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Life in the Third Reich: Daily LIfe in Nazi Germany, 1933-1945
Germany was a deeply divided nation when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in 1933. As the shadow of the swastika lengthened, its citizens quickly came to realize that the Nazis' brutal programme was not optional. Everyone was expected to play their part in "national revival", especially those chosen as sacrificial victims.
Much has been written about daily life during World War II from the perspective of the Allied nations, but little about life in Germany during the Third Reich. With the benefit of hindsight, questions have been raised as to why a civilized, cultured nation stood by and let the Nazi Party impose their rule in such inhumane fashion, and why so few individuals made any attempt to rebel.
Life in the Third Reich draws on the recollections of those who lived through the rise and fall of one of the most vicious and sadistic regimes the world has ever seen. These are the stories of ordinary people in extraordinary times, living in the grip of a regime that did not care if it destroyed the whole country in pursuit of its perverted goals.
3 hrs. 56 min.
Much has been written about daily life during World War II from the perspective of the Allied nations, but little about life in Germany during the Third Reich. With the benefit of hindsight, questions have been raised as to why a civilized, cultured nation stood by and let the Nazi Party impose their rule in such inhumane fashion, and why so few individuals made any attempt to rebel.
Life in the Third Reich draws on the recollections of those who lived through the rise and fall of one of the most vicious and sadistic regimes the world has ever seen. These are the stories of ordinary people in extraordinary times, living in the grip of a regime that did not care if it destroyed the whole country in pursuit of its perverted goals.
3 hrs. 56 min.
4 pages, Audible Audio
First published June 17, 2015
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440 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
August 2, 2016
In terms of fact, this book was fascinating. So much of what we read about World War II deals with the Nazi party itself and the leaders, civil servants and military personnel that were instrumental in the progress of the conflagration. But we are often left wondering why the general population went along with it. Why didn't anyone protest? Were they truly supportive of Hitler or were people secretly disillusioned but too afraid to speak? Through a combination of fact and personal accounts, this book examines that question.
However, academically, this book lacked a great deal. Not that I expect endless references, but I did feel that a lot of 'fact' was stated and I found myself wondering where the author had come up with it. In particular, I think statistics should be referenced. In a history book, I don't think you can't say "More than 50% of people did such and such" without giving some kind of factual back up. Perhaps that is just my own academic training, but for me the result was a book which didn't convince. Furthermore, I felt that the subject was skipped over. This is a short book dealing with a huge topic, and as such, I don't think it does more than skim the surface of it. Perhaps this might be successful as an introduction to the subject from which a reader can go and find more information. But as a serious history, in my opinion it left a lot to be desired.
I received a copy of this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an impartial review.
However, academically, this book lacked a great deal. Not that I expect endless references, but I did feel that a lot of 'fact' was stated and I found myself wondering where the author had come up with it. In particular, I think statistics should be referenced. In a history book, I don't think you can't say "More than 50% of people did such and such" without giving some kind of factual back up. Perhaps that is just my own academic training, but for me the result was a book which didn't convince. Furthermore, I felt that the subject was skipped over. This is a short book dealing with a huge topic, and as such, I don't think it does more than skim the surface of it. Perhaps this might be successful as an introduction to the subject from which a reader can go and find more information. But as a serious history, in my opinion it left a lot to be desired.
I received a copy of this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an impartial review.
March 17, 2025
"The Nazis did not attract their initial supporters through persuasive political argument, nor by appealing to their ideals and aspirations, but by simply promising to provide for their immediate and fundamental needs � work and bread..."
Life in the Third Reich was a decent look into the topic. I feel that the author did a good job of conveying some of the lesser-known aspects of daily German life under Nazi party rule here.
Author is an English singer-songwriter, writer, and music journalist.
Paul Roland:
Roland writes with an effective style, and this one shouldn't have trouble holding the finicky reader's attention. The author drops the quote above in the book's preface, and it continues:
The writing here features many quotes from 's famous book: . I haven't read that one yet, but I will get around to it sooner or later.
Although I did enjoy this book on balance, I had a few small gripes. Roland mentions a few times here. He describes the University as a modern, enlightened liberal institution. He doesn't mention that this was the birthplace of , which is effectively cultural Marxism. Much of the leftist lunacy that the West is currently dealing with had its genesis in the Frankfurt School. Many famous leftist philosophers came from here, including Theodore Adornoro, Herbert Marcuse, Walter Benjamin, and Max Horkheimer. It should be noted that these people were most definitely NOT liberals, by any stretch of the imagination. They were leftists. Critical Theory is heavily underpinned by Marx's dictum of Some proper context would have been good.
Also, the book is not really an objective account. Now while it's certainly not out of bounds to have a disdain for Nazi Fascism, the story was not told in a detached matter-of-fact manner. The author has heavily editorialized the writing here, and his case studies were all of tragic lives in the Reich. This is perhaps a minor gripe, as it could be argued that most of life under Nazi rule was pretty bad. Still, I would have preferred a more objective account. Pretty much everyone already knows that Nazis are bad. It felt like this book was really trying to drive that home.
On the plus side, the author gives the reader a decent and concise contextual background for much of Hitler's rise to power. He talks about the German people's demoralization and despair after the loss of WW1 and being forced to sign the punitive Versailles Treaty. Some great writing here.
In this quote, the author talks about this epoch, and the failure of the post-war :
Life in the Third Reich was a well done book; minor criticisms aside. I would recommend it to anyone interested.
4 stars.
Life in the Third Reich was a decent look into the topic. I feel that the author did a good job of conveying some of the lesser-known aspects of daily German life under Nazi party rule here.
Author is an English singer-songwriter, writer, and music journalist.
Paul Roland:
Roland writes with an effective style, and this one shouldn't have trouble holding the finicky reader's attention. The author drops the quote above in the book's preface, and it continues:
"...Many who voted for them in the 1920s and even some of those who joined their ranks and marched under their banners during these early days of ‘the struggle�, sincerely and naively believed that National Socialism offered the only credible opposition to Bolshevism."
The writing here features many quotes from 's famous book: . I haven't read that one yet, but I will get around to it sooner or later.
Although I did enjoy this book on balance, I had a few small gripes. Roland mentions a few times here. He describes the University as a modern, enlightened liberal institution. He doesn't mention that this was the birthplace of , which is effectively cultural Marxism. Much of the leftist lunacy that the West is currently dealing with had its genesis in the Frankfurt School. Many famous leftist philosophers came from here, including Theodore Adornoro, Herbert Marcuse, Walter Benjamin, and Max Horkheimer. It should be noted that these people were most definitely NOT liberals, by any stretch of the imagination. They were leftists. Critical Theory is heavily underpinned by Marx's dictum of Some proper context would have been good.
Also, the book is not really an objective account. Now while it's certainly not out of bounds to have a disdain for Nazi Fascism, the story was not told in a detached matter-of-fact manner. The author has heavily editorialized the writing here, and his case studies were all of tragic lives in the Reich. This is perhaps a minor gripe, as it could be argued that most of life under Nazi rule was pretty bad. Still, I would have preferred a more objective account. Pretty much everyone already knows that Nazis are bad. It felt like this book was really trying to drive that home.
On the plus side, the author gives the reader a decent and concise contextual background for much of Hitler's rise to power. He talks about the German people's demoralization and despair after the loss of WW1 and being forced to sign the punitive Versailles Treaty. Some great writing here.
In this quote, the author talks about this epoch, and the failure of the post-war :
"In the immediate aftermath of the country’s defeat of November 1918, the population was weary, dispirited and looking for a leader with ready answers � someone who could identify those who were to blame for their misfortunes. Families throughout the country were grieving for the incalculable loss of life, confounded by the sudden and unexpected capitulation of an army they had been assured was on the verge of victory, and embittered by the futility of the sacrifice they had made in vain for the Fatherland. This sense of despair was compounded by the abdication of the Kaiser and the new Weimar government’s willing compliance with the punitive terms and conditions imposed by the Versailles Treaty. It is therefore no wonder that this poisonous atmosphere gave rise to extreme nationalism and the belief that the army had been betrayed, or ‘stabbed in the back�, to borrow a phrase attributed to General Ludendorff.
This grievous wound might have healed over time had it not been aggravated by the rampant inflation of 1922�3, which saw savings wiped out and wages devalued to the point where workers were being paid twice a day so that they could buy food while it was still affordable. Even so, it was not uncommon to view customers paying for produce with what had once been a month’s wages, all of which emphasized the fragility of the economy and the ineffectiveness of the Weimar government. Within a year the average price of a loaf of bread had risen from 165 marks to one and a half million."
Life in the Third Reich was a well done book; minor criticisms aside. I would recommend it to anyone interested.
4 stars.
August 19, 2018
Eerie how this book reflects our own times so so much...
August 27, 2016
This is a fascinating read. Anyone with any interest in WII or history in general should read this. I loved how this was truly about the daily life of normal people in the time of the Third Reich. If you've ever wondered how Germany got to the point of Nazism and how average people reacted to it, read this. I can't recommend it highly enough.
**I received this copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**
**I received this copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**
July 7, 2018
Very interesting. A chilling & timely view of how people can be swayed by a clever orator, and ignore the aspects of their doctrine that don’t affect them. Shows how unpleasant Germany became for everyone who lived there, not just those that Hitler attacked directly, which was quite an eye opener for me.
March 17, 2016
Some useful information.
Roland does give insight into daily life in Nazi Germany, but appears to rely on other author's works on the subject rather than any new research or insight
That being said it's a good primer for anyone who would like to learn more.
Roland does give insight into daily life in Nazi Germany, but appears to rely on other author's works on the subject rather than any new research or insight
That being said it's a good primer for anyone who would like to learn more.
December 24, 2015
How could a civilized country like Germany allow Hitler and the Nazis to wreak havoc on the world? Life in the Third Reich by Paul Roland explores reasons why.
A lack of civil courage was as much to blame for Hitler’s rise as uncritical adoration by his supporters. The Nazis came to power using lies and dishonest means. They had suffered serious reverses in the 1932 Reichstag elections. If industrialists and bankers had withdrawn their support, the Nazis may have imploded. Instead, their sustained election campaigns gave the illusion that they were popular, strong, and well-funded.
Many Germans lacked enthusiasm for Hitler, but hoped for an end to the economic chaos and violence between rival political parties since their defeat in World War I. Life wasn’t easy. Many apartment blocks were unheated. Hot water bottles were taken to bed, and in the morning, the lukewarm water was used for washing. Communal bathrooms were common, with no toilet paper. Clothes were washed with a washboard and bristle brush once a month.
Once Hitler persuaded the elderly President Hindenburg to appoint him chancellor, the Nazis immediately clamped down on universities, Catholics, and government offices, disbanded trade unions, began indoctrinating children to turn them against their parents, and supplanting religion with neo-pagan worship, deifying Hitler. They burned books because they feared anything that encouraged people to think for themselves and question what was happening. Ballot papers on the national referendum on reoccupation of the Rhineland were numbered with invisible ink. Those who voted against reoccupation were arrested.
Robert Ley, the leader of the Nazi Labour Front, stated, “Our state � does not let a man go free from the cradle to the grave. We start our work when the child is three � and do not let them go until they die, whether they like it or not.�
The Nazis encouraged behavior that would subvert young people’s traditional religious upbringing, destroy moral sensibilities and civilized behavior. Physical prowess was valued over intellect. (Where was this vaunted physical prowess in Hitler or Goebbels, who failed to resemble Aryans?)
Life in the Third Reich focuses on those who were children in the 30s and 40s. All emphasized how they could trust no one with their anti-Nazi sentiments, at the risk of being reported and arrested. Support for the Nazis ebbed as the Allied bombing intensified. By then, the German people had lost all their freedom.
Paul Roland reveals the stark contrast between the myth of “One People, One Fuhrer� perpetuated by Nazi propaganda and challenges the popular view of Nazi Germany as a nation united behind Hitler.
May 7, 2017
This was quite interesting. It was way too short, though. It was more of a basic introduction to the subject. Don't read this if you're looking for something more detailed and in-depth. It does have a very useful bibliography at the end if you are looking for more to read.
February 17, 2020
This is yet another book that is misleading if one goes by the title and cover, expecting another memoir of a child survivor of holocaust; and its not just thst one might be a trifle misled by these, but also that, if one has been reading such memoirs, one is offrered further series of books they claim are along the line, which then turn out often different - some were novels based on the era, which was ok, but some were novels about survivors who were mainstream Germans, not victims of holocaust or those that opposed the regime or were thrown in camps.
Books about travails of others are ok too, except that, when it comes to ordinary Germans and their travails due to losing the war, it seems like a clamour for a share of the sympathy pie. One may question if they'd not have been only too happy to share in the loot as long as Germany kept invading, occupying, enslaving and looting others. They often claim they were not only not Nazi but completely unaware of what Jews or similar others were put through, and were horrified and disgusted. While that's not unlikely, it's hard to believe that nobody thought anything about neighbourhood being ethnically cleansed, despite Kristallnacht and subsequent propaganda.
............
This book at the beginning seems like nothing so ,such as a series of quotes from the famous work of William Shirer, Rise And Fall of The Third Reich. Until he tells about a student in a German public school, Bernt Engelmann, who saw the Nazi flag raised by a janitor who refused to take it down when ordered by a teacher, and subsequently saw a teacher suspended for taking that flag down despite most students cheering that teacher, because some Nazi students complained. All this, before they came to power.
"His father was a staunch believer in democracy, his mother had offered practical assistance to the ‘victims of an obviously inhuman policy� and his grandfather, a trade unionist, Social Democrat and confirmed pacifist, had advised the boy to join a Socialist Workers� youth group. Bernt’s paternal grandmother also instilled in him a distrust of sabre-rattling militarism and the conservative aristocracy who, she said, regarded the top government posts as their birthright. But it was only when Bernt witnessed the public burning of books written by authors that he had read and admired that he realized that the Nazis were the enemies of educated, free-thinking people such as himself.
"Later, as a young man during the war, he joined a resistance group but was arrested by the Gestapo and interned in Flossenbürg and Dachau concentration camps. After Germany’s capitulation, he became an eminent investigative journalist and returned to Berlin, where he interviewed many of the people with whom he’d grown up during the 1930s. He was shocked to discover that several of his former friends had highly selective memories of that period and that more than a few attributed their participation in the Hitler Youth to nothing more than ‘youthful idealism�.
But with such interludes of personal experiences and memories of various people notwithstanding, the book does seem to be holding onto a thesis of how ordinary Germans were simply short sighted and selfish, not evil; that, with the usual complaints about unfairness of Versailles treaty, and the not too subtle insinuation about how it was really allies who were thereby responsible for driving Germany into arms of nazis, with suitable quotes from Shirer and others, seems to be what the book is about.
If so, one may question why one would need to read it if one is familiar with the Shirer work.
............
"A limit was introduced, however, for female students enrolling in university, amounting to no more than 10 per cent of the total.
"Hitler had prohibited women from taking an active role in politics and the professions, although he permitted them to work as unpaid activists drumming up support for the party and caring for its underprivileged members. Their natural place in the National Socialist state was to be selfless mothers of blond, blue-eyed Aryan babies, a role encapsulated in the party slogan Kinder, Küche und Kirche [Children, Kitchen and Church]."
"As for unmarried single women, they were regarded as second-class citizens or Staatsangehöriger [subjects of the state], and afforded the same legal status as Jews and mentally disabled people. And yet, a significant proportion of Hitler’s most ardent supporters were women, although it is a myth that they voted in greater numbers for the Nazis than for rival parties."
Yet there were thousands of women members of Nazi party, devoted followers.
"Every free moment they could spare would be devoted to party projects of one sort or another and their only recognition would be a front seat at various local events, or perhaps the honour of presenting a bouquet to party officials, maybe even the Führer himself. These women, by all accounts, rarely complained and also remained staunchly loyal even after they were forced to face the horrors perpetrated by the regime.
"More often than not they would blame Heinrich Himmler or other Nazi leaders but rarely Hitler, whom they believed shared their concern for the welfare of the German people. They dismissed the rumours regarding the extermination camps and atrocities committed by the SS in the conquered territories as malicious gossip. At party meetings they swallowed the official line � that the concentration camps had been built to imprison criminals, profiteers and other undesirable individuals who would be taught discipline and re-educated. The newspapers regularly reported details of those who had been arrested and what crime they had committed against the state to merit their subsequent internment, or execution. This made a mockery of their claim after the war that they knew nothing of what took place at camps within Germany, such as Dachau near Munich and Ravensbrück, north of Berlin. Such measures were generally considered necessary and it was understood that the inmates deserved to be dealt with severely. To enforce the impression that only habitual offenders were imprisoned in camps within Germany, the press printed photographs of individuals specially selected for their ‘repulsive� appearance.
"It was in the regime’s interest to publicize the existence of the camps to act as a deterrent and this gave rise to the saying, ‘Hush! Watch out! You don’t want to end up in a concentration camp.�"
............
Peter Drucker, a young faculty member at Frankfurt University, hoped to remain at his post, but was shocked by what he witnessed at the meeting.
"‘Frankfurt was the first university the Nazis tackled, precisely because it was the most self-confidently liberal of major German universities, with a faculty that prided itself on its allegiance to scholarship, freedom of conscience and democracy. The Nazis therefore knew that control of Frankfurt University would mean control of German academia. And so did everyone at the university. Above all, Frankfurt had a science faculty distinguished both by its scholarship and by its liberal convictions; and outstanding among the Frankfurt scientists was a biochemist–physiologist of Nobel-Prize calibre and impeccable liberal credentials.�"
"‘The new Nazi commissar wasted no time on the amenities. He immediately announced that Jews would be forbidden to enter university premises and would be dismissed without salary on March 15; this was something no one had thought possible despite the Nazis� loud anti-Semitism. Then he launched into a tirade of abuse, filth, and four-letter words such as had been heard rarely even in the barracks and never before in academia. He pointed his finger at one department chairman after another and said, “You either do what I tell you or we’ll put you into a concentration camp.� There was silence when he finished; everybody waited for the distinguished biochemist–physiologist. The great liberal got up, cleared his throat, and said, “Very interesting, Mr Commissar, and in some respects very illuminating: but one point I didn’t get too clearly. Will there be more money for research in physiology?� The meeting broke up shortly thereafter with the commissar assuring the scholars that indeed there would be plenty of money for “racially pure science�. A few of the professors had the courage to walk out with their Jewish colleagues, but most kept a safe distance from these men who only a few hours earlier had been their close friends. I went out sick unto death � and I knew that I was going to leave Germany within forty-eight hours.�"
............
"Manual labourers and white-collar workers were also acutely aware that their wages declined steadily during the Nazi era, while income from factory ownership and investment rose. Workers found themselves putting in longer hours and working faster to meet production targets in the hope of receiving an increase in wages.
"While the Nazi leadership declared their solidarity with the people, they enacted laws that bound workers to a form of medieval serfdom. Under the Law for the Organization of National Labour (passed in 1934), for example, industry regressed to a feudal system with employees reduced to the status of servants. If an employer didn’t want an employee to leave, they could refuse to hand over the documents that were required whenever someone began a new job.
"The regime attempted to appease the workers and get the most out of them by initiating a programme they called Kraft durch Freude [strength through joy], which offered incentives to productivity in the form of holidays and state-subsidized leisure activities. By 1937 almost 38.5 million Germans had participated in these state-sponsored leisure activities, which included symphony concerts, theatre performances, cruises to Scandinavia and Spain and breaks to the German countryside.�
"It all sounded too good to be true and it was. The beneficiaries of these bonuses were often the highly skilled workers, administrative staff and management.
"One branch of Robert Ley’s organization promoted the building of leisure facilities and canteens in factories and offices, which employees were shocked to learn they would have to build and pay for themselves.
"But the most cynical strategy was the offer of a Volkswagen car, which workers paid for over several years but that was never produced. Every employee who signed up for the scheme had 5 marks a month deducted from his or her wage packet in addition to taxes and compulsory contributions to Nazi welfare organizations. After three-quarters of the price had been paid, the employee would receive a voucher with an order number. They were never told, however, that the factory built to assemble the cars had been converted for the production of munitions."
............
"On 10 May 1933, students in Berlin and other major German cities organized the public burning of books deemed to be ‘un-German�. These included titles by Thomas Mann, H.G. Wells, Jack London, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein and the blind American author and political activist Helen Keller. Propaganda minister Josef Goebbels had incited the students of Berlin with a rabble-rousing speech that betrayed the real reason for this act of intellectual vandalism: the Nazis feared anything that encouraged the masses to think for themselves and to question the validity of whatever they were told."
"A hundred years earlier the German–Jewish poet Heinrich Heine had written, ‘Where one burns books, human beings will inevitably follow.�"
............
"History was literally rewritten to emphasize the positive aspects of German nationalism and to apportion blame for the defeat of 1918 to the convenient scapegoats � the vindictive Allied victors and the Jews.
"The subject of racial purity pervaded practically every subject from biology to geography, with emphasis on the need for Lebensraum [living space for the German people]."
............
"Susan remembered being woken that night by shouting and screaming as eight young storm troopers burst into the family home and began to vandalize everything in sight. They locked their parents in a bathroom then attacked Susan and her younger sister. The girls were dragged out of bed and Susan’s nightgown was ripped to shreds. Her parents could be heard shouting and crying but were unable to intervene. Then the SA thugs ordered Susan to get dressed, but as she opened the wardrobe they pulled it down on top of her and left, assuming they had killed her. Fortunately, it had fallen onto an overturned table, which left just enough room for the terrified teenager to crawl out and comfort her sister, who had shielded herself with blankets now covered with broken mirror glass.
"The next day the family cleared up the wreckage of their apartment with the help of an elderly maid who admitted she was a staunch admirer of Hitler and who could not believe that he had sanctioned such wanton destruction.
"Later that morning Susan took her bicycle to visit family friends to see if they were all right � no one dared use the phone for fear that it was being tapped by the Gestapo. All had suffered traumatic experiences the previous night. Now they urged each other to leave the city as the notorious Jew-baiter Julius Streicher was organizing a mass rally for that evening at which it was feared he would call for more attacks on the Jews of Nuremberg. The Oppenheimer family decided to drive to the British consulate in Munich but they were stopped soon after they reached the city, their father was arrested and the car confiscated. When their mother enquired when she might see her husband again she was told that they would be sent his ashes. As Susan later learned, her father was already on his way to Dachau."
"Judy’s father had lost his business, a small factory producing household goods, after the Nazis seized it. One day she returned home from school to find the door open and her parents gone. A neighbour told her they had been taken by the Gestapo and she would be arrested if she remained. Showing great presence of mind, she took her passport, some money that her mother had hidden for emergencies and a small suitcase and joined a Kindertransport taking unaccompanied children to safety in Britain.
"Without a guarantor to sponsor her and meet her at the other end of her journey, she was taking an enormous risk. But after she arrived at the station and was approached by weeping mothers begging her to look after their young children, she had the bright idea of buying a nurse’s costume from a fancy-dress shop and posing as a nurse. It was an idea that saved her life."
............
"If the family was anti-Nazi, odds were the child would be. That’s a big reason the Nazis wanted to undermine the family.�"
"In Hamburg, ballot papers for the national plebiscite on Germany’s reoccupation of the Rhineland had been numbered in invisible ink and those who voted against were subsequently-
Merged review:
This is yet another book that is misleading if one goes by the title and cover, expecting another memoir of a child survivor of holocaust; and its not just thst one might be a trifle misled by these, but also that, if one has been reading such memoirs, one is offrered further series of books they claim are along the line, which then turn out often different - some were novels based on the era, which was ok, but some were novels about survivors who were mainstream Germans, not victims of holocaust or those that opposed the regime or were thrown in camps.
Books about travails of others are ok too, except that, when it comes to ordinary Germans and their travails due to losing the war, it seems like a clamour for a share of the sympathy pie. One may question if they'd not have been only too happy to share in the loot as long as Germany kept invading, occupying, enslaving and looting others. They often claim they were not only not Nazi but completely unaware of what Jews or similar others were put through, and were horrified and disgusted. While that's not unlikely, it's hard to believe that nobody thought anything about neighbourhood being ethnically cleansed, despite Kristallnacht and subsequent propaganda.
............
This book at the beginning seems like nothing so ,such as a series of quotes from the famous work of William Shirer, Rise And Fall of The Third Reich. Until he tells about a student in a German public school, Bernt Engelmann, who saw the Nazi flag raised by a janitor who refused to take it down when ordered by a teacher, and subsequently saw a teacher suspended for taking that flag down despite most students cheering that teacher, because some Nazi students complained. All this, before they came to power.
"His father was a staunch believer in democracy, his mother had offered practical assistance to the ‘victims of an obviously inhuman policy� and his grandfather, a trade unionist, Social Democrat and confirmed pacifist, had advised the boy to join a Socialist Workers� youth group. Bernt’s paternal grandmother also instilled in him a distrust of sabre-rattling militarism and the conservative aristocracy who, she said, regarded the top government posts as their birthright. But it was only when Bernt witnessed the public burning of books written by authors that he had read and admired that he realized that the Nazis were the enemies of educated, free-thinking people such as himself.
"Later, as a young man during the war, he joined a resistance group but was arrested by the Gestapo and interned in Flossenbürg and Dachau concentration camps. After Germany’s capitulation, he became an eminent investigative journalist and returned to Berlin, where he interviewed many of the people with whom he’d grown up during the 1930s. He was shocked to discover that several of his former friends had highly selective memories of that period and that more than a few attributed their participation in the Hitler Youth to nothing more than ‘youthful idealism�.
But with such interludes of personal experiences and memories of various people notwithstanding, the book does seem to be holding onto a thesis of how ordinary Germans were simply short sighted and selfish, not evil; that, with the usual complaints about unfairness of Versailles treaty, and the not too subtle insinuation about how it was really allies who were thereby responsible for driving Germany into arms of nazis, with suitable quotes from Shirer and others, seems to be what the book is about.
If so, one may question why one would need to read it if one is familiar with the Shirer work.
............
"A limit was introduced, however, for female students enrolling in university, amounting to no more than 10 per cent of the total.
"Hitler had prohibited women from taking an active role in politics and the professions, although he permitted them to work as unpaid activists drumming up support for the party and caring for its underprivileged members. Their natural place in the National Socialist state was to be selfless mothers of blond, blue-eyed Aryan babies, a role encapsulated in the party slogan Kinder, Küche und Kirche [Children, Kitchen and Church]."
"As for unmarried single women, they were regarded as second-class citizens or Staatsangehöriger [subjects of the state], and afforded the same legal status as Jews and mentally disabled people. And yet, a significant proportion of Hitler’s most ardent supporters were women, although it is a myth that they voted in greater numbers for the Nazis than for rival parties."
Yet there were thousands of women members of Nazi party, devoted followers.
"Every free moment they could spare would be devoted to party projects of one sort or another and their only recognition would be a front seat at various local events, or perhaps the honour of presenting a bouquet to party officials, maybe even
Books about travails of others are ok too, except that, when it comes to ordinary Germans and their travails due to losing the war, it seems like a clamour for a share of the sympathy pie. One may question if they'd not have been only too happy to share in the loot as long as Germany kept invading, occupying, enslaving and looting others. They often claim they were not only not Nazi but completely unaware of what Jews or similar others were put through, and were horrified and disgusted. While that's not unlikely, it's hard to believe that nobody thought anything about neighbourhood being ethnically cleansed, despite Kristallnacht and subsequent propaganda.
............
This book at the beginning seems like nothing so ,such as a series of quotes from the famous work of William Shirer, Rise And Fall of The Third Reich. Until he tells about a student in a German public school, Bernt Engelmann, who saw the Nazi flag raised by a janitor who refused to take it down when ordered by a teacher, and subsequently saw a teacher suspended for taking that flag down despite most students cheering that teacher, because some Nazi students complained. All this, before they came to power.
"His father was a staunch believer in democracy, his mother had offered practical assistance to the ‘victims of an obviously inhuman policy� and his grandfather, a trade unionist, Social Democrat and confirmed pacifist, had advised the boy to join a Socialist Workers� youth group. Bernt’s paternal grandmother also instilled in him a distrust of sabre-rattling militarism and the conservative aristocracy who, she said, regarded the top government posts as their birthright. But it was only when Bernt witnessed the public burning of books written by authors that he had read and admired that he realized that the Nazis were the enemies of educated, free-thinking people such as himself.
"Later, as a young man during the war, he joined a resistance group but was arrested by the Gestapo and interned in Flossenbürg and Dachau concentration camps. After Germany’s capitulation, he became an eminent investigative journalist and returned to Berlin, where he interviewed many of the people with whom he’d grown up during the 1930s. He was shocked to discover that several of his former friends had highly selective memories of that period and that more than a few attributed their participation in the Hitler Youth to nothing more than ‘youthful idealism�.
But with such interludes of personal experiences and memories of various people notwithstanding, the book does seem to be holding onto a thesis of how ordinary Germans were simply short sighted and selfish, not evil; that, with the usual complaints about unfairness of Versailles treaty, and the not too subtle insinuation about how it was really allies who were thereby responsible for driving Germany into arms of nazis, with suitable quotes from Shirer and others, seems to be what the book is about.
If so, one may question why one would need to read it if one is familiar with the Shirer work.
............
"A limit was introduced, however, for female students enrolling in university, amounting to no more than 10 per cent of the total.
"Hitler had prohibited women from taking an active role in politics and the professions, although he permitted them to work as unpaid activists drumming up support for the party and caring for its underprivileged members. Their natural place in the National Socialist state was to be selfless mothers of blond, blue-eyed Aryan babies, a role encapsulated in the party slogan Kinder, Küche und Kirche [Children, Kitchen and Church]."
"As for unmarried single women, they were regarded as second-class citizens or Staatsangehöriger [subjects of the state], and afforded the same legal status as Jews and mentally disabled people. And yet, a significant proportion of Hitler’s most ardent supporters were women, although it is a myth that they voted in greater numbers for the Nazis than for rival parties."
Yet there were thousands of women members of Nazi party, devoted followers.
"Every free moment they could spare would be devoted to party projects of one sort or another and their only recognition would be a front seat at various local events, or perhaps the honour of presenting a bouquet to party officials, maybe even the Führer himself. These women, by all accounts, rarely complained and also remained staunchly loyal even after they were forced to face the horrors perpetrated by the regime.
"More often than not they would blame Heinrich Himmler or other Nazi leaders but rarely Hitler, whom they believed shared their concern for the welfare of the German people. They dismissed the rumours regarding the extermination camps and atrocities committed by the SS in the conquered territories as malicious gossip. At party meetings they swallowed the official line � that the concentration camps had been built to imprison criminals, profiteers and other undesirable individuals who would be taught discipline and re-educated. The newspapers regularly reported details of those who had been arrested and what crime they had committed against the state to merit their subsequent internment, or execution. This made a mockery of their claim after the war that they knew nothing of what took place at camps within Germany, such as Dachau near Munich and Ravensbrück, north of Berlin. Such measures were generally considered necessary and it was understood that the inmates deserved to be dealt with severely. To enforce the impression that only habitual offenders were imprisoned in camps within Germany, the press printed photographs of individuals specially selected for their ‘repulsive� appearance.
"It was in the regime’s interest to publicize the existence of the camps to act as a deterrent and this gave rise to the saying, ‘Hush! Watch out! You don’t want to end up in a concentration camp.�"
............
Peter Drucker, a young faculty member at Frankfurt University, hoped to remain at his post, but was shocked by what he witnessed at the meeting.
"‘Frankfurt was the first university the Nazis tackled, precisely because it was the most self-confidently liberal of major German universities, with a faculty that prided itself on its allegiance to scholarship, freedom of conscience and democracy. The Nazis therefore knew that control of Frankfurt University would mean control of German academia. And so did everyone at the university. Above all, Frankfurt had a science faculty distinguished both by its scholarship and by its liberal convictions; and outstanding among the Frankfurt scientists was a biochemist–physiologist of Nobel-Prize calibre and impeccable liberal credentials.�"
"‘The new Nazi commissar wasted no time on the amenities. He immediately announced that Jews would be forbidden to enter university premises and would be dismissed without salary on March 15; this was something no one had thought possible despite the Nazis� loud anti-Semitism. Then he launched into a tirade of abuse, filth, and four-letter words such as had been heard rarely even in the barracks and never before in academia. He pointed his finger at one department chairman after another and said, “You either do what I tell you or we’ll put you into a concentration camp.� There was silence when he finished; everybody waited for the distinguished biochemist–physiologist. The great liberal got up, cleared his throat, and said, “Very interesting, Mr Commissar, and in some respects very illuminating: but one point I didn’t get too clearly. Will there be more money for research in physiology?� The meeting broke up shortly thereafter with the commissar assuring the scholars that indeed there would be plenty of money for “racially pure science�. A few of the professors had the courage to walk out with their Jewish colleagues, but most kept a safe distance from these men who only a few hours earlier had been their close friends. I went out sick unto death � and I knew that I was going to leave Germany within forty-eight hours.�"
............
"Manual labourers and white-collar workers were also acutely aware that their wages declined steadily during the Nazi era, while income from factory ownership and investment rose. Workers found themselves putting in longer hours and working faster to meet production targets in the hope of receiving an increase in wages.
"While the Nazi leadership declared their solidarity with the people, they enacted laws that bound workers to a form of medieval serfdom. Under the Law for the Organization of National Labour (passed in 1934), for example, industry regressed to a feudal system with employees reduced to the status of servants. If an employer didn’t want an employee to leave, they could refuse to hand over the documents that were required whenever someone began a new job.
"The regime attempted to appease the workers and get the most out of them by initiating a programme they called Kraft durch Freude [strength through joy], which offered incentives to productivity in the form of holidays and state-subsidized leisure activities. By 1937 almost 38.5 million Germans had participated in these state-sponsored leisure activities, which included symphony concerts, theatre performances, cruises to Scandinavia and Spain and breaks to the German countryside.�
"It all sounded too good to be true and it was. The beneficiaries of these bonuses were often the highly skilled workers, administrative staff and management.
"One branch of Robert Ley’s organization promoted the building of leisure facilities and canteens in factories and offices, which employees were shocked to learn they would have to build and pay for themselves.
"But the most cynical strategy was the offer of a Volkswagen car, which workers paid for over several years but that was never produced. Every employee who signed up for the scheme had 5 marks a month deducted from his or her wage packet in addition to taxes and compulsory contributions to Nazi welfare organizations. After three-quarters of the price had been paid, the employee would receive a voucher with an order number. They were never told, however, that the factory built to assemble the cars had been converted for the production of munitions."
............
"On 10 May 1933, students in Berlin and other major German cities organized the public burning of books deemed to be ‘un-German�. These included titles by Thomas Mann, H.G. Wells, Jack London, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein and the blind American author and political activist Helen Keller. Propaganda minister Josef Goebbels had incited the students of Berlin with a rabble-rousing speech that betrayed the real reason for this act of intellectual vandalism: the Nazis feared anything that encouraged the masses to think for themselves and to question the validity of whatever they were told."
"A hundred years earlier the German–Jewish poet Heinrich Heine had written, ‘Where one burns books, human beings will inevitably follow.�"
............
"History was literally rewritten to emphasize the positive aspects of German nationalism and to apportion blame for the defeat of 1918 to the convenient scapegoats � the vindictive Allied victors and the Jews.
"The subject of racial purity pervaded practically every subject from biology to geography, with emphasis on the need for Lebensraum [living space for the German people]."
............
"Susan remembered being woken that night by shouting and screaming as eight young storm troopers burst into the family home and began to vandalize everything in sight. They locked their parents in a bathroom then attacked Susan and her younger sister. The girls were dragged out of bed and Susan’s nightgown was ripped to shreds. Her parents could be heard shouting and crying but were unable to intervene. Then the SA thugs ordered Susan to get dressed, but as she opened the wardrobe they pulled it down on top of her and left, assuming they had killed her. Fortunately, it had fallen onto an overturned table, which left just enough room for the terrified teenager to crawl out and comfort her sister, who had shielded herself with blankets now covered with broken mirror glass.
"The next day the family cleared up the wreckage of their apartment with the help of an elderly maid who admitted she was a staunch admirer of Hitler and who could not believe that he had sanctioned such wanton destruction.
"Later that morning Susan took her bicycle to visit family friends to see if they were all right � no one dared use the phone for fear that it was being tapped by the Gestapo. All had suffered traumatic experiences the previous night. Now they urged each other to leave the city as the notorious Jew-baiter Julius Streicher was organizing a mass rally for that evening at which it was feared he would call for more attacks on the Jews of Nuremberg. The Oppenheimer family decided to drive to the British consulate in Munich but they were stopped soon after they reached the city, their father was arrested and the car confiscated. When their mother enquired when she might see her husband again she was told that they would be sent his ashes. As Susan later learned, her father was already on his way to Dachau."
"Judy’s father had lost his business, a small factory producing household goods, after the Nazis seized it. One day she returned home from school to find the door open and her parents gone. A neighbour told her they had been taken by the Gestapo and she would be arrested if she remained. Showing great presence of mind, she took her passport, some money that her mother had hidden for emergencies and a small suitcase and joined a Kindertransport taking unaccompanied children to safety in Britain.
"Without a guarantor to sponsor her and meet her at the other end of her journey, she was taking an enormous risk. But after she arrived at the station and was approached by weeping mothers begging her to look after their young children, she had the bright idea of buying a nurse’s costume from a fancy-dress shop and posing as a nurse. It was an idea that saved her life."
............
"If the family was anti-Nazi, odds were the child would be. That’s a big reason the Nazis wanted to undermine the family.�"
"In Hamburg, ballot papers for the national plebiscite on Germany’s reoccupation of the Rhineland had been numbered in invisible ink and those who voted against were subsequently-
Merged review:
This is yet another book that is misleading if one goes by the title and cover, expecting another memoir of a child survivor of holocaust; and its not just thst one might be a trifle misled by these, but also that, if one has been reading such memoirs, one is offrered further series of books they claim are along the line, which then turn out often different - some were novels based on the era, which was ok, but some were novels about survivors who were mainstream Germans, not victims of holocaust or those that opposed the regime or were thrown in camps.
Books about travails of others are ok too, except that, when it comes to ordinary Germans and their travails due to losing the war, it seems like a clamour for a share of the sympathy pie. One may question if they'd not have been only too happy to share in the loot as long as Germany kept invading, occupying, enslaving and looting others. They often claim they were not only not Nazi but completely unaware of what Jews or similar others were put through, and were horrified and disgusted. While that's not unlikely, it's hard to believe that nobody thought anything about neighbourhood being ethnically cleansed, despite Kristallnacht and subsequent propaganda.
............
This book at the beginning seems like nothing so ,such as a series of quotes from the famous work of William Shirer, Rise And Fall of The Third Reich. Until he tells about a student in a German public school, Bernt Engelmann, who saw the Nazi flag raised by a janitor who refused to take it down when ordered by a teacher, and subsequently saw a teacher suspended for taking that flag down despite most students cheering that teacher, because some Nazi students complained. All this, before they came to power.
"His father was a staunch believer in democracy, his mother had offered practical assistance to the ‘victims of an obviously inhuman policy� and his grandfather, a trade unionist, Social Democrat and confirmed pacifist, had advised the boy to join a Socialist Workers� youth group. Bernt’s paternal grandmother also instilled in him a distrust of sabre-rattling militarism and the conservative aristocracy who, she said, regarded the top government posts as their birthright. But it was only when Bernt witnessed the public burning of books written by authors that he had read and admired that he realized that the Nazis were the enemies of educated, free-thinking people such as himself.
"Later, as a young man during the war, he joined a resistance group but was arrested by the Gestapo and interned in Flossenbürg and Dachau concentration camps. After Germany’s capitulation, he became an eminent investigative journalist and returned to Berlin, where he interviewed many of the people with whom he’d grown up during the 1930s. He was shocked to discover that several of his former friends had highly selective memories of that period and that more than a few attributed their participation in the Hitler Youth to nothing more than ‘youthful idealism�.
But with such interludes of personal experiences and memories of various people notwithstanding, the book does seem to be holding onto a thesis of how ordinary Germans were simply short sighted and selfish, not evil; that, with the usual complaints about unfairness of Versailles treaty, and the not too subtle insinuation about how it was really allies who were thereby responsible for driving Germany into arms of nazis, with suitable quotes from Shirer and others, seems to be what the book is about.
If so, one may question why one would need to read it if one is familiar with the Shirer work.
............
"A limit was introduced, however, for female students enrolling in university, amounting to no more than 10 per cent of the total.
"Hitler had prohibited women from taking an active role in politics and the professions, although he permitted them to work as unpaid activists drumming up support for the party and caring for its underprivileged members. Their natural place in the National Socialist state was to be selfless mothers of blond, blue-eyed Aryan babies, a role encapsulated in the party slogan Kinder, Küche und Kirche [Children, Kitchen and Church]."
"As for unmarried single women, they were regarded as second-class citizens or Staatsangehöriger [subjects of the state], and afforded the same legal status as Jews and mentally disabled people. And yet, a significant proportion of Hitler’s most ardent supporters were women, although it is a myth that they voted in greater numbers for the Nazis than for rival parties."
Yet there were thousands of women members of Nazi party, devoted followers.
"Every free moment they could spare would be devoted to party projects of one sort or another and their only recognition would be a front seat at various local events, or perhaps the honour of presenting a bouquet to party officials, maybe even
August 17, 2017
Perhaps I was disappointed because I was expecting more from this book. Life in the Third Reich, purports itself to be a look at the daily lives of people living under the tyranny of Nazi Germany. However, the daily life of your average citizen is skimmed over and the author instead relies on a series of anecdotes that touch on individual aspects, without ever really diving into them. Interesting only if you haven't read much about WWII. It's more of a collection of anecdotes pulled from various other works, but without enough different perspectives under each unifying theme to give the reader a taste of everyday life. The author seemed torn between the goals of providing a basic outline of the events of WWII and creating a picture of daily life, with limited success in either. A book trying to tackle either subject should have been twice the length, so the lack of focus is a considerable problem.
December 10, 2017
Pure Anti-Nazi Propaganda trash
The author completely fails to provide concrete statistics and references explaining Nazi Germany’s rapid rise out of economic crises and popular support for Hitler. A very biased write and hate-driven propaganda trash!
The author completely fails to provide concrete statistics and references explaining Nazi Germany’s rapid rise out of economic crises and popular support for Hitler. A very biased write and hate-driven propaganda trash!
July 30, 2021
Afraid I'm kind of ambivalent on this one. I felt like it read more as a collection of anecdotes than as a real examination of the civilian condition under the Nazi regime. This did humanize the subject matter, yet left things feeling incomplete. There needed to be some supporting statistics or at least a more detailed description of the circumstances in question. But even with that, there would still have been a certain lack of cohesion. Things seemed to bounce around from disappearing neighbors to swing-kids to air raid shelters. Interesting stuff all, but there was not much of a traceable chronology of things. And then there was the imbalance of the personal accounts presented. They were all from dissenters (for lack of a better word) of the National Socialists. It was a great perspective to explore and one that absolutely needed to be included, but it should have been contrasted with the viewpoint of those whose families supported the Nazi government. Without that balance it felt like the loyalist perspective was thought to be understood. I disagree with that assumption. Not that I was looking for someone to defend their family having been good Nazis, but I would have liked to hear what they might have to say for themselves. All of the dissenters interviewed were asked if they thought their friends, neighbors, classmates who had supported the government felt betrayed when the war was lost. A good question, but why not ask it of the those who would have felt that betrayal rather than solicit an interpretation? Am I splitting hairs here? Don't think so. My mother-in-law was a child the Hitler nightmare. She was 14 when the war ended and spent the next two years on the run with her mother through various parts of eastern Europe trying to get to the American side. Somehow they made it, though she never really spoke of it. But then it doesn't require much imagination to understand she experienced things that very few people could ever give voice to. Did she and her family feel betrayed? I would've loved to know that, but could not ask such a thing without tearing open old wounds. I do know that she jumped at the first chance she had to marry and come to America; became a naturalized U.S. citizen as soon as she was able; and she pointedly refused to return to Germany...ever. Perhaps that says enough. I suppose I was looking for some commentary from others who might have come from circumstances more like hers - a similar perspective to possibly lend a bit more clarity. This book wasn't the place to find that. I'll have to keep looking. And so it seems I am maybe not so ambivalent after all. My assessment of this book is rather negative and possibly not altogether fair. It's based on reasons of my own, but this book wasn't for me.
March 16, 2017
It's easy to find a book on the history of WWII in Europe but somewhat fewer books are done on the lives of the average non-soldier person in Germany at that time and this book fills that need
The author notes that many people did not act against the growing Fascist menage in Germany since they felt powerless to stop what was going on. At the same time, of course, many people thought Hitler was the answer to the problems Germany was facing. He was a great speaker and people believed what he said. More jobs, better roads, deal with the immigrants, things like that is what he promised.
The author says that Hitler spoke 'to the people's sense of anger and injustice.' Many people were still upset over the end of WWI and the price Germany had to pay for their aggression.
Women were being put into the slot of being housewives and raising children but staying out of most everything else. In 1933 high school students had to sign a pledge to the new regime.
The book moves on to the history of what resistance there was and then onto the book burnings, euthanasia, compulsory sterilization and the mistreatment of non-Aryan children in German schools.
In 1938 non-Aryan children were banned from German schools. Children were taught to report anything they heard or saw which was anti-regime, even if it came from their own parents.
Many other aspects of daily life are covered. The book also includes material on the closing of the war and the movement of children out of cities to avoid the bombings which were steadily getting worse.
The author notes that many people did not act against the growing Fascist menage in Germany since they felt powerless to stop what was going on. At the same time, of course, many people thought Hitler was the answer to the problems Germany was facing. He was a great speaker and people believed what he said. More jobs, better roads, deal with the immigrants, things like that is what he promised.
The author says that Hitler spoke 'to the people's sense of anger and injustice.' Many people were still upset over the end of WWI and the price Germany had to pay for their aggression.
Women were being put into the slot of being housewives and raising children but staying out of most everything else. In 1933 high school students had to sign a pledge to the new regime.
The book moves on to the history of what resistance there was and then onto the book burnings, euthanasia, compulsory sterilization and the mistreatment of non-Aryan children in German schools.
In 1938 non-Aryan children were banned from German schools. Children were taught to report anything they heard or saw which was anti-regime, even if it came from their own parents.
Many other aspects of daily life are covered. The book also includes material on the closing of the war and the movement of children out of cities to avoid the bombings which were steadily getting worse.
February 28, 2019
Só pelas fotos o livro já vale a pena. Além da quantidade, alta resolução e tamanho - algumas em página dupla - são fotos pouco comuns.
O autor aborda o perÃodo de 1918-1945, falando do desemprego, inflação e a fome após a Primeira Guerra, a chegada ao poder do Nazismo, o impacto na educação e religião, o antissemitismo, o programa de eutanásia, a Juventude Hitlerista, A Liga das Mulheres, as olimpÃadas de 36, o medo despertado pela SA e Gestapo na população, o racionamento durante a guerra, os bombardeios de cidades alemãs, entre outros tópicos. Há várias pequenas citações e relatos de pessoas que viveram no Terceiro Reich, além de duas entrevistas (perguntas e respostas) que ajudam a ter uma visão geral de como a população via o regime nazista.
A diagramação deixou a desejar, a fonte é pequena e à s vezes quase não tem espaço entre as palavras, o prefácio tem uma letra tão fina que dificulta a leitura e a letra capitular ficou mal colocada em todos os capÃtulos. O texto não foi muito bem revisado, há palavras com um espaço no meio, frases faltando elementos de ligação ou com artigo sobrando e erro de concordância.
Papel de qualidade (parecido com fotográfico), tamanho 23,8 x 16,4 levemente maior que o tamanho padrão.
Apesar de não ter notas ou bibliografia, algumas citações têm referência no próprio texto.
Por ser um livro pequeno o texto não é muito aprofundado, mas é uma leitura interessante e o material fotográfico é excelente. Recomendo.
O autor aborda o perÃodo de 1918-1945, falando do desemprego, inflação e a fome após a Primeira Guerra, a chegada ao poder do Nazismo, o impacto na educação e religião, o antissemitismo, o programa de eutanásia, a Juventude Hitlerista, A Liga das Mulheres, as olimpÃadas de 36, o medo despertado pela SA e Gestapo na população, o racionamento durante a guerra, os bombardeios de cidades alemãs, entre outros tópicos. Há várias pequenas citações e relatos de pessoas que viveram no Terceiro Reich, além de duas entrevistas (perguntas e respostas) que ajudam a ter uma visão geral de como a população via o regime nazista.
A diagramação deixou a desejar, a fonte é pequena e à s vezes quase não tem espaço entre as palavras, o prefácio tem uma letra tão fina que dificulta a leitura e a letra capitular ficou mal colocada em todos os capÃtulos. O texto não foi muito bem revisado, há palavras com um espaço no meio, frases faltando elementos de ligação ou com artigo sobrando e erro de concordância.
Papel de qualidade (parecido com fotográfico), tamanho 23,8 x 16,4 levemente maior que o tamanho padrão.
Apesar de não ter notas ou bibliografia, algumas citações têm referência no próprio texto.
Por ser um livro pequeno o texto não é muito aprofundado, mas é uma leitura interessante e o material fotográfico é excelente. Recomendo.
July 11, 2018
Life in the Third Reich: Daily Life in Nazi Germany, 1933-1945 by Paul Roland, is an interesting look at the everyday life of a German citizen in the years following Adolph Hitler’s rise to power. Right off, let me say how chilling some of the events in this book are in light of what is happening in the United States right now (July 2018). The similarities are unsettling to say the least.
Roland has clearly spent a great deal of time researching this subject and that combined with excerpts from German citizens, and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William L. Shirer, make this book a must-read for the military historian, and anyone with questions of how did the Nazi regime happen.
I love the personal aspect of the stories found within the pages of Life in the Third Reich. The basic mechanics of the time are well known but due to perhaps guilt, there is not an awful lot written by typical Germans of the time. Most books cover the challenges of the survivors of Hitler’s brutality, leaving the historian to delve deeper in order to find out what the average German was doing, or thinking at the time.
Life in the Third Reich will answer those questions, and perhaps give an insight into what might happen in the US. Impossible? Exactly what the average German thought back in the 30’s.
Reviewed by Daniel L Little July 11 2018 �
Roland has clearly spent a great deal of time researching this subject and that combined with excerpts from German citizens, and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William L. Shirer, make this book a must-read for the military historian, and anyone with questions of how did the Nazi regime happen.
I love the personal aspect of the stories found within the pages of Life in the Third Reich. The basic mechanics of the time are well known but due to perhaps guilt, there is not an awful lot written by typical Germans of the time. Most books cover the challenges of the survivors of Hitler’s brutality, leaving the historian to delve deeper in order to find out what the average German was doing, or thinking at the time.
Life in the Third Reich will answer those questions, and perhaps give an insight into what might happen in the US. Impossible? Exactly what the average German thought back in the 30’s.
Reviewed by Daniel L Little July 11 2018 �
May 14, 2022
Interesting that the author refers to me and my book Hitler's Girls-Doves Amongst Eagles in his narrative. I'm afraid his assumptions on the mentioned Hitler Youth (BDM) females I interviewed at great length now many years ago are wrong. They were not Nazis as he implies they were an exploited and brainwashed resource indoctrinated from their very youngest years and embroiled within events of which they had no influence or control. Opposition was crushed in the most brutal fashion so many had little choice other than to comply but he should know all of this. Did he know them as I came to know them, did he take the time to put in the hard groundwork as I did? No of course he didn't and as a result this book is little more than a patchwork of other authors work and little original material. On the plus side the more books released on this subject the better readers will understand it all. But Mr Roland please get your facts right before you mention the works of other authors. All it takes is an email if you wish to corroborate certain facts.
May 17, 2017
Worth reading - focuses on what daily life in the Third Reich was like to the average German (just as the title promises). It brings home the message that the Third Reich was a totalitarian state where something as simple as disagreeing with the official party line was, at least in the war years, punishable by death. It also made it clear that, in spite of saying otherwise, the family unit was purposefully eroded in order to gain control over each and every individual, including kids who were indoctrinated in various youth organisations.
The book also mentioned a group of Germans I had never heard about - "swing kids", the affluent kids of well-to-do Germans who liked American music, fashion etc. and who were, at least for some time, determined to not let the Nazis take away their fun.
This is a quick read and hardly skims the surface; the list of references is small but does contain a couple of biographies that seem interesting.
The book also mentioned a group of Germans I had never heard about - "swing kids", the affluent kids of well-to-do Germans who liked American music, fashion etc. and who were, at least for some time, determined to not let the Nazis take away their fun.
This is a quick read and hardly skims the surface; the list of references is small but does contain a couple of biographies that seem interesting.
September 21, 2017
I got this at a big discount, even though I was suspicious: how can you cover such an issue (twelve pivotal years' worth of "daily life") in 240 pages? That's something that could take up multiple volumes.
And indeed, my suspicion was proven correct; the book is very superficial. Yes, it's filled with interesting details. Yes, many interesting anecdotes. But the aspects of "daily life" are haphazardly thrown in together with no real effort in organising them (despite the chapter titles, the subject they deal with jumps all over the place), and no attempt at any level of analysis or insights.
The fact that the author tucked in a couple of interviews towards the end of the book, totally out of place, is rather a sign of a quick effort rather than a serious work.
Two and a half star, because what there is is interesting on its own.
And indeed, my suspicion was proven correct; the book is very superficial. Yes, it's filled with interesting details. Yes, many interesting anecdotes. But the aspects of "daily life" are haphazardly thrown in together with no real effort in organising them (despite the chapter titles, the subject they deal with jumps all over the place), and no attempt at any level of analysis or insights.
The fact that the author tucked in a couple of interviews towards the end of the book, totally out of place, is rather a sign of a quick effort rather than a serious work.
Two and a half star, because what there is is interesting on its own.
March 18, 2018
It was 40 degrees in Sydney yesterday, so it was a good opportunity to sit around and not do anything very much except read this book which I had stockpiled for some time. It is an account of a totally oppressive regime that made life a hell on earth for the inhabitants of the country and those that were subsequently overrun by the German war machine. I suppose you could say that Hitler and his cohorts were able to exploit a situation in history that is unlikely to occur again, but every citizen of the world has to be vigilant to ensure that it can never happen, although many of our political leaders are not good students of history. I felt for many of those who told their story in this book who were persecuted for no other reason than they were born Jewish, or did not agree with the ruling party. Well worth a read to help ensure that it never happens again.
Read
January 6, 2020Factual. Good read for anyone asking the question " how could this happen". Quote from the book ' I learned from my parents the ability to question, never to trust implicitly those in charge, not to believe the promises made in speeches and never to ignore the atrocious propoganda posters in public places...this kind of propoganda is designed to cause fear, and people who live in fear of a common enemy can be easily manipulated'. P 146
June 5, 2020
The hurt of the German people
You know a book is good when you make time to read it as opposed to reading it in your spare time. This was one of them. I expected a cerebral outline of the people of Germany during World War II. This book was more than that. The book delves into the personal lives affected by Nazi oppression of their own people. A good read? No I would say a must read.
You know a book is good when you make time to read it as opposed to reading it in your spare time. This was one of them. I expected a cerebral outline of the people of Germany during World War II. This book was more than that. The book delves into the personal lives affected by Nazi oppression of their own people. A good read? No I would say a must read.
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October 30, 2020The huge benefit of this book is that it pulls together many other resources in sort of a high overview. Very helpful and condensed for time savings. The saddest part to me was the part where the Nazi's set up a program where workers automatically signed away part of their paycheck, in hopes of receiving a new car after a certain amount of time. But there was no car and it was really just to fund the war effort.
July 8, 2024
Excellent factual description of life in Germany during the years prior to and including WWII. An interesting insight into the daily life of average Germans, and their recollections years later of how Hitler and his extreme followers were perceived during the time. For that reason only, the reader may question how accurate the recollections are, and if the relators of the recollections recall their interactions during the war with 100% accuracy.
September 3, 2018
The age group of the reader will be significant in the opinions of these groups.pre war born people would say the German nation got what they deserved after what they started. Post born would say we were to horrific in our reply. Go to Coventry, then parts of Germany. Sympathy has to go to the ordinary person as a result of stupid management of he people
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 26, 2021
Straightforward, well-illustrated account of the insidious erosion of human dignity in a police state where terror and fear are allowed free reign.If you would understand how ordinary German people could have allowed Hitler's excesses, read this. It could happen anywhere, even here in the USA, if we drop our viviance.
December 14, 2017
A Good Read
A very interesting and informative book. I appreciate the attempt to understand how average people lived and endured before and during the war. The stories of families was especially revealing. As a historian, this is my way of writing history.
A very interesting and informative book. I appreciate the attempt to understand how average people lived and endured before and during the war. The stories of families was especially revealing. As a historian, this is my way of writing history.
December 18, 2017
Short, well written book
This is a well written and organized book giving exams of daily life in WWII Germany. I found it a fast and easy read. I wish it was longer and had more details.
This is a well written and organized book giving exams of daily life in WWII Germany. I found it a fast and easy read. I wish it was longer and had more details.
February 12, 2018
Interesting and informative
. Personal experiences were interesting and helped understand thoughts and feelings of those who lived through those times. Look forward to reading more
. Personal experiences were interesting and helped understand thoughts and feelings of those who lived through those times. Look forward to reading more
May 4, 2019
An introduction rather than a detailed, academic account, more for the general reader but interesting for what it says about what it was like to live in Hitler's Germany. If you want something brief and easy to read then this will serve. I listened to the audio version.
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