The recent (so far unsuccessful) effort of Prince Georg Friedrich von Preußen, the titular head of the Hohenzollern family, to recover vast estates, castles, palaces, and works of art confiscated after World War II due to his family’s support for the National Socialist regime makes this book by the distinguished German historian Stephan Malinowski particularly relevant. The book adds abundant material to the case against the prince, not to mention against the longer-standing defense of the German aristocracy. Nazis and Nobles represents a comprehensive survey of a large subject. Although it is very long and probably too detailed for many readers, its historiographical importance can hardly be exaggerated.

Professor Malinowski begins with a broad survey of the values of the German aristocracy itself, a very complicated theme due partly to the sheer diversity of titles, and partly owing to the wide variation in region and religion, differences which periodically spilled over into the political world. In some ways this part of the book is reminiscent of Eric Mension-Rigau’s 1997 survey of the French upper classes (Aristocrates et grands bourgeois), as Malinowski performs a deep dive into values, prejudices, and customs—in this case, particularly authoritarianism and class arrogance relevant to the broader theme. From here Malinowski documents the impact of the collapse of the monarchy in 1918 and the advent of a republic shortly thereafter.

At the time, German nobles spoke as if the Weimar regime had destroyed the entire institution of the aristocracy. Indeed, the