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- Title
'Leaders, not Lords': Führertum, Democracy and Nazism in the Weimar Republic*.
- Authors
Unger-Alvi, Simon
- Abstract
This article examines the use of the concept of Führertum (leadership) in Weimar Germany. From a historical perspective, scholars tend to analyse the discourse on leadership through the lens of Nazi dictatorship. Yet the picture changes if we take the end of the old monarchy as the starting point. In particular, this article analyses how democrats and liberals developed their own ideas on Führertum. It argues that this concept was in vogue in Weimar because it signified a deviation from the hierarchical order of the traditional Obrigkeit and the established societal authorities of monarchical institutions. A leader had no subjects, only voluntary supporters. In this sense, 'leadership' seemed to correspond to popular sovereignty and had populist, even democratic, connotations. This article draws on publications of both well-known political theorists and amateur authors such as high school teachers and civil servants. In Weimar, the term Führertum was used by a variety of political groups and led in multiple ideological directions. Simultaneously, this political contingency facilitated political communication between Nazis and democrats. I argue that seemingly participatory and 'democratic' definitions of leadership eventually invited democrats to take part in the 'national community' of Nazi Germany. Specifically, this article shows how authors of interwar media believed they were rediscovering democratic ideas in the Nazi Party and how their understanding of democracy influenced their reactions to constitutional changes such as the Enabling Act of 1933. Paradoxical as it may be, discourse on leadership allowed many democrats to identify with Nazi ideology.
- Subjects
WEIMAR (Thuringia, Germany); NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHE Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei. Schutzstaffel; POLITICAL communication; NATIONAL socialism; WEIMAR Republic, 1918-1933; HIGH school teachers; NAZI Germany, 1933-1945
- Publication
German History, 2021, Vol 39, Issue 4, p560
- ISSN
0266-3554
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/gerhis/ghab067