The Hitler salute : on the meaning of a gesture

Sometimes the smallest detail reveals the most about a culture. In __The Hitler__ __Salute,__ sociologist Tilman Allert uses the Nazi transformation of a simple human interaction--the greeting--to show how a shared gesture can usher in the conformity of an entire society. Made compulsory in 1933, the Hitler slaute developed into a daily reflex in a matter of months, and became the norm in schools, at work, among friends, and even at home. Adults denounced neighbors who refused to raise their arms, and children were given tiny Hitler dolls with movable right arms so they could practice the salute. And, of course, each use the greeting invested Hitler and his regime with a divine aura. The first examination of a phenomenon whose significance has long been underestimated, __The Hitler Salute__ offers new insight into how the Third Reich's rituals of consent paved the way for the wholesale erosion of social morality.

Sometimes the smallest detail reveals the most about a culture. In The Hitler Salute, sociologist Tilman Allert uses the Nazi transformation of a simple human interaction—the greeting—to show how a shared gesture can usher in the conformity of an entire society. Made compulsory in 1933, the Hitler slaute developed into a daily reflex in a matter of months, and became the norm in schools, at work, among friends, and even at home. Adults denounced neighbors who refused to raise their arms, and children were given tiny Hitler dolls with movable right arms so they could practice the salute. And, of course, each use the greeting invested Hitler and his regime with a divine aura.

The first examination of a phenomenon whose significance has long been underestimated, The Hitler Salute offers new insight into how the Third Reich's rituals of consent paved the way for the wholesale erosion of social morality.

Uses the Nazi transformation of the most mundane human interaction - the greeting - to show how National Socialism brought about the submission and conformity of a whole society. This book offers insight into how the Third Reich's rituals of consent paved the way for the wholesale erosion of social morality. Examines the Hitler Salute to demonstrate how it made Hitler divine and placed a sacred ambience around his regime. Discusses on this "ritual of consent" caused the erosion of social morality during World War II