Book contents
- Invisible Fatherland
- Invisible Fatherland
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Introduction
- 1 From Kaiserreich to Reich
- 2 “Onwards over Graves”
- 3 Symbolics of Shared Hegemony
- 4 Anchoring the Nation in the Democratic Form
- 5 Political Violence and the Inversion of Gewalt
- 6 In Memoriam of Walther Rathenau
- 7 Constitutional Patriotism Avant la Lettre
- 8 Memory from Fragments
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Conclusion
The Weimar Condition and Nazism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2025
Book contents
- Invisible Fatherland
- Invisible Fatherland
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Introduction
- 1 From Kaiserreich to Reich
- 2 “Onwards over Graves”
- 3 Symbolics of Shared Hegemony
- 4 Anchoring the Nation in the Democratic Form
- 5 Political Violence and the Inversion of Gewalt
- 6 In Memoriam of Walther Rathenau
- 7 Constitutional Patriotism Avant la Lettre
- 8 Memory from Fragments
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The conclusion of Invisible Fatherland reviews the book’s findings with a view to the rise of Nazism and the concept of militant democracy. Juxtaposing the republic’s constitutional patriotism with Nazi ideology, the author highlights the clash between two diametrically opposed “ways of life.” While Nazism was a violent political order that dehumanized marginalized groups, Weimar democracy embraced plural and hybrid identifications. Although the republic ultimately fell to the Nazi threat, the study argues that its constitutional patriotism remains a positive legacy of Western-style democracy. By reframing the narrative, Invisible Fatherland provides a forward-looking, “glass-half-full” perspective on one of history’s most misunderstood democratic experiments
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- Invisible FatherlandConstitutional Patriotism in Weimar Germany, pp. 249 - 263Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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