Lyman H. Letgers

Letter, Essay, Footnotes. Ernest A. Menze (authored the attached essay) ~ German Public Reaction to Kristallnacht: Comment ~ Letter from Letgers (with essay attached) to Gordon Zahn ~ Letgers writes to thank Zahn for his comment on Rubenstein and to enclose his belated footnotes. The attached essay by Menze explores German public reaction to Kristallnacht. Menze looks to established German value heirarchies and finds "German values conflicting with the brutality of the Kristallnacht program were more important to the majority than the satisfaction of anti-semitic urges." Through a series of events, Hitler was able to change the public perception of his actions against the Jews, relying on strong German traditions such as order and legitimized authority. In identifying characteristics of movements like the Nazis, we can identify "the structures leading to heirarchies of value that allow such movements to harness the masses obediently to their cause."