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Historical consensus is largely unanimous in viewing the German nobility under the Weimar Republic as completely enthralled by fascism. In this enlightening chronicle of General Kurt von Hammerstein and his family, Hammerstein’s Daughters provides an important counter example to this paradigm. A staunch opponent of Hitler and his policies, Kurt von Hammerstein’s daughters, Marie Louise, Maria Therese, and Helga, notably renounced their status and privileges, enabling resistance to the Nazi regime through their support of persecuted Jews and the KPD intelligence service. By documenting the heroic efforts of these overlooked women, Gottfried Paasche offers a fascinating view of his family’s personal history which spotlights an alternative story of tradition, resistance, adaptation, and rebellion under National Socialism.
“What comes across as a sober and fact-based family history is sensational in content, and not only for readers familiar with the standards of the conservative milieu and the Prussian military aristocracy. The enigmatic Hammerstein is fascinating. The range of viewpoints present in the family, and the amphibious life his daughters lead between incompatible milieus, can exert even greater fascination.” • Stephan Malinowski, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
“Because the emeritus Professor of Sociology from Boston takes the liberty to interpret and elaborate the personalities of the figures, a picture of society emerges from the nucleus of the family history that provides a differentiated view of the role of the aristocracy before, during and after the Second World War. It shows that the Hammerstein daughters deliberately used their privileges and their access to higher social circles to harm the National Socialist system.” • Fabian Lehmann, taz
Gottfried Paasche is Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar in the Department of Sociology at York University in Toronto. Born in Japan, he emigrated to the US in 1948, studying at UC Berkeley, Antioch College and the University of Michigan, before accepting his position at York in 1961. His research on his family history has appeared in publications such as The New York Review of Books and Jacobin, as well as in the book, Hammersteins Töchter: Eine Adelsfamilie zwischen Tradition und Widerstand (Metropol Verlag, 2022).
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
Peter Steinbach
Chapter 1. A Wedding in the Bendler Block
Chapter 2. Life in Imperial Germany
Chapter 3. Seven Years of Peace
Chapter 4. No Short War
Chapter 5. Turmoil in Berlin
Chapter 6. A New World
Chapter 7. Kassel
Chapter 8. Magdeburg
Chapter 9. Back in Berlin
Chapter 10. The Wandervogel
Chapter 11. In the Political Network
Chapter 12. Diving Headfirst into Fascism
Chapter 13. Hammerstein’s Safe
Chapter 14. Jochen Paasche
Chapter 15. Hammerstein’s Resignation
Chapter 16. Palestine
Chapter 17. Farewell Kiss
Chapter 18. Just Before the War
Chapter 19. In Japan
Chapter 20. Endangered Existence
Chapter 21. War Again
Chapter 22. Life During the War
Chapter 23. War’s End and a New Beginning
Chapter 24. Escape from Japan
Epilogue
A Personal Postscript
Sources and Literature
Index