Life and Death in the Third Reich

by Peter Fritzsche

On January 30, 1933, hearing about the celebrations for Hitler’s assumption of power, Erich Ebermayer remarked bitterly in his diary, “We are the losers, definitely the losers.” Learning of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935, which made Jews non-citizens, he raged, “hate is sown a million-fold.” Yet in March 1938, he wept for joy at the Anschluss with “Not to want it just because it has been achieved by Hitler would be folly.” In a masterful work, Peter Fritzsche deciphers the puzzle of Nazism’s ideological grip. Its basic appeal lay in the Volksgemeinschaft—a “people’s community” that appealed to Germans to be part of a great project to redress the wrongs of the Versailles treaty, make the country strong and vital, and rid the body politic of unhealthy elements. The goal was to create a new national and racial self-consciousness among Germans. For Germany to live, others—especially Jews—had to die. Diaries and letters reveal Germans’ fears, desires, and reservations, while showing how Nazi concepts saturated everyday life. Fritzsche examines the efforts of Germans to adjust to new racial identities, to believe in the necessity of war, to accept the dynamic of unconditional destruction—in short, to become Nazis. Powerful and provocative, Life and Death in the Third Reich is a chilling portrait of how ideology takes hold.

Genres: History, Germany, World War II, Nonfiction, Holocaust, European History, War

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fritzsche uses diaries, letters, contemporaneous memoirs, and secondary sources to show how ordinary Germans, mostly Gentile but also some Jews, viewed the Third Reich, Hitler's policies, and the war, and how they behaved in response. One response was to look away - as Jews were being deported, their clothes and belongings sold and redistributed to non-Jews, or as emaciated prisoners might be glimpsed doing slave labor in one's town. Fritzsche shows how the Jews were demonized so thoroughly that many Germans viewed them as the source of all their problems, rather than Hitler's innocent victims. Propaganda taught Germans that if they didn't get rid of the Jews now, while they could, the Jews would get rid of them later; after all, they controlled all the world's capital, so it was entirely possible.

While most Germans probably had no inkling of the modern machinery of the extermination camps until the end of the war, more knew about the pogroms and massacres in the east, such as Babi Yar. Soldiers who had taken part in them wrote home, or came home on visits and talked about it. One German attitude was "things are very bad for us here at home, so how can we spare any pity for Jews? We're being persecuted too." And while Hitler himself did lose appeal for some (many?) Germans as the war got tougher, particularly after the loss at Stalingrad, the Third Reich remained something to cling to. The military and political failures from Versailles through Weimar meant that Germans could envision a prosperous and militarily successful Germany without Hitler, but not without Nazism.

This is a very readable history, but the first section is very blandly and boringly written, which is the main reason for my 3-star rating.

[Loyalhistorian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well done, well-researched, and engaging book. This book is heavy on the primary sources, extensively taking from firsthand documents written at the time of the events, mostly through diaries, journals, letters, speeches, and the like. It taps into the overarching, basic questions that most everyday people ask when the Third Reich is brought up: "Why?" and "How?" Why did they do the things they did? And, how did "they" convince a whole country to follow along with it?

I'm a huge history buff and World War II researcher. Because of that, I get asked those two questions a lot by friends/acquaintances that are not greatly schooled on World War II, and also by students of mine that genuinely don't understand how and why such things happened. Granted, there are multifaceted answers to both of these questions, and it usually would take me longer than most people want to listen for me to adequately try to explain the answer to them. It takes a lot of backstory and intertwined stories to even be able to explain even a small, basic gist of it if you're really wanting a person to understand the answers to the questions. In any case, this book is one of the best that I have seen at adequately explaining the answer to those two questions while also being concise. It uses micro-examples to help you better understand the macro. It also just does a good job of breaking things down and explaining, even for the layman. It does a good job of covering pre-war events that help you better understand the German mentality of things that happen during the war. A lot of books have a tendency to gloss over or condense a lot of the 1918-1939 events in order to get into the so-called meat of the war. But, in order to understand World War II (at least the European Theater), you really need to be able to know and understand the inter-war years in Germany. The book is also good at explaining and dispelling the post-war myths of the so-called "clean" Wehrmacht, the "good" Germans vs. the "evil" Nazis, and the "just following orders" and "we didn't know" rhetoric. If you're looking for another book that deals with putting to rest those old post-war myths that were fed to the world by German citizens, then read "Hitler's Willing Executioners" by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen.

I had actually started this book three years ago. I had gotten through the first of four major sections of the book before misplacing it. We were remodeling our house at the time and it got shuffled around so much that I lost track of where it was. I was very excited to find it three days ago when I was milling around some things we've had stored. Needless to say, I finished the other three sections very quickly. It's divided into 1. Reviving the Nation, 2. Racial Grooming, 3. Empire of Destruction, and 4. Intimate Knowledge.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few years ago I read Peter Fritzsche’s An Iron Wind: Europe Under Hitler, which examined how the Nazi conquest of most of Europe permeated into its culture in the late thirties and forties. Life and Death in the Third Reich does something similar, but focuses more sharply on the culture of Germany. In particular, Fritzsche explores the creation of the Volksgemeinschaft, “The People’s Community”, and how Hitler and his kameraden transformed the land of poets and thinkers into an abattoir for two thirds of Europe’s Jews. He draws heavily on letters and diaries, to follow how German identity became more politicized and the Aryan myth embraced — to the detriment of Germany’s Jews, who became an Other even to Germans who did not accept Hitler’s hostility towards them. It’s both sobering and insightful.

Arguably the most important aspect of Life and Death is the appeal of the People’s Community. Although this can be defined narrowly as a racial community, the idea of the People’s Community came into being at the outbreak of the Great War, when Germans rallied together regardless of religion or politics to defend Germany against its encircling foes. The volksgemeinschaft was a sustaining vision of German society in which everyone included as ‘the people’ were united, along with their interests; capitalists and labor would not be foes arrayed in opposition against one another, but would exist in solidarity: their identity as a middle-class Berliner or a working-class Frankfurter would be overwhelmed by their status as members of the Volk. It’s easy to understand the appeal of this: virtually everyone wants to Belong to something greater than them; it’s why tribes and nation-states (not to be confused with more ideologically-rooted states like DC and the Soviet Union) exist. Most of us also despair of strife and antagonism; we long for peace, and for the people of Germany this would have been a particularly salient desire, accustomed as they were to goon squads of various political parties fighting in the streets, intimidating not only their rivals but the un-aligned who just wanted a cup of coffee. Hitler’s attempted to create this community both through the ideology of German aryan-ness, envisioning Germans as a distinct and superior Race among Europe and the world’s populations, and through politics and economics: fascism promised to align economic interests with those of the nation and its people, and most of society was ‘coordinated’ along the lines of national socialism — schools, civic groups, unions, etc. The idea of national unity was so popular that even those who disliked Hitler and others in the government supported the system he was creating, and the revolution in thinking and doing that he was imposing. It was suddenly springtime for Germany — Germany was restored from its losses-by-treaty twenty years before, redeemed from the shame of Versailles, recovering from the Weimar financial chaos. Such enthusiasm made it easy to ignore those had suddenly been determined to be un-völkisch, chiefly the Jews — especially after the war started. Fritzsche documents the irregular growth of the Holocaust, as both Hitler’s plans and his timing to effect them were greatly altered by Germany’s successes or losses in the fields. By the time the war turned badly for Germany, virtually all of German Jewry was gone, and the concerns of German citizens had turned to themselves — suddenly the target of Anglo-American bombers. Although there was widespread knowledge of something happening in the east (Germans participated in public auctions of Jewish goods, and the sprawling system of export and death required civilian logistical support), the campaign of ‘othering’ the Jews and the collective hardship of enduring the war (one perpetuated, propaganda said, by those wicked capitalist Jews in the West and the wicked communist Jews in the East) diluted the impact. It reminded me a bit of the revelations of grotesque prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib in the immediate post-9/11 period: most Americans would have ordinarily been scandalized and horrified to learn this was happening in their name, but between the overwhelming memory of 9/11 and the sudden war-footing mentality, virtually no one cared. It was happening to reichsfeinden, so — best let The People in Charge handle it. They know what they’re doing, surely.

Life and Death in the Third Reich is a most interesting book, disturbing in its study of how ordinary men, women, and children could become the willing builders of a revolution and a state so terrible that, 90 years later, they remain the face of evil in the west, despite far more murderous states existing then (Soviet Russia) and afterwards (red China, Mao to the present). Moderns who believe themselves too savvy for this sort of thing, who believe they’d never go along with it, are fooling themselves: we all have hunger that politicians claim they can fill, and we will ignore the poison provided it’s coated with enough sugar. We will happily “other” people: in the past two years people have grown to hate one another for not wearing masks, or for not accepting Pfizer’s jab as their lord and savior –and we will ignore great offenses given sufficient distraction or incentive. Beyond the serious lessons offered by this book, it also offers a glimpse into the everyday live of Germans, sharped as it was by Nazism — creating newfound support for hobbies like genealogy (necessary to prove one’s Aryan credentials) and photography, for documenting the ‘people’s revolution’ as it happened, of being both participants in and documenters of, ‘History in the making’.

[Manuel J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has two reading levels for me. One, the directly related to the theme. It's an important contribution for the interpretation of one of the mains events of the 20th century. the support of Hitler by the Germans before and during WW II. The text is clear and well organized and may be enough for the interested reader or may even be a starting point for further reading over this theme.
The second reading level is the personal questioning it implies for the reader regarding other political situations, most probably not directly comparable to the one reported. In some way, even in modern democracies, there are situations were political pressure impinge on the people, trying to make the public opinion bend to the projects of a few. The German History is an alert for exactly that.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

SO BORING but some of the quotes from German people were interesting I guess.

[Andreas Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nazificazione, la promessa di un futuro privo di paura, l'olocausto
Dividerei in tre parti questo testo. Il primo spiega come la Germania dalla repubblica di Weimar si nazificò. La tesi proposta è che i nazisti ispirassero fiducia per il futuro; la disfatta del 1918 della Germania è il motivo cardine dell'insicurezza dei tedeschi: chi può fare in modo che non si ripetano questi eventi? La crisi del '29 e i soliti crolli del mercato economico sono la spinta che serviva al nazismo per salire al potere; del resto, in questi anni, si sta verificando una catastrofe simile. Il nazismo è la personificazione delle teorie razziali (checché se ne dica, il resto del mondo libero non ne fu affatto immune); di per sé credo che il nazismo non rappresentasse nulla di nuovo, se non un regime in grado di creare un collage delle teorie sulla razza e dell'intolleranza, per il diverso e per gli inferiori e per quelli che Hitler identificava come il male assoluto sul pianeta: gli ebrei. La corsa alla razza divenne tangibile quando i nazisti introdussero il sistema di verifica della propria appartenenza alla Razza Ariana; negli anni che precedettero la guerra, si poteva assistere alla ricerca dei propri antenati, fin dove era possibile arrivare, dagli archivi delle parrocchie e persino andando a cercare lapidi dimenticate nei cimiteri. Il risultato fu un pesante apparato burocratico che divise i tedeschi in quattro categorie: dagli ariani al 100% agli ebrei al 100%; con conseguenze nel futuro che si possono immaginare. La seconda parte riguarda alla vera vita e morte nell'impero. La guerra accelerò il processo degli "splendidi" piani di colonizzazione nazista (un fatto per altro che paradossalmente si può notare anche in Israele dalla sua formazione, che lentamente stanno ricolonizzandosi la Palestina). La nazione più colpita fu naturalmente la Polonia, che nei piani di Hitler, che ragionava come un ministro imperiale del 19° secolo, doveva essere trasformata nello spazio vitale tedesco. I polacchi erano la razza inferiore che dovevano essere dominati sotto lo stivale degli ariani e i loro ebrei separati dalla comunità e distrutti. La guerra alla russia, più che un piano per l'acquisizione di risorse strategiche per la Germania, fu attuata principalmente per permettere l'espansione immediata e diretta di coloni tedeschi verso est. E nel 1941 sembrò ai tedeschi e al mondo che la Germania stesse diventando finalmente l'impero in cui i nazisti sognavano di trasformarla. La terza parte è sempre legata al resoconto sull'Olocausto, con la descrizione delle comunità che i tedeschi avevano distrutto nel corso della guerra; destinando più risorse strategiche di quanto una qualunque nazione avesse fatto, i treni che portavano i prigionieri alla loro distruzione fisica avevano la priorità sui convogli civili e militari. Volgendosi verso la distruzione finale, tra il 1944 e il 1945, il terrore per la disfatta totale della Germania, portò a combattimenti più violenti, in cui nei pochi mesi prima della resa videro una strage di civili (per mezzo di bombardamenti terroristici aerei, condannati per altro da Winston Churchill) e militari con un'ecatombe superiore agli anni precedenti del conflitto. Man mano che la classe politica nazista vedeva l'approssimarsi della fine, s'inasprirono le violenze perpetrate ai danni degli ebrei. Rimane infine imperscrutabile il motivo per il quale la società tedesca divenne nazista, abbandonandosi all'Olocausto e agli atti di crudeltà dei quali vi è traccia in tutti i libri di storia (tranne quelli scolastici). La Wehrmacht fu meno spietata delle SS? No, ci sono svariati testi che cercano di rivedere le azioni delle forze armate. La realtà era che specie all'est, in Russia, quando i reparti mobili delle SS attuavano fucilazioni di massa, spesso gli appartenenti all'esercito documentavano con le foto e si offrivano volontari per premere il grilletto. Nella Polonia occupata abbandonarono ben presto gli scrupoli morali di uccidere donne e bambini ebrei, perché così ordinato dai superiori. Come ultimo pensiero finale, la mia mente vaga adesso al processo di Norimberga. Il cui tentativo era quello di accelerare il processo di denazificazione della Germania e di prosciogliere dalla colpa una intera nazione. Mi chiedo davvero se l'intento è stato raggiunto. Se invece non avesse davvero cambiato le cose, anche per l'intero pianeta, l'avere abbracciato la colpa di essere nazisti e di aver creduto nell'ideale nazista fino alla fine. Non che il resto del mondo libero, gli Alleati, rappresentassero un modello di bene assoluto da seguire. Food for thought. - Edit dell'ultima ora - Anzi, in una seconda analisi, l'ondata di fascismo mondiale che l'indomani del 1918 ha investito il pianeta e si è cristallizzato in fascismo italiano e nazismo tedesco, era inevitabile. La vita è mutamento. Il nazionalsocialismo e i fascismi europei e la loro distruzione serve a ricordarci che la libertà di espressione e di parola non viene come naturale conseguenza del vivere in una società civile, per usare la frase di Thomas Jefferson: "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty".

[Vince · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very tough book to get started in. Once there though the author uses everyday German's diaries, boxes of momentos, etc. to establish what the average german knew and felt at any particular time during Hitler's reign and the immediate aftermath of World War 2. People's feelings change from one of exulatation to one of feeling sorry for one's self and country. Of course Germany is never really guilty of much in the eyes of the average german of this period and is pushed to do the things they do as a defensive posture. The author slices right through revisionist history which has managed to lay blame for the Hitler era on a handful of personalities but afterall weren't for the most part giving the people what they wanted.

[Darian Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life and Death in the Third Reich by Peter Fritzsche contends that many more Germans were Nazis and National Socialists than was previously believed. Furthermore, he argues that Germans in this period struggled with the Nazi revolution in a variety of ways, fascination and dismay being among the most prominent. There was a mixture of fear, opportunism, careerism, and varying degrees of ideological commitment that influenced German attitudes toward Nazi policies. Moreover, six million people were unable to find employment or secure a future at the end of the Weimar Republic due to severe economic conditions and the shame associated with military defeat and the Treaty of Versailles. As a result, Germans became more amenable to converting to a new set of beliefs and values. This was after a series of national calamities from the Great Inflation of 1922-23 to the German Depression of 1930-1933. For those new ideas to take root, they were also more willing to accept violence.

Four chapters, an introduction, and a preface comprise Life and Death in the Third Reich. As part of its exploration of this theme, the first chapter details Nazi efforts to ensure Germans' safety and prosperity by creating a Volksgemeinschaft, a people's community. In the second chapter, it covers Nazi efforts to teach Germans to think like Aryans and persuade them that "Jews" posed a serious threat to the nation. In chapter three, Fritzsche argues that Nazi visions of a secure Lebensraum (living space) guided racial and military policies in the East, including mass deportations and genocides. According to the final chapter of the book, the Germans suppressed information about the deaths in the East to avoid national defeat and the destruction of their collective national identity. By concealing the deaths occurring in the East, the Nazis stoked a sense of national pride and unity and furthered their goal of expanding their Lebensraum. This allowed them to continue to pursue their policies of expansionism and ethnic cleansing without fear of repercussions. Because of this general will, the Germans became perpetrators, Fritzsche said. Ultimately, this concealment had a devastating effect on both the victims and the perpetrators of Nazi atrocities.

For historians, one of the most intriguing aspects of the book is Fritzsche’s choices when it comes to sourcing. While there is an accepted mountainous collection of military and government reports, interviews, and correspondence, Fritzsche primarily supports his thesis. He draws from a wealth of diaries and correspondence to show how nationally-minded Germans embraced the new regime. Choosing this approach, he knew that he could create a vivid and, at times, empathetic narrative while also supporting his argument. The section "Assault on German Jews" in chapter two provides an excellent example of how he employs this approach. Antisemitism is compared to an article of clothing that fits well after being tried on in the years before Hitler gained control. With these few words, he shows how, even though widespread antisemitism was not the work of the Nazis, Germans were ready to recast their concept of nationhood and self as race-based.

Life and Death in the Third Reich, according to the National Socialist Party, Germany could only overcome its national crisis following its defeat in World War I and its attempts to establish a democratic government during the Weimar Republic by radically restructuring its social composition. Hitler and his followers considered this radical reorganization the only hope for the survival of the German race. They established Volksgemeinschafta by enlisting millions of Germans, whom they led but also controlled. While the National Socialist German Workers Party pushed for the reorientation of society, Germans debated whether to become National Socialists, comrades, or race-minded Germans, whether to remain faithful to the old or join the new. Ultimately, Germans had to make a difficult decision: whether to take traditionalism or embrace National Socialism. Early in the New Order era, it became clear that one could not remain neutral. One of the most distinctive features of the early socialist period was the forced coordination of almost all aspects of German public life. The Social Democratic Party had a centralized government controlling the economy, social services, and education. The government also controlled the media, allowing only socialist propaganda to be printed. Fritzsche highlights neighbors' self-reflection regarding the controversial process surrounding Germany's National Socialism conversion. Nazi force varied in form and degree. Fritzsche uses the introduction of genealogical I.D. cards as an example. Other examples include camps designed to create closed communities for labor services, professional training, and youth movements.

Throughout Life and Death in the Third Reich, Fritzsche explores the German people's fears, reservations, and desires. He provides a comprehensive picture of what happened. Throughout Life and Death in the Third Reich, Fritzsche explores the German people's fears, reservations, and desires. He does this using a chronological account with overarching themes for each chapter told in a narrative form. This novel approach provides a relatable understanding of Germans at times and, at other times, infuriating. He explains how people during this period coped with National Socialism by exploring their public and private attitudes. In the end, he demonstrates that the average German was a Nazi and was more susceptible to supporting National Socialism than initially thought. As well he indicates that they struggled in a variety of ways with the Nazi revolution, from enthusiasm to disapproval.

[Katherine Addison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both a social history and a determined, patient, compassionate, but unforgiving attempt to understand why the citizens of Germany went along with the Nazis. He used a lot of primary sources--diaries and letters--and while many of the diarists were people I'd encountered before, some of them weren't, and the way Fritzsche used his material offered me new insights about how and why the Third Reich happened.

[AC · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not likely to go back to this... It makes a strong case, on the basis of letters and diaries, for the broad popular support of Nazism in the 1930's, which is what one would expect. It was only the war, and the hardships that it brought in its train, that turned the public away from Hitler. A bit dry for my tastes, but this is largely a function, I think, of the genre.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intense, compelling and and totally upsetting.

[Ian O'Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an emotionally difficult book to read, and I confess I was much relieved to finish it. When I bought it, I though this would be a citizen's view from inside the Reich, and I was darkly curious given the unprecedented state of affairs here in America, what that might look like. Early on, the author purports to explore the issue of citizen collaboration - is it mere conformance or enthusiastic, full on complicity? As the range and scope of hereto inconceivable atrocities expand - "This horror is so inconceivable that imagination rebels at grasping it as a reality," writes one diarist - the question becomes moot.

Quickly Fritzsche's narrative hits its stride, rising by dramatic levels until its appalling climax. It begins with the pogroms: smashing storefronts and torching synagogues isn't enough for the terrorizing mobs - in one instance men armed with axes storm into Jewish home, assaulting the family, dishes smashed to the last piece, property destroyed - a scene so horrifying that the father dies of a heart attack on the spot.

Later the author's concise descriptions and chilling selections from diaries darkly portray the wholesale slaughter of whole Jewish families and communities in Poland and behind the front lines in Russia, including a scene from Babi Yar, (notably the subject of Shostakovich's 13th Symphony) in Kiev. Jewish residents, mainly the elderly, women and children lured out by German signage to be resettled elsewhere, are instead stripped down of their clothing and possessions before being slaughtered wholesale, but not before they catch sight of the dead bodies in the ravine below them, grimly foreshadowing their own imminent demise.

We're even more familiar with the industrialized extermination camps where "showers" are actually gas chambers and bodies are cremated nearby - Auschwitz-Birkenau camp had the capacity to murder 10,000 people a day (!) but that doesn't really spare us from the author's unflinching clarity as he recounts details we'd rather forget. Of course that's rather the point - it's enshrined in the original motto "never forget" a chilling reminder as we witness a global upsurge in all the varieties of dehumanization: nationalism, antisemitism, sectarianism and racism.

[Noah Kidd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal. This is the most insightful book on German fascism and the Holocaust I have read yet. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone seeking to gain a deeper understanding of the worst side of human nature.

Much of the book is nausea inducing and difficult to stomach. The second half of the book (with its focus on the Holocaust and genocide more generally) captured the horror of these atrocities so vividly that it made me want to vomit. Reading Life and Death in the Third Reich is in many ways like visiting a Holocaust museum, in the sense that it is a difficult but immensely important learning experience.

One of the most important takeaways from this book, in my view, is the fact that fear tends to play a central role in producing the worst human behavior. The emergence, development, and atrocities of Nazism were shaped not merely by megalomania, dehumanizing rhetoric, blind obedience, and the hypnotism of Hitler's charisma, but by the fear that German society was on the brink of extinction.

As soon as Germans came to believe that their society was fundamentally threatened by a wide array of internal and external enemies, they could come to embrace a radical "solution" (Nazism) that promised to protect German society and make it strong enough to save the German community from extinction. And once Germans had bought into the notion that their society was trapped in an existential struggle for survival and domination, any and all behavior against the perceived enemies of German society came to appear not only necessary, but justified. The fear that German society was on the brink of extinction played a central role in producing the calamity that was German fascism.

This book is an immensely valuable read. 5/5

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not the biggest WWII buff, so there were a lot of things here that I was completely unaware of and enjoyed learning about. Particularly, I thought Fritzsche's argument that the broad German desire for a "Volksgemeinschaft," and the Nazis purported deliverance of it, enabled the Nazi regime to win popular support was critically important. Before reading the book I had some ambiguous notions of why ordinary Germans supported the regime, but I was unaware of Volksgemeinschaft. This was probably my biggest takeaway of the book.

I also enjoyed Fritzsche's use of diaries to elucidate the history of reactions to the Nazi regime. By using the diaries, Fritzsche was able to show German reactions to Nazi decision-making in "real time." While it was not entirely surprising that there were diarists, like Klemperer, who were critical of the regime, it was still refreshing to read the diaries.

[Valerie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had potential, but Fritzsche's frequent contradictions weakened his case. His argument was that Germany was entirely responsible for the Nazi Regime and the Holocaust. The physical evidence is quite damning. However, he kept seeming to apologizing for the "good" Germans at almost every turn. Yes, some German gentiles did some courageous things but most willingly went along with Hitler. That was the truth. Let's not whitewash the Nazi era and the Holocaust. Germany was responsible for it. Fritzsche should not have to be apologetic for telling the truth. I liked the previous book I read about Germans and the Holocaust because the author, who is German by the way. made no bones about what happened.

[Tobias · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit disjointed - more like a series of essays than a tightly argued narrative - Fritzsche nevertheless makes an important contribution to the literature of understanding how Germans accepted the Nazi regime and the crimes done in their names. The latter chapters on the Holocaust were not necessarily novel, but the first chapter - on how the Nazis presented themselves as the answer to a decade of political chaos - made the book worthwhile entirely on its own.

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. Examines the relationship between the Nazis and the Germans. Generally engaging and interesting through the book. I would read it again. Fritzsche Gas a great understanding of the Holocaust and the Nazi Reich. Very thought provoking and intense. I learned a lot from this book.

[Josh McBride · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-written and thorough history that succeeds in its goal to depict formations of life and death in the Third Reich, and especially how Germans understood (or chose not to understand) those conceptions and what they meant in action.

[Maxim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covers the subject of the title. Very depressing. Still doesn't explain how a whole, supposedly decent, nation went mad, which is what I was hoping for

[Madison MacAulay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super interesting topic, but the book was so boring! I was expecting it to be more of a story, but it was basically just like reading a textbook.

[Mary Bayles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who thinks wearing a mask/getting vaccinated is equivalent to Nazi Germany needs to read this book. And everyone else should read it too.

[ry]

i read too much of this to not count it

[Greg L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harrowing and illuminating

[Theodoros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Η παρουσίαση του οπισθόφυλλου του βιβλίου, είναι πλήρης και περιγράφει με ακρίβεια το περιεχόμενο και το ζητούμενό του. Διαβάζοντάς το, διαπιστώνουμε το πόσο ομαλά και εύκολα, χωρίς καμία αντίσταση/αντίδραση αλλά με ευχαρίστηση, το σύνολο της γερμανικής κοινωνίας, "διολίσθησε" αβασάνιστα στην αποδοχή του καθεστώτος και την απόλαυση των πολιτικών του. Ειλικρινά, αδυνατώ να κατανοήσω γιατί στο δημόσιο λόγο αποφεύγεται ο χαρακτηρισμός των εγκλημάτων του β'ππ ως "γερμανικών", παρά αποδίδεται σε αυτά ο πολιτικός χαρακτηρισμός "ναζιστικά", σα να αφορούν ή να διαπράχθησαν από κάποια θλιβερή μειοψηφία και όχι από τον γερμανικό λαό ως σύνολο. Μάλλον, για να μη στιγματιστεί ο γερμανικός λαός, που προτιμά να υποδύεται το θύμα λαοπλάνων τσαλαπατώντας τον εγωισμό του. Οι γερμανοί μεταπολεμικώς, ως άλλες "μετανοούσες Μαγδαληνές", παρίσταναν πως ούτε ήξεραν, ούτε είχαν ακούσει τίποτα για τα εγκλήματα. Εκείνα που μεθοδευμένα και προγραμματισμένα πραγματοποιούνταν μπροστά στα μάτια τους, στη γειτονιά τους, στην πολυκατοικία τους, στο σχολείο τους, στα μαγαζιά και τις επιχειρήσεις που ήσαν πελάτες. Εκείνα που πραγματοποιούσαν οι φαντάροι γυιοί τους και αδέλφια τους και τους πληροφορούσαν -μισοπερήφανοι για αυτά- με τις επιστολές τους από τα μέτωπα. Όλα αυτά αναπτύσσονται στο υπέροχο αυτό βιβλίο, που συνιστάται ενθέρμως.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I found most compelling about this book was its dedication to analysing not just the thinking of the most virulent Nazi fanatics but also that of the broader German population throughout WWII. One of the most incomprehensible - and consequently one of the most preoccupying - factors of this war was its sheer scale, not only in the amount of people who died but also in the numbers who participated in or orchestrated the killings. Fritzsche here provides accounts from numerous diaries, memoirs and other primary sources in such a way as to make it frighteningly intelligible just how and why so many were persuaded to participate in these atrocities. He also demonstrates just how complex and often self-aware German involvement in the Holocaust was, and the varying emotions with which different individuals regarded the Nazi party. What is perhaps the most disturbing are the clear parallels which can be seen between Nazi propaganda and some of the political rhetoric with which we are all only too familiar in the 21st century. A definite must-read for anyone interested in the period who has never been able to quite get their head around the "why" of the Shoah as well as the "what," the "when" and the "how."

[Starlet Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first Holocaust literature that I’ve read where it discusses the Nazi policies, their agenda and how and why they endorsed these outrageous demands and cruelty. The author starts from the early 1930’s through 1945, using numerous diaries, letters from the front and other primary sources. The author lets the people of Germany tell much of the tale and it’s a huge piece of coverage…an historical account to the nth degree. It is the story of how Hitler came to power and so much telling about how the Germans reacted, their complicity, their lives during this time, and their lack of power, too. The author takes a wholly objective approach to the subject which is always appreciated by the reader. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the events of that time period, history buffs, and serious and casual students of the 3rd Reich. The mind set of the individuals is absorbing if not truly contemptible. 3/14/2011

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Fritzsche offers an interesting and compelling book about the transformation of a nation into Nazis in just over twelve years. Fritzche uses journals and letters of citizens and soliders in Nazi Germany to show the slow but gradual conversion to National Socialism. Fritzsche also uses various pieces of journals and letters from both German and Polish Jews to try to convey to the reader the absolute terror the Jews faced after 9 November 1938. With these documents, Fritzsceis is able to explain the rise of the Nazi party, the development of what would become Hitler's Aryan race, the destruction of the Jewish community and Eastern Europe, and the collapse of the Third Reich. Without the eyewitness accounts of these events, Fritzsche's book would not have the same impact as it does.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enlightening and comprehensive account of the attitudes and complicity of the German citizens (military and civilian alike) before, during,and after WWII. Pretty chilling to understand how they could become so accepting and/or blind when it came to the atrocities being carried out against the Jewish population right in front of their faces.

Only 3 stars because the timeline and locations jump all around, all the time, and I would have appreciated some overviews and charts laying out those terrifying statistics (3 million Jews murdered in Poland in 1942, for example) in an easier-to -read format.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A surprisingly excellent critical reconfiguration of the Third Reich's history, masquerading as yet-another general survey. For all its brevity and relative accessibility (this is probably grad student curricula material), Fritzsche forwards a number of evocative new interpretations that almost always left me shaking my head in agreement. Thoroughly enjoyable read.

[Marcia Forecki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is based, in part, on the diarists of the Third Reich, such as Victor Klemperer. It is very readable, but needs to be taken in small portions due to the intensity of the material. Though I have read quite a bit about this topic, there were amazing insights here. I recommend this scholarly work to anyone, no matter what their depth of knowledge on the Third Reich and the Holocaust.