- Germany Must Perish!
, in order to publish his sentiments.
However, the book was most notably used by
Nazi Germany aspropaganda to allege that the Jews were plotting against the country. [Anonymous. "A Modest Proposal (Books)." "Time".March 24 1941 . p. 96.] " [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70E12FB3B5B147B93CBA91782D85F458485F9 Jews of Hanover Forced from Homes.] " "New York Times".September 9 1941 . p. 4.]In a contemporary sense, the book is utilized by those attempting to forward evidence of a conspiracy against Germany, with such arguments often pertaining to an
anti-Semitic agenda.In the words of the 1945 "Journal of Modern History", the book was intended to be "little more than self-indulgence in dire vituperation by a man who sees Germany as the sole cause of the world's woes." [What They Would Do about Germany, Donald F. Lach, The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 17, No. 3. (Sep., 1945), pp. 227-243.]
Kaufman's Advertising
According to a
March 24 1941 ,Time magazine review, Kaufman founded Argyle because, "he did not want to be edited." ["Ibid ".] The unnamed "Time" reviewer compared the book to Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal ," noting that, unlike Swift, Kaufman's work was not satirical. [Time]An advertisement in the "
New York Times ," stated that the book was released to the public onMarch 1 ,1941 , which Kaufman also promoted by mailing a miniature black cardboard coffin with a hinged lid to reviewers. [Anonymous. Advertisement for "Germany Must Perish!". "New York Times".1 March 1941 . p. 13.] Inside the coffin was a card proclaiming, "Read GERMANY MUST PERISH! Tomorrow you will receive your copy." ["A Modest Proposal (Books)."]Contents
The back of the book's dust jacket contains excerpts from purported reviews of the book.
For instance, one blurb reads, "A PLAN FOR PERMANENT PEACE AMONG CIVILIZED NATIONS! --"New York Times." In reality, the "Times" never reviewed the book. The quotation is the entirety, plus an exclamation point, of a one-line summary of "Germany Must Perish!" published in "Latest Books Received" section of the paper. [Anonymous. "Latest Books Received." "New York Times".
March 16 1941 . p. BR29.]Kaufman summarized "Germany Must Perish!" in the "Times" ad as: "A dynamic volume outlining a plan for the extinction of Germany and containing a map showing possible dissection and apportionment of its territory." [Advertisement for "Germany Must Perish!".]
In the book, Kaufman advocated the
genocide of the entire German people by forced sterilization and the territorial dismemberment of Germany after an Allied victory inWorld War II .Historical circumstances
At the time that "Germany Must Perish!" was first published, the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor was still nine months away and theUnited States had not yet entered the war.However, the
T-4 Euthanasia Program , mass sterilization had already begun. Some cite this "medicalized mass murder" as the beginning of theHolocaust . Still, theWannsee Conference was more than a year in the future and stories ofgenocide by the Nazi Party were neither widely known nor believed.Nazi reaction and use in propaganda
The book soon came to the attention of the Nazis. It was - and still is - widely quoted as advocating genocide by "the Jews" against the German people. [See
Nazi andHolocaust Denial Propaganda links below.]Kaufman was a Manhattan-born Jew, so his advocacy of such an idea attracted great attention. ["A Modest Proposal (Books)."] Nazi propaganda denounced the book as an "orgy of Jewish hatred" and accused President Franklin D. Roosevelt of having inspired it. [Anonymous. "Nazis Attack Roosevelt." "New York Times".
July 24 1941 . p. 8.] Additionally, "Germany Must Perish!" coincided with other Nazi proclamations about "Anglo-American" intentions, which the German population digested in the midst of ongoing economic sanctions against their country, Roosevelt'sLend Lease program and the widely reported failure of the United States to sponsor negotiations after Poland's defeat. American journalistHoward K. Smith was in Germany when "Germany Must Perish!" came to light. He wrote: ::"No man has ever done so irresponsible a disservice to the cause his nation is fighting and suffering for than Nathan Kaufmann ["sic"] . His half-baked brochure provided the Nazis with one of the best light artillery pieces they have, for, used as the Nazis used it, it served to bolster up that terror which forces Germans who dislike the Nazis to support, fight and die to keep Nazism alive ... [Howard K. Smith. "Last Train from Berlin". London: Phoenix Pr., 1942, 2000. p. 134] " Likewise, when the Jews ofHanover were forced from their homes onSeptember 8 ,1941 , German authorities cited Kaufman's book as one of the reasons.The controversial German nationalist philosopher and historian
Ernst Nolte argues that the German reaction to "Germany Must Perish!" supports his contention that the Holocaust was a reasonable, if excessive, response to German fears of worldwide Jewish plot. [Nolte, Ernst “Between Myth and Revisionism” pages 17-38 from "Aspects of the Third Reich", edited by H.W. Koch, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985 pages 27-28.]In answer to this claim, it has been pointed out that while the book was a welcome piece of propaganda, its actual impact on Nazi genocide policies was not notable, and that Nolte argues as if the radical views of one single American Jew can be construed to be representative of Jews worldwide. [Vidal-Naquet, Pierre "Assassins of Memory", New York: Columbia University Press, 1992 page 126.]
Notes
References
*Bytwerk, Randall L. "The Argument for Genocide in Nazi Propaganda," "Quarterly Journal of Speech", 91 (2005), 37-62.
*Herf, Jeffrey. The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda During World War II and the Holocaust (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006), pp. 110-115.
*Vidal-Naquet, Pierre "Assassins of Memory Essays on the Denial of the Holocaust", New York: Columbia University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-231-07457-1External links
Nazi propaganda about "Germany Must Perish!":(from Calvin College's [http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/index.htm German Propaganda Archive] )
* " [http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/ds15.htm The Battle with the Devil: Pan-Jewry Reveals its Destructive Plan] ." A September 1941 article from Julius Streicher's "Der Stürmer" which quotes extensively from "Germany Must Perish!"
*" [http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/kriegsziel.htm The War Goal of World Plutocracy] " A September 1941 pamphlet by Wolfgang Diewerge.
*" [http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/zeichnen.htm When you see this symbol...] " Cover illustration and excerpts from a November 1941 flyer.
*" [http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/niemals.htm Never!] A late 1944 pamphlet by Heinrich Goitsch.Holocaust Denial propaganda About "Germany Must Perish!":
* [http://www.ihr.org/books/kaufman/perish.html Notes and the full text] of the book at the web site of theInstitute for Historical Review .Other external links:
* [http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/k/kaufman.theodore.nathan/press/time-review-perish-194103 Full text] of "Time" magazine's 1941 review of "Germany Must Perish!" at the web site of TheNizkor Project .
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.