Karl Dietrich Bracher

Karl Dietrich Bracher
Born	(1922-03-13)13 March 1922 Stuttgart,Weimar Republic
Died	19 September 2016(2016-09-19)(aged 94) Bonn,Germany
Nationality	German
Alma mater	University of Tübingen Harvard University
Known for	Arguing that the collapse of the Weimar Republic was not inevitable and that Nazi Germany was a totalitarian dictatorship.
Scientific career
Fields	Political science Modern history
Institutions	Free University of Berlin University of Bonn
Doctoral students	Hoffmann,Knütter,Mirow,Miller,Pflüger
Other notable students	Kühnhardt

Karl Dietrich Bracher(13 March 1922 – 19 September 2016) was a German political scientist and historian of theWeimar RepublicandNazi Germany.Born inStuttgart,Bracher was awarded aPh.D.in theclassicsby theUniversity of Tübingenin 1948 and subsequently studied atHarvard Universityfrom 1949 to 1950. DuringWorld War II,he served in theWehrmachtand was captured by the Americans while serving in Tunisia in 1943. Bracher taught at theFree University of Berlinfrom 1950 to 1958 and at theUniversity of Bonnsince 1959. In 1951, Bracher married Dorothee Schleicher, the niece ofDietrich Bonhoeffer.They had two children.

Historical views

Researching the collapse of Weimar

Bracher was mainly concerned with the problems of preserving and developingdemocracy.Bracher was consistent in all his works in arguing for the value of human rights, pluralism and constitutional values, together with urging that Germans align themselves with the democratic values of the West.He saw democracy as a frail institution and has argued that only a concerned citizenry can guarantee it.This theme began with Bracher's first book in 1948,Verfall und Fortschritt im Denken der frühen römischen Kaiserzeitwhich concerned the downfall of theRoman Republicand the rise ofAugustus.His 1955 bookDie Auflösung der Weimarer Republik(The Disintegration of the Weimar Republic) is his best known book, in which he ascribed the collapse of German democracy not to theSonderweg( "special path" of German historical development) or other impersonal forces but to human action that followed conscious choice.In that book, Bracher rejected not only theSonderwegthesis, but also the Marxist theory of National Socialism as the result of a capitalist "conspiracy", the theory that theTreaty of Versaillescaused the collapse of the Weimar Republic, and the view that the Nazi dictatorship was simply the work of "fate".Bracher's methodology inDie Auflösung der Weimarer Republikinvolving a mixture of political science and history was considered to be highly innovative and controversial in the 1950s.The German historianEberhard KolbwroteDie Auflösung der Weimarer Republikwas "still unsurpassed as a work of research" on the end of the Weimar Republic.Bracher wrote that though almost all Germans rejected the Treaty of Versailles, this dislike of Versailles had nothing with do with the coming of "presidential government" in March 1930 or rise of the Nazi Party starting with the September 1930Reichstagelection.Furthermore, Bracher wrote that under Weimar, the judicial system had already politicized as the judges, almost all of whom had begun their careers in the Imperial era, had a tendency to impose very lenient sentences for political crimes done in the name of the right.InDie Auflösung der Weimarer Republik,Bracher wrote the judiciary was in part responsible for the collapse of the Weimar republic, "contributing to its overthrow by authoritarian and totalitarian movements."

Bracher argued the beginning of the end of the Weimar Republic was the coming of "presidential government" in 1930. Starting with the government of Heinrich Brüning, chancellors sought not to govern via theReichstag,instead using the "25/48/53 formula", referring to the constitutional articles that gave the Reich president the power to dissolve theReichstag(25), issue emergency decrees (48) and appoint the chancellor (53). The practice was technically legal but violated the spirit of the constitution since article 54 explicitly stated the chancellor and his cabinet were responsible to theReichstag.Bracher maintained that the end of German democracy was not inevitable, but instead was due to conscious choices coupled with "momentous errors and failures" made by Germany's leaders, especially President Paul von Hindenburg.InDie Auflösung der Weimarer Republik,Bracher argued the "collapse" of the republic went through several stages:

• The "loss of power" with Brüning as the cabinet governed only with Article 48, instead of theReichstag.
• The "power vacuum" with Franz von Papen and Kurt von Schleicher as democracy was gutted, but neither men could build a new system in their short time in office.
• The "seizure of power" by the National Socialists in 1933.

Bracher in writing of a "loss of power" and a "power vacuum" was referring to the decay of the democratic system, not a weakening of the state.Kolb noted in the years 1930–33, theReichswehr,the bureaucracy, the police and above all President von Hindenburg all saw a dramatic increase in their power, and what was happening in Germany in that period was the gradual collapse of the democratic system with policy decisions increasingly being made by theReichswehrand theKamarillaof President Hindenburg instead of theReichstag.

Bracher argued that the system of "presidential government" was intended to and had the effect of weakening democracy, and that in no way was "presidential government" forced on Hindenburg and his Chancellors by an unmanageable crisis.Bracher's thesis thatHeinrich Brüningand even more so, his successorFranz von Papenhad gutted German democracy involved him in a dispute withWerner Conze,a prominent Nazi historian during Nazi rule who emerged as a leading conservative historian in West Germany in the 1950s.In a series of articles published in the 1950s–60s, Conze argued that by 1929–1930 that German politics had become so dysfunctional that Hindenburg had no other choice, but to reluctantly bring in "presidential government" as the only way to provide Germany with any sort of government, and that Brüning's governing via Article 48 was only a temporary measure intended to save democracy from the crisis caused by the Great Depression.In reply, Bracher wrote a series of article documenting that the plans for "presidential government" went back much to 1926 at least, and argued that there was no unmanageable crisis with parliamentary government in 1930 that made "presidential government" unavoidable.Bracher forcefully argued that was nostructural crisisin 1929–30 so severe that Hindenburg had to turn to "presidential government" as Conze was claiming, instead arguing that Hindenburg, hiskamarilla,and theReichswehrhad been seeking long before the Great Depression to do away with democracy.In this regard, Bracher pointed out that GeneralKurt von SchleicherandHeinrich Brüninghad worked out the plan for a "presidential government" by April 1929, and it was only Hindenburg's desire to have the government ofHermann Müllerpass the Young Plan, which its turn was delayed by the Young Plan referendum of November 1929, that gave Müller almost an extra year in office.

Bracher's thesis about the Brüning government as the first step towards dissolving democracy instead of an effort to save it as maintained by Conze, was greatly supported by the posthumous publication of Brüning's memoirs in 1970.Brüning, a conservative Catholic who never married and is not known to had a relationship with any women during the course of his life, revealed himself in his memoirs to be a man with an unhealthy emotional dependence on Hindenburg, to whom he was slavishly devoted and whom he regarded in homoerotic terms as the epitome of German masculinity and strength. Brüning openly admitted in his memoirs that the purpose of the "presidential government" was to do away with democracy and restore the monarchy by bringing back the exiled Wilhelm II, and complained at much length about how unfair it was that Schleicher had turned Hindenburg against him in the spring of 1932, leading to the president to fire him and replace him with Papen.It is noteworthy that Brüning did not object to Papen's policies in his memoirs, but rather to the fact that he would have carried out the same policies if only his beloved Field Marshal Hindenburg had given him the chance, instead of firing him in May 1932.Although Bracher won the debate with Conze, as late as 1971 Bracher deplored the tendency to take "a conservative and all too benevolent view of the presidential regime" as an attempt to save democracy.After the publication of Brüning's memoirs, which largely confirmed Bracher's thesis, Bracher wrote that the coming of presidential government was "not a move to save democracy, but part of a conscious plan to bring about a right-wing regime independent of party and parliament and to keep the Social Democrats out of power...Brüning's policy oscillated between the defense of a bureaucratic version of a state based on the rule of law, and paving the way for a dictatorship...He was not...the last chancellorbeforethe break-up of the Weimar Republic, but the first chancellorinthe process of destroying German democracy ".In a survey of the historiography of the Weimar republic, Kolb wrote that research since the 1970s has confirmed Bracher's damning picture of Brüning that he had first offered in 1955, when the evidence for it was weaker.

Bracher sharply criticized the Social Democrats for not resisting thePreußenschlaglaunched byFranz von Papenthat saw the Social Democratic government ofOtto Braunousted by presidential decree.Bracher wrote that theReichswehrwould probably have crushed any resistance, but "there remained the possibility of a lasting demonstration, a manifestation of the unbroken will of democracy to assert itself against a temporarily superior force. This might, beyond all justified practical calculations, have make it possible to save the democratic consciousness from the psychological and moral collapse of the republican forces; it made have made the way harder for the new rulers; delayed future developments and lessened their effects."

Bracher wrote that up until July 1932, those Germans who believed in democracy had high spirits and were full of fighting determination to take a stand, and after thePreußenschlag,the same people became demoralized and passive, feeling that they were playing in a game whose rules were rigged against them, losing their fighting spirit.Bracher's views about the "Rape of Prussia", as Papen's coup was also known, involved him in heated debate with Arnold Brecht, who maintained that nothing could be done to oppose thePreußenschlagas that would mean breaking the law.Bracher in his turn argued that Papen's reasons for his coup, namely the Social Democrats and the Communists were about to merge into a "united left" to start a Marxist revolution in Germany were patently absurd, and given that Papen's intention was to dissolve democracy, that there are times when it is acceptable to break the law.Bracher argued that Brecht's thesis that resistance to Papen's coup was impossible because it would have meant breaking the law was just an excuse for passivity.Historians have generally agreed with Bracher's thesis that there are times when in the face of injustice committed by those who hold power that it is acceptable to break the law, and that thePreußenschlagwas one of those times when illegality in defense of democracy would have been justified.

1960s

In Bracher's opinion, although it was human choices that led to the collapse of theWeimar Republicand the National Socialist period, the roots of National Socialism can be traced back towards thevölkischideologyof 19th centuryGermanyandAustria-Hungary,which found their fullest expression in the personality ofAdolf Hitler.Likewise, Bracher complained that too many Germans were willing during the Weimar-Nazi time periods to subscribe to a "readiness for acclamatory agreement and pseudo-military obedience to a strong authoritarian state".Although Bracher was opposed to theSonderweginterpretation of German history, he did believe in a special German mentality (Sonderbewusstsein) that made Nazi Germany possible.Bracher wrote that:

"The German"Sonderweg"should be limited to the era of the Third Reich, but the strength of the particular German mentality [Sonderbewusstsein] that had arisen already with its opposition to the French Revolution and grew stronger after 1870 and 1918 must be emphasized. Out of its exaggerated perspectives (and, I would add, rhetoric) it become a power in politics, out a myth reality. The road from democracy to dictatorship was not a particular German case, but the radical nature of the National Socialist dictatorship corresponded to the power of the German ideology that in 1933–1945 became a political and totalitarian reality "

TheSonderbewusstseinBracher referred to was the original theory of theSonderweg,namely the idea of the Prussian-German state as the great Central European power neither of the West nor of the East, but rather was something special and unique; this ideology emphasised opposition to democracy as part of its opposition to "Western civilization".

Another well-known book associated with Bracher was the 1960 monograph co-written with Wolfgang Sauer and Gerhard SchulzDie nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung(The National Socialist Seizure of Power), which described in considerable detail theGleichschaltungof German life in 1933–1934. In a review ofDie nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung,the American historianWalter Laqueurpraised Bracher, Sauer and Schulz for their refusal to engage in apologetics, and willingness to ask tough questions about the conduct of Germans under the Nazi regime.In the same review, Laqueur expressed regret that books likeWilliam L. Shirer'sThe Rise and Fall of the Third Reichwere best-sellers, while a book likeDie nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung,which Laqueur regarded as infinitely better work of scholarship then Shirer's book was unlikely ever to be translated into English, let alone become a bestseller.

Bracher advocated the view that Nazi Germany was atotalitarianregime, although Bracher maintained that the "totalitarian typology" as developed byCarl Joachim FriedrichandZbigniew Brzezinskiwas too rigid, and that totalitarian models needed to be based upon careful empirical research.In Bracher's view, Friedrich's and Brzezinski's work failed to take into account the "revolutionary dynamic", which Bracher argued was the "core principle" of totalitarianism.For Bracher, the essence of totalitarianism was the total claim to control and remake all aspects of society together with an all-embracing ideology, the value on authoritarian leadership, and the pretence of the common identity of state and society, which distinguished the totatitarian "closed" understanding of politics from the "open" democratic understanding.In Bracher's view, "politics is the struggle for the power of the state", and in his opinion, the traditional methods of the historian have to be supplemented by the methods of political science to properly understandpolitical history.Speaking of historical work in his own area of speciality, namely the Weimar-Nazi periods, Bracher stated:

"It was not with Himmler, Bormann, and Heydrich, also not with the National Socialist Party, but with Hitler that the German people identified itself enthusiastically. In this there exists an essential problem, especially for German historians...To identify the sources of this fateful mistake of the past and to research it without minimizing it remains a task of German historical scholarship. Ignoring it means the loss of its commitment to truth."

Bracher was highly critical of the Marxist view of Nazi Germany, which sees the Nazi leadership as puppets of Big Business.In Bracher's opinion, the exact opposite was the case with a "primacy of politics" being exercised with business subordinate to the Nazi regime rather than a "primacy of economics" as maintained by Marxist historians.Bracher argued that Nazi actions were dictated by Nazi ideological theory, that business interests were just as much subordinate to the dictatorship as any other section of society, and that since Nazi actions were often irrational from a purely economic point of view, a "primacy of politics" prevailed.

Against the functionalist view of Nazi Germany mostly associated with left-wing historians, Bracher was to write that it was an attempt to:

"turn against the" old-liberal "totalitarianism theory and talk about a relativizing interpretation, which emphasizes the" improvisational "politics of power and domination of National Socialism. Leftish interpretations would like to leave behind the questions of guilt and responsibility in favor of a more modern, realistic analysis. But in doing this they slide into the danger of a newer underestimation and trivialization of National Socialism itself. Their analysis also brings with it, in another way, the vague leftist talk about fascism and reaction"

In the 1960s, Bracher was a leading critic of the theory of generic fascism presented byErnst Nolte.Bracher criticized the entire notion of generic fascism as intellectually invalid and argued that it was individual choice on the part of Germans as opposed to Nolte's philosophical view of the "metapolitical" that produced National Socialism.Bracher'smagnum opus,his 1969 bookDie deutsche Diktatur(The German Dictatorship) was partly written to rebut Nolte's theory of generic fascism, and instead presented a picture of the National Socialistdictatorshipas a totalitarian regime created and sustained by human actions.InDie deutsche Diktatur,Bracher rejected theories of generic fascism, and instead used totalitarianism theory and the methods of the social sciences to explain Nazi Germany.As an advocate of history as a social science, Bracher took a strong dislike to Nolte's philosophical theories of generic fascism.In a 1971 review, the American historianLucy DawidowiczcalledThe German Dictatorship"...a work of unparalleled distinction, combing the most scrupulous objectivity with a passionate commitment to the democratic ethos".In 1989, the British historianRichard J. EvanscalledThe German Dictatorshipa "valuable" book

Bracher often criticized the functionist-structuralist interpretation of Nazi Germany championed by such scholars such asMartin BroszatandHans Mommsen,and decried their view of Hitler as a "weak dictator". In Bracher's view, Hitler was the "Master of the Third Reich".However, though Bracher argues that Hitler was the driving force behind Nazi Germany, he was one of the first historians to argue that Nazi Germany was less well-organized than the Nazis liked to pretend.In a 1956 essay, Bracher noted "the antagonism between rival agencies was resolved solely in the omnipotent key position of the Führer", which was the result of "...the complex coexistence and opposition of the power groups and from conflicting personal ties".Unlike the functionists, Bracher saw this disorganization as part of a conscious “divide and rule” strategy on the part of Hitler, and argued at no point was Hitler ever driven by pressure from below or had his power limited in any way.One area where Bracher is in agreement with the functionists concerns the highlyad hocnature of decision-making in Nazi Germany. Bracher commented that the Nazi regime "remained in a state of permanent improvisation".

1970s

In a 1971 essay to mark the 100th anniversary of German unification, Bracher rejected the claim thatOtto von Bismarckwas the "grandfather" of the present-day Federal Republic, and argued that those historians who claimed that there was a line of continuity between Bismarck'sGerman Empireand the Federal Republic were entirely mistaken. Bracher maintained that the founding of the Federal Republic in 1949 was a decisive break with everything had happened before in German history.Bracher stated that the Federal Republic with its democracy, respect for the individual, equality of all citizens, rule of the law and its pluralist, tolerant society owned nothing to Bismarck's vision of a rigidly hierarchical society dominated by a militaristic, authoritarian state that existed to uphold the power of theJunkers.Bracher wrote that the success of the modern Federal Republic had nothing to do with the "Bismarckian tradition" and stated that the "destruction of the state of 1871" was "the premiss and starting point for a new German state altogether".Bracher maintained that "the second, finally successful democracy in Germany is unimaginable, impossible without the ultimate failure of theReichof 1871 ".

In an essay published in 1976 entitled "The Role of Hitler: Perspectives of Interpretation", Bracher argued that Hitler was too often underrated in his own time, and that those historians who rejected the totalitarian paradigm in favor of the fascist paradigm were in danger of making the same mistake.In Bracher's opinion, Hitler was a "world-historical" figure who served as the embodiment of the most radical type of German nationalism and a revolutionary of the most destructive kind, and that such was the force of Hitler's personality that it is correct to speak of National Socialism as "Hitlerism".In his essay, Bracher maintained that Hitler himself was in many ways something of an "unperson" devoid of any real interest for the biographer, but argued that these pedestrian qualities of Hitler led to him being underestimated first by rivals and allies in theWeimar Republic,and then on the international stage in the 1930s.At the same time, Bracher warned of the apologetic tendencies of the “demonization" of Hitler which he accused historians likeGerhard Ritterof engaging in, which Bracher maintained allowed too many Germans to place the blame for Nazi crimes solely on the "demon" Hitler.Though Bracher criticized theGreat man theoryof history as an inadequate historical explanation, Bracher argued thatsocial historianswho claim that social developments were more important than the role of individuals were mistaken.

Bracher wrote about the "Hitler Wave" of the 1970s that the obsession with Hitler seemed odd given all of the dramatic events of the last thirty or so years such as the Cold War, the rise and decline of Stalinism, the Hungarian Uprising, the Suez War, the Vietnam War, and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, where somehow Hitler, despite being dead, remained in "the background" of all these events.Bracher argued that the obsession with Hitler was due to the "inevitable and continuing sensational aspect caused by the excessive features of Hitlerism, which can be taken as a kind of modern Genghis Khanism or an example of that combination of cruel efficiency and superhuman will-power which frequently is identified as typically German, to be horrified or admired, or both simultaneously".Bracher argued that Hitler represented a new type of leader quite divorced from the traditional standards of historical greatness established by 18th and 19th century historians as: "Hitler and, in his way, Stalin represent a new type of the great movement and party leader combining the qualities of fanatical ideological fixation and virtuoso mass demagogy, and replacing the traditional statesmen and warrior as the great type of historical figure".Writing in 1976, Bracher cautioned against a return to the "Great Man" school of history, warning that "Great Man" type histories were typical of totalitarian regimes as this concept of history as the "history of great men" was promoted not only in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, but "...also by communist regimes where, although quite contrary to their dogma of collectivism, it was in keeping with the psychology of mass mobilization by charismatic leadership. The great examples of this cult of leadership and pseudo-religious veneration and adoration are Lenin and Stalin and at present Mao and the North Korean demigod Kim Il Sung".However, at the same time, Bracher argued in totalitarian regimes, the position of the leader by its very definition meant that he had an oversized role in making history, thus making the study of the leader a prerequisite for understanding these regimes.

In Bracher's view, Hitler's rise was not inevitable, and the primary responsibility for the Chancellorship being given to Hitler on 30 January 1933 rested with theKamarillaof PresidentPaul von Hindenburg.Bracher wrote that had Hindenburg chosen differently from that the path that he did chose by appointing Hitler chancellor on 30 January 1933 that German history would easily gone in a completely different direction, thus meaning that even though Hindenburg died in 1934, he must bear ultimate responsibility for everything that happened between 1933–45, for the appointment of Hitler was a purely a gratuitous act on Hindenburg's part that he did not have to do.However, Bracher argued that once Hitler had obtained power, he used his authority to carry out a comprehensive revolution that politically destroyed both Hitler's opponents such as theSPDand his allies such as theDNVPwho sought to “tame” the Nazi movement.Bracher argued that because Hitler was so central to the Nazi movement that it led to the fate of National Socialism being so intertwined with Hitler's fate that it is right, as noted above, to speak of National Socialism as Hitlerism, and hence justifying Hitler's place in history as a person who by their actions decisively brought about events that otherwise would not had occurred.In addition, Bracher maintained that the importance of Hitler derived from his being the most effective exponent of an extremely radical type of racist German nationalism, which allowed for ideas that otherwise would be ignored by historians coming to a terrible fruition.

Though Bracher argued that the work ofRalf Dahrendorf,David Schoenbaum,andHenry Ashby Turnerabout National Socialism in pursuit of anti-modern goals leading to an unintentional modernization of German society had merit, Bracher felt the question of modernization was too removed from the essence of National Socialism, which Bracher argued were the total revolutionary remodeling of the world along savagelyracistandSocial Darwinistlines.In Bracher's opinion, the revolution Hitler sought to unleash was besides being one of racism gone mad, was also a moral revolution.Bracher argued that the Nazi revolution sought to destroy traditional values that society had valued such as friendship, kindness, and so forth, and replace them with values such as cruelty, brutality, and destruction.Bracher argued that becauseAnti-Semitismwas so crucial to Hitler'sweltanschauung(worldview) and its consequences in the form of genocide for the Jews of Europe were such that this disapproves any notion of generic fascism because Bracher believes that theories of fascism cannot account for theShoah.Bracher argued that generic fascism theorists were guilty of indiscriminately lumping in too many disparate phenomena for the concept of fascism to be of any intellectual use, and of using the term fascist as a catch-all insult for anyone the left disliked.With respect to the genesis ofThe Holocaust,he is a confirmedIntentionalist.It is his position that the entire project of the genocide of European Jewry resulted from Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitic hatred.

Bracher argued that the "one basic principle to which Hitler subscribed deeply, blindly and ruthlessly" was anti-Semitism.Bracher noted that theShoahwas so important to Hitler that during World War II, resources that might from a purely military point of view be better devoted to the war were instead turned towards genocide.In 1981, the British Marxist historianTimothy Masonin his essay 'Intention and explanation: A Current controversy about the interpretation of National Socialism' from the bookThe "Fuehrer State": Myth and realitycoined the term "Intentionist" as part of an attack against Bracher andKlaus Hildebrand,both of whom Mason accused of focusing too much on Hitler as an explanation for the Holocaust.

Bracher believed thattotalitarianism,whether from the Left or Right, is the leading threat to democracy all over the world, and has argued that the differences between theSoviet UnionandNazi Germanywere of degree, not kind.Bracher is opposed to the notion of genericfascismand has often urged scholars to reject "totalitarian" fascism theory as championed by the "radical-left" in favour of "democratic" totalitarian theory as a means of explaining the Nazi dictatorship.In particular, Bracher has argued thatFascist ItalyandNazi Germanypossessed such fundamental differences that any theory of generic fascism is not supported by the historical evidence.He is pro-American and was one of the few German professors to support fully the foreign policy of theUnited Statesduring theCold War.However, Bracher was in no way sympathetic towards Fascist Italy, writing about Benito Mussolini's rise: "Appealing to all classes by a combination of conservative and progressive, anti-communist and state socialist, reactionary and revolutionary aims" and making much use of "direct action", Mussolini "went to war with liberal democracy" in 1919.Bracher was a consistent advocate of the values of the Federal Republic, and its American ally against the values ofEast Germanyand its Soviet patron.In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s he often attackedleft-wingandNew Leftintellectuals in particular for comparing the actions of theUnited Statesin theVietnam Warand theWest German stateto Nazi Germany.For Bracher, these attacks were both an absurd trivialization of Nazi crimes and a sinister attempt to advance the cause ofCommunism.Bracher argued that the defeatist and uncertain mood of the 1970s–80s in West Germany was not unlike the mood of the 1920s–30s.In 1969–74, Bracher supported the Social Democratic-Free Democrat government of ChancellorWilly Brandtand his policy ofOstpolitik,arguing that it long overdue that the Federal Republic recognize the Oder-Neisse Line.By the mid-1970s, Bracher turned against the Social Democrats, arguing that far too many people in West Germany were naïve and blithely dismissive of the threat by Soviet Communism.Bracher always saw himself as a liberal, opposed to totalitarianism of both left and right, a standpoint that led him to attack both conservatives and Communists.

In his 1976 bookZeitgeschichtliche Kontroversen,Bracher criticized the Marxist-New Left interpretation of the Nazi period under the grounds that in such an interpretation "the ideological and totalitarian dimension of National Socialism shrinks to such an extent that the barbarism of 1933–45 disappears as a moral phenomenon", which Bracher felt meant that "...a new wave of trivialization or even apologetics was beginning".In his 1977 essay entitled "Zeitgeschichte im Wandel der Interpretationen" published in theHistorische Zeitschriftjournal, Bracher argued that the student protests of the late 1960s had resulted in a "Marxist renaissance" with the "New Left" exercising increasing control over the university curricula.Although Bracher felt that some of the resulting work was of value, too much of the resulting publications were in his opinion executed with "crude weapons" in which "the ideological struggle was carried out on the back and in the name of scholarship" with a corrosive effect on academic standards.Bracher wrote the student protests of the late 1960s had "politicized and often...objectionably distorted" the work of historians.In his 1978 bookSchlüsselwörter in der Geschichte,Bracher warned of the "totalitarian temptation" which he associated with the New Left, above all with theRed Army Factionterroristgroup was a serious threat to West German democracy, and called upon scholars to do their part to combat such trends before it was too late.Bracher warned against "Peace" and "Green" movements operating outside of the political system offering a radical version of an alternative utopian system which he warned if the crisis in confidence in democracy continued could lead to a gradual undermining of democracy in Germany.In their turn, elements of the West German Left attacked Bracher as aneo-Naziand branded him an "American stooge". In particular, Bracher warned of the "tendency, through theorizing and ideologizing alienation from the history of persons and events, to show and put into effect as the dominant leading theme the contemporarycriticism of capitalismand democracy ".Along the same lines, Bracher criticized the return to what he regarded as the crudeCominterntheories of the 1920-1930s which labeled democracy as a form of "late capitalist" and "late bourgeois" rule, and of the New Left practice of referring to the Federal Republic as a "restorative" Nazi state.

1980s

In the introduction to his 1982 bookZeit der Ideologien(Age of Ideologies), Bracher wrote: "When the realization of high-pitched political expectations was found to come up against certain limits, there was a revival of the confrontation, especially painful in Germany and one that was generally believed to have been overcome".Bracher attacked Communism under the grounds that its claim to have "scientifically" worked out the laws of history was the source of "its great strength vis-à-vis supporters and sympathizers but also its extremely intolerant and coercive character.”Bracher wrote: “Communist policies are something mystical, something surpassing the rational capability of the individual, something fully accessible only to the collective and its leadership,” which promoted itself as “an exclusively informed elite.”As part of his critique of Communism, Bracher wrote:

"No limits were to that elite’s supranational competence…. It is this moral and intellectual totalitarianism pseudo-scientifically justified and politically enforced, that represents both the strength and the weakness of communist ideology. It was able to bring salvation from doubts in a modern complex world, but it was bound, time and again, to come into conflict with the facts of that complexity.”

During theHistorikerstreit(Historians' Dispute) of the 1986–88, Bracher argued in a letter to the editor ofFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitungpublished on 6 September 1986 that nothing new was being presented by either side.Bracher wrote that he approved ofJoachim Fest's essay "Encumbered Remembrance" about the moral equivalence of Nazi and Communist crimes, although he remained pointly silent about Fest's support for the theory ofErnst Nolteof a “casual nexus” with German National Socialism as an extreme, but understandable response to Soviet Communism.Bracher argued that "...the" totalitarian "force of these two ideologies [Communism and National Socialism] seized the whole human and seduced and enslaved him".Bracher accused bothJürgen HabermasandErnst Nolteof both "...tabooing the concept of totalitarianism and inflating the formula of fascism".Bracher complained about the "politically polarized" dispute that was blinding historians to the "comparability" of Communism and National Socialism.Bracher ended his letter by writing that neither National Socialism nor Communism lost none of "...their respective" singular "inhumanity by comparisons. Neither a national nor a socialist apologetic can be supported on that basis".

In theHistorikerstreit,Bracher mostly stayed on the sidelines, and took a pox-on-both-houses approach.Writing on 14 March 1987, Bracher stated he regarded theHistorikerstreitas typical of theDoppelbödigkeit(ambiguities) that Germans felt towards their recent history.Bracher argued that the Federal Republic was one of two rival German states competing for the loyalty of the German people, the successor state to two regimes that failed, and inhabited by two generations with different memories of the past.Bracher wrote that for Germans: "The present dispute concerns not only the orientation and the meaning of a totalitarian" past ", which is not easy to historicize, but does not simply pass away despite temporal distance".Bracher argued that given the "burden of the past", West Germany could all too easily slide into dictatorship.Bracher saw the major threat to West German democracy as coming from the left.Bracher accused the peace and Green movements as hovering "in the borderline between democracy and dictatorship", and warned that the radical left-peace-Green movements could easily become the instruments of a "pseudo-religious concepts of salvation" that would lead to a return to totalitarianism in West Germany.Bracher claimed that the situation in the late 1980s was the same as in the late 1960s "when we critics of an all-too-general concept of fascism were opposed by a front from Nolte via Habermas to the extraparliamentary opposition".

Later in the 1980s, Bracher defined totalitarianism as any state system that featured absolute ideology that allowed no rivals; a mass movement that was hierarchically organized and under state control; control of the media; and state control of the economy.Moreover, Bracher contended that totalitarianism was not just a product of the interwar period, but instead very much a product of modern times with modern technology allowing for greater possibilities for totalitarian control of society than what existed in the 1920s, 30s and 40s.Bracher argued that the essential divining line in the world today was not between left and right or between socialism and capitalism, but between dictatorship and democracy.Bracher criticized those left-wing intellectuals who damned democracies like the United States as for being capitalist while praising those dictatorships that were “progressive” like Communist Cuba as holding morally dishonest values.

Bracher emerged as one of the first proponents of the idea of the Federal Republic as a "post-national democracy" or what become known as "constitutional patriotism", a new definition of what it meant to be German.Bracher argued that in the aftermath of Nazi rule, the traditional German nationalism based on a "blood-and-soil"ideology that definedDeutschtum(Germanness) in racial terms was too morally compromised by its association with Nazism, and the values promoted by the old Prussian-ImperialObrigkeitsstaat(authoritarian state) were not suitable for a democratic society, thus requiring something new.Instead, Bracher called for a new German nationalism that defined itself in terms of its commitment to democracy and made upholding the humanist values of the 1949Basic Law(the constitution) the centerpiece of what it meant to be German.Bracher argued contra the traditional "national patriotism" with loyalty to the nation that with "constitutional patriotism" the primary loyalty of Germans was to be towards the Basic Law and its values, creating a new sense of German national identity based upon a sense of loyalty to the Basic Law that would to apply to all regardless of sex, religion, skin color or ethnicity.Many supporters of "national patriotism" like the historianHagen Schulzeargued Bracher's "constitutional patriotism" was too dry and abstract, maintaining that Germans needed a stronger glue than loyalty to the Basic Law to have a sustainable sense of national identity, thus requiring loyalty to the nation.In the 1970s–80s, Bracher published a series of essays calling for "constitutional patriotism" and a "post-national democracy" that redefinedDeutschtumin terms of republican belonging to a democratic state and rejected the old definitions of the nation-state.Such was the success of Bracher's efforts that many younger Germans starting in the 1980s embraced his idea of "constitutional patriotism" as a way of affirming one's pride in being German.In 1989–1990, Bracher welcomed the fall of the East German dictatorship and German reunification.Bracher did not feel the East German SED dictatorship was morally equivalent to the Nazi regime, but he argued that the memory of how awful was the Communist regime in East Germany should be preserved to prevent any return to Communism.

1990s

In the 1990s, Bracher argued that even though the prospects of democracy against totalitarianism had much improved, he warned that this was no time for triumphalism.In 1992, Bracher wrote that democracy is a state "of self-limitation and insight into the imperfection of man, just as dictatorship is the rule of man's ideological arrogance."Bracher contended that although there were better chances for democracy in the post-1989 world than in the "short 20th century" of 1914–89, there only was the hard work of building and maintaining a civil society ahead for the world, and this task could never be completed.In his 1992 bookTurning Points in Modern Times,Bracher attacked Nolte for his claims that German National Socialism was merely a “mirror image” of the Soviet Union.Bracher wrote that Nolte's work "trivializes" the vicious racism that Bracher stated was at the heart of National Socialism by suggesting that it was just a "copy" of Soviet Communism and thus not as evil as the Soviet original.In a 2003 interview withDer Spiegel,Bracher was highly critical of ChancellorGerhard Schröder’s opposition to theIraq War,and warned against usinganti-Americanismto win elections as potentially damaging Germany’s relations with the United States, a development that Bracher much deplored.

He died on 19 September 2016 at the age of 94.The American historianJeffrey Herfwrote in an obituary:

The complaints about democracy and liberalism that Bracher examined inThe German Dictatorshipfind echoes in our own time. Our institutions are far more stable than those of the Weimar Republic, but the appeal of authoritarianism and conspiracy-theorizing is growing in Western politics. Therefore Bracher’s work on how democracy was destroyed in Germany in the 1930s remains uncomfortably relevant. Moreover, the era of totalitarian ideology and politics did not end with the collapse of Communism in Europe. Using Bracher’s criteria, it continues, most importantly in the Islamist movements that have fueled the terrorism of recent decades. Totalitarianism has changed both its geographical location and its cultural coordinates, but in its inhumanity and irrationality it merits comparison with its 20th-century predecessors. Here, too, Karl Bracher’s work will remain important for years to come both for historians of the Nazi and Communist dictatorships and for advocates of liberal democracy in a world that faces multiple illiberal challenges.

Honors

• Emeritus of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• Corresponding Fellow of theBritish Academy.
• Member of theAmerican Philosophical Society.
• Member of theHistorische Kommission zu Berlin.
• Member of theDeutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung.
• Member of theNordrhein-Westfälische Akademie.

Work

• Verfall und Fortschritt im Denken der frühen römischen Kaiserzeit: Studien zum Zeitgeühl und Geschichtsbewusstein des Jahrhunderts nach Augustus,1948.
• Die Aufösung der Weimarer Republik: Eine Studie zum Problem des Machtverfalls in der Demokratie1955.
• "Stufen totalitärer Gleichschaltung: Die Befestigung der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft 1933/34" pages 30–42 fromVierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte,Volume 4, Issue # 1, January 1956, translated into English as "Stages of Totalitarian" Integration "(Gleichschaltung): The Consolidation of National Socialist Rule in 1933 and 1934 "pages 109–128 fromRepublic To Reich The Making of the Nazi Revolution Ten Essaysedited byHajo Holborn,New York: Pantheon Books 1972,ISBN0-394-47122-9.
• co-edited with Annedore Leber &Willy BrandtDas Gewissen steht auf: 64 Lebensbilder aus dem deutschen Widerstand 1933–1945,1956, translated into English asThe Conscience in Revolt: Portraits of the German Resistance 1933–1945,Mainz: Hase & Koehler, 1994ISBN3-7758-1314-4.
• co-written with Wolfgang Sauer and Gerhard Schulz:Die nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung: Studien zur Errichtung des totalitären Herrschaftssystems in Deutschland 1933–34,1960.
• “Problems of Parliamentary Democracy in Europe” pages 179–198 fromDaedalus,Volume 93, Issue # 1 Winter 1964.
• Deutschland zwischen Demokratie und Diktatur: Beiträge zur neueren Politik und Geschichte,1964.
• Adolf Hitler,1964.
• Die deutsche Diktatur: Entstehung, Struktur, Folgen des Nationalsozialismus,1969, translated into English by Jean Steinberg asThe German Dictatorship; The Origins, Structure, and Effects of National Socialism;New York, Praeger 1970, with an Introduction byPeter Gay.
• Das deutsche Dilemma: Leidenswege der politischen Emanzipation,1971, translated into English asThe German Dilemma: The Throes of Political Emancipation,London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1975ISBN0-297-76790-9.
• Die Krise Europas, 1917–1975,1976.
• Zeitgeschichtiche Kontroversen: Um Faschismus, Totalitarismus, Demokratie,1976.
• "The Role of Hitler: Perspectives of Interpretation" pages 211–225 fromFascism: A Reader's Guide,edited byWalter Laqueur,Harmondsworth, 1976,ISBN0-520-03033-8.
• Europa in der Krise: Innengeschichte u. Weltpolitik seit 1917,1979.
• (editor)Quellen zur Geschichte des Parlamentarismus und der politischen Parteien, Bd 4/1 Politik und Wirtschaft in der Krise 1930–1932 Quellen Ära Brüning Tel I,Bonn, 1980.
• Geschichte und Gewalt: Zur Politik im 20. Jahrhundert,1981.
• “The Disputed Concept of Totalitarianism,” pages 11–33 fromTotalitarianism Reconsiderededited by Ernest A. Menze, Port Washington, N.Y. / London: Kennikat Press, 1981,ISBN0-8046-9268-8.
• Zeit der Ideologien: Eine Geschichte politischen Denkens im 20. Jahrhundert,1982, translated into English asThe Age Of Ideologies: A History of Political Thought in the Twentieth Century,New York: St. Martin's Press, 1984,ISBN0-312-01229-2.
• co-edited with Hermann GramlWiderstand im Dritten Reich: Probleme, Ereignisse, Gestalten,1984.
• Die Totalitäre Erfahrung,1987.
• "Der historishe Ort des Zweiten Weltkrieges" pages 347–374 from1939-An Der Schwelle Zum Weltkrieg: Die Entfesselung Des Zweiten Weltkrieges Und Das Internationale Systemedited byKlaus Hildebrand,Jürgen Schmadeke & Klaus Zernack, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co 1990,ISBN3-11-012596-X.
• Wendezeiten der Geschichte: Historisch-politische Essays, 1987–1992,1992, translated into EnglishTurning Points In Modern Times: Essays On German and European History,translated by Thomas Dunlap; with a foreword by Abbott Gleason, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1995,ISBN0-674-91354-X.
• co-edited with Manfred Funke & Hans-Adolf JacobsenDeutschland 1933–1945. Neue Studien zur nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft,1992.
• co-written withEberhard Jäckel;Johannes Gross;, Theodor Eschenburg &Joachim Fest:Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland,1994.
• Geschichte als Erfahrung. Betrachtungen zum 20. Jahrhundert,2001.
• co-edited with P. M. Brilman & H. M. Von Der DunkJustiz und NS-Verbrechen,2008.
• co-edited with Hans-Adolf Jacobsen, Volker Kronenberg, & Oliver SpatzPolitik, Geschichte und Kultur. Wissenschaft in Verantwortung für die res publica. Festschrift für Manfred Funke zum 70. Geburtstag,2009.

See also

• List of Adolf Hitler books

Further reading

• Anthon, Carl, Review ofDie nationalsozialistische machtergreifung: Studien zur errichtung des totalitären herrschaftssystems in deutschland 1933/34pages 715–716 fromThe American Historical Review,Volume 67, Issue # 3, April 1962.
• Balfour, Michael, Review ofThe German Dilemma: The Throes of Political Emancipationpage 579 fromInternational Affairs,Volume 51, Issue # 4 October 1975.
• Bonham, Gary Review ofThe German Dilemmapages 631–651 fromWorld Politics,Volume 35, Issue # 4, July 1983.
• Cooling, B.F., Review ofThe German Dictatorship: The Origins, Structure, and Effects of National Socialismpage 35 fromMilitary Affairs,Volume 36, Issue # 1, February 1971.
• Dawidowicz, Lucy S.Review ofThe German Dictatorship: The Origins, Structure and Effects of National Socialismpages 91–93 fromCommentary,Volume 52, Issue # 2, August 1971.
• Dawidowicz, Lucy S.,The Holocaust and the Historians,Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1981,ISBN0-674-40566-8.
• Dijk, Ruud van "Bracher, Karl Dietrich" pages 111–112 fromThe Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing,Volume 1, edited by Kelly Boyd, London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishing, 1999ISBN1-884964-33-8.
• Frankel, Joseph, Review ofThe Age of Ideologies: A History of Political Thought in the Twentieth Centurypages 148–149 fromInternational Affairs,Volume 61, Issue # 1, Winter 1984–1985.
• Freeden, Michael, Review ofThe Age of Ideologies: A History of Political Thought in the Twentieth Centurypages 268–269 fromThe English Historical Review,Volume 103, Issue # 406 January 1988.
• Funke, Manfred (editor),Demokratie und Diktatur: Geist und Gestalt politischer Herrschaft in Deutschland und Europa, Festschrift für Karl Dietrich Bracher(Democracy and Dictatorship: The Spirit and Form of Political Power in Germany and Europe) Düsseldorf: Droste, 1987.
• Geck, Wilhelm Karl, Review ofDie moderne Demokratie und ihr Recht. Modern Constitutionalism and Democracy. Festschrift für Gerhard Leibholz zum 65. Geburtstag. Band II: Staats- und Verfassungsrechtpages 279–281 fromThe American Journal of Comparative Law,Volume 16, Issue # 1/2, Winter – Spring 1968.
• Halperin, William S., Review ofDie Auflosung der Weimarer Republik: Eine Studie Zum Problem Des Machtverfalls in der Demokratiepages 620–621 fromThe American Historical Review,Volume 62, Issue # 3, April 1957.
• Heberle, Rudolf, Review ofThe German Dictatorship: The Origins, Structure and Effects of National Socialismpages 1545–1550 fromThe American Journal of Sociology,Volume 78, Issue # 6, May 1973.
• Herz, John, Review ofDie Auflösung der Weimarer Republik: Eine Studie zum Problem des Machtverfalls in der Demokratiepages 533–534 fromThe American Political Science Review,Volume 50, Issue # 2, June 1956.
• Jay, Martin, Review ofThe Age of Ideologies: A History of Political Thought in the Twentieth Centurypages 912–913 fromThe American Historical Review,Volume 91, Issue # 4, October 1986.
• Jones, Larry Eugene, Review ofDie Deutschnationalen und die Zerstörung der Weimarer Republik: Aus dem Tagebuch vonReinhold Quaatz,1928–1933pages 163–165 fromThe Journal of Modern History,Volume 64, Issue # 1, March 1992.
• Keefe, Thomas, Review ofThe German Dictatorship: The Origins, Structure, and Effects of National Socialismpages 81–82 fromThe History Teacher,Volume 5, Issue # 1, November 1971.
• Kershaw, Ian,The Nazi Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives of Interpretation,London: Arnold; New York: Copublished in the US by Oxford University Press, 2000ISBN0-340-76028-1.
• Kirchner, Doris, Review ofThe Conscience in Revolt: Portraits of the German Resistancepages 102–102 fromThe German Quarterly,Volume 69, Issue # 1, Winter 1996.
• Kleinfeld, Gerald R., Review ofThe German Dictatorship: The Origins, Structure, and Effects of National Socialismpages 810–811 fromThe Western Political Quarterly,Volume 25, Issue # 4, December 1972.
• Laqueur, Walter,Review ofDie nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung: Studien zur Errichtung des totalitaren Herrschaftssystems in Deutschland 1933/34pages 235–236 fromInternational Affairs,Volume 37, Issue # 2 April 1961.
• Lukacs, John,The Hitler of History,New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997ISBN0-375-70113-3.
• Maier, Charles,The Unmasterable Past: History, Holocaust, And German National Identity,Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1988,ISBN0-674-92976-4.
• Marrus, MichaelThe Holocaust in History,Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1987ISBN0-452-00953-7.
• Merkl, Peter, Review ofThe German Dictatorshippages 191–193 fromThe Western Political Quarterly,Volume 24, Issue # 1, March 1971.
• Neil, Robert Review ofThe German Dictatorship: The Origins, Structure, and Effects of National Socialismpages 172–173 fromThe American Historical Review,Volume 77, Issue # 1, February 1972.
• Peterson, Agnes Review ofDeutschland zwischen Krieg und Frieden: Beiträge zur Politik und Kultur im 20. Jahrhundertpages 648–649 fromGerman Studies Review,Volume 15, Issue # 3, October 1992.
• Peterson, Edward Review ofThe German Dictatorship: The Origins, Structure, and Effects of National Socialismpages 694–696 fromThe Journal of Modern History,Volume 43, Issue # 4, December 1971.
• Piper, Ernst (editor)Forever In The Shadow Of Hitler?: Original Documents Of The Historikerstreit, The Controversy Concerning The Singularity Of The Holocaust,Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, 1993,ISBN0-391-03784-6.
• Poggi, Gianfranco Review ofZeit der Ideologien: Eine Geschichte Politischen Denkens im 20. Jahrhundertpages 498–500 fromContemporary Sociology,Volume 13, Issue # 4, July 1984.
• Oppen, B. Ruhm von Review ofDas Gewissen entscheidet: Bereiche des deutschen Widerstandes von 1933–1945 in Lebensbildernpages 97 fromInternational Affairs,Volume 35, Issue # 1, January 1959.
• Rosenbaum, E. Review ofDie Auflosung der Weimarer Republik: Eine Studie zum Problem des Machtverfalls in der Demokratiepages 101–102 fromInternational Affairs,Volume 32, Issue # 1, January 1956.
• Treharne Jones, William "Review: Germany: Prospects for a Nationalist Revival" Review ofDie deutsche Diktatur: Enstehung, Struktur, Folgen des Nationalsozialismuspages 316–322 fromInternational Affairs,Volume 46, Issue # 2, April 1970.
• Wiskemann, ElizabethReview ofThe Conscience in Revolt: Sixty-four Stories of Resistance in Germany 1933–45page 233 fromInternational Affairs,Volume 34, Issue # 2, April 1958.
• Wiskemann, Elizabeth Review ofDie nationalsozialistische Machtergreifungpage 204 fromThe English Historical Review,Volume 77, Issue # 302, January 1962.
• Wiskemann, Elizabeth Review ofDeutschland zwischen Demokratie und Diktatur: Beitrage zur neueren Politik und Geschichtepages 301–302 fromInternational Affairs,Volume 42, Issue # 2, April 1966.

External links

• Review of Turning Points in Modern Times: Essays on German and European History
• "Ein schwerer Missgriff"Interview with Bracher in German.
• Karl Dietrich Bracher
• Karl Dietrich Bracher