The Sanctity of Rural Life: Nobility, Protestantism, and Nazism in Weimar Prussia

by Shelley Baranowski

Overview

In this ground-breaking study, Shelley Baranowski not only explores how and why church-going Protestants in eastern Prussia turned to Nazism in large numbers, but also shows that the rural elite and the church propagated a myth of the stability, the wholesomeness, and the class-harmony—in short, the "sanctity"—of rural life, a myth that was a key component of Nazi propaganda that helped secure support for the Third Reich in rural areas. Of great interest to historians and students of the period as well as anyone interested in how a fringe radical movement gained wide popular support.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195068818
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/06/1995
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 6.58(h) x 0.91(d)

About the Author

University of Akron

Editorial Reviews

"This exemplary study of politics and society in rural Pomerania on the eve of the Nazi takeover makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the complex and symbiotic relationship between traditional Prussian conservatism and National Socialism."—German Studies Review

"Well-crafted....The book is based on extensive research in archives in Germany, Poland, and in church collections in the US, and it also reflects familiarity with the latest scholarship on Weimar Germany."—CHOICE

"...A valuable contribution to German social history in the twentieth century."—American Historical Review

"Baranowski's persuasive depiction of the Junkers' anti-Weimar mentality and machinations will prove indipensable to future research."—Central European History

"This book is a major contribution to German social history."—HISTORY

From the Publisher