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Surviving the Swastika; Scientific Research in Nazi Germany by Kristie Macrakis. NY: Oxford University Press, 1993. 280 pages.

Kristie Macrakis’ book has been structured as a response to previous scholars’ assertions that all of German science stood in service of the state during the National Socialist years. Although her subtitle, "Scientifice Research in Nazi Germany," leads one to expect an overview of the subject , the author focusses on a single research organization, the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft, or KWG; after the war, the Max Planck Institute). Her argument that our interpretation of the role played by science in Nazi Germany should be more nuanced is based on recent work by historians showing that the Nazi regime was "polycratic" rather than monocratic, i.e. that competition among power blocks resulted in cracks in the system that could be effectively exploited by resistant organizations such as the KWG. While she successfully proves that at least one of the institutes belonging to the KWG conglomerate--biology--and several other areas in the life sciences (virus research, radiation genetics) were able to conduct "normal" research throughout the war, she also shows the extent to which other disciplines were completely politicized or even militarized by the National Socialists, such as eugenics, physics, and chemistry, the latter two having been heavily involved in nuclear energy research, specifically in the German version of the Manhattan Project.

Although Macrakis does carefully detail the many differences among the disciplines, among individual scientists’ attitudes, and among the Society’s official responses at different points during the twelve-year period, many readers will have a sense, upon concluding the book, that the exception proves the rule. By the author’s own admission, the KWG constituted a wholly unique phenomenon--and, as such, an exception--within the world of German research: "The Society had a special character within German scientific and educational organizations which shaped its interactions with the regime and its various power blocks. It enjoyed more prestige and had a higher concentration of more visible and internationally recognized scientists and leaders than other institutions. This special role and function within Germany’s scientific landscape was recognized by National Socialist leaders and the scientific community" (5). It would be difficult and likely unwise to generalize from such a small, albeit influential, sample, and the author does not provide much information about the extent to which science at universities and state-sponsored institutions was co-opted. From the information she does provide, as well as from work by other scholars, one is justified in assuming that the co-optation was pervasive. Arguments agains Macrakis’ insistence on a more differentiated view of science under Nazi rule would be: 1) the relatively small size, elite nature, and exceptional status of the KWG; 2) the wholesale takeover by the Nazis of key institutes and the placing of NS-party members in leadership roles; 3) the comparative weakness of several KWG non-Nazi leaders such as Max Planck and Carl Bosch; 4) the large and documented amount of war work performed by KWG scientists--a precedent established already in WWI; and 5) the inability of present-day scholars "to determine the exact nature of the work done during the war or gain access to the papers produced, whether published or secret" (151).

Whether one agrees with Macrakis’ thesis or not, this is still a very informative and stimulating book. As a historian of science, the author ably demonstrates her mastery of both fields: the carefully reconstructed history of the KWG, its foundation in nationalist feelings of competition with scientists in other countries, especially the United States, and its early and close ties with industry help explain the scientists’ attitudes and actions later during the NS period, while her descriptions of scientific breakthroughs are developed with the suspense of a mystery story. I found the final chapter on the discovery of nuclear fission, "The Uranium Machine," unexpectedly riveting. The text’s interest and readability are enhanced by the use of extensive archival materials, excerpts from interviews with KWG members, including several key (and controversial) players such as the "rehabilitated" former Nazi Ernst Telschow, and a sixteen-page section of historical photographs that provides important visual documentation.

After discussing the motivations for founding a scientific research society and tracing its early development in the Weimar years, the author centers her attention on three periods of the National Socialist era: the early years, 1933-35, the turning point of Nazi consolidation, 1936-39, and the war years, 1939-45. In general, the position of the KWG appears to have been one of growing acquiescence: the first period was marked by resistance on the part of some Society members, especially to the firing of all Jewish and "politically unreliable" members; the second period represented "the last stand" of the KWG under both increasing Nazi pressure for Gleichschaltung (ideological conformity) and simultaneous growing isolation from the international community; and the war years demonstrate the belated recognition by the Nazis of the importance of science to the war effort and the subsequent subordination of most--but not all--scientific research to military purposes. As Macrakis points out, because of the organization’s prestige and the international reputation of its scientists, many of whom had won Nobel prizes, and because it had no teaching function--unlike the university-based laboratories--the practice of "pure," unpoliticized scientific research had its best chance at the KWG institutes of eluding the Nazis’ theoretical influence and physical control. The fact that it did so to only a very small extent was perhaps inevitable in a totalitarian state.

The eight main chapters tracing the history of the KWG are followed by a penultimate chapter, an epilogue, that describes the Society’s fate in the postwar years through 1952, contrasting the English favorable view of the KWG with the Americans’ unrelentingly negative one. It also traces the metamorphosis of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society into the Max Planck Institute, a transformation anecdotally attributed to the Englishman Sir Henry Dale: "It is only the name which they have something against . . . ‘Kaiser Wilhelm’ conjures up a picture of rattling sabres and maritime expansion. Name it the Max Planck Gesellschaft and everyone will be happy" (193). The final chapter, the conclusion, provides a succinct summary of the major points and positions taken in the book and supplements the mini-summaries at the end of each chapter. These features, plus an appendix listing all emigrés from the KWG during the Nazi era with their fields, dates of dismissal and host countries, extensive chapter notes, a comprehensive list of sources including archives, and a throrough index transform this dissertation-turned-book into a useful tool for researchers as well as advanced students. Those interested in this topic may also wish to consider a recent German perspective provided by Ute Deichmann’s Biologists Under Hitler (trans. Thomas Dunlap), which also uses previously untapped archival materials to ascertain the impact of National Socialism on the field of German biological research.

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Dr. Elaine Martin, emartin@woodsquad.as.ua.edu