Synopses & Reviews
Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius presents a study of a hidden legacy of World War I: the experience of German soldiers on the Eastern front and the long-term effects of this encounter. Using hitherto neglected sources from both occupiers and occupied, official documents, propaganda, memoirs, and novels, he reveals how German views of the East changed during total war, and how these views affected the return of German armies under the Nazis. This persuasive and compelling study fills a yawning gap in the literature of the Great War.
Review
"The book could be commended solely for bringing to light valuable source materials. Thorough and inspired research is complemented by clear and cogent prose. It is a pleasure to encounter a study of cultural history that is free of the jargon and impenetrable writing for which the field is fast becoming famous. Above all, rigorous and imaginative analysis of personal experience and culture reveals the unique and seldom seen face of war in the East. This book will be of interest to all students of the First World War, and one hopes that it will wpur further investigations into the neglected Eastern Front." The Journal of Military History"In a dense and well-crafted work, the author has written a book which rewards careful reading even by those familiar with the Eastern Front of the Great War. This is a thoroughly researched social and political study of the evolution of wartime German policy and a valuable addition to the scholarship of the era." Stand To"The premise of this carefully researched, well-written monograph is that the experience of German soldiers on the eastern front in WW I decisively shaped Nazi policies and helps account for the atrocious behavior of its military and civilian personnel in the East during WW II. . . . Liulevicius's important book directs our attention to and illuminates important threads of continuity in modern German history." Choice"a well-researched, scholarly work that does much to explain why Germans, during the rise of Nazism in the decades that followed the Great War, viewed eastern European peoples as uncivilized... This publication is a must acquisition for the researcher who may later explore the German home front of World War I." Jrnl of Slavic Military Studies"Liulevicius is certainly right to point out that the Eastern Front has been neglected in the historical literature on the First World War, and from that point of view alone his book is a welcome addition." The International History Review