The Third Reich in the Ivory Tower: Complicity and Conflict on American Campuses

by Stephen H. Norwood

This is the first systematic exploration of the nature and extent of sympathy for Nazi Germany at American universities during the 1930s. Universities were highly influential in shaping public opinion and many of the nation’s most prominent university administrators refused to take a principled stand against the Hitler regime. Universities welcomed Nazi officials to campus and participated enthusiastically in student exchange programs with Nazified universities in Germany. American educators helped Nazi Germany improve its image in the West as it intensified its persecution of the Jews and strengthened its armed forces. The study contrasts the significant American grass-roots protest against Nazism that emerged as soon as Hitler assumed power with campus quiescence, and administrators’ frequently harsh treatment of those students and professors who challenged their determination to maintain friendly relations with Nazi Germany.

Genres: History, Holocaust, World War II, American History, Education, Politics, Philosophy

352 pages, Paperback

First published May 25, 2009

About the author

Stephen H. Norwood, who holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University, is Professor of History at the University of Oklahoma. He is the winner of the Herbert G. Gutman Award in American Social History and winner of the Macmillan/SABR Award in Baseball History. His articles have appeared in anthologies and numerous journals, including American Jewish History, Modern Judaism, and the Journal of Social History.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book and at the same time infuriating. Much like Larson's In the Garden of the Beasts, it shows the relative apathy of U.S. college presidents towards Nazism. In particular, the president of Harvard proved to be quite pro-Nazi and went as far as to over see the release of several nazis while ambassador to West Germany.

[Moshe Hollander · Rating 4 out of 5]

A damning insight.

[John Hudder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little polemical but especially valuable in documenting anti-semitism among some faculty, especially, in German departments and many university presidents and deans.

[Nick Black]

http://chronicle.com/article/The-Sham...