Politiske styreformer: totalitarisme og diktatur

The struggle against fascism is a widely accepted part of the revolutionary struggle, but even the most radical activists often sound like liberals when explaining the hows and whys of anti-fascism. Or else use the word in such a way that it has only a vague meaning as something very evil (fascist cops, fascist cutbacks, fascist State repression, etc.) .The essays in Confronting Fascism are an attempt to grapple with this situation. Breaking with established Left practice, this book attempts to deal with the questions of fascism and anti-fascism in a serious and non-dogmatic manner. Attention is paid to to the class appeal of fascism, its continuities and breaks with the "regular" far-right and also even with the Left, the ways in which the fascist movement is flexible and the ways in which it isn't. Left failures, both in opposing fascism head-on, and also in providing a viable alternative to right-wing revolt, are also dealt with at length.The lived experiences of anti-fascist activists inform this work, and more attention is paid to actual historical developments and facts than to neat theories that explain everything but only coincidentally intersect with reality. Understanding the relationship of fascism, the State, left reformism and what it means to be revolutionary are priorities in a world where it seems increasingly true that those who do not advance will have to retreat.

Although studies of fascism have constituted one of the most fertile areas of historical inquiry in recent decades, more and more scholars have called for a new agenda with more research beyond Italy and Germany, less preoccupation with definition and classification, and more sustained focus on the relationships among different fascist formations before 1945. Starting from a critical assessment of these imperatives, this rigorous volume charts a historiographical path that transcends rigid distinctions while still developing meaningful criteria of differentiation. Even as we take fascism seriously as a political phenomenon, such an approach allows us to better understand its distinctive contradictions and historical variations.

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2018 im Fachbereich Didaktik - Geschichte, Note: 1,7, Universität zu Köln, Veranstaltung: Nichtfiktionale Filmgattungen, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: In dieser Arbeit wird zentral nach dem Lernpotenzial der Themenseite ¿Zeitzeugeninterviews zum 13. August 1961¿ gefragt. Eingangs lässt sich somit vor dem Hintergrund der vorherigen Überlegungen folgende Arbeitshypothese aufstellen: Es ist sinnvoll, Zeitzeugenvideos im Geschichtsunterricht einzusetzen. Mithilfe dieser Repräsentationsform können insbesondere Kompetenzen historischen Denkens gefördert werden. Die Arbeit mit Videos bietet den Vorteil, dass die Lernenden dem Zeitzeugenbericht distanzierter und vermutlich kritischer gegenüberstehen. Zudem können Zeitzeugeninterviews am einfachsten mit großer Effektivität und mit einem niedrigen Maß an Vorbereitungszeit im Geschichtsunterricht eingesetzt werden. Trotz alledem erfordert dies eine umfassende Nachprüfung und Abgleich mit anderen Quellen und vor allem eine Einordnung in den Gesamtkontext des historischen Zusammenhanges. Oral History ist eine anerkannte und breit angewandte Methode, aber auch nicht unumstritten. Zum Kern der Oral History gehören lebensgeschichtliche Interviews, die in den Geschichtsunterricht integriert werden können. Der Einsatz von Video-Interviews im schulischen Bereich ist besonders geeignet, um den Kernlehrplan für das Fach Geschichte der Sekundarstufen I und II in Nordrhein-Westfalen zu erfüllen.

Russia in the 1990s had a ¿Wild West¿ vibe, as reformist and conservative elements struggled for ascendancy. It was a time of heightened media freedom, a burgeoning civil society, and a quest for a new national identity. This volume examines the arc of official political rhetoric during this critical period.

SINCE 1933, when a completely drugged and trial-conditioned human wreck confessed to having started the Reichstag fire in Berlin, Dr. Joost A. M. Meerloo has studied the methods by which systematic mental pressure brings people to abject submission, and by which totalitarians imprint their subjective "truth" on their victims' minds. The first two and one-half years of WWII, Dr. Meerloo spent under the pressure of Nazi-occupied Holland, witnessing at first-hand the Nazi methods of mental torture on more than one occasion...Then, after personal experiences with enforced interrogation, he escaped from a Nazi prison and certain death to England, where he was able, as Chief of the Psychological Department of the Netherlands Forces, to observe and study coercive methods officially....After the war, he came to the United States...As more and more cases of thought control, brainwashing, and mental coercion were disclosed - Cardinal Mindszenty, Colonel Schwable, Robert Vogeler, and others - his interest grew. It was Dr. Meerloo who coined the word menticide, the killing of the spirit, for this peculiar crime...It is Dr. Meerloo's position that through pressure on the weak points in men's makeup, totalitarian methods can turn anyone into a "traitor." And in The Rape of the Mind he goes far beyond the direct military implications of mental torture to describing how our own culture unobtrusively shows symptoms of pressurizing people's minds. He presents a systematic analysis of the methods of brainwashing and mental torture and coercion, and shows how totalitarian strategy, with its use of mass psychology, leads to systematized "rape of the mind." He describes the new age of cold war with its mental terror, verbocracy, and semantic fog, the use of fear as a tool of mass submission and the problem of treason and loyalty, so loaded with dangerous confusion. The Rape of the Mind is written for the interested layman, not only for experts and scientists.

A timely, riveting book that presents for the first time an alternative history of 1930s Britain, revealing how prominent fascist sympathizers nearly succeeded in overturning British democracy?using the past as a road map to navigate the complexities of today's turn toward authoritarianism.Hitler's Girl is a groundbreaking history that reveals how, in the 1930s, authoritarianism nearly took hold in Great Britain as it did in Italy and Germany. Drawing on recently declassified intelligence files, Lauren Young details the pervasiveness of Nazi sympathies among the British aristocracy, as significant factions of the upper class methodically pursued an actively pro-German agenda. She reveals how these aristocrats formed a murky Fifth Column to Nazi Germany, which depended on the complacence and complicity of the English to topple its proud and long-standing democratic tradition?and very nearly succeeded.As she highlights the parallels to our similarly treacherous time, Young exposes the involvement of secret organizations like the Right Club, which counted the Duke of Wellington among its influential members; the Cliveden Set, which ran a shadow foreign policy in support of Hitler; and the shocking four-year affair between socialite Unity Mitford and Adolf Hitler.Eye-opening and instructive, Hitler's Girl re-evaluates 1930s England to help us understand our own vulnerabilities and poses urgent questions we must face to protect our freedom. At what point does complacency become complicity, posing real risk to the democratic norms that we take for granted? Will democracy again succeed?and will it require a similarly cataclysmic event like World War II to ensure its survival? Will we, in our own defining moment, stand up for democratic values?or will we succumb to political extremism?

A gripping and explosive account of Vladimir Putin's tyranny, charting his rise from spy to tsar, exposing the events that led to his invasion of Ukraine and his assault on Europe. In Killer in the Kremlin, award-winning journalist John Sweeney takes readers from the heart of Putin's Russia to the killing fields of Chechnya, to the embattled cities of an invaded Ukraine. In a disturbing expose of Putin's sinister ambition, Sweeney draws on thirty years of his own reporting - from the Moscow apartment bombings to the atrocities committed by the Russian Army in Chechnya, to the annexation of Crimea and a confrontation with Putin over the shooting down of flight MH17 - to understand the true extent of Putin's long war. Drawing on eyewitness accounts and compelling testimony from those who have suffered at Putin's hand, we see the heroism of the Russian opposition, the bravery of the Ukrainian resistance, and the brutality with which the Kremlin responds to such acts of defiance, assassinating or locking away its critics, and stopping at nothing to achieve its imperialist aims.

#1 New York Times Bestseller A personal and urgent examination of Fascism in the twentieth century and how its legacy shapes today's world, written by one of the most admired public servants in American history, the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of stateA Fascist, observed Madeleine Albright, "is someone who claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is utterly unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use violence and whatever other means are necessary to achieve the goals he or she might have." The twentieth century was defined by the clash between democracy and Fascism, a struggle that created uncertainty about the survival of human freedom and left millions dead. Given the horrors of that experience, one might expect the world to reject the spiritual successors to Hitler and Mussolini should they arise in our era. Fascism: A Warning is drawn from Madeleine Albright's experiences as a child in war-torn Europe and her distinguished career as a diplomat to question that assumption.Fascism, as she shows, not only endured through the twentieth century but now presents a more virulent threat to peace and justice than at any time since the end of World War II. The momentum toward democracy that swept the world when the Berlin Wall fell has gone into reverse. The United States, which historically championed the free world, is led by a president who exacerbates division and heaps scorn on democratic institutions. In many countries, economic, technological, and cultural factors are weakening the political center and empowering the extremes of right and left. Contemporary leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un are employing many of the tactics used by Fascists in the 1920s and 30s.Fascism: A Warning is a book for our times that is relevant to all times. Written by someone who not only studied history but helped to shape it, this call to arms teaches us the lessons we must understand and the questions we must answer if we are to save ourselves from repeating the tragic errors of the past.

An eye-opening account of life inside North Korea-a closed world of increasing global importance-hailed as a "tour de force of meticulous reporting" (The New York Review of Books) NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST In this landmark addition to the literature of totalitarianism, award-winning journalist Barbara Demick follows the lives of six North Korean citizens over fifteen years-a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il (the father of Kim Jong-un), and a devastating famine that killed one-fifth of the population. Demick brings to life what it means to be living under the most repressive regime today-an Orwellian world that is by choice not connected to the Internet, where displays of affection are punished, informants are rewarded, and an offhand remark can send a person to the gulag for life. She takes us deep inside the country, beyond the reach of government censors, and through meticulous and sensitive reporting we see her subjects fall in love, raise families, nurture ambitions, and struggle for survival. One by one, we witness their profound, life-altering disillusionment with the government and their realization that, rather than providing them with lives of abundance, their country has betrayed them.Praise for Nothing to Envy"Provocative . . . offers extensive evidence of the author's deep knowledge of this country while keeping its sights firmly on individual stories and human details."-The New York Times "Deeply moving . . . The personal stories are related with novelistic detail."-The Wall Street Journal "A tour de force of meticulous reporting."-The New York Review of Books "Excellent . . . humanizes a downtrodden, long-suffering people whose individual lives, hopes and dreams are so little known abroad."-San Francisco Chronicle "The narrow boundaries of our knowledge have expanded radically with the publication of Nothing to Envy. . . . Elegantly structured and written, [it] is a groundbreaking work of literary nonfiction."-John Delury, Slate "At times a page-turner, at others an intimate study in totalitarian psychology."-The Philadelphia Inquirer

From the internationally acclaimed Oxford authority on Communism, a definitive history that examines the origins of the ideology, its development in different nations, its collapse in many of those countries following perestroika, and its current incarnations around the globe.The Rise and Fall of Communism explores how and why Communists came to power; how they were able, in a variety of countries on different continents, to hold on to power for so long; and what brought about the downfall of so many Communist systems. For this comprehensive and illuminating work, Brown draws on more than forty years of research and on a wealth of new sources. Tracing the story of Communism from its nineteenth-century roots, Brown explains both its expansion and its decline in the twentieth century. Even today, although Communism has been widely discredited in the West, more than a fifth of humanity still lives under its rule.

What is fascism? By focusing on the concrete: what the fascists did, rather than what they said, the esteemed historian Robert O. Paxton answers this question.From the first violent uniformed bands beating up "enemies of the state," through Mussolini's rise to power, to Germany's fascist radicalization in World War II, Paxton shows clearly why fascists came to power in some countries and not others, and explores whether fascism could exist outside the early-twentieth-century European setting in which it emerged. "A deeply intelligent and very readable book. . . . Historical analysis at its best." -The Economist The Anatomy of Fascism will have a lasting impact on our understanding of modern European history, just as Paxton's classic Vichy France redefined our vision of World War II. Based on a lifetime of research, this compelling and important book transforms our knowledge of fascism-"the major political innovation of the twentieth century, and the source of much of its pain."

Democracy is not a universal good, it is a political system, and like all political systems it is open to corruption. The word 'democracry' means 'rule by the people' not rule by a simple majority. To achieve rule by all the people, it used to be accepted that as much of civil life should be kept out of party politics as possible. A mixed constitution was one way of achieving this. By absorbing into itself the institutions of civil society, the modern democratic state has become an ever more pervasive 'tyranny of the majority' accountable to the electorate only once every few years. The powers it has assumed, together with the powers of corporations, represent a 'new world order' that respects neither freedom, the individual, the vulnerable nor, in a true sense, the rule of law.Growing up as the grandson of Sir Oswald, the 1930s blackshirt leader, made Ivo Mosley consider fascism witha deep and acutely personal interest, which has informed the writing of this book.

Based on 70 hours of interviews with Franz Stangl, commandant of Treblinka (the largest of the five Nazi extermination camps), this book bares the soul of a man who continually found ways to rationalize his role in Hitler's final solution.

Englische Literatur in Reclams Roter Reihe: das ist der englische Originaltext - ungekürzt und unbearbeitet mit Worterklärungen am Fuß jeder Seite, Nachwort und Literaturhinweisen.George Orwells dystopischer Roman von 1949 gehört zu den wichtigsten Werken des 20. Jahrhunderts. Der Beamte Winston Smith hält in seinem geheimen Tagebuch die Lebensumstände in der Überwachungsdiktatur Ozeanien fest. Als er mit seiner jungen Kollegin Julia eine Affäre beginnt und die beiden Kontakt zu einer Untergrundorganisation aufnehmen, die der Herrschaft des »Großen Bruders« ein Ende bereiten will, nimmt das Verhängnis seinen Lauf. Ein Klassiker, der im 21. Jahrhundert wieder hochaktuell scheint.Englische Lektüre: Niveau B2-C1 (GER)Sprachen: Englisch, Deutsch

Forord af Martin Lidegaard: Myanmar – verdens spejlMyanmars historie og skæbne har altid fascineret, både da landet hed Burma og i nyere tid.Men hvorfor nu det? Hvad kommer dette fjerne land i Asien egentlig os ved? Hvad skulle der være af særlig interesse dér?Det er som om landets spektakulært smukke natur og værdige befolkning altid har vakt særlige følelser. Følelser som håb, solidaritet og drømme for og med den hårdt prøvede befolkning. Ligesom Aung San Suu Kyis indædte kamp, kortvarige triumf og tragiske fald har ætset sig ind i vores bevidsthed.Men hvorfor? Myanmars nyere historie har været tragedie på tragedie med brutal undertrykkelse, udbredt fattigdom og interne konflikter – men derved adskiller det sig jo desværre ikke fra mange andre udsatte steder i verden.Måske er forklaringen, at Myanmar på mange måder er et spejl på den udvikling, som hele verden gennemgår lige nu. Når vi følger Myanmar, forstår vi den virkelighed, der er vores. Landet er en prisme på vor tidsalder:Det gælder den hastige befolkningsvækst med stadig større generationer af unge mennesker, der har svært ved at finde arbejde og mening i et land, der er præget af fattigdom, ulighed, nepotisme og korruption – og hårdt ramt af klimaforandringer. Myanmar er dermed et billede på verdens vedvarende og ufattelige vækst, der stadig er alt andet end bæredygtig, hverken socialt, økonomisk eller miljømæssigt.Det gælder de etniske minoriteter, der i deres indbyrdes konflikter og gensidige foragt gør sig til parodier på sig selv, og som desværre også er et kendetegn ved vor tid. Hvor talrige er ikke de lande i verden, hvor befolkningen har mere travlt med at distancere sig fra hinanden på baggrund af race, religion eller etnicitet – end at stå sammen om at udvikle deres nation til glæde for alle? Myanmar er måske et ekstremt eksempel, men vi genkender alle fænomenet.Det gælder demokratiets skrøbelighed og fald, der ikke bare gør sig gældende lige nu i Myanmar, men også er et foruroligende grundvilkår for hele verden, hvor både demokrati og grundlæggende menneskerettigheder år for år får stadig mere trange kår.Og det gælder de vestlige og liberale demokratiers magtesløshed over for denne udvikling. Som Eva-Marie Møller beskriver med ubærlig ærlighed i denne bog, er handlemulighederne få og begrænsede i rækkevidde. Da ingen vestlige lande – af forståelige årsager – har appetit på at involvere sig militært, er den eneste reelle mulighed pres med økonomiske sanktioner. De er til gengæld et tveægget sværd, fordi de også rammer den hårdt prøvede befolkning, mens den militære elite som regel har forbindelserne til at sno sig ud af repressalierne. Dertil kommer, at ingen sanktioner bider, hvis ikke de omkringliggende lande, ikke mindst Kina, også tager del i dem, hvad de sjældent gør. Dermed fører forsøget på at møde uretfærdigheden med magt ofte til det modsatte: At omverdenens magtesløshed bliver udstillet.Og hvor mange regimer i verden oplever vi ikke dét med lige nu? Ingen nævnt, ingen glemt.Men Myanmar er også spejlet på det håb, der stadig eksisterer – både for landet selv og for verden. For netop de unge generationer insisterer på deres egen fremtid. De forstår de nye sociale medier, og de har set og oplevet både de demokratiske farer og de demokratiske muligheder, som de repræsenterer. De mestrer de nye medier langt bedre og med en legende lethed, der sætter både Myanmars forbenede generaler og alverdens diktatorer skakmat. At de nye teknologier netop altid kan udnyttes til både ondskab og i det godes tjeneste, ser vi nærmest dagligt på billederne fra Myanmar.For den unge generation i Myanmar vil ikke bare have arbejde og mad på bordet. De vil også have demokrati og medbestemmelse i forhold til deres egen fremtid – ligesom alle verdens unge vil. De vil have styr på klimaet; de vil have håb; de vil kunne drømme om at blive popstar – eller gademusikant; få en familie og leve i fred.Og det er den drøm, der udgør sprækkerne i undertrykkelsens betonmure. Det er her, de undertrykte henter energien – og giver den til alle os andre.Og det er derfor, at Eva-Marie Møller i denne bog ikke bare fortæller en fængslende historie om et fascinerende land. Hun sætter også et spejl op foran os selv, så vi ser alle de problemer, dilemmaer, valg og muligheder, som du og jeg – ja, alle moderne mennesker – står med lige nu i den verden, der er vores.Myanmar er verdens spejl.Martin Lidegaard, formand for Udenrigspolitisk Nævn, MF

I Kannibalens lov følger vi en ung dansker, som efter sine forældres død beslutter sig for at rejse til Brasilien. Hans fars ungdomsven, forretningsmanden Viktor Holbrandt, er blevet en indflydelsesrig og magtfuld spiller i det brasilianske samfund, og fortælleren søger tjeneste i hans virksomhed SPARTA. Gradvis kommer fortælleren dybere og dybere ind bag facaden på militærdiktaturet, og da det endelig går op for ham, hvem det er, han selv arbejder for, må han træffe et skæbnesvangert valg.

Administrat magt; Stat og samfund

Det er sommeren 1944. 2. verdenskrig har udmattet det europæiske kontinent, og mere end nogensinde har Nazityskland brug for at stoppe de allieredes fremmarch. Der bliver lagt en ambitiøs men også risikabel plan om at likvidere Sovjetunionens leder Josef Stalin. Ti tyske officerer begiver sig ud på den farefulde mission. De ved, at hvis det lykkes, vil det få stor betydning for nazisternes militære succes. Ja, måske vil det endda være det, der afgør krigen. Det må og skal lykkes. Om det så skal koste dem livet - i mere end én forstand...Heniz G. Konsalik (1921-1999) var en tysk romanforfatter og journalist. Heinz G. Konsalik arbejdede som krigsreporter ved østfronten under 2. verdenskrig og fik derved indsigt i krigens rædsler på nærmeste hold. Han blev sågar selv alvorligt såret i forbindelse med sit arbejde. Volumen af forfatterskabet er ganske imponerende, og forfatteren formåede visse år at udgive hele fire romaner, og hans bøger er oversat til 42 sprog. Heinz G. Konsaliks forfatterskab er ikke blot en undersøgelse af krig, politik og de store linjer, men består i lige så høj grad af de små, nære fortællinger om kærlighed, venskab og trofasthed. Ved Heinz G. Konsaliks død skrev den anerkendte, amerikanske avis the New York Times en nekrolog i hans ære.

Lena er født og opvokset i Polen og uddannet som tolk. I 1956 får hun arbejde på en stor virksomhed i København. Her møder hun Leo der er eksportchef i virksomheden. Et halvt år efter gifter de sig. De får to børn en dreng og en pige. Tretten år efter i 1969 får Lena meddelelse om at hendes far i Polen er forsvundet efter at være blevet hentet af det hemmelige politi. En tidlig morgen vækker hun sine to børn og fortæller dem at de sammen skal rejse ned til deres mormor i Polen. Hun er alvorligt syg fortæller hun dem. Hun efterlader et brev til sin mand hvor hun skriver at hun er taget i sommerhus. Hun må tænke over deres ægteskab meddeler hun. Men den egentlige årsag til hende beslutning grunden til at hun rejser tilbage til Polen kender hverken han eller de to børn. Den ene måned går efter den anden og med regelmæssige mellemrum tager Lena ind til Kraków for at tale med en advokat og om muligt opspore hendes af uvisse årsager fængslede far. Imens går hendes mand hjemme i København og venter på at hans familie skal vende tilbage. To verdener er en historie om et ægteskab eller måske to ægteskaber og om hvordan politisk arvegods kan gøre mennesker fremmede over for hinanden. Det er også en fortælling om at emigrere til et andet land. Om tab og om bindinger.