Kellogg, Michael 1972–

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Kellogg, Michael 1972–

PERSONAL:

Born 1972.

CAREER:

Independent researcher.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Grant.

WRITINGS:

The Russian Roots of Nazism: White Émigrés and the Making of National Socialism, 1917-1945 (nonfiction; "New Studies in European History" series), Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS:

Michael Kellogg's book The Russian Roots of Nazism: White Émigrés and the Making of National Socialism, 1917-1945 is part of the "New Studies in European History" series. In it, the author examines the rise to power of the German radical right-wing movement, which reached its apex in Hitler's Nazi Germany. Hitler's regime was notorious for its cruelty in general and for its hatred of Jews in particular. In his book, Kellogg makes the case that the anti-Semitic component of Nazism was introduced to German right-wing ideology by monarchist Russians who came to live in Germany following World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution. Kellogg believes that this group's influence on Hitler, and the importance of that influence, has been underestimated.

W.J. Lavery, who reviewed The Russian Roots of Nazism for History: Reviews of New Books, felt that Kellogg's title did not capture the full scope of his "heavily researched" book. Kellogg goes into detail about four key men of the post-World War I period: Alfred Rosenberg, Max von Scheubner-Richter, Arno Schickendanz, and Otto von Kursell. All of them were from Riga, a city on the Baltic Sea which was within Russian borders at that time, and all had graduated from Riga Polytechnic University. Kellogg also provides information on influential Germans who were not from the Baltic region. Ivan Poltavets-Ostranitsa, Vladimir Biskupskii, and Piotr Shabelskii-Bork were from the Ukraine and Latvia; they were also prominent figures in the rise of the radical right in Germany. Shabelskii-Bork is even said to have brought "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" to Germany—a forged document that did much to stir up hatred of the Jews.

Kellogg presents evidence from Russian archives that were previously closed to Western scholars, as well as research from German sources, to make his points. He discusses Aufbau, a secret organization headquartered in Munich, which had the goal of overthrowing the German and Russian governments and putting totalitarian or monarchist regimes in their places. It was led by von Schuebner-Richter and Rosenberg. According to Roderick Stackelberg in the American Historical Review, it was these men who brought "the apocalyptic, religiously inspired, antidemocratic, antisocialist, antisemitic conspiracy theory" to Germany. Stackelberg praised Kellogg's book as "fascinating, meticulously researched, and highly detailed."

"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" seemed to prove the existence of a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world. The document was widely accepted as real and was responsible for fanning the flames of anti-Semitism. Reviewing The Russian Roots of Nazism for the Canadian Journal of History, Matthew Stibbe said that although Kellogg had not been able to identify the author of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," he does show how the false document came to Germany and how it influenced Hitler and his circle. "A missing piece of the jigsaw has thus been located and identified," wrote Stibbe.

Henry Maitles, a writer for the Socialist Review, felt that Kellogg "set himself a major task" in showing that German Nazism sprang from anti-Bolshevik roots. He was not convinced by the author's work, and stated that many issues involving the Nazi rise to power "are ignored by Kellogg who is at pains to see a grand plan hatched by Hitler, his henchmen and Russian émigrés." Annemarie Sammartino also found some weaknesses in Kellogg's book, but she also stated in her H-Net review: "Kellogg deserves praise for taking anti-Bolshevism seriously, and for looking at the Russian émigrés not merely as a historical footnote, but rather as political actors in their own right. His choice of Aufbau as an organization quixotically dedicated to a Russian-German anti-Bolshevik alliance allows him a good vantage point from which to witness both the crisis of conservatism after the success of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and the Socialist Revolution in Germany, and the unlikely (and unstable) coalitions and fantasies that this crisis inspired."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, December 1, 2006, Roderick Stackelberg, review of The Russian Roots of Nazism: White Émigrés and the Making of National Socialism, 1917-1945, p. 1618.

Canadian Journal of History, March 22, 2006, Matthew Stibbe, review of The Russian Roots of Nazism, pp. 133-134.

Central European History, March 1, 2006, Paul Robinson, review of The Russian Roots of Nazism, p. 144.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, December 1, 2005, S. Bailey, review of The Russian Roots of Nazism, p. 731.

German Studies Review, May 1, 2006, Mark D. Kuss, review of The Russian Roots of Nazism, p. 403.

History: Reviews of New Books, June 22, 2005, W.J. Lavery, review of The Russian Roots of Nazism, p. 153.

Immigrants & Minorities, March, 2007, Tobias Brinkmann, review of The Russian Roots of Nazism, p. 94.

International History Review, December 1, 2006, Istvan Deak, review of The Russian Roots of Nazism, p. 865.

International Review of Social History, April 1, 2007, review of The Russian Roots of Nazism, p. 182.

Journal of Modern History, June 1, 2007, Michael David-Fox, review of The Russian Roots of Nazism, p. 492.

Russian Review, April 1, 2006, review of The Russian Roots of Nazism.

Slavic Review, March 22, 2006, Robert C. Williams, review of The Russian Roots of Nazism, p. 188.

Slavonic and East European Review, April 1, 2007, Roger Griffin, review of The Russian Roots of Nazism, p. 358.