New Books In German Studies

In Ataturk in the Nazi Imagination (Harvard University Press, 2014), historian Stefan Ihrig examines the history of Mustafa Kemal and Republican Turkey through the interpretive lens of Nazi political discourse. Ihrig shows how Ataturk’s Turkey became a symbol of resistance and national rebirth in the interwar period. Challenging semi-colonial or orientalist visions of Turkey held by British and French, German nationalists saw many of their own aspirations play out in Anatolia after World War I. Ataturk’s struggle against the Entente and the Greek Army became an inspiration for the right-wing press, initially overshadowing early fascist leaders like Benito Mussolini Ataturk’s Turkey became model of governance not only to be praised by the Nazi elite, but to be emulated German state. Nazi leaders borrowed liberally from Ataturk’s example, citing “Turkish lessons for Germany” in the right-wing press. Hitler described Ataturk as his own “star in the darkness” during