Believe and Destroy

There were eighty of them. They were young, clever and cultivated; they were barely in their thirties when Adolf Hitler came to power. Their university studies in law, economics, linguistics, philosophy and history marked them out for brilliant careers. They chose to join the repressive bodies of the Third Reich, especially the Security Service (SD) and the Nazi Party s elite protection unit, the SS. They theorized and planned the extermination of twenty million individuals of allegedly inferior races. Most of them became members of the paramilitary death squads known as Einsatzgruppen and participated in the slaughter of over a million people. Based on extensive archival research, Christian Ingrao tells the gripping story of these children of the Great War, focusing on the networks of fellow activists, academics and friends in which they moved, studying the way in which they envisaged war and the world of enemies which, in their view, threatened them. The mechanisms of their political commitment are revealed, and their roles in Nazism and mass murder. Thanks to this pioneering study, we can now understand how these men came to believe what they did, and how these beliefs became so destructive. The history of Nazism, shows Ingrao, is also a history of beliefs in which a powerful military machine was interwoven with personal experiences, fervour, anguish, utopia and cruelty.

There were eighty of them. They were young, clever and cultivated;they were barely in their thirties when Adolf Hitler came to power.Their university studies in law, economics, linguistics, philosophyand history marked them out for brilliant careers. They chose tojoin the repressive bodies of the Third Reich, especially theSecurity Service (SD) and the Nazi Party's elite protectionunit, the SS. They theorized and planned the extermination oftwenty million individuals of allegedly 'inferior'races. Most of them became members of the paramilitary death squadsknown as Einsatzgruppen and participated in the slaughter of over amillion people.Based on extensive archival research, Christian Ingrao tells thegripping story of these children of the Great War, focusing on thenetworks of fellow activists, academics and friends in which theymoved, studying the way in which they envisaged war and the'world of enemies' which, in their view, threatenedthem. The mechanisms of their political commitment are revealedand their roles in Nazism and mass murder. Thanks to thispioneering study, we can now understand how these men came tobelieve what they did, and how these beliefs became sodestructive.The history of Nazism, shows Ingrao, is also a history of beliefsin which a powerful military machine was interwoven with personalexperiences, fervour, anguish, utopia and cruelty.

ForewordAcknowledgmentsGlossaryPART ONE: The young men of GermanyChapter 1: A 'world of enemies' (I)The outbreak of warThe silence of the AkademikerThe 'time of troubles': an experience of war?Chapter 2: Constructing networksPlaces to studyPlaces of associationNetworks of solidarityChapter 3: Activist intellectualsThe construction of academic knowledgeKnowledge and activism (1919-1933)'Combative science' and SS intellectuals in the Third ReichThe shadow of the Great WarPART TWO: Joining the Nazis: a commitmentChapter 4: Being a NaziThe foundations of the doctrineThe origins of Nazi fervour: planning a sociobiologicalre-establishmentThe appropriation of a system of beliefsChapter 5: Entering the SDWhether to enter the Party or not?Towards the SD: Nazi careersRecruitment: a social mechanism of enlistenmentChapter 6: From struggle to controlFrom the 'Security Department of the SS' (SD) tothe 'Reich Security Main Office' (RSHA)A 'world of enemies' (II)ControlPART THREE : Nazism and violence: the culmination 1939-1945Chapter 7: Thinking the east, between utopia and anxietyThe curse of Germanic isolationThe Nazi project for a sociobiological re-establishmentRedevelop and settle: forms of Nazi fervourChapter 8: Arguing for war: Nazi rhetoricFrom the reparative war to the 'Great Racial War'From the discourse of security to the discourse of genocideExpressing violence: defensive rhetorics, utopian rhetoricsChapter 9: Violence in actionThe experience of violenceDemonstrative violence, violence of eradicationA transgressive violenceViolence as rite of initiationChapter 10: SS intellectuals confronting defeatDefeat rendered unrealFinis Germaniae. The return of the old anxietyThe denouementChapter 11: SS intellectuals on trialStrategies of negationStrategies of evasionStrategies of justification: the Ohlendorf caseConclusion: Memory of war, activism and genocideNotesSources and bibliographyA piece of research and its contextA specific conceptual frameworkList of archival collections consultedPrinted sourcesBibliography