Germany And The Second World War: German Wartime Society 1939-1945: Politicization, Disintegration, and the Struggle for Survival

The Second World War affected the lives and shaped the experience of millions of individuals in Germany--soldiers at the front, women, children and the elderly sheltering in cellars, slave laborers toiling in factories, and concentration-camp prisoners and POWs clearing rubble in the Reich's devastated cities.

Taking a "history from below" approach, the volume examines how the minds and behaviour of individuals were moulded by the Party as the Reich took the road to Total War. The ever-increasing numbers of German workers conscripted into the Wehrmacht were replaced with forced foreign workers and slave labourers and concentration camp prisoners. The interaction in everyday life between German civilian society and these coerced groups is explored, as is that society's relationship to the Holocaust.

From early 1943, the war on the home front was increasingly dominated by attack from the air. The role of the Party, administration, police, and courts in providing for the vast numbers of those rendered homeless, in bolstering civilian morale with "miracle revenge weapons" propaganda, and in maintaining order in a society in disintegration is reviewed in detail.

For society in uniform, the war in the east was one of ideology and annihilation, with intensified indoctrination of the troops after Stalingrad. The social profile of this army is analysed through study of a typical infantry division. The volume concludes with an account of the various forms of resistance to Hitler's regime, in society and the military, culminating in the failed attempt on his life in July 1944.

Ralf Blank, M.A. studied history and classical and prehistoric archaeology at Cologne and Bochum, as well as applied and theoretical museology at Graz. He is curator and head of collections and documentation department at the Historischen Centrum Hagen, and lecturer in modern and recent history at the Ruhr University at Bochum.

Dr. Ji??rg Echternkamp studied science of history and Romance studies at the University of Bielefeld, University of Poitiers, and the Johns Hopkins University. He is on the scientific staff of the Militi??rgeschichtliches Forschungsamt (Research Institute for Military History), Potsdam.

Dr. Karola Fings studied history and German language and literature at the Heinrich Heine University, Di??sseldorf. She is deputy director of the National Socialism Documentation Centre of the city of Cologne and lecturer at University of Cologne.

Dr. Ji??rgen Fi??rster studied English language and literature, philosophy, and history at Nottingham and Cologne. He has held several visiting professorships, most recently as Miegunyah Distinguished Fellow at the University of Melbourne. He is also adjunct professor at Freiburg University

Col. Winfried Heinemann, Ph.D. studied history and English language and literature at the Ruhr University, Bochum and at the Department of War Studies, King's College,London. He is on the scientific staff of the Militi??rgeschichtliches Forschungsamt (Research Institute for Military History), Potsdam.
Tobias Jersak Ph.D. was research assistant to the defence in Irving vs. Lipstadt from 1999-2000, lecturer in history at the University of Stuttgart from 2000-2004, and lecturer in church history at the University of Mi??nster. He has published and edited several books and articles besides educational software on National Socialism, the Holocaust, and Enlightenment thought. He is now working with street-children in Moscow.

Armin Nolzen M.A. studied science of history, German language and literature (modern German literature), social science (political science), and philosophy at the Ruhr University, Bochum. He is a member of the editorial board of Beitri??ge zur Geschichte des Nationalsozialismus, and a member of working group on historical peace research.

Dr. Christoph A. Rass studied economic and social history, modern history, and information science at the University of the Saarland, Saarbri??cken, and is assistant lecturer in the teaching and research department for economic and social history at the RWTH (Rhineland-Westphalia Institute of Technology) Aachen University.