Die Hohenzollern und die Nazis
The Hohenzollern and the Nazis
About the book
For over 100 years, the “heads” of the Hohenzollern family have worked repeatedly with lawyers, journalists and PR consultants to burnish the family’s public image. Stephan Malinowski analyses these curated self-presentations in a historical narrative that spans three generations, up to the present day.
Jury evaluation
Statement from the jury on the non-fiction book of the year
Who decides how we read the past? Stephan Malinowski has written an outstandingly researched and brilliantly narrated book on the role of the Hohenzollerns since 1918. Malinowski’s answer to the question of whether the ruling family aided and abetted the Nazis is clear: in building the ‘Third Reich’, the Hohenzollern dynasty and the Nazi movement forged a symbolic-political alliance. The book, which combines social and political contemporary history with a family portrait, is also a brilliant study of a conservative and rightwing milieu and its hostility to the Republic. It stands out for its stringent argumentation and commanding knowledge of its sources. Malinowski gives a convincing answer to the Hohenzollerns’ restitution claims while at the same time defending academic freedom against the forces that oppose it.
Statement from the jury on the nomination
In this brilliant social study, Stephan Malinowski describes how, from the 1920s onwards, the Hohenzollern family and the Nazis moved closer together, forging symbolic political alliances. Despite their many differences in terms of manners and origins, the old aristocracy and new movement came together in their mutual hatred of democracy and the Weimar Republic. This was the cement that bound these very different people and milieus. Malinowski’s politically and legally explosive book about this collaboration is as cleverly composed as it is insightful – a joy and intellectual delight to read, despite the horrors. And Malinowski’s thorough research and clear arguments, which can also be understood as a response to the constant threat of legal action by the House of Hohenzollern, are also very persuasive.
Stephan Malinowski
Stephan Malinowski studied and taught history in Berlin, France, Italy, the USA, and Ireland. Since 2012, he is a professor for European history at the University of Edinburgh. His previous book “Nazis and Nobles” received various awards. The expert opinion, which he prepared on behalf of the state of Brandenburg in 2014, plays an important role in the discussion about the restitution claims asserted by the “head of the house” of Hohenzollern.
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