Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Burnett, David.

Description

1. xvi, 316 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

1. "On 14 January 1930, Horst Wessel, a young and ambitious member of the SA was shot at close range outside his home in Berlin. He later died from his injuries. Joseph Goebbels, whose attention had already been drawn to Wessel as a possible future Nazi leader, was the first to recognize the propaganda potential of the case. 'A young martyr for the Third Reich' he wrote in his diary on 23 February immediately after receiving the news of his death. This was the beginning of the myth-making of what were essentially a very ordinary individual and a very ordinary crime. Horst Wessel became the hero of the Nazi movement and the song Die Fahne Hoch for which Wessel had written the lyrics (and which subsequently became popularly known as the 'Horst Wessel Song') became the official Nazi party anthem. Daniel Siemens here provides a fascinating and gripping account of the background to Horst Wessel's murder and uncovers how and why the Nazis made him a political hero. At the same time it is a portrait of the Nazi propaganda machine at its most effective and most chilling."--Publisher's website.

Uniform title

1. Horst Wessel. English

Alternative title

1. Horst Wessel.

Subject

1. Wessel, Horst, 1907-1930
2. 1918-1933
3. Nazis > Biography
4. Nazis
5. Politics and government
6. Rezeption
7. Drittes Reich
8. Germany > Politics and government > 1918-1933
9. Germany

Genre/Form

1. Biography.

Contents

1. Part 1: From pastor's son to street fighter. Murder in Friedrichshain ; Father and son ; The young national socialist ; The SA's battle of the streets ; The culprits flee ; Traces to nowhere ; Sensations in the criminal court: The first Horst Wessel Trial (1930). -- Part 2: The national socialist hero, profiteers and victims (1930-1945). Cult and commerce ; With God's blessing ; A hero for German youth ; Monuments in stone and iron ; Exploiting the myth ; Literary enlightenment ; Revenge of the Nazis ; Judicial murder: The second Horst Wessel Trial (1934) ; Time of suffering. -- Part 3: The long shadow of history (1945-2009). Post-war justice ; 'Burden sharing' ; Belated justice.

Call number

1. JFE 13-3437

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-306) and index.

Language (note)

1. Translated from the German.

Author

1. Siemens, Daniel.

Title

1. The making of a Nazi hero : the murder and myth of Horst Wessel / Daniel Siemens ; translated by David Burnett.

Publisher

1. London ; New York : I.B. Tauris, 2013.

Type of content

1. text

Type of medium

1. unmediated

Type of carrier

1. volume

Bibliography

1. Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-306) and index.

Language

1. Translated from the German.

Chronological term

1. 1918-1933

Added author

1. Burnett, David.

LCCN

1. 2013431521

ISBN

1. 9781780760773 (hardback)
2. 1780760779 (hardback)

Research call number

1. JFE 13-3437