Haffner, Sebastian 1907-1999

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HAFFNER, Sebastian 1907-1999

PERSONAL: Born Raimund Pretzel, December 27, 1907, in Berlin, Germany; died January 2, 1999, in Berlin, Germany; married; children: Oliver Pretzel, one daughter. Education: Studied law, late 1920s and early 1930s.

CAREER: Journalist and author. Worked for German press, late 1920s-early 1930s; referendar (law clerk) in Prussia's highest court, 1933-38; Observer, London, England, journalist, c. 1940-54, West German correspondent, beginning 1954; also worked for German publications, including Stern, Die Welt, and Suddeutsche Zeitung. Wartime service: Worked for the British Foreign Office on anti-Nazi publications during World War II.

WRITINGS:

Die verratene Revolution, 1969, translated by Georg Rapp as Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918-19, Library Press (La Salle, IL), 1973.

Anmerkungen zu Hitler, Kindler (Munich, Germany), 1978, translated by Ewald Osers as The Meaning of Hitler, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1980.

Die Deutsche Revolution 1918/19 (title means "The German Revolution: 1918-19"), Kindler (Munich, Germany), 1979, reprinted, Knaur (Munich, Germany), 1991.

Preussen ohne Legende, translated asThe Rise and Fall of Prussia, Weidenfeld and Nicolson (London, England), 1980.

(With Wolfgang Venohr) Das Wunder an der Marne: Rekonstruktion der Entscheidungsschlacht des Ersten Weltkriegs, G. Lübbe (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany), 1982.

Zur Zeitgeschichte: 36 Essays, Kindler (Munich, Germany), 1982.

Von Bismarck zu Hitler, Kindler (Munich, Germany), 1987, translated by Jean Steinberg as Germany's Self-Destruction: Germany from Bismarck to Hitler, Simon & Schuster (London, England), 1989, published as The Ailing Empire: Germany from Bismarck to Hitler,, Fromm International (New York, NY), 1989.

Der Teufelspakt: Die deutsch-russischen Beziehungen vom Ersten zum Zweiten Weltkrieg, Manesse Verlag (Zurich, Switzerland), 1989.

Geschichte eines Deutschen: Die Erinnerungen 1914-1933, [Germany], 2000, translated by Oliver Pretzel as Defying Hitler: A Memoir,, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor of articles to newspapers and magazines, including London Observer, New Statesman, Stern, Die Welt, and Suddeutsche Zeitung.

SIDELIGHTS: German journalist and author Sebastian Haffner was trained in law and worked for German newspapers before moving to England in 1938. He left Germany on the pretense of working as a news correspondent, but his underlying reason was the desire for the safety of his Jewish fiancée during the rise of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party. Once in England, he feared retribution against his family in Germany because of his writing, he changed his name to Sebastian Haffner, the name he wrote under for the rest of his life.

Born Raimund Pretzel, Haffner worked for the London Observer in Britain for many years before returning to Berlin in 1954. In a country in ruins from war and hostile to returning expatriates, Haffner bravely continued his work as a journalist, influencing public policy with his coverage of such stories as the "Spiegel Affair" of 1962. His strongly democratic views and support of the West German Federal Republic were admired among his readership.

He identified with the social achievements of Prussia and wrote passionately about the expulsion of Prussians in 1945. In an obituary for Haffner in the LondonIndependent David Childs wrote, "Like so many Germans and German Jews of his generation, he battled to understand what had gone wrong, between 1933 and 1945, in the country he loved. In his case it was his life's mission."

Haffner's autobiography of the World War I years and the years leading up to World War II in Germany, Defying Hitler, published posthumously, was his most recognized book, remaining on nonfiction best-seller lists in Germany for forty-two weeks after its publication in 2000. Published in English in 2002, it received similar recognition in Britain and the United States.

Haffner's first book, Failure of a Revolution, is the story of the Nazi party's alleged betrayal of the social and political revolution in Germany from October 1918 through the spring 1919 civil war and the failure of the Kapp Putsch in Berlin in March 1920. A contributor to Choice called the book "certainly the most readable history of the revolution that created the Weimar Republic," although one of the most controversial. The reviewer commented that Haffner's judgments are both "outrageous" and "provocative." Lewis D. Wurgaft, in the American Historical Review, wrote, "Haffner is too preoccupied with personalities rather than policies. … He blames the failure of the revolution squarely on [Friedrich] Ebert, whom he accuses of a groveling identification with traditional authority and a paranoid fear of disorder." Wurgaft thought the book "does as much to obscure as to illuminate the troubled birth of democracy in Germany." A contributor to the Economist described the book as "unconvincing," in part because Haffner does not account for "the authoritarian character of the German Social Democratic party before 1914." B. D. Loynd, in a review for Library Journal, found the book "interesting and well written," although he called Haffner's thesis "oversimplified."

The Meaning of Hitler is a brief biography of the German chancellor from Haffner's unique perspective. Haffner discusses what made Hitler who he was, how he led and deceived the German people and took full advantage of the weaknesses of his opponents, and how he was motivated by two objectives: the control of Europe by Germany and the extermination of the Jewish people. When he saw that the first could not be achieved, says Haffner, he put all of his energy and resources into the second, ignoring all chances for peace as Germany moved toward destruction. Golo Mann, in a review for Encounter, commented, "By allowing and conceding everything to his monster that can possibly be granted, the author creates the impression that he is striving for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

Alan Bullock, in the New York Review of Books, pointed out that Haffner's main argument is that Hitler was one of few people who had a major impact on the world: "Without him there would have been no partition of Germany and Europe; no Americans or Russians in Berlin; no State of Israel; nothing like so rapid a decolonialization of Asia and Africa, or so quick a reduction of European pre-eminence. But all this was exactly the opposite of what Hitler hoped to achieve."

A contributor to Choice hailed the book as "an excellent antidote to the Hitler mania of the last decade." A. L. Rowse, in the New Republic, wrote, "What makes Haffner's book different is that it is not one more biography but an analysis—a most penetrating analysis—of what Hitler was up to in his astonishing career." Neal Ascherson, in the New Statesman, called Haffner "one of Europe's great journalists, in command of his facts but unconstrained by the pudeurs of the academy. His hypotheses are brilliant and sometimes terrifying."

The Rise and Fall of Prussia is Haffner's history of the empire. Although it had the highest sales of the many books on Prussia published amid renewed interest in 1980, Philip Mansel, in History Today, commented that Haffner "rarely produces evidence for his assertions" and said the author's "claims for Prussian tolerance and lack of racism … are simply incorrect." Mansel called the book "an unconvincing whitewash" that is "badly written and poorly translated." Eric Christiansen, of the Spectator, called Haffner "an apologist." However, Christiansen concluded, "This is no criticism of Mr. Haffner's work, which doesn't pretend to be a social history. He is a first-rate demystifier, and an essential tonic for all those who are bewildered by the English habit of setting German history to the music of Wagner." A contributor to the Economist described the book as "a short, incisive, brilliantly written work," saying Haffner "deserves congratulation for his style and his masterly summaries of complex events." Yet, the contributor pointed out, "it is a very rosy view of Prussia which emerges from these pages."

The Ailing Empire is a compilation of eleven lectures given by Haffner to German audiences. They evaluate the history of the modern German Reich, from 1870 to 1945, covering the post-Napoleonic period, the Prussian period and Otto von Bismarck, the Weimer government, Hitler's rise to power, and World War II. Haffner also presents his views on the postwar division of Germany, saying the nation was unlikely to be reunited into one, a prediction that was proved incorrect in the 1990s. Roger Morgan, in Encounter, called this book a "shrewd survey" in which Haffner opines that "the unified Reich has gone for ever, and that … even the Basic Law of 1949 does not lay an obligation on West Germany to work for reunification." Paul C. Helmreich, in History, found the section on Prussia and Bismarck "perhaps the most convincing," even though "Many of Haffner's assertions will certainly be challenged." Russell Jacoby, in the Los Angeles Times Book Review, wrote, "Haffner's survey of German history is informed and lucid. It suffers, however, from serious weaknesses of argument and audience. His account sidesteps too many issues." Jacoby also said the book "does not offer a wide sweep or compelling narrative." Joseph W. Constance, Jr., in Library Journal, found that, although not well documented, the book is "an intriguing combination of history, essay, and memoir." A contributor to Publishers Weekly described the book as an "illuminating survey" of the period.

Der Teufelspakt: Die deutsch-russischen Beziehungen vom Ersten zum zweiten Weltkrieg, Haffner's book about the German-Russian relationship between the two world wars, gives credit for the creation of the partnership to the practical soldiers and diplomats on both sides. It was they who helped establish the Bolshevik state by bringing Lenin from exile and removing Russia from the World War I conflict, he says. In the New York Review of Books, Gordon A. Craig referred to the book as "concise but pregnant" and said Haffner calls the relationship "a pact with the devil for both sides, by which he means, I suppose, one whose benefits in the end had frightful material and moral costs."

After Haffner's death, at age ninety-one, his son, Oliver Pretzel, found an unpublished manuscript while going through his father's papers. It was an account of Haffner's youth, beginning in 1914, when he was seven years old, and ending in 1933, as Hitler came into power. Haffner had written the book in 1939 but abandoned it to cover World War II as a journalist in Great Britain. Pretzel had his father's book published posthumously. Defying Hitler: A Memoir describes the euphoria of World War I and the German mentality of victory followed by the letdown of defeat. It tells of the hyperinflation of the economy in 1923 and its disenfranchisement of the poor and elderly. Haffner details Hitler's slow rise to power in a nation that had no real leadership to oppose him, even though most Germans were repulsed by him. The author recounts his first failed opportunity to stand up for Jews against Nazi persecution and his realization that he had no future in Germany. Haffner's family was middle-class Aryan and safe from the Nazis, but his girlfriend, who would later become his wife, was Jewish. Lawrence K. Grossman, in the New Leader, wrote, "A voice from the grave, it has something urgent to say. … Haffner had a keen journalistic eye and a gift for language that survives in translation. … His memoir … is a sober report from one who lived physically unscathed in the belly of the beast."

Theo Richmond, in the Spectator, found that Haffner writes about a Hitler who "is alive on and off the page" and writes passionately, veering "between love of the old Germany that had gone and hatred of the new Germany that had replaced it." Allen Weakland, of Booklist, called Defying Hitler "a gem of a book" and "a small masterpiece" comparable to The Diary of Anne Frank and William Shirer's Berlin Diary. Barbara Walden, in Library Journal, commended the book as "part of a significant body of remembrances from Nazi Germany." A Publishers Weekly contributor called it an "intimate self-portrait" with "evidence that the personal can offer insight into the political tragedy of Nazism." A contributor to Kirkus Reviews hailed it as "a remarkable account" and "deserving a wide readership." Gerhard Altmann, in the English Historical Review, commented on Haffner's passages showing "the Germans' talent for falling prey to mass psychoses, which seemed to compensate for their utter ineptitude at being happy individually." Altmann also praised Haffner's "remarkable vignette" about Jewish businessman and revolutionary Walther Rathenau, who was assassinated in 1922.

Gabriel Schoenfeld, in the New York Times Book Review, wrote that Defying Hitler provides "persuasive answers to questions that continue to pit thinking Germans against their parents and grandparents: 'How were the Nazis possible?' and 'Why didn't you stop them?'" W. J. Rayment, in the Conservative Monitor, wrote, "Haffner's book goes a long way to explaining the psychology that brought the Germans, a civilized nation, to accept a socialist, centralizing, racist regime, even when the Nazi voting block never quite reached fifty percent." Charles Taylor, of Salon.com, expressed, "If by now the incidents … are familiar—the intimidation, the erosion of press freedom, violence in the streets, people fleeing or attempting to flee—it's their novelty to Haffner that carries the book. … Defying Hitler communicates one of the most profound and absolute feelings of exile that any writer has gotten between covers."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, April, 1975, Lewis D. Wurgaft, review of The Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918-19, p. 430.

Booklist, June 1, 2002, Allen Weakland, review of Defying Hitler: A Memoir, p. 1672.

Choice, December, 1973, review of The Failure of a Revolution, p. 1615; October, 1980, review of The Meaning of Hitler, pp. 305-306.

Conservative Monitor, October, 2002, W. J. Rayment, review of Defying Hitler, p. 1.

Economist, February 17, 1973, review of The Failure of a Revolution, p. 111; August 23, 1980, review of The Rise and Fall of Prussia, p. 80.

Encounter, February, 1979, Golo Mann, "The Vulture's Sense of Death: On Sebastian Haffner's 'Hitler', " pp. 79-83; November, 1989, Roger Morgan, "The Elephant and the Chickens? German Dilemmas," pp. 42-46.

English Historical Review, November, 2001, Gerhard Altmann, review of Defying Hitler, p. 1299.

History: Reviews of New Books, winter, 1990, Paul C. Helmreich, review of The Ailing Empire, p. 72.

History Today, December, 1980, Philip Mansel, "Prussia Attacks Again," pp. 61-62.

Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2002, review of Defying Hitler, p. 469.

Library Journal, October 15, 1973, B. D. Loynd, review of The Failure of a Revolution, p. 2996; April 15, 1989, Joseph W. Constance, Jr., review of The Ailing Empire, p. 85; May 15, 2002, Barbara Walden, review of Defying Hitler, p. 104.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, October 29, 1989, Russell Jacoby, "The Decline and Reincarnation of the German Reich," p. 3.

New Leader, May-June, 2002, Lawrence K. Grossman, "In the Belly of the Beast," p. 24.

New Republic, December 22, 1979, A. L. Rowse, review of The Meaning of Hitler, p. 33.

New Statesman, August 10, 1979, Neal Ascherson, "The Dead Planet," p. 201.

New York Review of Books, July 17, 1980, Alan Bullock, "The Hitler Addiction," p. 27; March 30, 1989, Gordon A. Craig, review of Der Teufelspakt: Die deutsch-russischen Beziehungen vom Ersten zum zweiten Weltkrieg, p. 15.

New York Times Book Review, August 25, 2002, Gabriel Schoenfeld, "Marching, but out of Step," p. 26.

Publishers Weekly, May 5, 1989, review of The Ailing Empire, p. 61; April 22, 2002, review of Defying Hitler, p. 59.

Spectator, August 9, 1980, Eric Christiansen, "Might Have Been a Prooshian?," pp. 17-18; June 22, 2002, Theo Richmond, "Refusing to Give the Salute," p. 48.