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Russel Lemmons

Hitler's Rival: Ernst Thälmann in Myth and Memory Hardcover – January 30, 2013

by Russel Lemmons (Author)

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Throughout the 1920s, German politician and activist Ernst Thälmann (1886–1944) was the leader of the largest Communist Party organization outside the Soviet Union. Thälmann was the most prominent left-wing politician in the country's 1932 election and ran third in the presidential race after Hitler and von Hindenberg. After the Nazi Party's victory in that contest, he was imprisoned and held in solitary confinement for eleven years before being executed at Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944 under the Führer's direct orders.

Hitler's Rival examines how the Communist Party gradually transformed Thälmann into a fallen mythic hero, building a cult that became one of their most important propaganda tools in central Europe. Author Russel Lemmons analyzes the party intelligentsia's methods, demonstrating how they used various media to manipulate public memory and exploring the surprising ways in which they incorporated Christian themes into their messages. Examining the facts as well as the propaganda, this unique volume separates the intriguing true biography of the cult figure from the fantastic myth that was created around him.

Editorial Reviews

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"Lemmons has exhaustively researched the many and varied manifestations of the Thälmann myth, and he has found some fascinating material that breathes new life into the story. This book will likely be the last word and the standard work on the Thälmann myth and its role in East German history."―Catherine Epstein, Amherst College

"Lemmons (Jacksonville State Univ.) analyzes in great detail the myth and legend that formed around Ernst Thalmann, who became the leader of the German COmmunist Party (KPD) in 1925 and was a dominant politician in Weimar Germany until imprisoned by the Nazis in 1933. This comprehensive study, which treats the years before the war ended for the first time, is thoroughly researched and well written; it will be a standard work on the subject."―G. P. Blum, Professor Emeritus, University of the Pacific

"[. . .] Lemmons is to be congratulated for covering the entire period of German communism in a vast tranche of twentieth century history [. . . .]

[. . .] Lemmons' use of the concept of 'political religions' is interesting and offers a post-structuralist angle to our understanding of German communism [. . . .]

Thanks to Russel Lemmons' scholarly study, we now know just how central the myth was to

legitimizing the SED's rule. We can only hope that we know as much about the 'real' historical actor soon."―International Newsletter of Communist Studies

About the Author

Russel Lemmons, professor of history at Jacksonville State University, is the author of Goebbels and Der Angriff.

Hardcover: 438 pages
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky (January 30, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0813140900
ISBN-13: 978-0813140902
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Customer Reviews: 3 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,131,505 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2831 in Historical Germany Biographies
- #14201 in German History (Books)
- #19513 in Political Leader Biographies

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WorldAnalyst

Not really a biography of Thalmann, but an academic ...

Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2018

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Not really a biography of Thalmann, but an academic study of the personality cult Communists build around him. Very academic, giving insight into mass political movements and religion.

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Richard E. Simon

Review of Hitler's Rival

Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Excellent, detailed book about Thälmann. Well researched about the one man who could have stopped Hitler if the German Socialist Party had helped. Very fast delivery service!

One person found this helpful

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Dr. R. Brandon

Very Detailed and Somewhat Repetitious

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2017

Format: Hardcover

Prospective readers should take careful note of the title of this book for it is not a biography of Ernst Thalmann, the leader of the German Communist Party (KPD) in the 1930s. Rather, as the title clearly indicates, it is a study of how his life and death were utilised in the ongoing propaganda of the KPD, the Soviet Zone of Occupied Germany and later the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
Thalmann was born in Hamburg in 1886 and became an admirer of the leading Communists Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg and took part in the ill-fated Hamburg Uprising of 1923. In 1932 Thalmann came a distant third in the election for president of Germany behind Hitler and Paul von Hindenburg. On Hitler’s accession to power in 1933 Thalmann was arrested and spent the next eleven years in prison before being shot in the final days of the war. This life story was utilised in ‘myth and memory’ and modified over the years to serve the needs of the remaining KPD, the Soviet occupiers and the new German Democratic Republic as an example of a resolute and unblemished socialist hero. The GDR leaders Wilhelm Pieck, Walter Ulbricht and later Erich Honecker took great care of Thalmann’s image and personally oversaw any depictions or retelling of his story in books, film or public anniversaries.
Clearly using the results of copious research the author illustrates in painstaking detail how the myth was constructed and refined. The fact that substantial sections of the book have previously appeared in print between 2005 and 2009 may possibly account for the extensive repetition of ideas and themes that occur in this work. Despite the fact that some sections of the book are very interesting, for example the story of the establishment of the Buchenwald memorial site for repeated political anniversary celebrations or the making of the Thalmann propaganda films, ‘Ernst Thalmann – Sohn seiner Klasse’ and ‘Fuhrer seiner Klasse’, the author insists on describing many events in such meticulous detail that they become repetitive and tedious. This makes the book only suitable for an academic readership and is far too dense to appeal to general readers. I found myself having to ‘skim’ the pages in order to maintain an interest in the book.

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Hitler's Rival: Ernst Thälmann in Myth and Memory Hardcover – January 30, 2013

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