The Great War and German Memory
Society, Politics and Psychological Trauma, 1914- 1945
Distributed for University of Exeter Press
In Weimar Germany and under the Third Reich, views on class, war, masculinity, and social deviance were shaped by debates about—but not with—the survivors of the World War I. This volume uses previously unexplored first-person accounts in order to focus on the traumatized German war veterans, following these vulnerable members of society forward in history and examining their marginalization within their own nation, as well as their authentic memory of the Great War. Crouthamel situates his exploration of the veterans’ words and world in the contemporary field of trauma studies, revealing a previously hidden vein of protest against the Nazi institutions and official memory of the time and exposing the universal problems faced by societies coping with war and the politics of the veterans’ long-term care.
“There is a need for this book. Its specific focus—on the psychiatric aftermath of war—is a compelling field. The book joins, but does not merely echo, an important scholarly, social, and moral conversation, bringing to it significant new data, new insights, and new perspectives. Crouthamel joins the conversation—and moves it forward.”—Dr. Robert Whalen, Queens University of Charlotte
"Crouthamel's work is a welcome complement to the existing work on war-related psychological issues...Perhaps most central, Crouthamel gives the veterans a voice, albeit one filled with anger and anguish at being mistreated in war and misunderstood in peace."—Journal of Modern History
Introduction
1 Healing the Nation's Nerves: Imperial Germany at War
2 The War Neurotics Return Home: Psychologically Disabled Veterans and Postwar Society, 1918-1920
3 Neurosis and the Welfare State: The Rise and Fall of the National Pension Law of 1920
4 'The Class Struggle Psychosis:' Working-Class Politics and Psychological Trauma
5 National Socialism and its Discontents: War Neurosis and Memory under Hitler
6 Nazi Germany's Hidden Psychopaths: Case Studies of Mentally Disabled Veterans in the Third Reich
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography (including Glossary of Terms)
Index
History: European History
Psychology: General Psychology
You may purchase this title at these fine bookstores. Outside the USA, see our international sales information.
