Peter Hoffmann

Der Historiker, Geograph, Ethnograph und Archivar Gerhard Friedrich Muller (1705-1783) war Mitglied der Petersburger Akademie der Wissenschaften und ist vor allem als Sibirienforscher bekannt. Wahrend der grossen Nordischen Expedition (1733-1743) sammelte er umfangreiche Materialien, die bis heute eine unverzichtbare Materialgrundlage fur unterschiedliche Forschungen bilden. Zugleich ist sein Wirken als Herausgeber der ersten popularwissenschaftlichen Zeitschrift in russischer Sprache von herausragender kulturgeschichtlicher Bedeutung. Die unter seiner Anleitung erarbeiteten Registranden fur die Bestande des Moskauer Archivs des Kollegiums fur Auswartige Angelegenheiten werden teilweise noch heute genutzt. Diese Monographie bietet die erste umfassende, nicht auf sein Wirken in der Petersburger Akademie beschrankte Biographie. Dieses Buch ist gleichzeitig Band 19 der Reihe Herforder Forschungen, herausgegeben vom Kommunalarchiv Herford und dem Kreisheimatverein Herford e. V.

"I am immortal!" exulted Hitler in the wake of the failed assassination plot of July 20, 1944. As Peter Hoffmann shows in this startling book, that bombing was only the best known of more than thirty attempts on Hitler's life, the first coming as early as 1921, when he was the leader of the German worker's party. Using extensive archival material, Hoffmann details these assassination plots and outlines the fanatically complex security measures that developed to keep Hitler safe. He analyzes Hitler's SS escort and the other security groups responsible for his life,there were so many of them that they often counteracted one another,together with their arrangements for his transportation, public appearances, residences, and wartime headquarters. Providing remarkable new information about the workings of those devoted to defending and destroying him, this book is an invaluable contribution to the history of the Third Reich.

The English version of the book has been extensively revised and expanded since its original publication in German. This edition includes a new preface and an updated bibliography.

Die vorliegende Studie bietet die erste ausfuhrliche Auseinandersetzung mit dem bisherigen Gesamtwerk eines der wichtigsten "Menglong"-Lyriker: Gu Cheng. Weit uber 300 Gedichte aus den Jahren 1969-1986 in zumeist erstmaliger deutscher Ubersetzung dienen der Untersuchung als Textgrundlage. Einer herkommlichen Interpretation der Gedichte folgt deren Dekonstruktion. Aus dem Blickwinkel der Sprachphilosophie Derridas wird zum erstenmal anhand chinesischer Gedichte gezeigt, inwieweit nicht der Dichter durch die Sprache (Zeichen) als vielmehr die Sprache (Zeichen) durch den Dichter spricht. Die hervorgehobenen Themen und Metaphern sind somit sowohl Stufen einer konstruktiven Entwicklungsgeschichte der Gedichte als auch Knotenpunkte eines (Schrift-) Zeichen-Netzes, das erst nach der Dekonstruktion seiner konstruktiv-metaphysischen Verankerungen sichtbar wird."

Fascination with the evil of the Nazi regime has not diminished in the decades since Hitler assumed power in Germany, but the story of internal resistance to Nazism has not been as fully realized as have the innumerable tales of horror. In this compact book Peter Hoffmann examines the growing recognition by some Germans in the 1930s of the malign nature of the Nazi regime, the ways in which these people became involved in the resistance, and the views of those who staked their lives in the struggle against tyranny and murder. The earliest postwar accounts of the resistance by survivors and witnesses were followed by a variety of investigations and evaluations. Peter Hoffrnann here presents a complete reconstruction of this baffling and intriguing story. After several decades of study of the German resistance to Nazism, he has unlocked the secrets of its inner history. Hoffmann recounts the methods of Hitler's rise to power in the tumultuous days of January and February 1933, the consolidation of his power as a result of the Röhm Massacre in 1934, and his growing criminality as evidenced by the rape of Czechoslovakia and the pogrom of 1938. The author describes the several attempts in 1938 and during the war years to dislodge Hitler from within; the desperation of the luckless opponents over the carnage of war and the mass murders that threatened to engulf them; and finally, the attempt to assassinate Hitler on July 20, 1944. Throughout, he probes the motives of the resisters. Some, for example, found it difficult to justify assassination, even for the purpose of bringing an end to mass killing. Hoffmann examines and discounts the accusation that the principal motive of those who resisted was to preserve their class privileges. The resisters, he concludes, acted not so much in the hope of personal gain as from a moral obligation to challenge the evils they saw before them.