The Third Reich by Henri Lichtenberger – Published by The Greystone Press – How Germany Became a Totalitarian Racial State Threatening World Peace – In-Depth Research at the Time of the Events. New York 1937 – First English Edition, with Additions and Documents Not Included in the French Edition.
An early work of historical and political analysis focusing on the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime in Germany. Lichtenberger’s book, published in the 1930s, stands out as one of the first comprehensive descriptions of the Nazi movement and its implications for Europe and the world. The author, Henri Lichtenberger [1864-1941], a native of Alsace, was a French scholar and professor specializing in German culture and history. In his book, he documents the political and social dynamics that led to the rise of the Third Reich.
The book explores the origins of National Socialism, the political ideologies driving its rise, the historical context in which Hitler and the Nazi Party gained power, and Nazi racial theory. Lichtenberger examines the cultural, economic, and political factors that contributed to the establishment of the Third Reich. The book also discusses the Nazi regime’s impact on German society, its militarization policy, and the consequences for international relations. Lichtenberger’s work represents an early attempt to understand and explain the Nazi phenomenon to a broader European audience, especially in France, at the height of Nazi Germany’s power. The author, a genius in German history and culture, explains why ideas like racial theory and Nazism found such a receptive audience in Germany, alongside the political developments surrounding Germany’s rearmament since the end of World War I. “Germany did not become a land of barbarians overnight, ” he writes. He shows how Adolf Hitler’s demonic speeches resonated particularly in Germany and explains how the German people themselves collaborated in the “purification of the social organism” (as Hitler described it in his speech on March 23, 1933), and highlights the role of the German press in creating Nazi propaganda.
The chapter on Nazi racial theory, under the title: “The Myth of Race”, is one of the most important documents ever published on the subject of Nazi racial theory. Lichtenberger
explains that the idea providing the Nazi movement with its power is the myth of race and that the idea of race precedes the idea of the state, which is secondary to this overarching interest. In doing so, he foresaw the reality at the height of World War II when Nazi Germany, fighting on several fronts, continued to invest the majority of its resources in the mass murder of Jews in death camps. This was a sharp observation made in 1936 (!) that many in the world failed to understand during the events themselves and only years after the war, when they began to examine the depth of Nazi Germany’s totalitarianism. He demonstrates passages from Hitler’s Mein Kampf where the state is described as essential for the creation of a superior human culture, and the state itself is merely a tool for this higher purpose. Another point he emphasizes is that Nazi Germany’s ambition to develop racial science teaching exceeded its belief in the theory itself. The indoctrination of the idea of race to the next generation was the top priority of Nazi Germany, more than the scientific examination of racial theory itself and its reliability.
From this, he explains how the persecution of Jews became the highest priority of Germany at that time: “With the advent of Hitlerism, this flood of anti-Semitic passion took on enormous proportions. The myth of race condemned the Jew as the ‘principle of evil.’ He is the main enemy of Germany, who throughout history has hindered the free development of the Nordic race.”
The book is regarded as a critical work of contemporary analysis, providing insights into the nature of totalitarian regimes at a time when many in the world were blindly accepting the reality of Nazi rule.
“The French edition… appeared in the spring of 1936 under the title L’Allemagne nouvelle… The current English version, however, is more than just a translation of the French text. Professor Lichtenberger provided several additional sections that did not appear in the original Paris edition. The editor also corrected the text and added many notes to update the work and to highlight various issues of particular interest to the English-speaking reader.” This edition includes documents that document the totalitarianism of Nazi Germany in real time.
XI, 392 pages. Very good condition.
