#454 Edward Westermann - Drunk on Genocide: Alcohol and Mass Murder in Nazi Germany
Dr. Edward Westermann is Professor of History at Texas A&M University (USA), where he teaches courses related to Modern and Contemporary European History. Dr. Westermann is the recipient of various awards and fellowships. In 2016, Southern Methodist University awarded him with the Clements Center-DeGolyer Library Research Grant (USA). He has also been a Fulbright fellow at the Free University of Berlin in 1995 and a German Academic Exchange Service fellow on three occasions (Germany). His most recent book is Drunk on Genocide: Alcohol and Mass Murder in Nazi Germany.
In this episode, we focus on Drunk on Genocide. We start by talking about other historical examples of alcohol associated with coalitional violence. We then talk about drinking in German society prior to the rise of the Nazi regime. We discuss reasons why alcohol is consumed in a context of violence. We talk about rituals and their psychological effects. We discuss the relationship between masculinity and the Nazi regime, and also their relationship with geography. We talk about how rituals promoted social bonding. We ask what all of this tells us about human nature. We discuss what was behind the rise of the Nazi regime. We talk about different kinds of violence perpetrated during war and in concentration camps. We also talk about the possible role alcohol played in suicides in the end of the Nazi regime, and how it was used as an alibi in the Nuremberg trials. Finally, we discuss how this culture of masculinity and alcohol might have played a role in Germany after the II World War.
Time Links:
Intro
Historical precedents?
Drinking, politics, and the Nazi regime
Reasons alcohol is consumed
Masculinity and Nazism
Geography, masculinity, and alcohol
Other (violent) rituals
Rituals and social bonding
What does this tell us about human nature?
Reasons for the rise of the Nazi regime
Violence in war and in concentration camps
The end of the regime, suicide, and the Nuremberg trials
Germany after the IIWW
Follow Dr. Westermann’s work!
Follow Dr. Westermann’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/3fECB5N
ResearchGate profile: https://bit.ly/3cMKT9G
Amazon page: https://amzn.to/3wtKyjY
Drunk on Genocide: https://amzn.to/3afRJ5i