Believe and Destroy

Intellectuals in the SS War Machine

Nonfiction, History, Modern, 20th Century
Cover of the book Believe and Destroy by Christian Ingrao, Wiley
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Christian Ingrao ISBN: 9780745670041
Publisher: Wiley Publication: July 11, 2013
Imprint: Polity Language: English
Author: Christian Ingrao
ISBN: 9780745670041
Publisher: Wiley
Publication: July 11, 2013
Imprint: Polity
Language: English

There were eighty of them. They were young, clever and cultivated; they were barely in their thirties when Adolf Hitler came to power. Their university studies in law, economics, linguistics, philosophy and history marked them out for brilliant careers. They chose to join the repressive bodies of the Third Reich, especially the Security Service (SD) and the Nazi Party’s elite protection unit, the SS. They theorized and planned the extermination of twenty million individuals of allegedly ‘inferior’ races. Most of them became members of the paramilitary death squads known as Einsatzgruppen and participated in the slaughter of over a million people.

Based on extensive archival research, Christian Ingrao tells the gripping story of these children of the Great War, focusing on the networks of fellow activists, academics and friends in which they moved, studying the way in which they envisaged war and the ‘world of enemies’ which, in their view, threatened them. The mechanisms of their political commitment are revealed, and their roles in Nazism and mass murder. Thanks to this pioneering study, we can now understand how these men came to believe what they did, and how these beliefs became so destructive.

The history of Nazism, shows Ingrao, is also a history of beliefs in which a powerful military machine was interwoven with personal experiences, fervour, anguish, utopia and cruelty.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

There were eighty of them. They were young, clever and cultivated; they were barely in their thirties when Adolf Hitler came to power. Their university studies in law, economics, linguistics, philosophy and history marked them out for brilliant careers. They chose to join the repressive bodies of the Third Reich, especially the Security Service (SD) and the Nazi Party’s elite protection unit, the SS. They theorized and planned the extermination of twenty million individuals of allegedly ‘inferior’ races. Most of them became members of the paramilitary death squads known as Einsatzgruppen and participated in the slaughter of over a million people.

Based on extensive archival research, Christian Ingrao tells the gripping story of these children of the Great War, focusing on the networks of fellow activists, academics and friends in which they moved, studying the way in which they envisaged war and the ‘world of enemies’ which, in their view, threatened them. The mechanisms of their political commitment are revealed, and their roles in Nazism and mass murder. Thanks to this pioneering study, we can now understand how these men came to believe what they did, and how these beliefs became so destructive.

The history of Nazism, shows Ingrao, is also a history of beliefs in which a powerful military machine was interwoven with personal experiences, fervour, anguish, utopia and cruelty.

More books from Wiley

Cover of the book British Politics For Dummies by Christian Ingrao
Cover of the book Work-Life Advantage by Christian Ingrao
Cover of the book 7Twelve by Christian Ingrao
Cover of the book Materials Science Reading Sampler by Christian Ingrao
Cover of the book Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal by Christian Ingrao
Cover of the book Introduction to Stochastic Models by Christian Ingrao
Cover of the book Equine Reproductive Procedures by Christian Ingrao
Cover of the book Structural Glass Facades and Enclosures by Christian Ingrao
Cover of the book Youth at Risk by Christian Ingrao
Cover of the book Qualitative Inquiry in Evaluation by Christian Ingrao
Cover of the book Electron and Proton Kinetics and Dynamics in Flaring Atmospheres by Christian Ingrao
Cover of the book WTF?: What's the Future of Business? by Christian Ingrao
Cover of the book Crime in Context by Christian Ingrao
Cover of the book 30 Great Myths about Shakespeare by Christian Ingrao
Cover of the book Geographies of Health by Christian Ingrao
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy