Nazis and Nobles The History of a Misalliance

In the mountain of books that have been written about the Third Reich, surprisingly little has been said about the role played by the German nobility in the Nazis' rise to power. While often confidently referred to, the 'fateful' role played by the German nobility is rarely, if ever, investigated in any real detail. Nazis and Nobles now fills this gap, providing the first systematic investigation of the role played by the nobility in German political life between Germany's defeat in the First World War in 1918 and the consolidation of Nazi power in the 1930s.

As Stephan Malinowski shows, the German nobility was too weak to prevent the German Revolution of 1918 but strong enough to take an active part in the struggle against the Weimar Republic. In a real twist of historical irony, members of the nobility were as prominent in the destruction of Weimar democracy as they were to be years later in Graf Stauffenberg's July 1944 bomb plot against Hitler. In this skilful portrait of an aristocratic world that was soon to disappear, Malinowski gives us for the first time the in-depth story of the German nobility's social decline and political radicalization in the inter-war years - and the troubled mésalliance to which this was to lead between the majority of Germany's nobles and the National Socialists.

Stephan Malinowski teaches Modern European History at the University of Edinburgh. Born and raised in Berlin, he has taught at universities in Germany, France, Italy, the United States, and Ireland. His work is focuses on 20th century French, German, and colonial history. He is one of Germany's leading experts on the history of the German nobility in the 20th century.

Introduction: The Doom of Elites and the Coming of the 'Mob'
1: Nobility: What It Is
1. Family and Memory
2. Land and Rootedness
3. Character
4. Austerity
5. Fuhrertum
2: Apocalypse: November 1918
6. Downfall: The End of a World
7. The Deserting Warlord: The Fall of Wilhelm II
8. Threats and Losses
9. Staying Rich and Getting Poor
10. Forms of Noble Counterattack
3: Into the Abyss
11. Nobility and the New Right
12. Reinventing Nobility
13. Antisemitism and 'Pure Blood'
14. Salons and Sociability
4: Towards the Third Reich
15. Common Enemies
16. Fuhrertum and Attitude
17. Careers and Profiteers
18. The Making of a Fuhrer: 30 January 1933
19. Staging a New Era: 21 March 1933
5: Against and Beyond the Third Reich
20. Monarchists and 'Herrenmenschen'
21. 'Living Space': Nazi Settlers and Grandseigneurs
22. No Bankbenchers: Noblemen in the Nazi Party
23. The Bad Conscience Rises: 20 July 1944
24. Republicans, at Last: German Nobles after 1945
Conclusion: The Misery of German Conservatism