"Behemoth…inspired what became [Raul Hilberg’s] The Destruction of the European Jews, the monumental work… that ultimately emerged as the foundational text for the study of the Holocaust."
— from the introduction by Peter Hayes
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Franz Neumann’s
classic account of the workings of Nazi Germany, first published in 1942 and expanded in 1944, was immediately recognized as a groundbreaking investigation. To this day the book has remained a stimulus to inquiry and debate. “The provocative and controversial central argument, Peter Hayes writes in his introduction, is that the Third Reich neither expressed a consistent ideology nor possessed a coherent structure.”
Neumann
was one of the only early Frankfurt School thinkers to examine seriously the problem of political institutions. After the Nazis’ rise to power, his emphasis shifted to an analysis of economic power, and then after the war to political psychology. His insights into the structure of the Nazi state have to some extent been eclipsed by their own success: subsequent research on the Nazi period has tended to absorb the lessons of Neumann’s study while often losing sight of their subtlety and originality. He suggested that the Nazi organization of society involved the collapse of traditional ideas of the state, of ideology, of law, and even of any underlying rationality. The book is so important that it must be “studied, not simply read,” Raul Hilberg wrote. “The most experienced researchers will tell us that the scarcest commodity in academic life is an original idea. If someone has two or three, he is rich. Franz Neumann was a rich man.”
Peter Hayes’
introduction offers biographical background on Neumann and sets his book in the context of studies of Nazism, pointing out its shortcomings as well as its accomplishments.
“Audacious….Startling….What a discussion, what a conclusion!”
— Raul Hilberg in “The Relevance of Behemoth Today”, Constellations
“[A] masterpiece….Neumann’s assumptions concerning the functions of violence for Nazi Germany have been the basis for all historical research on this regime.”
— Armin Nolzen, Yad Vashem Studies (2003)
“The most penetrating and informative study of German national socialism, by an eminent scholar.”
— Hajo Holborn, The American Historical Association’s Guide to Historical Literature
“To unravel and set out the confusing tangle of public and semi-public institutions is in itself an achievement….Professor Laski hardly puts it too highly when he calls it ‘the ablest study of the Nazi system at work.’”
— The Manchester Guardian
“At once a definitive analysis…and a basic contribution to the social sciences.”
— C. Wright Mills, Partisan Review
Listed, by the [London] Times Literary Supplement, among “The Hundred Most Influential Books Since the War”
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CONTENTS
Introduction by Peter Hayes vii
Preface xix
Preface to the Second Edition xxi
THE COLLAPSE OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC 3
1. The Empire 3
2. The Structure of the Weimar Democracy 8
3. The Social Forces 13
4. The Decline of Organized Labor 17
5. The Counter-Revolution 20
6. The Collapse of the Democracy 29
7. A Tentative Summary 33
PART ONE
THE POLITICAL PATTERN OF NATIONAL SOCIALISM
Introductory Remarks on the Value of National Socialist Ideology 37
I. THE TOTALITARIAN STATE 41
1. The Techniques of Anti-Democratic Constitutional Thought 41
2. The Totalitarian State 47
3. The Synchronization of Political Life 51
4. The Totalitarian State in the War 56
II. THE REVOLT OF THE PARTY AND THE 'MOVEMENT' STATE 62
1. The Ideological Protest against the Totalitarian State 62
2. The Tripartite State 65
3. The Party and the State 66
4. The S.S. and the Hitler Youth 69
5. The Party and the Other Services 71
6. Party and State in Italy 75
7. The Rational Bureaucracy 77
8. The Party as a Machine 80
III. THE CHARISMATIC LEADER IN THE LEADERSHIP STATE 83
1. The Constitutional Function of the Leader 83
2. Luther and Calvin 85
3. The Thaumaturgic Kings 92
4. The Psychology of Charisma 95
IV. THE RACIAL PEOPLE, THE SOURCE OF CHARISMA 98
1. Nation and Race 98
2. Racism in Germany 102
3. Anti-Semitic Theories 108
4. Blood Purification and Anti-Jewish Legislation 111
5. Aryanization of Jewish Property 116
6. The Philosophy of Anti-Semitism 120
V. THE GROSSDEUTSCHE REICH (Living Space and the Germanic Monroe Doctrine) 130
1. The Medieval Heritage 131
2. Geopolitics 136
3. Population Pressure 147
4. The New International Law 150
The Breaking of the Fetters of Versailles 152
The New Neutrality and the Just War 154
The Germanic Monroe Doctrine 156
The Folk Group versus Minority 160
Folk International Law and State Sovereignty 166
5. The Scope and Character of the Grossdeutsche Reich 171
VI. THE THEORY OF RACIAL IMPERIALISM 184
1. Democracy and Imperialism 184
2. The Proletarian Folk against Plutocracies 186
3. Pseudo-Marxist Elements in the Social Imperialist Theory 191
4. Nationalist Forerunners of Social Imperialism 193
5. German Imperialism 199
6. The Social Democrats and Imperialism 210
7. Racial Imperialism and the Masses 215
PART TWO
TOTALITARIAN MONOPOLISTIC ECONOMY
I. AN ECONOMY WITHOUT ECONOMICS? 221
1. State Capitalism? 221
2. A National Socialist Economic Theory: The Myth of the Corporate State 228
II. THE ORGANIZATION OF BUSINESS 235
1. The Political Status of Business in the Weimar Republic 235
2. The Political Organization of Business Under National Socialism 240
The Groups 242
The Chambers 243
The Executive Machinery of the State 247
Machinery of Rationalization 249
Control of Raw Materials 251
Summary 254
III. THE MONOPOLISTIC ECONOMY 255
1. Property and Contract (Economics and Politics) 255
2. The Cartel Policy of National Socialism 261
The Brüning Dictatorship and the Cartel 261
The Purge of the Chiseler 263
Compulsory Cartellization 265
Preparedness, War, and Cartels 268
Cartels and Groups 270
3. The Growth of Monopolies 274
Aryanization 275
Germanization 275
Technological Changes and Monopolization 277
The Financing of the New Industries 280
The Elimination of Small Business 282
The Corporation Structure 284
Who Are the Monopolists? 288
IV. THE COMMAND ECONOMY 293
1. The Nationalized Sector 295
2. The Party Sector (The Göring Combine) 298
3. Price Control and the Market 305
4. Profits, Investments, and 'the End of Finance Capitalism' 316
5. Foreign Trade, Autarky, and Imperialism 327
6. The Control of Labor 337
The Utilization of Man-Power 340
Fight for Higher Productivity 344
7. Conclusion 349
Efficiency 350
Profit Motive 354
Structure 356
The Failure of Democratic Planning 358
PART THREE
THE NEW SOCIETY
I. THE RULING CLASS 365
1. The Ministerial Bureaucracy 369
2. The Party Hierarchy 373
3. The Civil Services and the Party 378
4. The Armed Forces and the Party 382
5. The Industrial Leadership 385
6. The Agrarian Leadership 392
7. The Continental Oil Corporation as a Model for the New Ruling Class 396
8. The Renewal of the Ruling Class 398
II. THE RULED CLASSES 400
1. National Socialist Principles of Organization 400
2. The Working Class Under the Weimar Democracy 403
3. The Labor Front 413
4. The Labor Law 419
Plant Community and Plant Leader 419
The Plant 422
The Honor of Labor and the Labor Courts 425
5. The Regimentation of Leisure 428
6. Wages and Incomes as Means of Mass Domination 431
7. Propaganda and Violence 436
8. National Socialist Law and Terror 440
BEHEMOTH
BEHEMOTH 459
1. Has Germany a Political Theory? 459
2. Is Germany a State? 467
3. What Are the Developmental Trends in this Structure? 470
NOTES 477
APPENDIX
PART ONE
THE POLITICAL PATTERN OF NATIONAL SOCIALISM
I. THE TOTALITARIAN STATE IN THE WAR 521
1. The National Leadership 521
2. The Formation of the Political Will 521
3. Inspector Generals, Commissioners, and the Cabinet 524
4. The Interior Ministry 526
5. The Regional Organization of the Reich 526
6. Unification, the Encroachment of the Gau, and National Defense Commissars 528
II. THE PARTY AS A MACHINE 530
1. The Reich Leaders 530
2. Prominent Nazis in the Government 533
3. The Gauleiter 534
4. The Party Outside Germany 537
The Foreign Organization 537
The Party in Occupied Europe 538
5. The Party Membership 539
III. THE RISE OF HIMMLER, THE POLICE AND S.S. 540
1. The Police 541
The Order Police 542
The Security Police and the Security Service 544
2. The S.S. 546
IV. ANTI-SEMITISM 550
V. THE SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF THE GROSSDEUTSCHE REICH 553
1. Types of Territory under German Control - Survey 553
2. The Nazi Theory of Military Government 555
3. The Administrative Control of the Occupied Territories 560
The Reich Ministry of the Interior as the Co-ordinating Agency 560
Annexed and Incorporated Territories 561
Territories in the Process of Annexation and Incorporation 565
Appended Territories 567
Occupied Territories 570
4. The Exploitation of Occupied Europe 577
Political Controls 577
Economic Controls 579
5. In Search of Co-operation with Occupied Europe 584
PART TWO
TOTALITARIAN MONOPOLISTIC ECONOMY
INTRODUCTION 587
The Reorganization of 1942 and the Edict of 2 September 1943 587
I. CONTROL INSTITUTIONS 589
1. The Central Economic Controls and the Ministry for Armaments and War Production 589
Planning Offices 589
The Ministry for Armaments and War Production 590
2. The War Economy and Armament Office of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces 594
3. The Four Year Plan Office 595
4. Commissioners Directly Responsible to Hitler 595
5. The Ministry of Economics 596
6. The Ministry for Food and Agriculture 596
7. Transportation, Power, and Building Controls 597
8. The Self-Government of Industry 598
9. Cartels 599
10. Reichsvereinigungen 601
II. METHODS OF CONTROL 603
1. Raw Material Control 603
2. Price and Profit Control 604
III. CONCENTRATION OF CAPITAL 607
1. Rationalization 607
2. The Comb-out 609
3. Combines and Corporations 611
IV. LABOR CONTROLS 619
1. The Supreme Control Agencies 619
2. Labor Exchanges and Trustees of Labor 621
3. The Labor Chambers of the German Labor Front 622
4. Foreign Labor 623
PART THREE
THE NEW SOCIETY
THE NEW SOCIETY 625
1. Social Stratification according to the Census of 1939 626
2. The Middle Classes 626
3. The Civil Service 629
4. The Judiciary 630
5. The Ruling Class 632
INDEX 635
Selected by History Book Club
Franz Neumann
was a political activist and labor lawyer in Germany who became a political scientist in exile. He studied in Germany and the United Kingdom, and spent the last phase of his career in the United States.
Peter Hayes
is the Theodore Z. Weiss Professor of Holocaust Studies at Northwestern University and the author or editor of seven books, including From Cooperation to Complicity and a prize-winning study of the IG Farben corporation.
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