To Die for Germany: Heroes in the Nazi Pantheon [Paperback]

Jay Warren Baird (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 22, 1992

"In this chilling study of Nazi heroic mythology, Baird sheds a bright light on the dark, death-enthralled underpinnings of the German political and cultural psyche during the years 1918–45." —Booklist

"Baird blends first-rate historical reconstruction with expert cultural analysis." —American Historical Review

"Baird's fascinating account of Nazi heroism provides real understanding of the Nazi employment of aesthetics as politics and will be welcomed by students of twentieth-century German and European culture." —The Historian

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In this chilling study of Nazi heroic mythology, Baird sheds a bright light on the dark, death-enthralled underpinnings of the German political and cultural psyche during the years 1918-45." Booklist "Baird blends first-rate historical reconstruction with expert cultural analysis." American Historical Review "Baird's fascinating account of Nazi heroism provides real understanding of the Nazi employment of aesthetics as politics and will be welcomed by students of twentieth-century German and European culture." The Historian

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (October 22, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253207576
• ISBN-13: 978-0253207579
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,374,335 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The functions of aesthetic death in the Third Reich., May 25, 2000

By 

John Barry Kenyon - See all my reviews

This review is from: To Die for Germany: Heroes in the Nazi Pantheon (Paperback)

Jay Baird reviews the nazi martyrs, such as Horst Wessel and Herbert Norkus, and uses them to explain how the concept of immolation and self sacrifice was so central to the Hitler era. Poets such as Gerhard Schumann are also treated, though there is little on art, sculpture and architecture. Nazi heroes themselves owed much to Germany's mythical past (the Teutonic forests and all) which was especially loved by Himmler who saw himself as a reincarnation of the medieval ruler Henry The Fowler. There is an insightful concluding chaper on the myth of death in the second world war. As the Reich crashed into ruins, Goebbels was still proudly glorifying self sacrifice in his movie epic Kolberg. In this way, nazism sought to equate noble death as the moral equivalent of victory. However, to what extent all this propaganda really influenced the man in the street would make another and equally interesting book.