Between the Swastika and the Cross of Lorraine : Fascisms in Interwar Alsace

An examination of 1920s and 1930s Alsace, to reveal the many faces of fascism. The study of the region, with its interplay of French, German and Alsatian nationalities, proves a framework for understanding how this ideology has matured over time to fit changing contexts.

Through the unique window of Alsace during the 1920s and 1930s, Goodfellow reveals the many faces of fascism and demonstrates its flexibility and coherence as an ideology. His study of this region, where the interplay of French, German, and Alsatian nationalities allowed a variety of fascisms to flourish, proves a framework for understanding how this ideology has mutated over time to fit changing contexts. Looking at various groups, Goodfellow shows how fascism varied according to its social support. Different fascism catered to distinct social constituents: there were elitist, peasant, lower middle-class, regionalist, and mass fascist parties, each with a sociologically appropriate ideological variant. Examining these variants and the people who embraced them, Goodfellow redefines fascism as simultaneously divided against itself and tremendously fluid. Between the Swastika and the Cross of Lorraine will appeal to those interested in French and German history and the nature of fascism and its evolution in the twentieth century.