Reflections after Reading The Behemoth
Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały, No. 12 (2016), pages: 435-448
Publication date: 2016-11-30
Abstract
The author presents his reflections on Franz Neumann’s Behemoth. He appreciates the extensiveness of Neumann’s analysis of the phenomenon of German fascism during the war, combined with the presentation of the intellectual genesis of many fascist views and the similarities between Nazism and various contemporary currents of European and American thought. The article inquires about the similarities between fascism and communism. Referring to the current state of knowledge and direct experiences, the author discusses the following similarities: the use to terror, expansiveness, the emphasis on economic growth, the great role of the party, which subordinated the public institutions to itself, the ideological and propaganda legitimization of actions, the offering of social advancement to various groups, etc. Nevertheless, Kula does not fail to point out the different placement of emphases in these two systems.
Keywords
Franz Neumann, Behemoth, Nazism, Communism
License
Copyright (c) 2016 Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały
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https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
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