Weimarer Erfahrungen

Udi Greenberg’s study reveals the origins of two dramatic events: Germany’s post-World War II transformation from a racist dictatorship to a liberal democracy, and the ideological genesis of the Cold War. Blending intellectual, political, and international histories, the author shows that the foundations of Germany’s reconstruction lay in the country’s first democratic experiment, the Weimar Republic. He traces the paths of five crucial German émigrés who participated in Weimar’s intense political debates, spent the Nazi era in the United States, and then rebuilt Europe after a devastating war. Examining the unexpected stories of these diverse individuals – Protestant political thinker Carl J. Friedrich, Socialist theorist Ernst Fraenkel, Catholic publicist Waldemar Gurian, liberal lawyer Karl Loewenstein, and international relations theorist Hans Morgenthau – Greenberg uncovers the intellectual and political forces that forged Germany’s democracy after dictatorship, war, and occupation. Incorporating perspectives from the history of ideas and politics, he shows that the foundation for Germany’s democratic reconstruction as well as for the postwar transatlantic order was based on experiences of the Weimar Republic. From the interwar period in Germany to the end of the East-West conflict, the study examines five personalities, their ideas, and resulting political decisions that had a lasting impact on Germany’s relationship with America and the fabric of the Cold War.