Master of Arts, Miami University, 2024, History

This thesis examines how the Nazi regime systematically shaped the worldview of German schoolchildren through various forms of propaganda between 1933 and 1939, with a particular focus on the periodical Hilf mit! Published by the National Socialist Teachers League (NSLB), this periodical served as a tool for soft power, embedding National Socialist ideologies within the educational content presented to young readers. By analyzing stories, games, and articles from Hilf mit!, the study explores the themes of community, gender roles, and the concept of sacrifice as propagated by the Nazi regime. It argues that these narratives and educational materials aimed to create a sense of duty, belonging, and nationalistic fervor among children, effectively undermining familial authority in favor of loyalty to the state. This research contributes to the historiography of Nazi education by highlighting the subtle methods of indoctrination employed by the NSLB, and how these methods sought to romanticize Germanness and instill a readiness for personal sacrifice among the youth. Through a detailed examination of the periodical's content and memoirs of those who were educated during the Nazi era, the thesis provides insights into the broader strategy of ideological indoctrination.

Committee: Erik Jensen (Advisor); Lindsay Schakenbach Regele (Committee Member); Nicole Thesz (Committee Member) Subjects: History

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2023, History

John M. Sant was a World War II bomber co-pilot who was shot down over German-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1944. He and the other eight surviving crew members were captured and sent to Stalag Luft I, a German prison camp near the Baltic Sea. Sant spent the next ten months in captivity, keeping a logistical journal of his daily life in the camp. With this journal, along with primary documents, copies of declassified military paperwork, and a typed account of Sant's narrative located in the Skinner Personal Archive as a chronological framework, this thesis constructs a biographical narrative of Sant's life and wartime experiences. Sant's journal provided an indirect glimpse into his inner thoughts. His entries reflect a fear of being overlooked, both during captivity and following release. Sant found solace in escapism through literature and reminisced about home life, emphasizing the importance of morale and interpersonal connections among the POWs. Elements of optimism infuse the passages he chose to copy down, showing his enduring belief in the strength of the Allied forces. The journal also served as a covert way to challenge the authority of the main camp authorities. Sant's hopefulness played a crucial role in maintaining his emotional well-being, a theme more prominent in his post-war writings. The arrival of new prisoners, while disheartening, meant access to more current information. Sant's diary entries not only reflect his emotional state regarding his fellow POWs but also his reaction to news like General Patton's progress in Europe, offering him temporary relief from worries about America's military effectiveness. His aspirations for post-war life served as a comfort and a way to look forward to a future beyond the uncertainty of war. The journal also played a key role in asserting Sant's sense of self-determination under the strict confines of his POW status. While it contained no information unknown to his captors, it provided him with a sense of con (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Randolph Roth (Committee Member); David Staley (Advisor) Subjects: American History; Armed Forces; History; Military History; Military Studies; Modern History

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1966, History

Committee: Grover C. Platt (Advisor) Subjects: History

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2017, History

Toward the end of World War II, the United States government initiated Operation Paperclip which set out to secretly secure the top rocket scientists from Nazi Germany. To accomplish this, officials manipulated policy procedures, covered their tracks, and years later misrepresented their knowledge of the project's details. The resulting problematic immigration policy enabled the government to allow former Nazi scientists to travel to the U.S. and be employed by the military well ahead of executive approval, and amidst strong dissent. This thesis will take these arguments a step further by contextualizing it within two personal narratives of participants of Operation Paperclip. The two examined scientists, Wernher von Braun and his colleague Arthur L. Rudolph, became highly regarded in their field and were bestowed with public praise, titles, and awards, yet their fates were drastically different. As this thesis tracks the constantly shifting immigration policy that was shaped by America's national interests in the immediate post-WWII era, it will explain the unchecked and unstable procedures that resulted in skewed perceptions of von Braun and Rudolph. Although von Braun worked alongside Rudolph, and held powerful positions of authority, his prominence and importance to the U.S. space program allowed for his Nazi past to be rehabilitated. Moreover, while he remained alive this protection also extended to those close to him, including Rudolph. When he passed, however, this veil of protection was lifted, exposing his colleagues to a different fate. This thesis does not question the contributions that von Braun and Rudolph made to the U.S. space program and development of NASA. Instead, it calls to question how much officials manipulated policy to grant von Braun, and subsequently Rudolph and his team, wide ranging liberties after escorting them out of Nazi Germany. This immigration policy is what first began the crafting of von Braun's “veil of protection,” an (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Walter Grunden Ph. D. (Advisor); Benjamin Greene Ph. D. (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Ethics; History; International Relations; Military History; Public Policy; World History

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2016, History (Arts and Sciences)

This thesis examines foreign men accused of homosexuality in Nazi Germany. Most scholarship has focused solely on German men accused of homosexuality. Court records from the General State Prosecutor's Office of the State Court of Berlin records show that foreign homosexual men were given lighter sentences than German men, especially given the context of the law and the punishments foreigners received for other crimes. This discrepancy is likely due to Nazi confusion about homosexuality, the foreign contribution to the German war effort, issues of gender, and because these men were not a part of any German government, military, or all-male organizations.

Committee: Mirna Zakic Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: European History; Gender; History; Holocaust Studies

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2015, Arts and Sciences: Germanic Languages and Literature

This thesis analyzes the use of film in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia as extensions of propaganda and sociopolitical indoctrination within both regimes. Moreover, this thesis analyzes the ways in which each respective nation's concept of homeland ('Heimat' in German, 'Rodina' in Russian) coincided with political thought. Through this, both regimes utilized cinema as a platform for propagating ideas of homeland via the portrayal of the perfect citizen of their regime. This study demonstrates this through the analysis of Nazi German and Soviet Russian films of similar content, themes, and production dates. This study thus argues that a homeland, as demonstrated through select films produced by each regime between the years of 1933-1945, is comprised of its people, whom each State attempted to mold into perfect citizens. Although ideas of what defined the perfect citizen varied between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, many similarities between them are to be drawn. Dissecting these similarities allows for greater academic understanding of the atrocities and events that occurred throughout the twentieth century in the name of both schools of thought.

Committee: Valerie Weinstein Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Sunnie Rucker-Chang Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: European Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2015, History

Despite the plethora of scholarship focused on German cinema under the National Socialist regime, few works pay much attention to the development of the soldierly archetype in the feature-length films of the Nazi-era. This study attempts to fill this void by providing a systematic treatment of the “soldier” as portrayed in the cinema of the Third Reich (1933-1945). The first chapter focuses on the representation of German soldiers in combat, arguing that the depiction of the “model” German soldier in Nazi-era cinema evolved according to the external political and military circumstances facing Adolf Hitler's regime. Chapter Two is concerned exclusively with gender relations between soldiers and women. A number of films released during the Second World War in particular suggest that both German men and women must contribute to the war effort. However, it is important to note that in these films both genders must contribute within their segregated public and private spheres of influence. Finally, the third chapter analyzes films that present the “enemy” soldier, arguing that the caricatures of Germany's military opponents were intended to strike fear in cinema-going audiences during the war. Altogether, this thesis intends to present a more nuanced look at the solider in Nazi-era cinema, while also providing the reader with a greater understanding of the use of propaganda under the Nazi state.

Committee: Beth Griech-Polelle Dr. (Advisor); Douglas Forsyth Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: History

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2014, History

This dissertation investigates the worldview of German frontline soldiers during the Eastern Front conflict of the Second World War. It argues that Nazi era propaganda's creation of a racial and ideological “Other” in the Soviet Union had a significant impact on the attitude of the military in the East. These ideological imaginations of the enemy were often transformed by the realities at the front through the experiences of common enlisted men. While the Nazis constructed a racially and politically charged image of the enemy to justify a war of conquest, the German soldiers fighting in the East developed their own views of an expanding imperial landscape. An identity transformation amongst German combatants took place during the Eastern Front campaign for many reasons, including the effects of Nazi dogma, a foreign environment and local populace, the strains of combat, changing war circumstances, and genocidal policies. This project utilizes the wartime writings of Hitler's ordinary men to provide a partial reconstruction of their mentality, revealing their beliefs, fears, and perceptions of the Soviet enemy.

Committee: Larry Wilcox (Committee Chair); Beth Griech-Polelle (Committee Co-Chair); Roberto Padilla (Committee Member); Robert McCollough (Committee Member) Subjects: European Studies; History; Holocaust Studies; Military History

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2008, German

Essentially since 1945, Germans have struggled with issues both of national and personal responsibility for the events of the Holocaust and the Second World War. In an effort to alleviate the pain of the past, many, especially in the beginning, simply kept silent on the matter. But as writers and thinkers have begun to break this silence, a complex set of questions emerges. To what extent are the ordinary Germans who collaborated with the Nazis to be held accountable for their actions? What does it mean when we still love these perpetrators? And what shall we tell our children about their heritage and their stake in their nation's legacy? Through an analysis of works that grapple with these issues, I will attempt to understand the cultural phenomena that led to the Holocaust, as well as some of the philosophies that modern writer and theorists have submitted in response to such questions.

Committee: Timothy Bennett PhD (Advisor); David Barry PhD (Committee Member); Robert Davis PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: European History; Literature

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2006, History (Arts and Sciences)

This is an examination of the motives of twenty-two perpetrators of the Jewish Holocaust. Each served as an officer of the Einsatzgruppen, mobile killing units which beginning in June 1941, carried out mass execution of Jews in the German-occupied portion of the Soviet Union. Following World War II the subjects of this study were tried before a U.S. Military Tribunal as part of the thirteen Nuremberg Trials, and this study is based on the records of their trial, known as Case IX or more commonly as teh Einsatzgruppen Trial. From these records the thesis concludes that the twenty-two men were shaped politically by their experiences during the Weimar Era (1919-1932), and that as perpetrators of the Holocaust their actions were informed primarily by the tenets of Nazism, particularly anti-Semitism.

Committee: Norman Goda (Advisor) Subjects: History, European

PHD, Kent State University, 2009, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

Despite the vast historiography of the Second World War, scholars have long overlooked sexual violence committed by the German military in the occupied territories. Using a linguistic analysis of court documents, this dissertation examines cases against German soldiers accused of rape, attempted rape, child abuse, and violations of the law against homosexuality, as well as cases against ethnic Germans and Poles in the occupied territories, to determine how Nazi racial and gender ideology affected the determination of punishment. The documents clearly demonstrate the importance of gender ideology, particularly constructs of heterosexual masculinity, in the sentencing proceedings. Men were evaluated as men; as soldiers; and as Germans, as members of the Volk. Ethnic Germans were also subject to the same evaluation, but Poles were not offered mitigating circumstances because of the threat the judges believed they posed to German women. Women too were evaluated, and the degree to which the judges thought they acted in accordance with normative gender roles affected the determination of punishment. What had an unpredictable effect, however, was the alleged racial quality of the woman assaulted by the German soldier; it mattered less what her “racial quality” was than whether she conformed to gendered behavioral expectations, and whether the German soldier did as well. Racial ideology was most definitely a factor in sex crimes cases, but more so in expectations placed upon soldiers as German men than in discussions of the “racial inferiority” of women. What the court-martial documents illustrate is that Nazi racial ideology was incoherent and unstable, with high-ranking members of the Party and the military incapable of establishing who should be considered racially inferior and what that should mean in the sentencing of men accused of sex crimes. The documents further illustrate the importance of gender ideology to the determination of sentencing. Lastly, this dissertati (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Richard Steigmann-Gall (Committee Chair); Shelley Baranowski (Committee Member); Geoffrey Giles (Committee Member); Elizabeth Smith-Pryor (Committee Member); Kristen Marcussen (Committee Member) Subjects: History

Master of Arts in English, Cleveland State University, 2010, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

There are very few works of gay holocaust literature, mostly due to the fact that even post Nazi-Germany, homosexuality was outlawed. Bent, thereby serves as a testament of the persecution faced by homosexuals at the hands of the Nazis. This paper argues that the play is developed to display the main character Max having a better chance of survival if he denies his sexual preference and instead claims he is a Jew. While some may argue that such a decision privileges being Jewish over homosexuality, the final argument proves that this is not the case. Art is category of its own, one that is known for creating its own boundaries. In Bent, there is no privileging of one group over another; rather the play serves as a display of the disjointedness of the various communities in Nazi Germany.

Committee: Jennifer Jeffers PhD (Committee Chair); Ted Lardner PhD (Committee Member); Michael Geither MFA (Committee Member) Subjects: European History; Film Studies; Fine Arts; Gender; Gender Studies; Literature; Performing Arts; Philosophy; Theater History; Theater Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2011, German/History (dual)

The objective of this study is to analyze the controversy surrounding Pope Pius XII by looking specifically at the Reichskonkordat of 1933 and the papal encyclical Mit brennender Sorge of 1937. These documents show Pius XII's tendency toward diplomacy with the German Reich even before he was elected as Pope in 1939. This study evaluates several scholarly works on Pope Pius XII from the time he was still Pope until recent history. Chapter one focuses on these various schools of thought throughout the decades on Pius XII's relationship with the Third Reich, including works from his critics, his defenders, and moderate historians. Chapters two and three are studies on the Reichskonkordat and Mit brennender Sorge; Pius XII, known as Eugenio Pacelli at the time, played a major role in bringing these documents to fruition. Chapter one explains the three schools of thought on Pius XII's relationship with the Nazis, and results in the conclusion that historians should adopt a moderate point of view on Pacelli until more information is available. Pacelli was a tremendously diplomatic pope, who believed that speaking out against the Nazi party would only result in further persecution of the Church, as well as the Jews and others facing the Nazi crimes against humanity. Pacelli believed that the Church would violate the terms of the Reichskonkordat of 1933 if he specifically mentioned Nazi atrocities, thereby breaching the treaty and losing all protections given the Catholic Church therein. He also stated that Mit brennender Sorge, released in 1937, had already clearly stated the Church's criticism of the Third Reich, although it never mentioned the party by name. This study has found that Pacelli's involvement with the Reichskonkordat and Mit brennender Sorge affected his interaction with the Third Reich before and during World War II, and has led to the ensuing controversy which continues today. These documents are not normally thoroughly studied by historians, but they had (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Beth Griech-Polelle PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Theodore Rippey PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Douglas Forsyth PhD (Committee Member); Geoffrey Howes PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: European History; European Studies; History; Modern History; Religious History; World History

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2013, History

This paper examines Leopold von Mildenstein, the chief of the Judenreferat of the SD, the intelligence service of the Nazi SS and his attempt to solve the so-called Jewish Question through Zionist emigration in prewar Nazi Germany. Mildenstein's Zionism was contingent upon the German Zionist movement's success in effecting Jewish emigration to Palestine. When international factors such as the Arab revolt made this impossible, Mildenstein left the SD and joined the Propaganda Ministry where he worked to undermine his former policies by inciting Arabs in Palestine against British rule and Jewish colonization. Mildenstein's story is exemplary of the broader radicalization of Nazi Jewish policy. It demonstrates the importance of international factors as well as the reluctance of the SD and its parent organization, the SS, to implement more radical measures to solve the Jewish Question.

Committee: Jay Geller Phd (Advisor); Kenneth Ledford Phd (Committee Member); John Broich Phd (Committee Member) Subjects: History