In Serving the Reich, Philip Ball tells the sad story of theoretical physics in Germany during the period from 1919 to 1945. It would be comforting to claim that this tale needn't have unfolded as it did, but Ball demonstrates convincingly that it was a fate foretold. The first ingredients were an ingrained hierarchy in which university professors were civil servants expected to look up to and obey their political superiors; a defeat in a long, brutal war; and a peace treaty that held Germany solely responsible for the war and placed onerous financial reparations on it. This unholy trinity resulted in a nation with many shamed and angry citizens in search of a leader who would not fail them, as had the kaiser, his ministers, and his generals.
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