Hans Rothfels (12 April 1891 – 22 June 1976) was a German
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
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 st ...
. He supported an idea of authoritarian German state, dominance of Germany over Europe and was hostile to Germany's eastern neighbours. After his applications for honorary Aryan status were rejected, due to his Jewish ancestry and increased persecution of Jewish people by Nazis, he was forced to emigrate to the United Kingdom and later to the United States during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, after which he became opposed to the Nazi regime. Rothfels returned to
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
after 1945 where he continued to influence history teaching and became an influential figure among West German scholars.
Biography
Rothfels was born to a wealthy
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family in
Kassel,
Hesse-Nassau
The Province of Hesse-Nassau () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868 to 1918, then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944.
Hesse-Nassau was created as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 by combining the ...
. In 1910, he converted to
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
. He was studying history and philosophy at
Heidelberg University
}
Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, B ...
when
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
broke out in 1914. As a student, Rothfels had been a leading pupil of
Friedrich Meinecke
Friedrich Meinecke (October 20, 1862 – February 6, 1954) was a German historian, with national liberal and anti-Semitic views, who supported the Nazi invasion of Poland. After World War II, as a representative of an older tradition, he criti ...
. Rothfels served in the
German Army as a reserve officer and was badly wounded near
Soissons
Soissons () is a commune in the northern French department of Aisne, in the region of Hauts-de-France. Located on the river Aisne, about northeast of Paris, it is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital o ...
. He lost one of his legs and was in a hospital until 1917.
[Klemperer, Klemens von "Hans Rothfels, 1891–1976" pages 381–383 from ''Central European History'', Volume IX, Issue # 4, December 1976 page 381] He was awarded the
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia es ...
, Second Class.
(He did not receive an Iron Cross Second Class. The reference here is to a journal article which merely restates the assertion without any source. Note that the Intellectual Biography by Jan Ekel makes no reference to this, and this is a much more substantial piece of work. The German Wikipedia entry als makes no mention of this. Nor do any listings of Iron Cross recipients, I have previously sent Wikipedia these, so this is sloppy editing.) In 1918, Rothfels's dissertation on
Carl von Clausewitz
Carl Philipp Gottfried (or Gottlieb) von Clausewitz (; 1 June 1780 – 16 November 1831) was a Prussian general and military theorist who stressed the "moral", in modern terms meaning psychological, and political aspects of waging war. His mo ...
, "Carl von Clausewitz: Politik und Krieg", led to Heidelberg granting him a degree in history. In 1920, Rothfels's dissertation was published as a book. In 1922, he edited and published a collection of Clausewitz's private letters. In addition, Rothfels published several collections of
Otto von Bismarck's letters, and was the first historian to be authorized by the Bismarck family to publish the Iron Chancellor's correspondence. Rothfels was noted for his claim that Bismarck was neither the "iron chancellor" of "banal legend" nor an "opportunist", but rather a profoundly religious man struggling to deal with a reality whose full complexity was only understandable to God.
He defended Bismarck's Germanization policies against Poles claiming they were "defensive".
Between 1924 and 1926, Rothfels taught at the
University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...
. From 1926 to 1934, he worked as a professor, holding the Chair of History at the
University of Königsberg
The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Pruss ...
. During his time in
Königsberg
Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was name ...
, he was well known for his highly nationalistic interpretation of German history. A
reactionary in his politics, Rothfels was hostile towards the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is ...
,
through combination of authoritarianism and mass national movement, he hoped, it would be destroyed, and connections with Western democracies broken,
and envisioned that on ruins of this state a new Reich would emerged formed out of East Prussian Baltic Northeast and Southeastern outposts of former
Habsburg Empire
The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...
.
In foreign affairs, he often denounced the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
and the eastern borders it had imposed on Germany. Rothfels advocated German domination of Eastern Europe and making its population into serfs.
As a historian, his major interests were
Otto von Bismarck, Clausewitz, and later on, the conservative German opposition to
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
. A major interest of Rothfels in the 1920s was his belief in the obsolescence of the nation-state, and the need for a "loosening up" of the Versailles borders through increased protection of minorities. Rothfels promoted an idea of race classification based on readiness of non-German ethnic groups in Eastern Europe to submit themselves to rule of German Third Reich
[German scholars and ethnic cleansing, 1919-1945Michael Fahlbusch, page 6,7,236–260 Berghahn Books, 2006] The Eastern and Southeastern nationalities were to be "restructured" and integrated with German "
master race
The master race (german: Herrenrasse) is a pseudoscientific concept in Nazi ideology in which the putative " Aryan race" is deemed the pinnacle of human racial hierarchy. Members were referred to as "''Herrenmenschen''" ("master humans").
T ...
".
Non-Germans would have been subject to hierarchical employment conditions and essentially have status of
indentured
An indenture is a legal contract that reflects or covers a debt or purchase obligation. It specifically refers to two types of practices: in historical usage, an indentured servant status, and in modern usage, it is an instrument used for commercia ...
workers, based on racist criteria
Those living outside the "German sphere" were to be classified by hierarchy based on their "cultural heritage" and ruled under direction of Germans and a vassal class that would collaborate with them.
Although supportive of right-wing politics (according to some, he might have voted for
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
in 1932), he was subject to increasing persecution, being
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
ish by birth. Eventually, Rothfels was forced to leave his university position due to his Jewish ancestry, despite intervention by
Hermann Rauschning
Hermann Adolf Reinhold Rauschning (7 August 1887 – February 8, 1982) was a German politician and author, adherent of the Conservative Revolution movement who briefly joined the Nazi movement before breaking with it. He was the President of the ...
, the Nazi president of Danzig Senate, and
Theodor Oberlander, director of
League of German East (Bund der Deutschen Osten) and NSDAP's East Prussian intelligence agency,
and was forbidden to teach a year later. While Rothfels tried to get an honorary Aryan status with support by
Joachim von Ribbentrop, his efforts were fruitless. Subject to increasing persecution and discrimination by the State, he reluctantly left
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
in 1938 for the United Kingdom. What decided the issue for him was his experience during 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 fro ...
pogrom
A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russia ...
when his house was looted and trashed by the
SA and he himself was arrested and held by the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
for several hours, during which he was deprived of his crutches and beaten up. Together with his wife and their three children, Rothfels left for the United Kingdom, where he hastily began to learn
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, a language that he subsequently mastered.
Exile
After teaching at
St. John's College,
Oxford
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 ...
from 1938 to 1940, Rothfels was interned on the
Isle of Man
)
, anthem = "O Land of Our Birth"
, image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg
, image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg
, mapsize =
, map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe
, map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green)
in Europe ...
.
During this time his only known publication was an essay from 1940 in which he discussed Soviet and German interaction in the
Baltics
The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...
. Rothfels defended German hegemony over this "outpost of Western Europe and Western civilization" and complained about resettlement of Germans there due to Soviet-Nazi treaties.
Rothfels left for the United States, where he stayed until 1951, and took U.S. citizenship. He taught at
Brown University in
Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
,
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...
and at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
where he became a professor. Considering his views at that time, a Jewish-German student was surprised that Rothfels was forced to leave Germany in the first place.
During his time in the United States, he befriended the American publisher
Henry Regnery
Henry Regnery (1912–1996) was a conservative American publisher who founded the newspaper ''Human Events'' (1944) and the Henry Regnery Company (1947) and published Russell Kirk's ''The Conservative Mind'' (1953).
Jeffrey O. Nelson, 'Henry Regn ...
and became actively involved in the
Republican Party.
In an essay published in 1943, in the book ''The Makers of Modern Strategy'' on Clausewitz, has been praised by
Michael Howard as the first serious essay ever published on Clausewitz in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
. In his essay, Rothfels argued that Clausewitz's military theories were more sophisticated than the "Mahdi of Mass" interpretation of Clausewitz that had been popularized by such historians as Sir
Basil Liddell Hart. Rothfels argued that it was inappropriate to view Clausewitz in the context of later events; instead Rothfels insisted on understanding Clausewitz and his theory of war in the context of the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
and on understanding the Clausewitz the man as the key to understanding Clausewitz the military thinker. Rothfels maintained Clausewitz's personality, social background, war experience, and his schooling all needed to be understood to properly appreciate his theories about war. Most notably, Rothfels portrayed Clausewitz as a man under considerable psychological strain caused by his commoner background in the largely aristocratic Prussian Army. Through Rothfels contended that aspects of ''
Vom Krieg'' were outdated due to advances in military technology and tactics, nonetheless, Rothfels felt that Clausewitz was the most important military philosopher of all time. The U.S. military historian
Peter Paret
Peter Paret (April 13, 1924 – September 11, 2020) was a German-born American cultural and intellectual historian, whose two principal areas of research were war and the interaction of art and politics from 18th to 20th century Europe. has differed with some of Rothfels's interpretation of Clausewitz, but acknowledged Rothfels as a major influence on his work on Clausewitz.
In 1948, Rothfels published his most famous book, ''The German Opposition To Hitler'', which celebrated those conservatives who attempted the
20 July plot of 1944, which was based upon a lecture given at the University of Chicago in 1947.
[Iggers, Georg ''The German Conception of History'', Middletown: Connecticut; Wesleyan University Press, 1968 page 257.] Rothfels, who remained a steadfast German nationalist all his life, saw the conspirators against the
National Socialist
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
regime as representative of all that was best about German life and argued that the actions of the conspirators had restored Germany's honour from the disgrace the Nazis had brought upon it. Rothfels accepted
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">N ...
's idea that the best defenders of liberty come from the upper crust of society and cast the men and women of 20 July as a perfect example of Burke's theory. Rothfels claimed that the German opposition was motivated by the highest possible ethical and moral considerations, and asserted that there were no self-interested motives whatsoever amongst the men and women of the 20 July. Rothfels argued that the actions of the 20 July conspirators were motivated a sense of ''noblesse oblige'', devotion to the principles of
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
and the highest form of
patriotism. Rothfels was fond of pointing out the difficulties involved in attempting to overthrow one's government in war-time, which in Rothfels view, was a sign of the true patriotism of the 20 July conspirators.
Rothfels saw Nazism as a type of
totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regu ...
, and often argued that there was no moral difference between
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
; in his view, the
Cold War was merely a continuation of the struggle between what he called the "conservative freedom movement" and totalitarian forces. In particular, Rothfels was opposed to any sort of ''
Sonderweg
(, "special path") refers to the theory in German historiography that considers the German-speaking lands or the country of Germany itself to have followed a course from aristocracy to democracy unlike any other in Europe.
The modern school of ...
'' interpretation of
German history
The Germani tribes i.e. Germanic tribes are now considered to be related to the Jastorf culture before expanding and interacting with the other peoples.
The concept of a region for Germanic tribes is traced to time of Julius Caesar, a Roman gen ...
, and argued that
Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...
was the result of the general problems of modern civilization, which Rothfels saw as based on a set of values that were overtly materialistic, secular, and dehumanizing, and which had reduced most people to a mindless mass. Rothfels wrote "In many respects, Nationals can be considered as the final summit of an extreme consequence of the secularization movement of the nineteenth century".
In Rothfels's view, the values of modern mass civilization had led most people to forget the fundamental values of
the West
West is a cardinal direction or compass point.
West or The West may also refer to:
Geography and locations
Global context
* The Western world
* Western culture and Western civilization in general
* The Western Bloc, countries allied with NATO ...
, which in his opinion were based on respect for
God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
and the individual. Rothfels argued that "Modern mass civilization generates a reservoir of evil forces whose release spells barbarism...What triumphed after the pseudo-legal revolution of 1933 was in fact and to a great extent the dark forces forming the sedimment of every modern society". Rothfels argued that the Nazis came to power as a result of a series of unfortunate developments that had occurred in ''Germany'' after World War I such as the Great Inflation of 1923 and the
Great Depression, and often criticized those in his view promoted the view that sought to equate ''Deutschum'' with Nazism such as Sir
Lewis Bernstein Namier
Sir Lewis Bernstein Namier (; 27 June 1888 – 19 August 1960) was a British historian of Polish-Jewish background. His best-known works were '' The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III'' (1929), ''England in the Age of the Amer ...
,
William L. Shirer
William Lawrence Shirer (; February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) was an American journalist and war correspondent. He wrote ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'', a history of Nazi Germany that has been read by many and cited in scholarly w ...
,
A.J.P. Taylor
Alan John Percivale Taylor (25 March 1906 – 7 September 1990) was a British historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he became well known to millions through his televi ...
and Sir
John Wheeler-Bennett
Sir John Wheeler Wheeler-Bennett (13 October 1902 – 9 December 1975) was a conservative English historian of German and diplomatic history, and the official biographer of King George VI. He was well known in his lifetime, and his inter ...
. Moreover, far from Nazism being rooted in German traditions, Rothfels claimed that the strongest opposition to Nazism came from those grounded in traditional values. In Rothfels's opinion, "the traditions of a genuine 'Prussian militarism'" provided the principle "bulwark against nationalistic and demagogic excesses".
[Iggers, Georg ''The German Conception of History'', Middletown: Connecticut; Wesleyan University Press, 1968 page 258.] ''The German Opposition to Hitler'' ended with a call for people all over the West to embrace what Rothfels regarded as the noble ideas of the conservative opponents of Nazism, which Rothfels saw as leading to back to the higher values of the West.
''The German Opposition To Hitler'' was a controversial book because Rothfels focused his attention largely on anti-Nazis on the Right and for the most part ignored anti-Nazis on the Left.
In addition, many felt that the book was a hagiographical treatment of anti-Nazi conservatives. His motive in writing the book was in part to prevent the emergence of a new stab-in-the-back legend that might once again undermine democracy in Germany. He was dismayed by public opinion polls taken immediately after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
in the American zone of occupation that showed the majority of Germans had a low opinion of the men and women involved in the 20 July plot. Rothfels was determined that Germans should see them as heroes, not villains.
Return to Germany
In 1951, Rothfels returned to
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
, where he taught at the
University of Tübingen
The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-W ...
. He worked hard for the rest of his life to exonerate German nationalism from the taint of Nazism. Upon his return to Germany, Rothfels founded the ''
Institut für Zeitgeschichte The Institute of Contemporary History (''Institut für Zeitgeschichte'') in Munich was conceived in 1947 under the name ''Deutsches Institut für Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Zeit'' ("German Institute of the History of the National Sociali ...
'' (Institute for Contemporary History), an historical study center devoted to the Nazi period. The institute's journal, the ''Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte'' (Journal for Contemporary History) has become one of the world's leading periodicals for the study of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. Within a few years, the ''Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte'' had the highest circulation of any historical journal in West Germany. During the 1950s, Rothfels was one of the few German historians who attempted a serious examination of
the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
, which was a subject that most German historians preferred to ignore during that decade. In particular, he broke new ground by publishing
Kurt Gerstein
Kurt Gerstein (11 August 1905 – 25 July 1945) was a German SS officer and head of technical disinfection services of the ''Hygiene-Institut der Waffen-SS'' (Institute for Hygiene of the Waffen-SS). After witnessing mass murders in the Belzec a ...
's reports relating to the Final Solution in the first edition of the ''Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte'' in 1953 and another article in 1959 that examined the plight of Polish Jewry under Nazi rule.
In his works Rothfels aimed at minimising the German hostility to Jews, while highlighting any attempts to save them by German individuals. Crimes and support for anti-semitism were downplayed, and opposition to racial discrimination portrayed by Rothfels as dominant. As such his text produced a vision of history in which for example the 1930s were virtually absent from anti-semitism, and non-Jewish Germans were completely willing to help Jews.
After his return to Germany, Rothfels was a pioneer of contemporary history, the study of the "epoch of those who lived at the time" to use Rothfels's words. In Rothfels's view, contemporary history was the study of the recent past, where despite or rather because the lack of documentation caused by studying events so close to the past and the challenge of writing about events that one experienced oneself, required special patience, skill and ability of the part of the historian. In particular, Rothfels called for historians working in the field of contemporary history to approach matters in an objective and neutral matter while keeping in mind the moral questions. In practice, contemporary history came to refer history from 1914 on.
After his return to Germany, Rothfels took a strong stand against those whose work he felt could exonerate the Nazis. In 1954, he and one of his star pupils from the University of Chicago,
Gerhard Weinberg
Gerhard Ludwig Weinberg (born 1 January 1928) is a German-born American diplomatic and military historian noted for his studies in the history of Nazi Germany and World War II. Weinberg is the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus of History ...
had a renowned debate on the pages of ''Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte'' with
Andreas Hillgruber
Andreas Fritz Hillgruber (18 January 1925 – 8 May 1989) was a conservative German historian who was influential as a military and diplomatic historian who played a leading role in the ''Historikerstreit'' of the 1980s. In his controversial book ...
and Hans-Günther Seraphim over the issue of whether the German
invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...
in 1941 had been a "preventive war" forced on
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
by the possibility of Soviet attack on Germany. Hillgruber and Seraphim argued for the "preventive war" thesis while Rothfels and Weinberg opposed it, arguing that it was Nazi racial theories that were the origins of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The majority opinion was that Rothfels and Weinberg destroyed Seraphim's and Hillgruber's arguments. Indeed, Hillgruber himself did a volte-face and renounced his former thesis as mistaken. Later, in 1961, Rothfels took a strong stand against the American
neo-Nazi historian
David Hoggan
David Leslie Hoggan (March 23, 1923 – August 7, 1988) was an American professor of history, author of ''The Forced War: When Peaceful Revision Failed'' and other works in the German and English languages. He was antisemitic, maintained ...
who claimed that the outbreak of war in 1939 had been due to an
Anglo
Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to peopl ...
-
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
conspiracy against Germany. Also in 1961, Rothfels assisted Weinberg with the publication of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
's ''
Zweites Buch
The ''Zweites Buch'' (, "Second Book"), published in English as ''Hitler's Secret Book'' and later as ''Hitler's Second Book'', is an unedited transcript of Adolf Hitler's thoughts on foreign policy written in 1928; it was written after ''Mei ...
'' which Weinberg had discovered in 1958, and for which Rothfels wrote the introduction.
Another area of interest for Rothfels was the
expulsion
Expulsion or expelled may refer to:
General
* Deportation
* Ejection (sports)
* Eviction
* Exile
* Expeller pressing
* Expulsion (education)
* Expulsion from the United States Congress
* Extradition
* Forced migration
* Ostracism
* Persona non ...
of the ethnic German population from
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...
after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. In the 1950s, Rothfels worked with
Theodor Schieder,
Werner Conze Werner may refer to:
People
* Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name
Fictional characters
* Werner (comics), a German comic book character
* Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Rai ...
and other historians to produce the multi-volume ''Documentation of the Expulsion of Germans from East Central Europe''. Many later prominent historians such as
Martin Broszat
Martin Broszat (14 August 1926 – 14 October 1989) was a German historian specializing in modern German social history. As director of the Institut für Zeitgeschichte (Institute for Contemporary History) in Munich from 1972 until his deat ...
,
Hans-Ulrich Wehler
Hans-Ulrich Wehler (September 11, 1931 – July 5, 2014) was a German left-liberal historian known for his role in promoting social history through the " Bielefeld School", and for his critical studies of 19th-century Germany.
Life
Wehler was bo ...
and
Hans Mommsen
Hans Mommsen (5 November 1930 – 5 November 2015) was a German historian, known for his studies in German social history, and for his functionalist interpretation of the Third Reich, especially for arguing that Adolf Hitler was a weak dictator. ...
were involved in this project.
Controversy
In his lifetime and since his death, Rothfels has been a very controversial figure. Many see him as apologist for the anti-democratic German Right, and in particular, his attitude towards the Weimar Republic has recently been the subject of controversy in Germany. The historian
Ingo Haar
Ingo Haar (born 3 February 1965) is a German historian. He received his Master of Arts from the University of Hamburg in 1993 and his PhD in History in 1998 at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg. His doctoral dissertation was on "His ...
in his 2000 book ''Historiker im Nationalsozialismus'' called Rothfels an enemy of the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is ...
and a
Nazi sympathizer
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
. The historian
Heinrich August Winkler
Heinrich August Winkler (born 19 December 1938 in Königsberg) is a German historian.
With his mother he joined the westward flight in 1944, after which he grew up in southern Germany, attending a Gymnasium in Ulm. He then studied history, pol ...
has strongly criticized Haar, who had erroneously used a
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
address Rothfels gave in 1930 praising
Friedrich Ebert
Friedrich Ebert (; 4 February 187128 February 1925) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the first president of Germany from 1919 until his death in office in 1925.
Ebert was elected leader of the SPD on t ...
,
Gustav Stresemann
Gustav Ernst Stresemann (; 10 May 1878 – 3 October 1929) was a German statesman who served as chancellor in 1923 (for 102 days) and as foreign minister from 1923 to 1929, during the Weimar Republic.
His most notable achievement was the reconci ...
, and
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (; abbreviated ; 2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German field marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany fr ...
as great German leaders as a proof for Rothfels' support of Hitler. While Haar had implied the speech dates from 1933 and was addressed to Hitler after he took over power in Germany, Winkler verified the actual circumstances of the speech, which Rothfels repeated several times prior to 1933. Rothfels's critics contend that his planned 1933 radio address was too little, too late.
Rothfels and his inner circle at Königsberg in the early 1930s are often referred to as the ''Königsberg circle'' (german: Königsberger Kreis). Its most prominent members, apart from Rothfels himself, were his students
Theodor Schieder and
Werner Conze Werner may refer to:
People
* Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name
Fictional characters
* Werner (comics), a German comic book character
* Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Rai ...
. Whereas Rothfels had to emigrate, Schieder and Conze joined the
NSDAP
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
. They were active in the field of
Ostforschung
''Ostforschung'' (; "research on the east") is a German term dating from the 18th century for the study of the areas to the east of the core German-speaking region. At its core, Ostforschung postulated that Germans and Germany were superior to Pol ...
, where they supported ideas such as 'dejewfication' (german:
Entjudung). After Rothfels' return the three became leading figures among the historians of the newly founded
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
. They soon found themselves together in a
commission led by Schieder that was set up by the government for documenting the
expulsion of Germans after World War II
Expulsion or expelled may refer to:
General
* Deportation
* Ejection (sports)
* Eviction
* Exile
* Expeller pressing
* Expulsion (education)
* Expulsion from the United States Congress
* Extradition
* Forced migration
* Ostracism
* Persona ...
.
In 1998 the 42nd ''Deutscher Historikertag'' marked the beginning of a public debate among German historians about the "brown history" of their field.
Beredtes Schweigen
Die Zeit 2000.
Works
*''Carl von Clausewitz: Politik und Krieg'', Dümmlers Verlag, Berlin, 1920.
*''Bismarck Und Der Staat; Ausgewählte Dokumente.'' Eingeleitet Von Hans Rothfels, Stuttgart, Kohlhammer Verlag
W. Kohlhammer Verlag GmbH, or Kohlhammer Verlag, is a German publishing house headquartered in Stuttgart.
History
Kohlhammer Verlag was founded in Stuttgart on 30 April 1866 by . Kohlhammer had taken over the businesses of his late father-in-l ...
, 1925.
*"Clausewitz" pages 93–113 from ''The Makers of Modern Strategy'' edited by Edward Mead Earle, Gordon A. Craig
Gordon Alexander Craig (November 13, 1913 – October 30, 2005) was a Scottish-American liberal historian of German history and of diplomatic history.
Early life
Craig was born in Glasgow. In 1925 he emigrated with his family to Toronto, Onta ...
& Felix Gilbert
Felix Gilbert (May 21, 1905 – February 14, 1991) was a German-born American historian of early modern and modern Europe.
Gilbert was born in Baden-Baden, Germany, to a middle-class Jewish family, and part of the Mendelssohn Bartholdy clan. In t ...
, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1943.
*"The Baltic Provinces: Some Historic Aspects and Perspectives." Pages 117–146, ''Journal of Central European Affairs'', Vol. IV, July 1944.
* "1848 – One Hundred Years After," ''Journal of Modern History'', Vol. 20, No. 4 (December 1948)
*''The German Opposition to Hitler, An Appraisal'' Henry Regnery Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1948; published in Germany as ''Die deutsche Opposition gegen Hitler'' Scherpe, Krefeld, 1949, revised editions 1961 & 1963.
*Review of ''Die Entscheidung des Abendlandes'' by Rudolf Rocker" pages 839–841 from ''American Historical Review'', Volume 56, Issue #4, July 1951.
*"Zeitgeschichte als Aufgabe" pages 1–8 from ''Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte'', Volume 1, 1953.
*''Bismarck-Briefe. Ausgewählt Und Eingeleitet Von Hans Rothfels'', Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 1955.
*''Das politische Vermächtnis des deutschen Widerstandes'', Bonn: Bundeszentrale für Heimatdienst, 1956.
*"Die Roten Kämpfer Zur Geschichte einer linken Widerstandsgruppe" pages 438–460 from ''Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte'', Volume 7, 1959.
*"Zur „Umsiedlung" der Juden im Generalgouvernment", pages 333–336 from ''Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte'', Volume 7, 1959.
*''Bismarck, der Osten und das Reich'', Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1960.
*''Bismarck; Vorträge und Abhandlungen'', Stuttgart, W. Kohlhammer 1970.
References
Sources
* Bassford, Christopher
Clausewitz in English: The Reception of Clausewitz in Britain and America, 1815–1945
', New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
*''Aspekte deutscher Aussenpolitik im 20. Jahrhundert: Aufsatze Hans Rothfels zum Gedächtnis'', edited by Wolfgang Benz
Wolfgang Benz (born 9 June 1941) is a German historian from Ellwangen. He was the director of the Center for Research on Antisemitism of the Technische Universität Berlin between 1990 and 2011.
Personal life
Benz studied history, political ...
& Hermann Graml, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart, 1976.
*Berg, Nicolas "Hidden Memory and Unspoken History: Hans Rothfels and the Postwar Restoration of Contemporary German History" from ''Leo Baeck Year Book'' XLIX 2004.
*''Geschichte und Gegenwartsbewusstsein: Historische Betrachtungen und Unterschungen. Festschrift Für Hans Rothfels Zum 70. Geburtstag Dargebracht von Kollegen, Freunden und Schülern'', edited by Waldemar Besson & Friedrich Hiller von Gaertringen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: Göttingen, 1963.
*Fahlbusch, Haar (editor) ''German Scholars And Ethnic Cleansing 1920–1945'', Berghahn Books,
*Iggers, Georg G.. "The Decline of the Classical National Tradition of German Historiography" pages 382–412 from ''History and Theory'', Volume 6, Issue # 3 1967.
*Iggers, Georg ''The German Conception of History'', Middletown: Connecticut; Wesleyan University Press, 1968.
*Klemperer, Klemens von "Hans Rothfels, 1891–1976" pages 381–383 from ''Central European History'', Volume IX, Issue # 4, December 1976.
*Lehmann, Hartmut & Sheehan, James (editors) ''An Interrupted Past: German-Speaking Refugee Historians in the United States after 1933'' Washington, D.C.: German Historical Institute, 1991 .
*Lehmann, Hartmut & Melton, James Van Horn (editors) ''Paths of Continuity: Central European Historiography from the 1930s to the 1950s'', Washington, D.C.: German Historical Institute ; Cambridge ngland; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994 .
*Mommsen, Hans "Rothfels, Hans" pages 307–308 from ''Great Historians of the Modern Age'', edited by Lucian Boia, Westport, C.T.: Greenwood Press, 1991 .
*Remak, Joachim Review of ''The German Opposition to Hitler an Assessment'', pages 90–91 from ''The German Quarterly'', Volume 36, Issue # 1 January 1963.
External links
*
Harvey, John L. "Were Chicago and Providence really so far from Königsberg and Tübingen? The Rothfelsstreit in an American Key"
i
''H-Soz-Kult'', 4 March 2003
Forum: Gerhard L. Weinberg: Nicolas Berg, The Holocaust and West German Historians. Comments
by Gerhard Weinberg
Gerhard Ludwig Weinberg (born 1 January 1928) is a German-born American diplomatic and military historian noted for his studies in the history of Nazi Germany and World War II. Weinberg is the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus of History ...
.
Hans Rothfels and the Intersection between Radical Conservatism and Nazism
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rothfels, Hans
1891 births
1976 deaths
20th-century German historians
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