The USSR is famous as the first totalitarian state to promote chess. Less well known is that Nazi Germany was the second. The Third Reich gave chess a tremendous financial and propaganda boost in hopes of making Germany a dominant chess power. Yet this aspect of the Nazi era has received scant attention in later German literature, and even less in English. This book fills that gap.
Using a multitude of German sources, the author has crafted a narrative showing how the Nazis completely remade German chess into a monolithic structure to showcase the supposed cultural and intellectual superiority of the ”master race.“ Many games by German masters are presented - Bogoljubow, Richter, Sämisch, Rellstab, Kieninger, Junge, and more - and by others who came under Nazi rule: Alekhine, Keres, Eliskases, et al. Important political figures are featured: Otto Zander, Erhardt Post, Hans Schemm, Josef Goebbels, and especially Hans Frank. Politics affecting chess are detailed, both external (e.g., the annexations of Austria and Czechoslovakia) and internal (rivalry between the Grossdeutscher Schachbund and Kraft durch Freude), as of course are the effects of the war and persecution of Jews.
Content:
001 Preface
003 Foreword by Herbert Bastian
004 Analytical Methodology and Technical Details
005 Frequently Used Abbreviations, Acronyms and Chess Terms
006 Annotation Symbols
007 Chapter I - Germans in Chess: A Proud Heritage
013 Chapter II - Chess in the Weimar Republic, 1918–1932
022 Chapter III - Chess in the Third Reich, the Early Years
059 Chapter IV - The Ominous and (Almost) Glorious Year of 1936
094 Chapter V - The “Unsurprising” Year 1937
113 Chapter VI - The Momentous Events of 1938
134 Chapter VII - 1939: Annexation, Consolidation, Aggression, and Amputation
163 Chapter VIII - 1940: Sitzkrieg, Blitzkrieg, Alekhine Occupied, KdF Active and Hans Frank Ascendant
183 Chapter IX - 1941–1942: The Alekhine-Frank Collaboration
225 Chapter X - 1943: The Beginning of the End
246 Chapter XI - 1944: Shutting Down
256 Chapter XII - 1945: Aftermath, Epitaphs and Evaluation
263 Appendix: Munich 1936 Olympiad Round-by-Round Results and Standings
267 Chapter Notes
275 Bibliography
Indexes:
277 Index of Players (to game numbers)
278 Index of Openings by Name (to game numbers)
279 Index of Openings by ECO Code (to game numbers)
280 General Index (to page numbers)
