Hermann Rauschning
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Hermann Adolf Reinhold Rauschning (7 August 1887 – February 8, 1982) was a German politician and author, adherent of the
Conservative Revolution The Conservative Revolution (german: Konservative Revolution), also known as the German neoconservative movement or new nationalism, was a German national-conservative movement prominent during the Weimar Republic, in the years 1918–1933 (betw ...
movement who briefly joined the Nazi movement before breaking with it. He was the President of the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
(head of government and chief of state) of the
Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...
from 1933 to 1934. In 1934, he renounced
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
membership and in 1936 emigrated from Germany. He eventually settled in the United States and began openly denouncing
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) in Na ...
. Rauschning is chiefly known for his book ''Gespräche mit Hitler'' ("Conversations with Hitler", American title: ''Voice of Destruction'', British title: ''Hitler Speaks'') in which he claimed to have had many meetings and conversations with
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 ...
.


Early life

Rauschning was born in Thorn in the province of
West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (german: Provinz Westpreußen; csb, Zôpadné Prësë; pl, Prusy Zachodnie) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1920. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 177 ...
(then part 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 ...
; now
Toruń )'' , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg , image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg , nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town , pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
) to a
Prussian Army The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power. The Prussian Army had its roots in the co ...
officer. He attended the Prussian
Cadet Corps A corps of cadets, also called cadet corps, was originally a kind of military school for boys. Initially such schools admitted only sons of the nobility or gentry, but in time many of the schools were opened also to members of other social classes. ...
institute at
Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
and studied history, German philology and musicology at the
Berlin University 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 o ...
, where he obtained a
Dr. phil. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
doctorate in 1911. He fought in World War I as a lieutenantAndrzejewski, Marek ''Hermann Rauschning. Biographische Skizze'' (Hermannn Rauschning biographical sketch) in Gornig Gilbert (ed.), German-Polish meeting on science and culture, Societas Physicae Experimentalis, Series of Gdansk Scientific Society, Volume 5, 2001, pp. 170–185 and was wounded in action.Wistrich, Robert ''Who's Who in Nazi Germany'' Bonanza (1984) p240 After the war, he stayed in
Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...
(Posen), which (like Rauschning's home region of West Prussia) was ceded by Germany to Poland after 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 ...
in 1919. He was active in several organisations of the German minority and prominent in the Posen historical society. Disagreeing with the leaders of the German minority in the
Poznań Voivodeship Poznań Voivodeship was the name of several former administrative regions (''województwo'', rendered as ''voivodeship'' and usually translated as "province") in Poland, centered on the city of Poznań, although the exact boundaries changed over t ...
, he moved to the
Free City of Gdansk The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gd ...
(which was under
League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
mandate) in 1926, where he bought an estate in the village of Warnau (Warnowo) in the Vistula Fens and became a farmer.


Political career

During the 1920s, Rauschning was close to the " Young Conservative" movement of
Arthur Moeller van den Bruck Arthur Wilhelm Ernst Victor Moeller van den Bruck (23 April 1876 – 30 May 1925) was a German cultural historian, philosopher and writer best known for his controversial 1923 book '' Das Dritte Reich'' ("The Third Reich"), which promoted Germ ...
and affiliated with the
German National People's Party The German National People's Party (german: Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) was a national-conservative party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major conservative and nationalist party in Wei ...
(DNVP) of Danzig. In 1932, he joined the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
as he believed it to offer the only way out of Germany's troubles, including the return of Danzig to Germany. In the 1930 Danzig parliamentary election, the Nazis had become the second-strongest force, replacing the DNVP, as they had discovered the electoral potential of the rural population in Danzig. Rauschning saw this as a powerful tool to reorganize the Danzig NSDAP. Rauschning became the agricultural advisor to the local '' Gau'' in January 1932 and in February of the same year, leader of the Danzig Agricultural League ''(Danziger Landbund)'', a movement that supported the taking over of the Senate by the Nazis. He became also became chairman of the Danzig Teachers' Association in 1932. The President of the Senate,
Ernst Ziehm Dr. Ernst Ziehm (1 May 1867 – 7 July 1962) was a Danzig-based German politician from the conservative German National People's Party and President of the Senate of the Free City of Danzig from 1931 to 1933. Born in Damerau, West Prussia, Zieh ...
(DNVP) who ruled from 1931 to 1933, strongly disliked Rauschning. In Summer 1932, Rauschning and the local ''
Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a ''Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany, Gau'' or ''Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party, rank in ...
'' Albert Forster met with
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 ...
in
Obersalzberg Obersalzberg is a mountainside retreat situated above the market town of Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, Germany. Located about south-east of Munich, close to the border with Austria, it is best known as the site of Adolf Hitler's former mountain resi ...
to discuss happenings in Danzig. After Hitler came to power in Germany in January 1933, the Nazis in Danzig withdrew their support for the Ziehm Senate and demanded the formation of a new government under the leadership of Hermann Rauschning. Ziehm refused to form a joint government with the Nazis, but he and his Senate resigned en bloc, triggering an early parliamentary election in May 1933. The NSDAP won this election with an absolute majority and Rauschning became the President of the Senate of Danzig on 20 June 1933, starting the Rauschning Senate which—except for the Senator of Justice—consisted exclusively of NSDAP members. In foreign affairs, Rauschning did not conceal his personal desire to turn neighbouring Poland into a
vassal state A vassal state is any state that has a mutual obligation to a superior state or empire, in a status similar to that of a vassal in the feudal system in medieval Europe. Vassal states were common among the empires of the Near East, dating back to ...
of Germany. As a conservative nationalist, Rauschning was not typical of Nazi members and the Nazis' violent antisemitism was alien to him. He was a bitter rival of Albert Forster, the future
Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a ''Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany, Gau'' or ''Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party, rank in ...
of Danzig. There has been some debate over the importance of Rauschning to Hitler and the party. One of the reasons cited for Hitler's interest in Rauschning was his citizenship and political leadership in the Free City of Danzig. One of the first questions that Hitler asked Rauschning was "whether Danzig had an extradition agreement with Germany," which drew Hitler’s attention due to the possibility of him being forced to go underground.Alan Bullock, ''Hitler: A Study in Tyranny'', New York, NY, Bantam Books, Books, 1961, p. 188 Hitler feared that 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 al ...
might move against the party and ban it. Since Danzig retained an independent status under the
League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
, Hitler apparently felt that the free port "might well offer a useful asylum."


Fall from power

On 23 November 1934, he resigned from the Senate and the party. In the April 1935 Danzig elections, he supported "constitutionalist" candidates against the Nazis and wrote articles supporting co-operation with the Poles, which angered the Nazis. Rauschning found himself in personal danger. He sold his farming interests and fled to Poland in 1936. He moved on to Switzerland in 1937, France in 1938 and the United Kingdom in 1939. Rauschning joined German émigrés, left-wing Germans opposed his right-wing views and the fact that as a member of the Nazi Party, he had been instrumental in the takeover of Danzig. Rauschning represented "one of the most conservative poles of the emigration" and enjoyed celebrity status through his lectures. He sought to play a leading role in the more conservative émigré German Freedom Party, run by Carl Spiecher, later of the Centre Party, but he fell out with Spiecher, who thought Rauschning was motivated by self-interest, rather than the interest of the party.


Later life

Between 1938 and 1942, he wrote a number of works in German on the problem of the Nazis that were translated to a number of languages, including English. His ''Gespräche mit Hitler'' (''Conversations with Hitler)'' was a huge bestseller but its credibility would later be severely criticised, and it now has no standing as an accurate document on Hitler for historians. However, as anti-Nazi propaganda it was taken seriously by the Nazi regime. At the beginning of the war, the French dropped leaflets on the Western Front containing excerpts from Rauschnings writings but with little response. Rauschning's ideas of conservative Christian resistance to Hitler met with increasing scepticism and were of no interest to
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
and his doctrine of uncompromising
total war Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all civilian-associated resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilizes all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare over non-combata ...
. In 1941, Rauschning moved to the United States, becoming an American citizen in 1942 and purchasing a farm near
Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
, where he died in 1982. He remained politically active after the war and opposed the policies of
Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a Germany, German statesman who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the fir ...
.


Writings

In 1930, he published a work under the title ''Die Entdeutschung Westpreußens und Posens'' (The Degermanisation of West Prussia and Posen). According to Rauschning, Germans in those areas were constantly put under pressure to leave Poland. Rauschning's writings that were translated into English deal with Nazism, the conservative revolutionaries' relation to it, and their role and responsibility for Hitler gaining power. By conservative revolution, Rauschning meant "the prewar monarchic-Christian revolt against modernity that made a devil's pact with Hitler during the Weimar period." Rauschning came "to the bitter conclusion that the Nazi regime represented anything other than the longed-for German revolution." In ''Die Revolution des Nihilismus'' (''The Revolution of Nihilism''), he wrote that "the National Socialism that came to power in 1933 was no longer a nationalist but a revolutionary movement" and as the book's title states a
nihilistic Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning of life, meaning. The term was pop ...
revolution that destroyed all values and traditions. He believed that the only alternative to Nazism was the restoration of the monarchy. His book went through 17 printings in the United States. The book was directed at conservatives in
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 ...
, whom he hoped to warn of the alleged
anti-Christian Anti-Christian sentiment or Christophobia constitutes opposition or objections to Christians, the Christian religion, and/or its practices. Anti-Christian sentiment is sometimes referred to as Christophobia or Christianophobia, although these terms ...
nature of the Nazi revolution. He would reiterate the anti-Christian nature of Nazism in ''Gespräche mit Hitler''. His success with the publication of his ''Die Revolution des Nihilismus'' book (''The Revolution of Nihilism'') in early 1938 made Rauschning financially able to pursue his German edition of ''Gespräche mit Hitler'' (''Conversations with Hitler'') and the other early versions and translations in 1939 and 1940. The first edition of ''The Revolution of Nihilism'' was printed in German under a Zürich, Switzerland, publishing house (Europa), which was "rapidly followed by ever renewed editions." Its English translation was published in 1939 and became "the third best-seller on the non-fiction list." At the
Nuremberg Trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945 ...
, the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
presented as evidence (USSR-378) two extracts from ''The Voice of Destruction''. Horst Pelckmann, for the defence, asked for Rauschning to be called as a witness on the matter of the party programme relating to the solution of the Jewish question and Hitler's "principle to deceive the Germans about his true intentions" so that the prosecution would have to prove that the SS "knew what Hitler actually wanted," but Rauschning was not called.


Authenticity of "Hitler Speaks"


Criticism by historians

According to an article by ''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'', Rauschning had taken immediate "notes made by him at the time" during his years with Hitler, which have been considered "not a mere transcript of the notes, but an attempt to reconstruct the conversations noted." Although Rauschning had written his book more than six years after his conversations with Hitler, German historian Theodor Schieder remarked that it—
...is not a document in which one can expect to find... stenographic records of sentences or aphorisms spoken by Hitler, despite the fact that it might appear to meet that standard. It is a
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in which objective and subjective components are mixed and in which alterations in the author's opinions about what he recounts become mingled with what he recounts. It is, however, a
ource The Ource () is a long river in northeastern France, a right tributary of the river Seine. Its source is in the Haute-Marne department, 2 km south of Poinson-lès-Grancey. It flows generally northwest. It joins the Seine at Bar-sur-Seine. ...
of unquestioned value, since it contains views derived from immediate experience.
Historian
Hugh Trevor-Roper Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton (15 January 1914 – 26 January 2003) was an English historian. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford. Trevor-Roper was a polemicist and essayist on a range of ...
's initial view that the conversations recorded in ''Hitler Speaks'' were authentic also wavered as a result of the Hänel research. For example, in the introductory essay he wrote for ''
Hitler's Table Talk "Hitler's Table Talk" ( German: ''Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier'') is the title given to a series of World War II monologues delivered by Adolf Hitler, which were transcribed from 1941 to 1944. Hitler's remarks were recorded by Heinrich ...
'' in 1953, he said:
"Hitler's own table talk in the crucial years of the Machtergreifung (1932–34), as briefly recorded by Hermann Rauschning, so startled the world (which could not even in 1939 credit him with either such ruthlessness or such ambitions) that it was for long regarded as spurious. It is now, I think, accepted. If any still doubt its genuineness, they will hardly do so after reading the volume now published. For here is the official, authentic record of Hitler's Table-Talk almost exactly ten years after the conversations recorded by Rauschning."
Trevor-Roper stated that Rauschning's account "has been vindicated by the evidence of Hitler's views which has been discovered since its publication and that it is an important source for any biography of Hitler." In the third edition, published in 2000, he wrote a new preface in which he revised but did not reverse his opinion of the authenticity of ''Hitler Speaks'':
"I would not now endorse so cheerfully the authority of Hermann Rauschning which has been dented by Wolfgang Hänel, but I would not reject it altogether. Rauschning may have yielded at times to journalistic temptations, but he had opportunities to record Hitler's conversations and the general tenor of his record too exactly foretells Hitler's later utterances to be dismissed as fabrication."
In his biography of Hitler,
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 ...
wrote: "I have on no single occasion cited Hermann Rauschning's ''Hitler Speaks'', a work now regarded to have so little authenticity that it is best to disregard it altogether." Historian
Richard Steigmann-Gall Richard Steigmann-Gall (Born October 3, 1965) is an Associate Professor of History at Kent State University, and the former Director of the Jewish Studies Program from 2004 to 2010. Education He received his BA in history in 1989 and MA ...
, in ''The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity'', also contends ''Hitler Speaks'' to be an overall fake.


Criticism by Holocaust deniers

The authenticity of the discussions that Rauschning claimed to have had with Hitler between 1932 and 1934, which formed the basis of his book ''Hitler Speaks'', was challenged shortly after Rauschning's death by an obscure Swiss researcher, Wolfgang Hänel. Hänel investigated the memoir and announced his findings at a conference of the
negationist Historical negationism, also called denialism, is falsification or distortion of the historical record. It should not be conflated with '' historical revisionism'', a broader term that extends to newly evidenced, fairly reasoned academic reinter ...
association '' Zeitgeschichtliche Forschungsstelle Ingolstadt'' (ZFI) in 1983. The ZFI is a historical revisionist association that, according to one of its leaders, Stephen E. Atkins, is a
Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...
institution that is based in Germany. Its conferences and meetings have speakers attempting to trivialize Nazism and denying the guilt for Nazi Germany's part in World War II and other culpable activities by Nazis, in close collaboration with periodicals such as ''Europa Vorn'', ''
Nation und Europa ''Nation Europa'' (also called ''Nation und Europa'') was a far-right monthly magazine, published in Germany. It was founded in 1951 and was based in Coburg until its closure in 2009. It is also the name of the publishing house that developed th ...
'', and ''Deutschland in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', who promoted similar viewpoints and goals. Not long after the ZFI conference in 1983, Mark Weber, from the
Institute for Historical Review The Institute for Historical Review (IHR) is a United States-based nonprofit organization which promotes Holocaust denial. It is considered by many scholars to be central to the international Holocaust denial movement. Self-described as a " his ...
(IHR), considered the mainstay of the international Holocaust denial movement, published an article condemning the "Rauschning memoir as fraudulent," which led to the Holocaust denial and neo-Nazi community campaign to deny Rauschning's writings. As director of IHR, Mark Weber has referred to the Holocaust as a "hoax" and was the former news editor of '' National Vanguard'', a neo-Nazi publication of the National Alliance. The Hänel research was reviewed in the West German newspapers ''
Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'' and ''
Die Zeit ''Die Zeit'' (, "The Time") is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The ...
'' in 1985. In an effort to undercut the accuracy of Rauschning's early account of Hitler's anti-Semitic diatribes to "remove millions of an inferior race that breeds like vermin," Weber wrote:
The Holocaust hoax is a religion. Its underpinnings in the realm of historical fact are nonexistent—no Hitler order, no plan, no budget, no gas chambers, no autopsies of gassed victims, no bones, no ashes, no skulls, no nothing.
Considered one of the first former Nazi insiders to criticize Hitler's plan for world domination and the expulsion of Jews, many of Rauschning's most sceptical adversaries have been led by "revisionist historians gathered around
David Irving David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938) is an English author and Holocaust denier who has written on the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany. His works include ''The Destruction of Dresden'' (19 ...
," who by 1988 was regarded as a proponent of Holocaust denial. In an unsuccessful 2000 libel case, Irving was discredited after he had falsified historical facts in an effort to advance his theory that the Holocaust never happened, where Judge Charles Gray concluded that Irving was "an active Holocaust denier; that he is anti-Semitic and racist and that he associates with right wing extremists who promote neo-Nazism." ''
The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich ''The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich'' is a two-volume text edited by and , first published in German in 1985. ''The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich'' is leading source material for information about Nazi Germany and the reign of Adolf Hitler a ...
'' also considers that "the research of the Swiss educator Wolfgang Hänel has made it clear that the 'conversations' were mostly free inventions." Other historians have not been convinced by Hänel′s research. David Redles criticized Hänel′s method, which he said consisted of
point ngout similarities in phrasing of quotations from other individuals in Rauschning's other books... and those attributed to Hitler in ''The Voice of Destruction'' .e. ''Hitler Speaks'' If the two are even remotely similar Hänel concludes that the latter must ''be'' concoctions. However, the similarities, which are mostly slight, could be for a number of reasons....
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need not stem from Rauschning's attempt at forgery.


Works

* ''Musikgeschichte Danzigs'', (Dissertation University of Berlin) Berlin 1911 * ''Geschichte der Musik und Musikpflege in Danzig. Von den Anfängen bis zur Auflösung der Kirchenkapellen'', Danzig 1931 * As editor: ''Posener Drucke, erster Druck: Nicolaus Coppernicus aus Thorn. Über die Umdrehungen der Himmelskörper. Aus seinen Schriften und Briefen'' Posen 1923 * ''Die Entdeutschung Westpreußens und Posens. Zehn Jahre polnische Politik'', Berlin 1930. reprinted 1988 with the title ''Die Abwanderung der deutschen Bevölkerung aus Westpreußen und Posen 1919–1929''. * ''10 Monate nationalsozialistische Regierung in Danzig'', (speech) Danzig 1934 * ''Die Revolution des Nihilismus. Kulisse und Wirklichkeit im Dritten Reich'', Zürich 1938 (US, ''The Revolution of Nihilism, Warning to the West'', Alliance, 1939; UK, ''Germany's Revolution of Destruction'', William Heinemann, 1939) * ''Gespräche mit Hitler'', Zürich 1940 (US, ''The Voice of Destruction'', G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1940; UK, ''Hitler Speaks. A Series of Political Conversations with Adolf Hitler on his Real Aims'', Thornton Butterworth, 1940; France, ''Hitler m′a dit''; Dutch ''Hitlers eigen woorden''(by
Menno ter Braak Menno ter Braak (26 January 1902 – 14 May 1940) was a Dutch modernist writer, critic, essayist, and journalist. Early career Ter Braak was born in Eibergen and grew up in the town of Tiel where he was an exemplary student. He went on to ...
and
Max Nord Jacob Julius Max Nord (1 April 1916 – 28 February 2008) was a Dutch journalist, writer, and translator. He was one of the main editors of ''Het Parool'', an illegal Dutch newspaper founded during World War II. Biography Before and during the ...
)) * ''Die konservative Revolution : Versuch und Bruch mit Hitler'' New York, 1941 (US, ''The Conservative Revolution'', Putnam, 1941; UK, ''Make and Break With the Nazis – Letters on a Conservative Revolution'', Secker and Warburg, 1941) * ''Men of Chaos'', New York 1952 * ''Die Zeit des Deliriums'', Zürich 1947 (US: ''Time of Delirium'' D. Appleton-Century, 1946) * ''Deutschland zwischen West und Ost'', Stuttgart 1950 * ''Ist Friede noch möglich? Die Verantwortung der Macht'', Heidelberg 1953 * ''Masken und Metamorphosen des Nihilismus – Der Nihilismus des XX. Jahrhunderts'', Frankfurt am Main / Wien 1954 * ''...mitten ins Herz: über eine Politik ohne Angst'' (with H. Fleig, M. Boveri, J.A. v. Rantzau), Berlin 1954 * ''Die deutsche Einheit und der Weltfriede'', Hamburg 1955 * ''Ruf über die Schwelle. Betrachtungen'', Tübingen 1955 * ''Der saure Weg'', Berlin 1958 * ''Mut zu einer neuen Politik'', Berlin 1959


References

* *


External links


Guide to the Hermann Rauschning Collection
at the
Leo Baeck Institute, New York The Leo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is a research institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking J ...
. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rauschning, Hermann 1887 births 1982 deaths Historians of Nazism People from Toruń People from West Prussia Nazi Party politicians German Army personnel of World War I 20th-century controversies Free City of Danzig politicians Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States