History Professor publishes new book
by Laurence Georgin
Southampton historian Professor Mark Cornwall has published his latest book ‘The Devil’s Wall, The Nationalist Youth Mission of Heinz Rutha’.
Legend has it that twenty miles of volcanic rock rising through the landscape of northern Bohemia was the work of the devil,who separated the warring Czechs and Germans by building a wall. The nineteenth-century invention of the Devil’s Wall was evidence of rising ethnic tensions. In interwar Czechoslovakia, Sudeten German nationalists conceived a radical mission to try to restore German influence across the region.
Mark Cornwall tells the story of Heinz Rutha, an internationally recognized figure in his day, who was the pioneer of a youth movement
that emphasized male bonding in its quest to reassert German dominance over Czech space.
Categories: History. Tags: LGBT history.