The Third Reich in the Ivory Tower
Complicity and Conflict on American Campuses

This is the first systematic exploration of the nature and extent of sympathy for Nazi Germany at American universities.

Stephen H. Norwood (Author)

9781107400580, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 January 2011

352 pages, 21 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.4 x 1.9 cm, 0.47 kg

'An excellent and frightening book about the friendly hand extended prior to World War II by major U.S. universities and colleges to Nazi Germany and its European allies. American academics and their institutions flattered Hitler and his regime, minimized their crimes, and encouraged appeasement. A must-read also for those who want to understand the mechanisms that generate antisemitism and prejudice on American campuses today.' Radu Ioanid, author of The Holocaust in Romania

This is the first systematic exploration of the nature and extent of sympathy for Nazi Germany at American universities during the 1930s. Universities were highly influential in shaping public opinion and many of the nation's most prominent university administrators refused to take a principled stand against the Hitler regime. Universities welcomed Nazi officials to campus and participated enthusiastically in student exchange programs with Nazified universities in Germany. American educators helped Nazi Germany improve its image in the West as it intensified its persecution of the Jews and strengthened its armed forces. The study contrasts the significant American grassroots protest against Nazism that emerged as soon as Hitler assumed power with campus quiescence and administrators' frequently harsh treatment of those students and professors who challenged their determination to maintain friendly relations with Nazi Germany.

1. Germany reverts to the Dark Ages: Nazi clarity and American awareness, 1933–1934
2. Legitimating Nazism: Harvard University and the Hitler regime, 1933–1937
3. Complicity and conflict: Columbia University's response to Fascism, 1933–1937
4. The seven sisters colleges and the Third Reich: promoting fellowship through student exchange
5. A respectful hearing for Nazi Germany's apologists: the University of Virginia Institute of Public Affairs round tables, 1933–1941
6. Nazi nests: German departments in American Universities, 1933–1941
7. American Catholic Universities' flirtation with Fascism
8. 1938, year of the Kristallnacht: the limits of campus protest
Epilogue
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Jewish studies [JFSR1], Second World War [HBWQ], The Holocaust [HBTZ1], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], History of the Americas [HBJK], European history [HBJD]