Abstract

Dr Christian Goeschel examines textual and visual representations of the Duce in Weimar and Nazi Germany to shed new light on the intricate relationship between Italian Fascism and Nazism which was always characterised by tension and national stereotypes on both sides. The Nazi cult of the Duce, presented as a decisive, ruthless, and masculine charismatic leader, aimed to overshadow these dissonances, particularly during the war when Italy effectively became Germany’s junior partner.

Presenter

Christian Goeschel teaches Modern European History at the Australian National University. He has published extensively on the social and cultural history of Weimar and Nazi Germany. In 2009, he published Suicide in Nazi Germany (Oxford University Press) which was translated into German in 2011 (Suhrkamp Verlag). Another field of his research is political repression. In 2012, The Nazi Concentration Camps 1933-1939, co-authored with Nikolaus Wachsmann, appeared with the University of Nebraska Press. His current work aims to re-integrate Nazi Germany into its wider European context through a study of the Third Reich’s relationship with its Italian ally.

RSVP for this event

europe@anu.edu.au by Monday 20 May 2013.

» Download the flyer The Cultivation of Mussolini's Image in Nazi Germany (PDF)