![]() If he was rooted in anything, it was his Catholic heritage, which 498BOOK REVIEWS did little to enUghten his poUtical judgment. Franz von Papen was dapper, charming, and clever. $58.00 clothbound $42.00 paperback.) Professor Rolfs has written the first complete biography ofan individual who faciUtated the triumph of Nazism in 1933. ![]() (Lanham, Maryland: University Press ofAmerica. Jonathan Sperber University ofMissouri, Columbia The Sorcerer's Apprentice.The Life ofFranz von Papen. Although I am not sure that I always agree with the author's conclusions (in part, because he often formulates them in an indirect and guarded fashion), I nonetheless found his deeply researched and unusuaUy well written study a consistent source of information and thought-provoking insights. This convergence of "official" and "dissenting" Catholic historiography is itself suggestive of the growing inteUectual maturity of the study of the social history of reUgion in central Europe, of which this work provides a fine example. Appearing in the "Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Zeitgeschichte," a major monograph series of "official" CathoUc historiography in Germany, the book emphasizes a number of themes previously discussed by authors of sharply differing viewpoints, such as Günter Plum, Ui his 1972 study of religion, politics, and society in the Aachen region, or Doris Kaufmann's 1985 account of the CathoUc mUieu in the city of Münster. In its industrial districts, though, just a smaU group of young men became intensively involved in parish life, whUe a much larger number were increasingly indifferent to religion, thus setting the stage for further developments afterWorldWar II. This transition from the old network of associations to the new forms of piety went relatively smoothly in the rural areas of the diocese. More convincing is the author's observation that the Nazi regime, by persecuting and ultimately prohibiting most Catholic associations, left the field open to the adherents of a parish-based, intensive lay participation in reUgious services. (Women, frequent among these, are not discussed in his book.) Bishop von Galen himself, as the author notes, was no particular friend of the new forms ofpiety. WhUe Kösters emphasizes the role of members of the new Catholic associations and adherents of new forms of piety in CathoUc resistance to the Nazis,he downplays the way in which a number ofmembers ofthe new groups went over to the Nazis or the role that the more numerous members of older associations or supporters of older ideas had in opposing the regime. He was later sentenced to an 8-year prison sentence by a West German de-Nazification court but was released after 2 years.In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:īOOK REVIEWS497 cese under Nazi rule does not focus on the usual historical showpiece, Bishop von Galen's celebrated 1941 sermons denouncing the regime's euthanasia program, but on the relationship between the church and the state and party during the 1930's, as initial efforts at cautious co-operation quickly gave way to open hostiUty. Papen was indicted for war crimes in the Nuremberg Trials after World War II but was acquitted of all charges later. He was removed from the government after the “Night of the Long Knives” in 1934 and then served as an ambassador to Austria and Turkey. He later returned as the vice chancellor under Hitler in 1933. His failure to gain the support of the ‘Reichstag’ led to his dismissal from the chancellor’s post and the appointment of General Kurt von Schleicher in his place. ![]() Papen was a battalion commander during World War I and was appointed as the chancellor by President Paul von Hindenburg in 1932. He was instrumental in financing the Mexican Revolution and organizing the sabotage of installations in the United States. He was a military attaché in Mexico and the U.S. He served in the ‘German Army’ as a ‘General Staff’ officer from 1898. Franz von Papen was a German politician and diplomat who served as the chancellor of Germany in 1932 and also as the vice chancellor under Adolf Hitler from 1933 to 1934.
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