David Schoenbaum (born 1935) is an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
writing on a wide range of subjects, including German political history (in the periods of World War I, Nazism, the 1960s, and contemporary politics), European and global cultural history, and U.S. diplomatic history.
Life and work
Schoenbaum, for many years a professor of history at the
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...
, is best known for his 1966 book, ''Hitler's Social Revolution''. He received his BA from the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...
, and, in 1965, his D.Phil. from
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. During his tenure at the University of Iowa, he published additional books on German history and US-Israeli relations. He retired from the University of Iowa in 2008. His most recent book is ''The Violin: A Social History of the World's Most Versatile Instrument'', published by
W. W. Norton and Company
W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton Ant ...
in December 2012.
In ''Hitler's Social Revolution'' Schoenbaum challenged the then prevailing notion that the
National Socialist regime was a backwards looking, reactionary anti-modernizing dictatorship, and instead argued that, in effect at least, the Nazi regime was a modernizing dictatorship.
[Kerhsaw, Ian ''The Nazi Dictatorship : Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation'', London : Arnold, 2000 pages 166-167.] Schoenbaum argued that the Nazi revolution was a "double revolution...of means and ends".
In order to accomplish its foreign policy goals, namely war, the Nazi regime was forced to encourage
modernization
Modernization theory is used to explain the process of modernization within societies. The "classical" theories of modernization of the 1950s and 1960s drew on sociological analyses of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and a partial reading of Max Weber, ...
and industrialization, despite the anti-modernist nature of Nazi ideology.
Schoenbaum wrote that "The revolution of ends was ideological—war against bourgeois and industrial society. The revolution of means was its reciprocal. It was bourgeois and industrial, since in an industrial age even a war against industrial society must be fought with industrial means and bourgeois are necessary to fight the bourgeoise."
In Schoenbaum's view, there were two sorts of social realities, namely "objective" and "interpreted social reality".
[Kerhsaw, Ian ''The Nazi Dictatorship : Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation'', London : Arnold, 2000 page 167.] By "objective social reality", Schoenbaum argued the Nazi regime had achieved greater degree of industrialization and urbanization, while by "interpreted social reality", the Nazi regime was able to break down the traditional lines of class, religion and regional loyalties to achieve an unparalleled degree of unity amongst the German people.
In particular, Schoenbaum argued that the Nazi regime was able to destroy the traditional class barriers that had divided German society, and for most Germans, the increased social mobility offered by the Nazi regime was sufficient compensation for the destruction of
democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...
.
Schoenbaum's book proved to be highly influential, and set off an important debate about both the intentions and the effects of Nazi social policies, and the nature of social change during the Nazi period. Some historians such as
Ian Kershaw
Sir Ian Kershaw (born 29 April 1943) is an English historian whose work has chiefly focused on the social history of 20th-century Germany. He is regarded by many as one of the world's leading experts on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and is pa ...
have criticized Schoenbaum's work for placing too much reliance on what Kershaw considers to be subjective and impressionistic evidence.
Schoenbaum has written books about other aspects of modern German history. In 1968, Schoenbaum published a book about the
Spiegel Affair
The ''Spiegel'' affair of 1962 (german: link=no, Spiegel-Affäre) was a political scandal in West Germany. It stemmed from the publication of an article in ''Der Spiegel,'' West Germany's weekly political magazine, about the nation's defense f ...
scandal of 1962, in which he sought to set the affair into the context of the history of the Federal Republic and the wider context of German history. His 1982 book ''Zabern 1913'' concerned the political fall-out from the
Saverne Affair
The Zabern or Saverne Affair was a crisis of domestic policy which occurred in the German Empire at the end of 1913. It was caused by political unrest in Zabern (now Saverne) in Alsace-Lorraine, where two battalions of the Prussian were garriso ...
in 1913. Schoenbaum argued that the affair revealed different aspects of the
German Empire
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
, and argued that the Zabern Affair was the exception that proved that the rule that Imperial Germany was no more or less liberal or illiberal then other Western nations. In 1996, Schoenbaum wrote a highly critical book review in the ''
National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...
'' of
Daniel Goldhagen
Daniel Jonah Goldhagen (born June 30, 1959) is an American author, and former associate professor of government and social studies at Harvard University. Goldhagen reached international attention and broad criticism as the author of two controve ...
's bestseller ''
Hitler's Willing Executioners
''Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust'' is a 1996 book by American writer Daniel Goldhagen, in which he argues that the vast majority of ordinary Germans were "willing executioners" in the Holocaust because of a uniq ...
'' where he charged Goldhagen with grossly simplifying the question of the degree and virulence of German
Antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
, and of only selecting evidence that supported his thesis. Furthermore, Schoenbaum complained that Goldhagen did not take a comparative approach with Germany placed in isolation, thereby falsely implying that Germans and Germans alone were the only nation that saw widespread anti-semitism.
[Schoenbaum, David "Ordinary People?" pages 54-56 from ''National Review'', Volume XLVIII, Issue # 12, July 1, 1996 page 55.] Finally, Schoenbaum argued that Goldhagen failed to explain why the anti-Jewish boycott of April 1, 1933 was relatively ineffective or why the ''
Kristallnacht
() or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...
'' needed to be organized by the Nazis as opposed to being a spontaneous expression of German popular anti-semitism.
[Schoenbaum, David "Ordinary People?" pages 54-56 from ''National Review'', Volume XLVIII, Issue # 12, July 1, 1996 page 56.] Using an example from his family history, Schoenbaum wrote that his mother-in-law, a Polish Jew who lived in Germany between 1928–1947, never considered the National Socialists and the Germans synonymous, and expressed regret that Goldhagen could not see the same.
One of Schoenbaum's few works outside of German history is ''The United States And The State of Israel'', a
diplomatic history
Diplomatic history deals with the history of international relations between states. Diplomatic history can be different from international relations in that the former can concern itself with the foreign policy of one state while the latter deals ...
of relations between
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
from 1948 to 1993.
Selected publications
''The Violin: A Social History of the World's Most Versatile Instrument'' New York, New York : W. W. Norton & Company, December 2012.
* with Elizabeth Pond, ''The German Question and Other German Questions'', New York: St. Martin's Press, Oxford: In association with St. Antony's College, 1996, .
*''The United States And The State of Israel'', New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, .
*''Zabern 1913: Consensus Politics in Imperial Germany'', London: George Allen & Unwin, 1982, .
*''The Spiegel Affair'', Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1968.
*''Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939'', Garden City, NY Doubleday, 1966.
The New York Times, 2007-8-12
Notes
External links
''David Schoenbaum''at the University of Iowa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schoenbaum, David
1935 births
Living people
Writers from Milwaukee
21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
Historians of Nazism
Historians from Wisconsin
American male non-fiction writers