, from English constitutional law, Lutheran theology, to the history of fascism, Jewish history, and the history of masculinity.

He was perhaps best-known for his books and articles that redefined the discussion and interpretation of Nazism.

Reviews

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating insight into life under the Third Reich for ordinary German citizens. Combining short but effective commentary with accompanied translated German texts from publications as widely sourced as primary school textbooks to racial philosophy to theatre production programs, Mosse does a brilliant job in revealing the truly pervasive nature of National Socialism, the way it infected everything in society, without ever needing to hit you over the head with any overt moralism. The more colourful, insane or antisemitic moments speak for themselves. Yet at the same time, you are also given a disconcerting glimpse of how Nazism slowly worked its way into the more moderate mindsets of the discontented, socially conservative middle-class citizen.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

I honestly loved this book and found it very interesting in regards to the time of the Third Reich. As a student who is going to be doing modern history next year, this book is a great way to get prior knowledge before hand and to also build more knowledge onto prior information. The way Mosse has included extracts from authors of the time gives you a compelling insight into what it was like to live under the rule of the Führer, whatever status or position you were in. Definitely recommend reading this book if you want to know more about the Third Reich or are just generally interested in it

[Amber Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting piece of history

[Edward Champion · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an impeccably selected series of excerpts about the underlying tenets, predictable as they often are, behind the evils of "Nazi culture." Mosse is best when he is showing the flagrant efforts to manipulate education and religion -- all truly disturbing. Hitler wanted to replace Christianity with a Hitler-as-god religion and the mealtime prayers included here are perturbing. I would have liked more commentary from Mosse, who is a wise and wildly original scholar. But this is a good compendium of evil fascism.

[Geoffrey Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of first hand documentary evidence of the Third Reich's influence on German intellectual, cultural and social life with introductory essays by Mosse. The chapter on Education is particularly noteworthy.

[Heart DeCoupeville · Rating 5 out of 5]

Purchased copy new.

As this year of 2024 wanes and darker days approach both literally and metaphorically, I can't recommend this book enough.

If the Germans in particular and the Europeans more broadly had little idea what the 1930s and 1940s would be like, we of this twenty-first century have no right to claim any ignorance at all. The Nazis left a record of their actions and their thoughts; Mosse has selected representative documents to show exactly who they were, what they did, and what they thought.

Chilling? Terrifying? Yes. Ignore at your peril.

[Payton Sudenga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Payton Sudenga
P6
Mrs. Mager
Nazi Culture: Intellectual, Cultural and Social Life in the Third Reich
By George Mosse
Pages: 456
1. How did you pick this book? Well I am very interested in World War 2 stuff and Nazis were part of World War 2. I wanted to know more about their culture and what they believed in. It was also recommended to me by the one and only Mrs. Mager.
2. Significance of the title? The book is titled Nazi Culture. The book is all about what they believed in and what they did. Its significant because it is describing the nazi culture which just happens to be the title.
3. Purpose? I believe the purpose of this book is to be informational to possibly people in World History or someone who is in German and wants to learn the history of germany.
4. Audience? German people, historical people, and WWII junkies.
5. What are 3 facts you learned in the book? I learned that in Germany even women went on strike for rights just like the women did in america. Also a child could be considered a commanding officers equal. Even though what Hitler did was bad he was also a very nice person to his fellow germans who were of the essential race.
6. Theme? The message the author is trying to tell the readers is the history of the Nazis and their culture.
7. Choose 3 reading strategies? I tried to predict what would happen next but the book kinda jumped back and forth so it didn’t exactly work well. I used prior knowledge from what i know about the nazis already and turns out this book taught me more than what i was expecting. Lastly i tried to visualize the descriptive details that they gave about the nazis and what they believed in.
8. What did you think of the book? I thought it was ok i wouldn't recommend it to others because being seen reading this book looks kind of bad but it was still ok. It was meant to be informational and it doesn't really push being a nazi in your face its just trying to tell you who they are and what they believed in. If someone wanted to know more about Nazis then i would tell them to read this book but otherwise it would be useless just to read it out of boredom.

[Isidore · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pioneering (1966) anthology of primary source documents. Obviously not intended to be comprehensive, it nevertheless lets us hear an interesting assortment of Nazi thinkers, civil servants, writers, artists, teachers, lawyers, and politicians speak in their own voice. Persons opposed to Nazism are also represented, but primarily in order to illustrate how the Nazis shaped a particular aspect of society.

For me, the most disturbing thing about it all is that the rhetoric, the argumentation, the rationales offered don't sound very different from what one hears from our present leaders and pundits. Although the Nazi variety of racialism has been muted, there is nevertheless a great deal of Nazi thinking in other areas that remains unpleasantly mainstream, if unacknowledged as such.

[Don · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Mostly quotes of gibberish speeches given by Third Reich figures.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent within the context of a class I took. Otherwise I may have been somewhat lost.

[Jun Ogata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still scary

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

"This book does not pretend to give a complete picture. Rather it aims to offer a taste of what National Socialism wanted to create, how it met the crisis of the post-World War I world, and how it affected the German population. But these documents also convey an idea of how "mass consciousness" can be created and manipulated in a nation. Hitler and his fellow leaders genuinely believed in their world view, but they also sought quite consciously to induce the population to share this belief. It is no coincidence that the Ministry of the Propaganda and Enlightenment became so important, or that Hitler was personally closest to Joseph Goebbels, the expert manipulator of mass opinion."