As has been reported recently in the press, a conference of ‘white nationalists’ that met in the wake of the recent presidential election witnessed some members using the Hitler salute and one of the speakers openly using Nazi rhetoric. Video excerpts are available via The Atlantic, and certain of the expressions used (such as the German term Lügenpresse) […]
Author Archives: Samuel Koehne
About Samuel Koehne
Dr Samuel Koehne works in the field of Modern European History, focusing particularly on the interrelations between religion, politics and nationalism. He is an expert on Nazism and religion, and has published a number of articles in leading international journals (including Central European History, the Journal of Contemporary History & German Studies Review). He studied history at the University of Melbourne, completing two research degrees (MA, awarded 2004; PhD, awarded 2010).
Anyone who is involved in academic work realizes that the language of ‘impact’ and ‘outcomes’ has come to dominate the notion of ‘excellence in research’. This is, of course, why there have been previous attempts in Australia to rank excellence (such as the 2010 ERA Journal Rankings, A*-C) and why there remain notions of measuring […]
In recent years there has been a great deal of debate about the Nazis and religion. There has been a resurgence of study into the question of esoteric religion and the Nazis, as well as considerations of whether Darwinism (and not simply Social Darwinism) was a major influence on the National Socialists. In the interests of full disclosure, my […]
Radicalisation has become a major topic of debate in contemporary Australia. While this has mostly been focused on radical Islamist groups, there has been an increasing amount of attention given to the rise of neo-Nazi groups, far-right movements and white supremacists. As has been illustrated by the rise of both extreme right-wing and openly neo-Nazi groups […]
The topic of the Nazis and religion is a hotly contested one, partly because the history of the early Nazi Party remains an ‘unfinished’ or incomplete history. It is certainly clear that the broader topic of Nazism remains a ‘contemporary’ history, given that politicians and other public figures continue to use Hitler and the Nazis as a […]
A recent statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has raised a furore in the media. Speaking recently to the Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Netanyahu stated: ‘[A]ttacks on the Jewish community in 1920, 1921, 1929, were instigated by a call of the mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husayni, who was later sought for war […]
During last week’s Q & A debate between Cardinal George Pell and Richard Dawkins, it was interesting that both men had perspectives on Nazism that were at once opposed and yet entirely congruent. Pell argued that Nazism and Stalinism were the "two great atheist movements of the last century." Dawkins responded that while Stalin was […]