Hitler's Germany historiography

Historian view on the Hitler Myth

Ian Kershaw – The “Hitler Myth” was central: Hitler as the “embodiment of national unity.”

Historian view on Hitler being policy leader

Alan Bullock – Hitler was the “master of the Reich,” consciously driving policy.

Negative

Historian views on how control was maintained

Richard Evans – Terror and propaganda were mutually reinforcing in sustaining control.

Tim Mason – Nazi rule combined coercion with consensus built on economic recovery.

Historian view on the extremity of indoctrination vs historian view that condemns the Germans

Christopher Browning – Perpetrators of genocide were “ordinary men” shaped by circumstance and indoctrination.

Daniel Goldhagen – Germans were “willing executioners,” motivated by deep-rooted anti-Semitism.

Historian views on Nazi economic policies

Tim Mason – Nazi economy was a “dictatorship of the economy”; rearmament dominated, consumer needs sidelined.

Richard Overy – Economic policy was pragmatic; rearmament was preparation for war.

Adam Tooze – The Nazi economy was a “blitzkrieg economy,” unsustainable long-term.

Historian views on minorities

Richard Evans – Nazi policy on women was contradictory: ideology promoted domesticity, but war forced women back to work

Christopher Browning – Ordinary Germans were “ordinary men” drawn into genocide through circumstance.

Daniel Goldhagen – Germans were “willing executioners” driven by deep-rooted anti-Semitism.

Lucy Dawidowicz – Hitler had a “programme for annihilation” as early as 1919.

Ian Kershaw – Anti-Semitism radicalised over time, not fixed from the start.

Historian views on extent of authoritarian control

Robert Gellately – Surveillance state effective because citizens willingly denounced others.

Martin Broszat – Nazi control was not absolute; “polycratic” and often inefficient.

Hans Mommsen – Hitler was a “weak dictator” reliant on radical subordinates.

Richard Evans – Despite inefficiencies, Nazi propaganda and terror ensured overwhelming dominance until wartime defeats.

Martin Broszat – Nazi rule relied more on social accommodation (Resistenz) than totalitarian domination