THE UPSTARTS – The German Middle Class Under Hitler

  • Critical family research into guilt and Nazi-era crimes: A middle-class family business during the Third Reich and their involvement in the regime’s war efforts.
  • Renewed interest through recently released digital Nazi archives exposing family secrets.
  • A thrilling and well-told story.
  • English sample availabe.

A self-made man from the provinces has big plans during the Third Reich. The family owns a cement factory and a winery. Soon, the family business becomes involved in building the West Wall and sets up a labor camp on the factory grounds, while the winery supplies wine to the guards of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. These dealings are only possible through close personal connections and networks, both locally and reaching up to the Nazi leadership. In this system, the five children of the patriarch become perpetrators and victims in their own ways.

The author, the great-granddaughter of the company founder, investigates this growing discomfort, searching through archives for evidence of long-suppressed truths – and she finds it. It becomes clear that, in this 2,500-person village in Rheinhessen, the conflicts of the era come into sharp focus. Christina Strunck not only tells the story of her family but also provides a microhistory of a community. Through this case study, she sheds light on the often-overlooked role of the German middle class in the Third Reich.

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  • Publisher: Rowohlt Hardcover
  • Release: 14.10.2025
  • ISBN: 978-3-498-00783-6
  • 432 Pages
  • Author: Christina Strunck

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Buchcover von THE UPSTARTS – The German Middle Class Under Hitler: Deutscher Mittelstand unter Hitler: Eine Familiengeschichte
Christina StrunckTHE UPSTARTS – The German Middle Class Under Hitler
Portrait von Christina Strunck
© Foto Rimbach
Christina Strunck

Christina Strunck , born in 1970 in Munich, is a professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, where she leads the Art History Institute. She wrote her dissertation on the sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini, which won the Otto-Hahn Medal by the Max Planck Society in 2001. Christina Strunck has spent time researching in cities like Rome, Paris, Florence, Los Angeles, and Cambridge. She focuses on Italian, French, and British art from 1500 to 1800. A discovery about her great-grandfather’s past led her to explore her family history.