Animals Under the Swastika

J.W. Mohnhaupt (Author), John R. J. Eyck (Translated by)

9780299338008

Hardback, published 23 August 2022

248 pages, 14 b&w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.195 kg

Never before or since have animals played as significant a role in German history as they did during the Third Reich. Potato beetles and silkworms were used as weapons of war, pigs were used in propaganda, and dog breeding served the Nazis as a model for their racial theories. Paradoxically, some animals were put under special protection while some humans were simultaneously declared unworthy of living. Ultimately, the ways in which Nazis conceptualized and used animals—both literally and symbolically—reveals much about their racist and bigoted attitudes toward other humans.
 
Drawing from diaries, journals, school textbooks, and printed propaganda, J.W. Mohnhaupt tells these animals’ stories vividly and with an eye for everyday detail, focusing each chapter on a different facet of Nazism by way of a specific animal species: red deer, horses, cats, and more. Animals under the Swastika illustrates the complicated, thought-provoking relationship between Nazis and animals.

• Introduction: The World behind the Wire
• 1 Blood Ties
• 2 Digestive Affinities
• 3 Drawing the Curtain on Larval Stages
• 4 Morituri
• 5 Raufbold
• 6 Not Really Stroganoff
• Conclusion: Until the Last Dog Is Hung
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Works Cited
• Index