They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933–45

by Milton Sanford Mayer

“Yes, that was wrong, unless they committed treason in wartime. And of course they did. If I had been a Jew, I would have myself. Still, it was wrong, but some say it happened and some say it didn’t. You can show me pictures of skulls or shoes, but that doesn’t prove it. But I’ll tell you this—it was Himmler. Hitler had nothing to do with it.” “Do you think he knew about it?” “I don’t know. We’ll never know now.”

An American may be helpless, but he doesn’t know it.

“What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise;