Travellers in the Third Reich: The Rise of Fascism Through the Eyes of Everyday People

by Julia Boyd

Lewis was present at ‘a monster meeting’ in the Sportpalast where Hermann Göring, newly elected to the Reichstag, and propaganda genius, Joseph Goebbels, addressed a crowd of twenty thousand. ‘There was something like the physical pressure of one immense indignant thought,’ he observed.42 Lilian and Edgar Mowrer attended a similar gathering: ‘Long before we reached the Potsdamerstrasse, our taxi was halted by outposts of brown-shirted stalwarts, who allowed us to pass only after examining our invitation card,’ Lilian recorded. Finally they were allowed into the hall, its walls painted in brilliant futuristic colours. Not only was every one of the twenty thousand seats taken, she noted, but the corridors between the seats were also crammed with spectators. Yet more were massed at the back ‘like a great choir’. Lines of uniformed men, with leather boots and peaked caps, kept order. ‘They stood to attention in the stiffest manner, but were ready to dart into action at the slightest attempt at heckling. Their attitude was challenging, defiant, warlike; their expression most aggressive. The atmosphere of the whole place was as highly charged as a powder factory.’43

account of nazi rally