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2. The Nature of the Nazi Government

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About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about the nature of the Nazi Government, focusing in particular on: (i) the extent to which it makes sense to describe Nazi Germany as a ‘totalitarian dictatorship’, and the consequences of thinking about the regime in this way; (ii) the emergence of the ‘structuralist’ or ‘functionalist’ school of interpretation in the 1960s and 70s, and its main features; (iii) the weaknesses of the ‘structuralist’ approach; and (iv) the widening of the focus in recent years to think about the role of ordinary Germans in Nazi Germany.

Course

In this course, Professor Neil Gregor (University of Southampton) explores several aspects of Nazi Germany, 1933-45. In the first module, we think about the ideology of the Nazi Party, before turning in the second module to consider Hitler’s rise to power. In the third module, we think about the nature of the Nazi government, before moving on in the fourth module to consider Nazi foreign policy in the period 1933-41. In the fifth module, we think about German opposition to the Nazi regime, while in the sixth module we consider the role of terror in overcoming this opposition. In the seventh module, we think about the extent to which ordinary Germans supported Hitler and the Nazi regime, before turning in the eighth module to consider the role of treatment of women in Nazi Germany. In the ninth module, we think about Nazi education and culture and its importance in promoting Nazi ideology, before turning in the tenth module to the Holocaust.

Lecturer

Neil Gregor is Professor of Modern European History at the University of Southampton. His research interests range widely across twentieth-century German history, and have encompassed, at various points, aspects of business history, social history, cultural history and literary studies, along with historiography. His recent publications include (as editor) Dreams of Germany: Musical Imaginaries from the Concert Hall to the Dance Floor. (2019) and How to Read Hitler (2014).