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Joseph Goebbels: En Biografi
Joseph Goebbels namn har blivit synonymt med en effektiv men hänsynslös propaganda. Under Tredje rikets tolv år var det propagandaministern Goebbels som förde fram regimens åsikter. Med medierna i sin hand och med sin vältalighet trollband han miljoner av människor. Joseph Goebbels är än i dag den kanske mest kände naziledaren efter Adolf Hitler, men få vet vem han egentligen var.
Lars Ericson Wolke, professor vid Försvarshögskolan, skriver nu den första biografin på svenska. Här framkommer bland annat nya fakta om Goebbels kontakter med Sverige.
I boken får vi följa en av 1900-talshistoriens mest ökända personer. Goebbels utveckling, med en katolsk uppväxt och universitetsstudier med inriktning mot en karriär som präst eller litteraturforskare, visar till en början inte på något onormalt. Hur kommer det sig att han byter livsspår och gör karriär i nazistpartiet för att bli en av Tysklands mäktigaste och mest hatade män under ett drygt decennium? Boken låter oss få ta del av hela händelseförloppet.
HISTORISKA MEDIA
Lars Ericson Wolke, professor vid Försvarshögskolan, skriver nu den första biografin på svenska. Här framkommer bland annat nya fakta om Goebbels kontakter med Sverige.
I boken får vi följa en av 1900-talshistoriens mest ökända personer. Goebbels utveckling, med en katolsk uppväxt och universitetsstudier med inriktning mot en karriär som präst eller litteraturforskare, visar till en början inte på något onormalt. Hur kommer det sig att han byter livsspår och gör karriär i nazistpartiet för att bli en av Tysklands mäktigaste och mest hatade män under ett drygt decennium? Boken låter oss få ta del av hela händelseförloppet.
HISTORISKA MEDIA
- GenresWarNonfictionHistory
336 pages, Hardcover
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16 people want to read
About the author
Lars Ericson Wolke
39 books6 followersLars Ericson Wolke är professor i historia vid Försvarshögskolan, ledamot av Kungliga Krigsvetenskapsakademien och en välkänd författare och föredragshållare. Han har skrivit ett 25-tal böcker varav flera om svensk stormaktstid.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 28, 2020
(3.5 stars)
Joseph Goebbels was probably the most devoted Nazi in Hitler's inner circle of men, he not only served as minister of propaganda but embraced death together with his beloved Führer, his wife Magda and their six children.
Goebbels was a troubled young man with a strong inferiority complex, caused buy his apparent disability- he was clubfooted. This put him apart from the other healthy children and he was often bullied. The young Goebbels was a rather lonely boy and would remain lonely as he grew up, only acquiring very few close friends. However, the bullying he experienced as well as the solitary lifestyle that he developed as a consequence of this would later change into a growing desire for revenge, as well as a quite pronounced streak of narcissism.
This book is the first biography of Joseph Goebbels in Swedish and it is a portrait of him as a man as well as a study of the time that he was living and operating in. It gives the reader an insight into the politics of the Third Reich from Goebbels' perspective.
Since his diaries are available today, a lot of different conclusions can be drawn about Goebbels and his motivations and Wolke has several critical discussions about the information we have about him and how it should be treated, as well as broader discussions aiming to analyze his persona.
He makes a few interesting observations such as:
- Goebbels was unemployed for a period of time which seems to have been the trigger that started his violent and radical anti-semitism. The jews became a scapegoat that he could put the blame on as things didn't go his way and as he encountered failure.
- He was born a Catholic into a devout family but his faith slowly started withering away and merging into a new belief system, that of National socialism and would eventually lead to near-worshipping of Adolf Hitler.
- He took immense pride in his doctors' title and would as others to address him as 'Dr. Goebbels'.
- He was one of the men closest to Hitler but was jealous of those who had participated in the failed coup d'état of 1923, as they were celebrated in annual parades and clearly distinguished to the public as a sort of 'Nazi aristocracy' and the inner circle who had been there when it all started.
- Before he met Hitler he had quite pronounced (leftist) views and strong personal opinions and these would shine through for a few years in his propaganda; but at his most devoted he forgot his own views and opinions and followed the Führer blindly.
Overall I enjoyed this book and it gave a good overview of Goebbels' life and it was particularly interesting to read about his visit to Sweden and his diary entries where he mentioned Sweden; as I've been to and live near many of the places that he visited. I also liked how the author included different opinions of contemporary Swedish figures with varying political agendas. My main problem with the book which prompted me to give it 3.5 stars rather than 4 was that it was very academically written and rather dry in places.
Joseph Goebbels was probably the most devoted Nazi in Hitler's inner circle of men, he not only served as minister of propaganda but embraced death together with his beloved Führer, his wife Magda and their six children.
Goebbels was a troubled young man with a strong inferiority complex, caused buy his apparent disability- he was clubfooted. This put him apart from the other healthy children and he was often bullied. The young Goebbels was a rather lonely boy and would remain lonely as he grew up, only acquiring very few close friends. However, the bullying he experienced as well as the solitary lifestyle that he developed as a consequence of this would later change into a growing desire for revenge, as well as a quite pronounced streak of narcissism.
This book is the first biography of Joseph Goebbels in Swedish and it is a portrait of him as a man as well as a study of the time that he was living and operating in. It gives the reader an insight into the politics of the Third Reich from Goebbels' perspective.
Since his diaries are available today, a lot of different conclusions can be drawn about Goebbels and his motivations and Wolke has several critical discussions about the information we have about him and how it should be treated, as well as broader discussions aiming to analyze his persona.
He makes a few interesting observations such as:
- Goebbels was unemployed for a period of time which seems to have been the trigger that started his violent and radical anti-semitism. The jews became a scapegoat that he could put the blame on as things didn't go his way and as he encountered failure.
- He was born a Catholic into a devout family but his faith slowly started withering away and merging into a new belief system, that of National socialism and would eventually lead to near-worshipping of Adolf Hitler.
- He took immense pride in his doctors' title and would as others to address him as 'Dr. Goebbels'.
- He was one of the men closest to Hitler but was jealous of those who had participated in the failed coup d'état of 1923, as they were celebrated in annual parades and clearly distinguished to the public as a sort of 'Nazi aristocracy' and the inner circle who had been there when it all started.
- Before he met Hitler he had quite pronounced (leftist) views and strong personal opinions and these would shine through for a few years in his propaganda; but at his most devoted he forgot his own views and opinions and followed the Führer blindly.
Overall I enjoyed this book and it gave a good overview of Goebbels' life and it was particularly interesting to read about his visit to Sweden and his diary entries where he mentioned Sweden; as I've been to and live near many of the places that he visited. I also liked how the author included different opinions of contemporary Swedish figures with varying political agendas. My main problem with the book which prompted me to give it 3.5 stars rather than 4 was that it was very academically written and rather dry in places.
April 6, 2024
Bra och informativ bok. Har tidigare läst biografier om Goebbels, och det var intressant ett få ett (eller snarare flera!) svenskt perspektiv på det hela.
September 21, 2023
I don’t think a biography has to stick to strict chronological order; in fact, some of the best biographies I’ve read manage to show the connections between the early parts of the subject’s life and later events, in a way that feels organic and is still easy for the reader to follow. However, Wolke fails at this. There is too much jumping back and forth in the timeline, the individual chapters seem somewhat disconnected from each other, and too many paragraphs begin with complete non sequiturs.
Then there’s the issue of the lacklustre storytelling. Maybe some blame lies with the subject himself; if there’s anything I have learned about Goebbels from this book, it is that he seems like an almost painfully mediocre man with an overinflated sense of importance and a lacking understanding of the political and military realities around him. This may very well be true to real life. Fascists in general seldom come across as terribly interesting people in my experience. Still, at times I get the impression that Wolke glosses over the more interesting aspects of his ideology and personality, which could have added something to this biography. I would have liked to see a further exploration of the intellectual-ideological aspects of Nazism, the völkisch movement, the reasons why Goebbels’ propaganda worked, and the ideas and narratives he drew upon when creating his messages to the German people.
But perhaps that’s a topic for an entirely different book.
Then there’s the issue of the lacklustre storytelling. Maybe some blame lies with the subject himself; if there’s anything I have learned about Goebbels from this book, it is that he seems like an almost painfully mediocre man with an overinflated sense of importance and a lacking understanding of the political and military realities around him. This may very well be true to real life. Fascists in general seldom come across as terribly interesting people in my experience. Still, at times I get the impression that Wolke glosses over the more interesting aspects of his ideology and personality, which could have added something to this biography. I would have liked to see a further exploration of the intellectual-ideological aspects of Nazism, the völkisch movement, the reasons why Goebbels’ propaganda worked, and the ideas and narratives he drew upon when creating his messages to the German people.
But perhaps that’s a topic for an entirely different book.
March 1, 2019
I read this for a school project. I'm giving it 3,5 stars. It's very detailed and well made, but got very boring at times. Still interesting and I think it gives the reader a good look at the real Goebbels. The picture I had of him as cold-blooded and powerful was destroyed. He is both does things and also a fantic, petty master of propaganda. So good that he often fell for it himself.
August 16, 2022
Fantastisk biografi hvor en får mer innsyn i personen Goebbels og rollen hans i det tredje rike. Likte godt nøye beskrivelser av hendelser , utdrag fra dagbøkene hans og det kildekritiske perspektivet. Skulle gjerne hatt flere bilder i boka. Anbefales!
September 4, 2020
Intressant, författaren har gjort ett bra jobb, men för detaljerad för min smak.
May 15, 2013
Interesting biography. Before I have only really read biographies of Hitler and Göring and this had my hopes up. It was well written, but I couldn't feel the emotional attachment as to a real human being - perhaps because Goebbles was so very much a closed-up person in life, and that his diaries really didn't give much "truth" to his personal life either.
Or maybe he really was such a cold-hearted, quite awful, person. It left no doubt that he was a fanatic, and perhaps being so close to his admiration (Hitler) didn't really make things easier - for anybody I suppose.
What I wanted to get to however, is that while I have been intrigued by Görings' biographies quite a lot - reading Goebbles was totally different.
Or maybe he really was such a cold-hearted, quite awful, person. It left no doubt that he was a fanatic, and perhaps being so close to his admiration (Hitler) didn't really make things easier - for anybody I suppose.
What I wanted to get to however, is that while I have been intrigued by Görings' biographies quite a lot - reading Goebbles was totally different.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews