Friedrich Meinecke and German Politics in the Twentieth Century

Friedrich Meinecke and German Politics in the Twentieth Century examines the evolution of Friedrich Meinecke’s political thought against the backdrop of two world wars and the social and political upheavals in Germany. Meinecke, an influential historian and intellectual, witnessed and reflected on the monumental changes in his country during the early 20th century, navigating the aftermath of World War I, the rise of Nazism, and the eventual collapse of the Weimar Republic. His intellectual journey—from an advocate of statism in his early work Weltbürgertum und Nationalstaat (1907) to a postwar rejection of state absolutism—has been studied primarily through its ethical and philosophical implications. However, this work aims to explore Meinecke’s political responses to the crises of his time, specifically focusing on his views regarding Nazism, the Weimar Republic, and his relationship with the ideas of Friedrich Naumann. Meinecke's rejection of the unchecked statism of his youth, particularly in Weltbürgertum und Nationalstaat, ultimately prevented him from fully grasping the complex political realities that led to the rise of Nazi ideology. His devotion to a super-political cosmopolitanism, especially during the Weimar period, resulted in a failure to understand the deep cultural and political changes that shaped the modern German state. This essay highlights how Meinecke’s retreat into the idealized concept of Kultur (culture) created a chasm between his theoretical understanding and the political realities that faced his countrymen. Despite being positioned as part of the intellectual elite, Meinecke’s tendency to separate politics from cultural realities ultimately distanced him from the forces that fueled Nazi extremism. Through his examination of Meinecke’s political writings, the essay sheds light on the historical missteps of the German Bildungsbürgertum and its role in the wider tragedy of 20th-century German history. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1972.