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GERMANY IN THE 20TH CENTURY by Edmond Vermeil

GERMANY IN THE 20TH CENTURY

By

Pub Date: Nov. 2nd, 1956
Publisher: Praeger

This American edition of the original French has telescoped the period -1918 in Germany but presented in full translation the succeeding years- with their sources and shifts in national power and crisis. A bold historical analyst, professor Vermiel confines himself to a minimun of facts; his first object is to integrate the past. World War I economic ruin (precipitated- in his opinion- by cunning industrialists) led to the later pattern of economic solidity between capital and state under Nazism. This economic relationship reflected and paralleled the movement toward war which began at Versailles. Nazism, beyond its economic and military roots, embodied the Germans' long-cherished need for a social elite- and since such an elite had no sanction, it legitimized itself by the systematic destruction of the Jew. A philosophy of national transcendence, national destiny, and national heroism became not only a fulfillment but also a solution. Meantime the Western powers encouraged the Hitlerian hegemony, in the foolish belief that Hitler was an ally in the more crucial struggle against Stalin... A study which is ""loaded"" and apt to stir controversy.