Where Ghosts Walked: Munich's Road to the Third Reich [Hardcover]

David Clay Large (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1996

Munich was the birthplace of Nazism and became the chief cultural shrine of the Third Reich. In exploring the question of why Nazism flourished in the 'Athens of the Isar', David Clay Large has written a compelling account of the cultural roots of the Nazi movement, allowing us to see that the conventional explanations for the movement's rise are not enough. Large's account begins in Munich's 'golden age', four decades before World War I, when the city's artists and writers produced some of the outstanding work of the modernist spirit. He sees a dark side to the city, a protofascist cultural heritage that would tie Adolf Hitler's movement to its soul. Large prowls his volatile world of seamy basement meeting places, finding that attacks on modernity and liberalism flourished, along with virulent anti-Semitism and German nationalism. From the violent experience of the Munich Soviet, through Hitler's failed Beer-Hall Putsch of 1923 and on to his appointment as German chancellor in 1933, Large unfurls a narrative full of insight and implication.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

An American historian explores the interplay of culture and politics that favored the rise of Hitler in the city he transformed into the headquarters of the Nazi movement. Large (History/Montana State Univ.), author of five previous books about modern German history and editor of another two, is one of the figures helping to reestablish narrative history as an intellectually respectable genre. His new book tells the story of Munich as the scene of Nazism's birth and rise. When Hitler--who had failed to establish himself as an artist in Vienna--arrived in Munich in 1913, the city had a reputation for bohemian and avant-garde culture, which accommodated Hitler's image of himself as a rebel. But he also thought of the city as an emphatically German setting, as opposed to international and multiethnic Vienna. Against the background of this inner contradiction in Munich's double identity--xenophobic backwater and progressive metropolis- -Large constructs his grim tale, which includes Munich's violent experiment in communism (191819), Hitler's thwarted Beer Hall Putsch (1923), and his brutal rise to the German chancellorship in Berlin (1933). His tale ends with the entry of American soldiers into the defeated Bavarian capital, but Large also appends an epilogue in which he ponders, among other things, the Allies' problematical policy of ``denazification.'' According to Large, General Patton, the military governor of Munich and Bavaria, believed that denazification was ill advised, for ``ex-Nazis no longer presented a danger in comparison with the communists. Postwar Allied policy, he declared, was persecuting `a pretty good race' and opening German lands to `Mongolian savages.' '' Eisenhower relieved Patton of his duty, but his policy of tolerance toward former Nazis prevailed. A readable, informative, and solid book. Large does not startle us with new discoveries or ideas, but he does look at this piece of history from a unifying perspective that is both illuminating and significant. (photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review

David Clay Large knows how to write. . . . He has a sense of drama equal to that of another popular historian, William Manchester. -- Frank J. Prial, New York Times Book Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 436 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039303836X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393038361
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #307,829 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lively, informative work of popular history, April 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Where Ghosts Walked: Munich's Road to the Third Reich (Hardcover)

I found this book very enjoyable: convincing as a work of history, vivid in detail and surprisingly light in touch given its subject matter. The book is more about the origins and development of right-wing extremism in Bavaria as a whole, rather than just Munich. But of course it is the capital that has always attracted most attention, thanks partly to its cultural pre-eminence in German life and rather more to the fact that Hitler and the Nazis started up there. What the book brings out most clearly is a) the existence of far-right attitudes and anti-Semitism many years before Hitler's arrival in Munich, and b) the way in which Bavaria's abortive Soviet revolution in 1919 turned most of the population into ultra-conservatives unable to see clearly the terrible dangers inherent in Nazism. Even today, Bavaria is the most conservative of German states, and there are still Bavarians alive who prefer to remember the war more for the Allied bombing of Munich than for the abominations committed by the Nazis and SS.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History of a City, December 17, 2010

By 

Mike B (CANADA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Where Ghosts Walked: Munich's Road to the Third Reich (Hardcover)

This is a well written history on Munich from the 1890's to 1945 (followed by a brief post-war synopsis).

Munich was touted as Germany's most cosmopolitan art centre - even over Berlin. The author, while explaining some of the Bohemian aspects clarifies that beneath this façade lurked somnolent (and not so somnolent) reactionary tendencies. Anti-Semitism was a part of this along with a negative reaction by many native Munchners to this Bohemian-foreign influx. Part of the anti-foreignism was equivalent to anti-Semitism. As Large demonstrates, Munich being a part of Bavaria had strong nationalistic tendencies and did not like taking orders from the Berlin government. Large also quotes several passages from the diaries of various Munchners including Thomas Mann who was initially in favour of this narrow nationalistic outlook.

Of course Hitler's rise to power started in Munich following the end of the First World War. There was a brief communist interlude which the Berlin government helped to suppress. As Large explains violence from left-wing forces was always suppressed ruthlessly by the government police forces of Munich. Violence occurring from conservative forces towards Communists, foreign influences (Jews) could easily be overlooked.

Hitler did overstep in the Beer Hall Putsch but he was certainly not ruthlessly suppressed. His trial became an advertisement for National Socialism where the judges viewed him with great sympathy. His jail time allowed for numerous visitors (male and female) and he wrote his political biography (Mein Kampf) with the help of some of his cohorts.

Dachau, a few miles outside of Munich, was built and expanded immediately after the Nazi takeover. It was the first concentration camp to house undesirables - namely any political opponent of the Nazis.

Large describes some of the opponents of the Nazis. For example Johann Elser in November 1939 put a bomb in a Munich pub in an attempt to kill Hitler, but Hitler left earlier for a conference in Berlin. But as Large says these attempts (like the `White Rose' movement during the war) were never supported by the majority of the people of Munich. Although some might denigrate the Nazi Party from time to time they continued to love their Fuhrer even when bombs started to rain down on their city.

Large also shows that protests - such as ones by Catholic or Protestant groups were narrow in scope and only wanted to preserve their interests - such as allowing crucifixes in schools.

The coverage in this book is excellent - it follows the overall historical flow in Munich with examples from various individuals who lived through this horrific epoch.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great History of Munich in the NSDAP time, January 11, 2009

By 

Scott D. Stephens "BayernTrips" (Munich, Germany) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Where Ghosts Walked: Munich's Road to the Third Reich (Hardcover)

If you love the city of Munich and are interested in WWII history - especially the prelude that led to the Nazi Dictatorship, you will enjoy this book. With solid research behind it, this book will appeal to the average reader as much as the scholar.