David Abraham and the Weimar Republic

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David Abraham

"Grave Offenses" vs. "Tendentious Misconstruals" The David Abraham Case

The historical field concerning the Weimar Republic, Germany's parliamentary government during the interwar years, is not only an extremely sophisticated area of study, but an extremely competitive one as well. In the early eighties, a much heated and unprecedented scholarly dispute arose surrounding The Collapse of the Weimar Republic, written by David Abraham - at the time, a fledgling historian and assistant professor at Princeton University. Nazi seizure of power from the Weimar Republic has long intrigued scores of historians. Various models have been constructed in an attempt to explain how an entity such as the Nazi movement came to power over such an industrially, culturally, and socially advanced society such as Germany's (Notes from Jamie van Hook 2/14).

One such model, and the one used in Abraham's book, seeks to illustrate the role of capitalism, German industrialists, in the fall of the Weimar Republic (Notes from Jamie van Hook 2/14). More specifically, Abraham attempts to decipher: "how did Germany's divided economic elites attempt to articulate a national agenda around which they could unite, how and from whom was popular support won (if it was); how could the institutionalization of accord first work and then fail?" Initially, the book received favorable reviews; it was called "imaginative and interesting" and "distinguished, " among other praises. But alas, high praises gave way to harsh, uncivil criticisms. Abraham was attacked for having a "fanatical attachment to his preconceived notions " and a "complete insensitivity to and lack of interest in what actually took place in the past. " The controversy ultimately ended ...

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...notes to History." The Nation. 16 Feb 1985, p. 180-183.

Abraham, David. "Business Wars: On Contributions of Weimar Scholarship." Vierteljahrschrift fur Sozial

Feldman, Gerald D. "A Collapse in Weimar Scholarship." Central European History 17: 158-177

Feldman, Gerald D. "A Collapse in Weimar Scholarship." Central European History 17: 158-177

Feldman, Gerald D. "A Collapse in Weimar Scholarship." Central European History 17: 158-17

Weiner, Jon. "Footnotes to History." The Nation. 16 Feb 1985, p. 180-183

Campbell, Colin. "A Quarrel Over Weimar Book." The New York Times 23 December 1984, p1,35.

Weiner, Jon. "Footnotes to History." The Nation. 16 Feb 1985, p. 180-183.

American Historical Association. Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct 1990

American Historical Association. Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct 1990

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