Reclaiming the Nation. The Left-Wing Patriotism of ‘Die Weltbuehne’ in the Weimar Republic

Going against the tendency to 'read history backwards' from Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933, this book rescues from obscurity the forgotten phenomenon of left-wing patriotism in Weimar Germany. It takes as a case study 'Die Weltbuehne', a weekly political journal that evolved from a respected theatre review into a much-discussed and occasionally controversial forum for the airing of left-wing ideas that were completely at odds with the resurgent nationalism and right-wing nostalgia of the inter-war era. An aspect of its intellectual and ideological legacy that has been almost entirely overlooked in all studies of 'Die Weltbuehne' until now is its patriotism. The novelty of Jack Arscott's approach lies not least in his anatomisation of this concept, which he breaks down into regionalist, internationalist and Socialist categories by means of close reading.