Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Kater, Michael H

Titel

THE NAZI PARTY: A SOCIAL PROFILE OF MEMBERS AND LEADERS, 1919-1945

Ist Teil von

• Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983. xiv+415 pp, 1983, p.xiv+415-xiv+415

Erscheinungsjahr

1983

Quelle

Sociological Abstracts

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• A comparative study of the SC structure of Adolf Hitler's National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), in II PARTS & 10 Chpts. Introduction -- charts the sociohistorical background of German SCs, & criticizes earlier social histories of the Nazis for their dependence on voting behavior data & lack of empirical evidence for assumptions about the movement's SC composition. PART I - SOCIAL COMPOSITION OF THE NAZI PARTY'S RANK AND FILE 1919-1945 - includes (1) The Beginning: 1919 to the Beer Hall Putsch, November 1923 -- which traces the NSDAP's early growth, classifying several thousand (total N unspecified) known Nazis into the 14 occupational subgroups that made up the three German interwar SCs, based on NSDAP membership lists for South Germany & the Reich; (2) The Middle Years: 1924 to the Fall Elections of 1930 -- examines the social composition of the NSDAP after Hitler's release from prison, comparing membership list statistics on: joiners vs established members; Greater Bochum (Ruhr Valley) vs the state of Thuringia; & the communities of Hamburg, Brunswick, Barmen, Langerfeld, Mulheim, Mettmann, Starnberg, & Konigsberg; (3) The Rise to Power: September 1930 to 1933 -- examines the NSDAP following their 1930 Reichstag electoral victories, based on membership data for: Deutsch-Krone & Klausdorf, in East Prussia; Eutin, in Schleswig-Holstein; & Pahres & Eltersdorf, in Franconia; (4) The Peaceful Period: January 1933 to September 1939 -- traces changes in the NSDAP following Hitler's appointment to the Chancellorship, based on Berlin Document Center data on the occupation, sex, & region of joiners & established members. Data on anti-Nazi Communists of the period are examined in contrast; (5) The War Years: September 1939 to 1945 -- treats the increasing % of Wc NSDAP joiners during WWII, stressing the chronic underrepresentation of the Wc in the Nazi party; & (6) Social Profile of the Rank and File, 1919-1945 -- considers the influence of the sex & age characteristics of the NSDAP membership, & integrates & summarizes key SC, region, age, & sex information on the NSDAP rank & file for 1919-1945. PART II - SOCIAL PROFILE OF THE NAZI PARTY'S LEADERSHIP CADRES 1919-1945 - contains (7) The Early Years to Power: 1919 to 1933 -- which discusses the character of early NSDAP leadership, focusing on the effect of precarious political status, problematic legitimacy within the party, & dysfunctionality in the unstable chain of party command; (8) Peacetime: January 1933 to September 1939 -- describes the changes that occurred after NSDAP became an official, monopolistic state party; (9) Wartime: September 1939 to 1945 -- argues that SC conditions throughout the ranks of NSDAP leadership changed little from 1933 to the fall of the Reich, drawing on anecdotal as well as archival data. Analyzed are the complacent attitudes of Hitler & other NSDAP leaders toward party functionaries' moral decline, corruption, & cowardice; & (10) Social Profile of the Leaders, 1919-1945 -- contrasts the influences of the social elite & more numerous LMc Nazis on the mentality & rationality of NSDAP leadership. Conclusion -- contrasts the NSDAP elite & rank & file regarding the extent of underrepresentation of Fs & the Wc & overrepresentation of the LMc & Uc. The social revolutionary aspect of the NSDAP is evaluated. 13 Tables, 12 Figures, 31-item Archival Source List.