For my European History term paper I plan on dissecting ( No pun intended ) the activities of Nazi death camps, in depth, and also discuss the philosophies that formed the Nazis " Superiority complex " as it were. I just wanted to ask if anyone knew any good books to read on the subject of the Nazi death camps, and any good works of the 19th century from Neitszche and others that might have brought about the horrors of German Nationalism.
I have a few works already selected, but would appreciate any " recent " books on Auschwitz and other death camps and some good sources for 19th century philosophy that might have fueled the Nazi movement, and in particular their disregard for human life.
Thank you.
P.S This paper is not set in stone yet, but I know I would like to do something on 20th century Germany.
First, I think you’ve taken on a massive task. You may be able to cover it a little bit for a term paper, but this matter would actually require a tremendous amount of historical research and a solid knowledge of philosophy. Nonetheless, Leonard Peikoff’s book “The Ominous Parallels” does exactly what you want to do. He identifies the philosophic roots of Nazism and gives the best explanation for concentration camps I’ve ever seen. And, actually, the term “concentration camp” is almost euphemistic, they were more like death and torture chambers.
To give you a taste, the two main philosophers who inspired the Nazis were Kant and Schopenhauer.
Perhaps this book isn’t recent enough for you, but I don’t know why you want it to be recent. I think you should be looking for the best explanations, not the most recent.
To give you a taste, the two main philosophers who inspired the Nazis were Kant and Schopenhauer.
Kant made some egregious category errors (for example, the existence of necessary synthetic a priori judgments). But I fail to see how Kant promoted the Nazi movement. Can you clarify that?
First, I think you’ve taken on a massive task. You may be able to cover it a little bit for a term paper, but this matter would actually require a tremendous amount of historical research and a solid knowledge of philosophy. Nonetheless, Leonard Peikoff’s book “The Ominous Parallels” does exactly what you want to do. He identifies the philosophic roots of Nazism and gives the best explanation for concentration camps I’ve ever seen. And, actually, the term “concentration camp” is almost euphemistic, they were more like death and torture chambers.
To give you a taste, the two main philosophers who inspired the Nazis were Kant and Schopenhauer.
Perhaps this book isn’t recent enough for you, but I don’t know why you want it to be recent. I think you should be looking for the best explanations, not the most recent.
Thanks for the suggestions. I already have Peikoff’s Ominous Parallels.
I just wanted more recent books on the camps for accurate information. I know it’s a massive task, and I might narrow the subject matter, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.
I don’t know alot specifically about the Holocaust, but I do know alot about the Third Reich in general. Knowing those things would serve as a good bridge between the philosophical roots of the NSDAP (as explained in The Ominous Parallels) and their ultimate expression (the Holocaust).
The two most authoritative books on this period in history would have have to be:
“The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by William L. Shreirer (sp?) and
“Adolf Hitler” by John Toland
Obviously, reading Mein Kampf would help too.
As a seperate issue, this topic has sparked a question within me. I made the statement “…their ultimate expression (the Holocaust).” purely on faith. I am not actually sure if it was their ultimate expression. There was a practical, political, economic rationalization for exterminating the Jews. In the overall context of German culture at that time, it wasn’t just killing for the sake of killing - although it certainly did attract the complete sadistic nihilists at the levels of management and execution of the Holocaust itself. To the average German however, completely desensitized to the value of individual human life, it was just another social experiment (to rid humanity of selfishness) that was no different than their fantastic experiment of the military superiority of the Aryan Race.
So, wouldn’t the plain fact that Germany elected an obvious maniac as their dictatorial head of state, allowed him to incite and perpetuate a military conquest that was proven impossible to achieve just 20 years earlier, embark on a plan to exterminate of one of the most productive and valuable segments of it’s population, and then suffered the virtual suicide of their entire nation as a result of all of this be the true expression of the nihilistic base of Nazism? Perhaps I just united a bunch of particulars into a concept that has no meaning and no reality apart from it’s constituent elements.
I suppose my only point is that the Holocaust, while certainly one of the more despicable acts of Nazi Germany, was not any more an expression of self-hatred and a demonstration of self-destruction than was anything else they did. In fact, purely from the stand point of self-preservation, it wasn’t the most dangerous thing they did. The Russians and the Allies would have destroyed them regardless of any anti-Semitism.
Kant made some egregious category errors (for example, the existence of necessary synthetic a priori judgments). But I fail to see how Kant promoted the Nazi movement. Can you clarify that?
Bob Kolker
He didn’t promote the Nazi movement, he made it possible, by providing the philosophical foundation that made Schopenhauer, and others, possible. Kant created a wall between the world we sense and the world inside our heads – noumenal and phenomenal realms – and Schopenhauer built on this. Schopenhauer claimed to be the true follower of Kant. It’s interested to note that Hegel, who made communism possible, also claimed to be the true follower of Kant, and he was the most influential philosopher in Germany in the 1800s.
Kant’s major crime was the destruction of rational thought, in that his methods promoted disintegration of thought. His prescriptions for proper thought were actually prescriptions for bad thinking, and his philosophy was taken seriously and accepted by virtually every philosopher who follow him.
Just to continue forward, Hitler Himself carried around one of Schopenhauer’s books in his pocket, “The World as Will and Representation”.