Hitler's Millennial Reich: Apocalyptic Belief and the Search for Salvation
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.72 (811 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0814776213 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 272 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-04-24 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
David Redles is associate professor of history at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio, and an associate scholar of the Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University.
“The apocalyptic dimension of Hitler and his exterminatory project has often been noted but never developed with the completeness and sophistication of David Redles. He has done an extraordinarily careful and brilliant analysis of the archival material to reveal Hitler's messianic charisma, his appeal both on the ideological and psychological level, illustrating that if you can convince people that they live in apocalyptic times and you have the key to their collective salvation, you can get them to do anything. Given that we live in times that lend themselves to such interpretations, we had best understand the apocalyptic dynamics of reactionary modernism.”-Richard Landes,Director, Cent
The writings of both major and minor Nazi party figures, in which there echoes a striking religiosity and salvational faith, reveal how receptive Germans were to the notion of a millennial Reich such as that offered by Hitler. With promises of order, prosperity, and community, Adolph Hitler fulfilled a profoundly spiritual need on behalf of those who converted to Nazism, and thus became not only Führer, but Messiah contends David Redles, who believes that millenarian sentiment was central to the rise of Nazism.As opposed to many works which depersonalize Nazism by focusing on institutional factors, Redles offers a fresh view of the impact and potential for millenarian movements. Redles illustrates how Hitler's apocalyptic prophecies of a coming "final battle" with the so-called Jewish Bolsheviks, one that was conceived to be a “war of annihilation,” was transformed into an equally eschatological “Final Solution”. After World War
Great Book! Relevant to Today's Struggle with Terrorism and Extremists David Redles has written an incredibly insightful book on how people under stress can be manipulated to do horrible things if they believe they will be saved. It is entirely relevant to today's suicide bombers and other extremists looking for salvation. This book is not just for those interested in Hitler and Nazi Germany but for anyone trying to understand how people can commit the kinds of atrocities that continue to occur in our world today.