Rainer Zitelmann

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Rainer Zitelmann.

Rainer Zitelmann (born June 14, 1957 in Frankfurt am Main ) is a German historian , author and entrepreneur .

Life

Zitelmann was born in 1957 in Frankfurt am Main, the son of the writer and theologian Arnulf Zitelmann . He claims to be a student Maoist from 1978 to 1986 as a student of history and political science at the Technical University of Darmstadt (first in 1983 and second examination in 1987 for teachers at secondary schools) initially Marxist .

In deepening his special research area, the basics of National Socialism , he moved away from the orthodox Marxist view of "German fascism" and dealt intensively with the Freudo- Marxist theory about the causes of the historical success of the National Socialists, which the Marxist psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich 1933 in his book Mass Psychology of Fascism . With the help of Reich's theory, he focused on Hitler not only as a reactionary, but also as a revolutionary. His dissertation ( Dr. phil. With “ summa cum laude ”) published in 1986 as a book with Karl Otmar von Aretin on Hitler. The self-image of a revolutionary , which was supported by the Evangelisches Studienwerk Villigst , made him known nationwide. From 1987 to 1992 he worked as a research assistant to Jürgen W. Falter at the Free University of Berlin .

He then began a career in various conservative publishing houses. From 1992 to 1993 he was the chief editor of the publishing houses Ullstein and Propylaen and a member of the management team. Soon afterwards he went to the daily newspaper Die Welt , where he took over the management of the “Spiritual World” section. Zitelmann later moved to the "Contemporary History" department, then to the "Real Estate" department. According to Götz Kubitschek from the Junge Freiheit environment, Zitelmann's attempt to establish a “new democratic right” in Germany finally failed in 1995.

In 1994 and 1995, together with Klaus Rainer Röhl , Ulrich Schacht and Heimo Schwilk , Zitelmann initiated several controversial appeals, the Berlin Appeal (1994) and the May 8th 1945 appeal - against oblivion .

In 2000 he founded the Dr. ZitelmannPB.GmbH , which in the following years developed into the market leader for positioning and communication consulting for real estate and investment companies. In 2016 he sold the company. As of 2011, he has published several books on goal setting, success, and finance. The book “Set yourself bigger goals” has been translated into seven languages. He also published the books "Become and Stay Rich", "Words of Success" and "Success Factors in Weight Training". He writes comments on topics from business, politics and finance in media such as Washington Examiner, Daily Telegraph, City AM, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Focus, FAZ, wallstreet: online and The European . Zitelmann writes weekly columns on LePoint and Linkiesta.

2016 was Zitelmann at Wolfgang Lauterbach in Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Potsdam with a thesis on personality and behavior patterns of wealth elite in Germany to Dr. rer. pole. ( magna cum laude ) doctorate. The study was published in 2017. In the same year he published his autobiography “If you are no longer burning, start over!”, In which he describes the various stages in his life (historian, journalist, PR entrepreneur, investor) and his transformation from Maoist to national liberal represents.

Historical publications

Hitler's self-image as a revolutionary

In his first dissertation , Zitelmann tried to prove that the social policy in the time of National Socialism (best known probably the cultural work Kraft durch Freude ) was not, as was commonly assumed until then, pure propaganda to calm down the oppressed workers. Rather, Hitler was also concerned with improving the situation of the working class, overcoming the class struggle, with equal opportunities and social mobility. In this sense he saw himself as a social revolutionary. The assertion, implied in the term revolutionary in particular , that National Socialism wanted to contribute actively and constructively to the modernization of German society not only through the destruction it triggered , Zitelmann deepened a few years later in the anthology "National Socialism and Modernization".

His theses triggered different reactions. Some positive reviews of Zitelmann's work in historical journals and in the national daily press particularly praised the comprehensive and careful evaluation of previously disregarded source material and the unbiased discussion of the topic, which in essential aspects went well beyond the previous state of Hitler's research . Critics countered Zitelmann that wages mostly remained at the extremely low level of the global economic crisis , and that the socio-political benefits that existed were often only symbolic and, moreover, only applied to people who were considered racially impeccable. The Hitler biographer Ian Kershaw , for example, pointed out that Hitler was essentially about race and not about class, about conquest and not about economic modernization - instead of social modernization, he can only see reactionary motives such as imperialism and racism in Hitler .

Historicization of National Socialism

Zitelmann also provoked controversial reactions with the anthology he edited with Eckhard Jesse and Uwe Backes , Shadows of the Past . In it, the editors endeavored to follow Martin Broszat's 1985 call for the historicization of National Socialism. According to the blurb, they saw themselves as members of a "younger generation" who were preparing to deal with the " taboos ", "legends" and " myths " of a "popular educational" and "coping rituals" history with its "scientific historicization" to break. The aim of the company, as the editors emphasize in their introduction, was to “objectify the confrontation with the Nazi era. [...] Only an emphatically sober writing of history, free of moralizing echoes, creates the basis for gauging the historical as well as political-moral scope of the mass crimes committed by National Socialism. "

Authors such as Ernst Nolte , who spoke again about the historians' dispute, to Imanuel Geiss , a student of Fritz Fischer , contributed to the volume . The essays deal with problems of comparing dictatorships and more recent research on National Socialism (whereby the articles on the participation of the Baltic population in the Shoah and Werner Wegner's refutation of the Leuchter Report stand out), but are in part rather polemical statements on questions of coming to terms with the past.

The modern historian Wolfgang Wippermann and the political scientist at the Duisburg Institute for Linguistic and Social Research , Alfred Schobert , assign the anthology to the New Right . Wippermann: “In fact, Backes, Jesse and Zitelmann speak for a politics of history . They strive for a cultural hegemony that can only be achieved if National Socialism is relieved of its function as a negative film and progressive and modern aspects are certified. ”Wippermann sees the intention here to step out of the“ shadows of the past ”. It is not the method of historicization, as Broszat formulated it, that is under criticism, but the objective that the results should serve. The historian Alexander Ruoff also regards the anthology as part of a discourse strategy of the New Right that intends to change the historical consciousness and political culture of the Federal Republic. The aim is a “change of direction from an openly revisionist and apologetic line to a historicization and classification of National Socialism - terms with which Auschwitz is no longer denied, but an attempt is made to weaken responsibility for the German nation or to reject it entirely . ” In his essay, Klaus-Dietmar Henke states knowledge and interest that the anthology is“ an attempt to use the historicization of the Nazi era called for by Martin Broszat to normalize National Socialism. ”

Criticism of ties to the West

In the 1991 book Democrats for Germany. Adenauer's opponent - Streiter für Deutschland , based on a series of articles in the daily newspaper Die Welt and created in connection with a habilitation on neutralism planned by Zitelmann , Zitelmann portrayed Jakob Kaiser , Kurt Schumacher , Gustav W. Heinemann , Thomas Dehler and Paul Sethe . In doing so, Zitelmann claimed to abstain from binding evaluations and instead use quotations to "document the actors' self-image as authentically and close to the source as possible" without wanting to assess the chances of realization of the concepts presented. As Michael Schneider notes, the problem of evaluation shifts to the selection of the topic, the people presented and the quotations. With regard to the publication shortly after German reunification , Schneider comes to the conclusion that the message of the quotations given in the introduction reads: “A contrite mentality hinders the development of a healthy national consciousness, which serves as the best bulwark against aggressive nationalism (and not as its pioneer ) applies. ” Stefan Berger states that Adenauer's course of integration with the West is interpreted by Zitelmann as a conscious departure from the national principle. Adenauer appears to be responsible for deepening the differences between the two German states. According to Jan-Werner Müller , the subtext of Zitelmann's account was that Adenauer's opponents had campaigned for German unity and had been confirmed by reunification, while Adenauer's blind followers had tied themselves to the West as if to a fetish.

Michael Schneider points out that Zitelmann had also touched on the question of German ties with the West . In 1993, together with Karlheinz Weißmann and Michael Großheim , Zitelmann published the anthology Western binding. Chances and risks for Germany , in which the primacy of the German connection to the West was questioned. Zitelmann himself protested against the ascription that the authors had spoken out against ties to the West, since Germany now belongs economically, politically and culturally to the West, but political realism should also lead to distancing oneself from the “essentially non-political attitude” , "Which raises the West and the German connection to the West to a fetish and declares it sacrosanct". He would like to take a differentiated look at the term Western ties and assumes that there is no irreconcilable antagonism between striving for neutrality on the one hand and western orientation on the other. It is important to think about the alternative “primacy of the nation or primacy of integration with the West”.

Engagement in the FDP

Rainer Zitelmann, Heiner Kappel and Alexander von Stahl tried to gain influence in the FDP with their national liberalism. Zitelmann was invited by the FDP parliamentary group and the " House of History " in Bonn on December 8, 1997 as a speaker to a scientific symposium on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Thomas Dehler . His contribution was published in the conference volume "Thomas Dehler und seine Politik", which was published in 1998 by Nicolai-Verlag. Zitelmann gave a lecture on "Thomas Dehler and Konrad Adenauer". Further speakers were Hildegard Hamm-Brücher , Wolfgang Mischnick , Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Wolfgang Gerhardt as well as Hermann Otto Solms , whose contributions were also published in the volume.

Since the late 1990s, Zitelmann was only active for the FDP with regard to real estate issues. In July 2006 , for example, he moderated the FDP's REIT Congress to which Hermann Otto Solms had invited. In 2014, Zitelmann founded together with the former housing policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Sebastian Körber , and with the vice-president of the Real Estate Association Germany IVD, Jürgen Michael Schick, the FDP-affiliated “Liberale Immobilienrunde eV”. Hermann Otto Solms also wrote the foreword to Zitelmann's autobiography, which was published in 2017.

Fonts

  • Hitler. Self-image of a revolutionary. Berg, Hamburg 1987; 2. revised u. additional edition: Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-608-91578-8 .
    • Extended new edition: Hitler. Self-image of a revolutionary. Lau Verlag, Reinbek 2017, ISBN 978-3-95768-189-8 .
  • National Socialism. In: Piper's Handbook of Political Ideas. Edited by Iring Fetscher and Herfried Münkler, Piper, Munich 1987, Volume 5, ISBN 3-492-02955-8 , pp. 327-332.
  • Adolf Hitler. A political biography. Musterschmidt, Göttingen 1989, ISBN 3-7881-0135-0 .
  • (Ed., With Uwe Backes and Eckhard Jesse :) The shadows of the past. Impulses for the historicization of National Socialism. Ullstein, Frankfurt / M. 1990, ISBN 3-549-07407-7 .
  • Adenauer's opponent. Champion for unity. Straube, Erlangen 1991, ISBN 3-927491-35-7 .
  • (Ed., With Michael Prinz :) National Socialism and Modernization. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1991, ISBN 3-534-10886-8 .
  • (Ed., With Karlheinz Weißmann and Michael Großheim :) West link. Opportunities and risks for Germany. Propylaen Verlag, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-549-05225-1 .
  • Where is our republic going? Ullstein, Frankfurt / M. 1994, ISBN 3-548-36641-4 .
  • (Ed., With Klemens von Klemperer and Enrico Syring :) "For Germany". The men of July 20, 1944. Ullstein, Frankfurt / M. 1996, ISBN 3-548-33207-2 .
  • (Eds., With Ronald Smelser , Enrico Syring ) The brown elite. 22 biographical sketches. (Two volumes; WB-Forum, Volume 37) Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1999, ISBN 3-534-14460-0 .
  • Get rich with real estate. Direct investment, real estate funds, real estate stocks. Haufe-Verlag, Planegg 2002, ISBN 3-448-05123-3 .
  • Build wealth with real estate. Invest safely and save taxes with; Condominiums, apartment buildings, real estate funds. Haufe-Verlag, Planegg 2004, ISBN 3-448-06356-8 .
  • The power of positioning. Communication for capital investments. Immobilien Informationsverlag, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-89984-137-9 .
  • Set yourself bigger goals! The winning secrets of success. Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-942821-00-1 .
    • English edition: Dare to Be Different and Grow Rich. Secrets of Self-Made People. Indus Source Books, Mumbai 2012, ISBN 978-81-88569-37-3 .
    • Extended new edition: Set yourself bigger goals! The secrets of successful personalities. , Redline Verlag, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-86881-560-3 .
  • (Ed.): Investing in real assets. Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-942821-08-7 .
  • Communication is a matter for the boss. Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-942821-12-4 .
  • Words of success. Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-942821-09-4 .
    • Extended new edition: The Art of Successful Life: Wisdom from Two Millennia from Confucius to Steve Jobs. FinanzBook Verlag, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-95972-244-5 .
  • Success factors in weight training: More muscles with compact training, intensity techniques & mental programming. Novagenics Verlag, Arnsberg 2014, ISBN 978-3-929002-52-2 .
  • Get rich and stay rich: your guide to financial freedom. FinanzBook Verlag, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-89879-920-1 .
  • Psychology of the super rich. The hidden knowledge of the wealthy elite. FinanzBook Verlag, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-95972-011-3 .
    • English edition: The Wealth Elite: A groundbreaking study of the psychology of the super rich. Lid Publishing, London and New York 2018, ISBN 978-1-91149-868-1 .
  • When you are no longer burning, start over !: My life as a historian, journalist and investor. FinanzBook Verlag, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-95972-031-1 .
  • Capitalism is not the problem but the solution. A journey through time across five continents. FinanzBook Verlag, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-95972-088-5 .
    • English edition: The Power of Capitalism: A Journey Through Recent History Across Five Continents , Lid Publishing, London and New York 2018, ISBN 978-1-91255-500-0 .
  • Society and its rich: prejudices against an envied minority. FinanzBook Verlag, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-95972-163-9 .
    • English edition: The Rich in Public Opinion: What We Think When We Think about Wealth. Cato Institute, Washington 2020, ISBN 978-1948647670 .
  • The art of becoming famous: geniuses in self-marketing from Albert Einstein to Kim Kardashian . FinanzBook Verlag, Munich 2020, ISBN 978-3-95972-350-3

literature

  • Karl Heinz Roth : Transfiguration of the Abyss. On the subsequent "revolutionization" of the Nazi dictatorship by the group around Rainer Zitelmann. In: 1999. Journal for Social History of the 19th and 20th Centuries. H. 1 (1991), pp. 7-11.
  • John Lukacs : Hitler. History and historiography. Luchterhand, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-630-87991-8 , especially p. 57f. u. 111f.
  • Gerhard Schreiber : Hitler. Interpretations 1923-1983. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1988, ISBN 3-534-07081-X .
  • Dieter Stein: Interview with Rainer Zitelmann. In: Young Freedom. July / August 1993, p. 3.
  • Alfred Schobert : History revisionism à la carte. With Nolte and Zitelmann against “Western extremism”. In: Helmut Kellershohn (ed.): The plagiarism. The Volkish Nationalism of Young Freedom. DISS-Verlag, Duisburg 1994, ISBN 3-927388-44-0 .
  • Wolfgang Wippermann : "Revisionism light." The modernization and "comparative trivialization" of the "Third Reich". In: Brigitte Bailer-Galanda u. a. (Ed.): The Auschwitz deniers. "Revisionist" historical lie and historical truth . Elefantenpress, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-88520-600-5 , pp. 237-251.
  • Alexander Ruoff: Bending, repressing, keeping silent. The national history of the "Young Freedom" . Unrast-Verlag, Münster 2001, ISBN 3-89771-406-X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biographical data of Rainer Zitelmann in: Who is who - The German Who's Who 2000/2001 . 39th edition, Schmidt-Römhild, Verlagsgruppe Beleke, Lübeck 2000, p. 1581, ISBN 978-3-7950-2029-3 .
  2. ↑ Dieter Stein: Interview with Rainer Zitelmann. In: Junge Freiheit , July / August 1993, p. 3.
  3. ↑ cf. Zitelmann's note in: wilhelm-reich-blätter (Nuremberg), issue 1/78 (February 1978), p. 27.
  4. ↑ See Götz Kubitschek: 20 years of young freedom. Idea and history of a newspaper, Schnellroda 2006. P. 206 ff.
  5. ↑ Holger Friedrichs takes over Dr. ZitelmannPB In: Immobilien Zeitung, February 10, 2016
  6. ↑ Dr. Rainer Zitelmann as an author at wallstreet: online.
  7. ↑ Dr. Rainer Zitelmann as an author at The European.
  8. ^ Rainer Zitelmann: Rainer Zitelmann, Autore presso Linkiesta.it. Retrieved July 13, 2020 (it-IT).
  9. ^ Rainer Zitelmann: Psychology of the super rich. The hidden knowledge of the wealthy elite. FinanzBook Verlag, Munich 2017.
  10. ↑ Rainer Zitelmann: If you are no longer burning, start again !: My life as a historian, journalist and investor. FinanzBook Verlag, Munich 2017.
  11. ↑ see e.g. John Lukacs, Hitler. History and historiography , Luchterhand, Munich 1997, reviews by Andreas Hillgruber ( Die Welt of May 30, 1987), Klaus Hildebrand ( Süddeutsche Zeitung of September 29, 1987), Jost Dülffer ( FAZ of July 7, 1987), Reinhard Bollmus ( Die Zeit from 22 September 1989) and Peter Krüger ( Historische Zeitschrift 247, 1988) and Franciszek Ryszka ( Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte , 4/1988)
  12. ↑ Wolfgang Wippermann :: "Revisionism light". The modernization and "comparative trivialization" of the "Third Reich". In: Brigitte Bailer-Galanda, Wolfgang Benz, Wolfgang Neugebauer (eds.): The Auschwitz deniers. "Revisionist" historical lie and historical truth. Elefanten Press, Berlin 1996, pp. 237-251, cited above. P. 240
  13. ↑ Alexander Ruoff: Bending, repressing, silencing. The national history of the "Young Freedom". Unrast Verlag , Münster 2001, ISBN 3-89771-406-X , p. 45.
  14. ^ Klaus-Dietmar Henke: Interest and knowledge. A lesson in concerted crisis regulation in the humanities using the example of the Dresden Hannah Arendt Institute 1999-2002 . In: Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft 51, (2003), pp. 205–236, cited above. P. 215.
  15. ↑ Michael Schneider: "People's Education" from the right. Ernst Nolte, the efforts to "historicize" National Socialism and the "self-confident nation" . In: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte 35 (1995), pp. 532-581, here pp. 569 f., Cited above. P. 570.
  16. ↑ Michael Schneider: "People's Education" from the right. Ernst Nolte, the efforts to "historicize" National Socialism and the "self-confident nation" . In: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte 35 (1995), p. 571.
  17. ^ Stefan Berger: The Search for Normality: National Identity and Historical Consciousness in Germany Since 1800 . Berghahn, NY 2003, p. 184 f.
  18. ^ Jan-Werner Müller: From National Identity to National Interest: The Rise (and Fall) of Germany's New Right . In: Jan-Werner Müller (Ed.): German Ideologies Since 1945: Studies in the Political Thought and Culture of the Bonn Republic , Palgrave Macillan, NY 2003, p. 190.
  19. ↑ Michael Schneider: "People's Education" from the right. Ernst Nolte, the efforts to "historicize" National Socialism and the "self-confident nation" . In: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte 35 (1995), pp. 532–581, here p. 570.
  20. ↑ Quoted from Alice Brauner-Orthen : The New Right in Germany: Antidemocratic and racist tendencies . Leske + Budrich, Opladen 2001, p. 71.
  21. ↑ Alice Brauner-Orthen: The New Right in Germany: Anti-Democratic and Racist Tendencies . Leske + Budrich, Opladen 2001, pp. 71-73.
personal data
SURNAME Zitelmann, Rainer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian, publicist and management consultant
DATE OF BIRTH June 14, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main