New biography of leading Nazi published

Nazis: Most people cringe when hearing the word. 

The Nazi involvement in WWII is a sensitive subject, one that history professor Derek Hastings has spent nearly 20 years researching.

“How a country that was so highly cultured could wind up embracing such a brutal ideology,” Hastings said.

Hastings has been working at Oakland University for 10 years. His major fields of study include modern Europe, German history, nationalism and religion and society.

Recently, Hastings presented for the history department’s History Comes Alive Lecture series. His presentation “The Remarkable Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Nazi Icon: The Case of Ernst Röhm,” gave a look into the career and life of Nazi leader Ernst Röhm....