Hitler's Atomic Bomb
History, Legend, and the Twin Legacies of Auschwitz and Hiroshima

Explores the German efforts to harness nuclear fission during World War II for the Nazi regime and the aftermath.

Mark Walker (Author)

9781009479288, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 18 July 2024

380 pages
23.6 x 15.9 x 2.5 cm, 0.67 kg

'Walker has made a major contribution to the untangling of history and legend …. This book is highly recommended for libraries, scholars, and students.' Dolores Augustine, Technology and Culture

Who were the German scientists who worked on atomic bombs during World War II for Hitler's regime? How did they justify themselves afterwards? Examining the global influence of the German uranium project and postwar reactions to the scientists involved, Mark Walker explores the narratives surrounding 'Hitler's bomb'.  The global impacts of this project were cataclysmic. Credible reports of German developments spurred the American Manhattan Project, the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and in turn the Soviet efforts. After the war these scientists' work was overshadowed by the twin shocks of Auschwitz and Hiroshima. Hitler's Atomic Bomb sheds light on the postwar criticism and subsequent rehabilitation of the German scientists, including the controversial legend of Werner Heisenberg and Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker's visit to occupied Copenhagen in 1941. This scientifically accurate but non-technical history examines the impact of German efforts to harness nuclear fission, and the surrounding debates and legends.

Introduction
Part I. The Bomb: 1. Farm hall
2. Nuclear fission
3. Lightning war
4. Selling uranium
5. Total war
6. The War is Lost
Part II. Living with the Bomb
7. Oversimplifications
8. Compromising with Hitler
9. Rehabilitation
10. Copenhagen
Conclusion
Epilogue. The historian as historical actor.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]