Book Description

“This valuable and penetrating little book deals with one of the baffling problems of our age, namely the relation between Nazi and German... The thesis of the book is that the traditional German character is derived from a rigid, authoritarian, static family system which adapted itself readily to the Nazi pattern and remained essentially unaltered when the Nazi layer was stripped away. The implication is that German and Nazi are more nearly identical than is realized by naïve exponents of ‘denazification’... a well-written, sensible book suggestive as to methodology and rich in wisdom...” — The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science “An interesting study of paternal ‘authoritarianism in the German family,’ with implications for the political behavior of the Germans as a people.” — Foreign Affairs “Of the many postwar books now available on Germany and the various phases of its culture, ideologies, and social structure, this book stands out. The approach is scientifically oriented, combining psychiatry with sociology and anthropology.” — American Journal of Orthopsychiatry “This is a book by a social scientist, on a timely subject. It is a pity that more books of this kind are not prepared by the people who have the required insights and the necessary data, and rushed through the presses while there is still time to make use of their results. The author is a psychiatrist who knows how to make his special skill applicable to the wider problems of our day.” — Political Science Quarterly “[F]ascinating reading... Schaffner presents his views with admirable clarity.” — The Public Opinion Quarterly