The Third Reich in the Ivory Tower: Complicity and Conflict on American Campuses

Description

This is the first systematic exploration of the nature and extent of sympathy for Nazi Germany at American universities during the 1930s. Universities were highly influential in shaping public opinion and many of the nation's most prominent university administrators refused to take a principled stand against the Hitler regime. Universities welcomed Nazi officials to campus and participated enthusiastically in student exchange programs with Nazified universities in Germany. American educators helped Nazi Germany improve its image in the West as it intensified its persecution of the Jews and strengthened its armed forces. The study contrasts the significant American grassroots protest against Nazism that emerged as soon as Hitler assumed power with campus quiescence and administrators' frequently harsh treatment of those students and professors who challenged their determination to maintain friendly relations with Nazi Germany. Review: AWESOME - AWESOME Review: Great! This is What History Should Do. - An amazing, maddening, informative and necessary read. Norwood's relentless focus on minute detail and use of relatively obscure sources (most notably college newspaper archives) uncovers an ugly truth about American academia that was largely swept under the rug by the outbreak of World War II. This book is full of forgotten heroes, like Toni Sender and Robert Burke, whose contribution and self-sacrifice is completely unknown to all but the most dogged specialists, and Norwood should be celebrated from bringing their stories to light. It is also full of, if not villains, many Americans who avoided doing the right thing until the last possible minute, if ever. Some of these private anti-semites went on to be lauded as Nazi opponents. Harvard President James Conant, whose opposition to the Nazi regime was lukewarm at best during the early and mid 1930's, and whose private correspondence reveals an ugly anti-semitism, stands out in this regard. Thank you Professor Norwood.