Nazi Hunger Politics: A History of Food in the Third Reich

Abstract

A lot has been written about the German Third Reich’s incorporation of eugenics into their system of political administration. However, seldom has there been an expose of the use of food by the Nazis in their racial cleansing operations. Gesine Gerhard’s seminal book Nazi Hunger Politics delves into the machinations of Hitler’s regime courtesy of Richard Walter Darre, the first Reich Minister of Food and Agriculture, and his protege Herbert Backe who succeeded him in the same position. Across six chapters, the author insightfully links together the logistical and scientific aspects of food production and the feeding of the German masses with the Nazi ideological notions of unrestrained patriotism, racial superiority and purity, and eugenic pseudoscience.