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

by Julia Boyd

Mary Goodland wanted to improve her German before going up to Oxford University in the autumn of 1933, so arranged to spend a few weeks staying with a family in Düsseldorf. She recalled, with perfect clarity at the age of 100, how unaware she had been then of the momentous changes taking place in Germany. But so indeed were her hosts. It was only when the elegant art nouveau windows of Tietz, the local Jewish department store, were shattered (at 4 a.m. on 1 April) that Frau and Herr Troost, after much earnest discussion, decided that they had better follow their neighbours’ example and put up some Nazi posters. By the same token, Herr Troost thought it might be politic to take part in the next SA torchlight parade. Not an energetic man, he went by taxi. When he returned, also by taxi, it was not Germany’s resurgence, the iniquities of Versailles or hatred of the Jews that he wished to discuss, but the enormous mosquito bites on his ankles acquired during the march.19

People realising importance of appearing supportive of the regime