The Respectable Career of Fritz K.

The Making and Remaking of a Provincial Nazi Leader

Hartmut Berghoff, Cornelia Rauh

• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781789208467
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781782385943
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

Entrepreneur and Nazi functionary Fritz Kiehn lived through almost 100 years of German history, from the Bismarck era to the late Bonn Republic. A successful manufacturer, Kiehn joined the Nazi Party in 1930 and obtained a number of influential posts after 1933, making him one of the most powerful Nazi functionaries in southern Germany. These posts allowed him ample opportunity to profit from "Aryanizations" and state contracts. After 1945, he restored his reputation, was close to Adenauer's CDU during Germany's economic miracle, and was a respected and honored citizen in Trossingen. Kiehn's biography provides a key to understanding the political upheavals of the twentieth century, especially the workings of the corrupt Nazi system as well as the "coming to terms" with National Socialism in the Federal Republic.

Table of contents

• The Respectable Career of Fritz K.
• Contents
• Figures and Tables
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Kiehn’s Rise to the Middle Class
• Chapter 2 Rapid Ascent through the Nazi Ranks
• Chapter 3 Between Gleichschaltung and the Party Purge of 1934
• Chapter 4 Riding Nazi Party Coattails
• Chapter 5 Between Corruption and Camaraderie
• Chapter 6 Kiehn and Gustav Schickedanz in the Race for Aryanization
• Chapter 7 Wartime Deals and “Marriage Politics”
• Chapter 8 “The King of Trossingen”
• Chapter 9 From “War Criminal No. 1” to Sought-After Employer
• Chapter 10 “Scot-Free, by the Skin of Their Teeth”
• Chapter 11 “Ripe for Satire”
• Chapter 12 “Kiehn Left No One Behind”?
• Chapter 13 Honored Citizen Again
• Chapter 14 The Twilight Years of an Honored West German
• Chapter 15 Coming to Terms with the Past in the Twenty-First Century
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index