Hitler’s Rival

Lemmons has exhaustively researched the many and varied manifestations of the Thälmann myth, and he has found some fascinating material that breathes new life into the story. This book will likely be the last word and the standard work on the Thälmann myth and its role in East German history.

~Catherine Epstein, Amherst College

Lemmons (Jacksonville State Univ.) analyzes in great detail the myth and legend that formed around Ernst Thalmann, who became the leader of the German COmmunist Party (KPD) in 1925 and was a dominant politician in Weimar Germany until imprisoned by the Nazis in 1933. This comprehensive study, which treats the years before the war ended for the first time, is thoroughly researched and well written; it will be a standard work on the subject.

~G. P. Blum, Professor Emeritus, University of the Pacific

[...] Lemmons is to be congratulated for covering the entire period of German communism in a vast tranche of twentieth century history [....] [...] Lemmons' use of the concept of 'political religions' is interesting and offers a post-structuralist angle to our understanding of German communism [....] Thanks to Russel Lemmons' scholarly study, we now know just how central the myth was to legitimizing the SED's rule. We can only hope that we know as much about the 'real' historical actor soon.

~International Newsletter of Communist Studies