Look to Germany

Rating:
Summary: Daily Life in Nazi Germany
Review: At first glance I harbored some misgivings about this book. A friend had it in his office and during an evening visit I glanced through a few pages. The updated cover art, not original to the first and only previous edition, was attractive but still I was skeptical. Was this some tedious rehash of the �German war machine� theme, or yet another �art gallery� filled with photos of Adolf and his crew?

No. This one is different. Very different. Published in 1937, fast on the heels of the excitement surrounding the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, LOOK TO GERMANY delves into the social aspects of Hitler�s regime during its first four years: the earliest strides forward under the new Nazi way of doing things.

Nearly every page is filled with large, carefully reproduced photos which depict mostly average people observed while performing the tasks of daily life. We have page after page of �back to the land� ecology camps, interspersed with photos showing mile after mile of scenic Autobahn vistas. There are huge architectural projects as well as endless tracts of worker�s housing settlements. We see early TV broadcasting and race car events; interior views of huge airships; engineering feats of all types; farmers of all stripes; Hitler Youth at sport and at work. From the Hitler Youth we graduate to the RAD/Labor Service. More work - the German national pastime. We see storm troopers bringing �meals on wheels� to the Old Volks. Here is Hermann Goering drinking beer with the guild carpenters, and Robert Ley, boss of the Labor Front, tipping a few with local cronies - something that looks like it is right out of ward politics in Boston or Cook County circa 1937. Now we swing over to the �Strength Through Joy� program, with photos of vacation charters for �oppressed� industrial workers. Shown is a model of the big Strength Through Joy cruiseship Wilhelm Gustloff under construction. It was later sent to the bottom of the sea by an Allied torpedo with the loss of over 7000 civilian refugees. There is a short section describing child welfare benefits and showing maternity homes, which critics of the regime (in keeping with the vulgarity of Hollywood even in those days) called �SS stud farms�.

Fair warning! You will not see any �glamour shots� of Third Reich icons. No blond beasts, no robot-faced beauties in braids from the palette of Wolf Willrich, and certainly no neo-Adonis statuary emerging from the studio of Professor Arno Breker. No tanks and no war planes either! What consumes this book is the utterly pedestrian quality of clean, faithful, simple citizens without a trace of guile, all connected to the voltage of a growing high-tech society on-the-march.

We have the peasantry personified and happy children who appear to be adequately fed and cared for. Plenty of gnarled seniors - rustics with a gleam of �Sieg Heil� in their eyes. Bearded Bavarians galore. Jolly Rhinelanders toiling in vineyards. Hausfraus busy stuffing sausages and baking bread in farmhouse kitchens. Turn the page and you are hit squarely with a photo spread of Olympic glory and high achievement! Turn another page and see a peasant woman praying in a baroque church. Pater noster...Tantum ergo.

LOOK TO GERMANY is a large book, some 248 pages, a nice 8-1/2 x 11 inch format, gloss paper. The writing is typical American �newspaper dash� of the 1930s. The text is pleasant enough and it interfaces nicely with picture captions and somewhat sensational chapter headings.

The thrust of MacClatchie�s LOOK TO GERMANY is its observance and celebration of the daily lives of average citizens in Nazi Germany, with a strong desire to show the world that the first concern of the new Nazi State was the welfare of its citizens. And that is exactly what most people can not grasp, even to this day. Perhaps this book will help us get away from the endless devotions to all things purely military, and instead show us what was really going on at the Germanic home and hearth, which ultimately is where all true power resides in a nation.

Rating:
Summary: Daily Life in Nazi Germany
Review: At first glance I harbored some misgivings about this book. A friend had it in his office and during an evening visit I glanced through a few pages. The updated cover art, not original to the first and only previous edition, was attractive but still I was skeptical. Was this some tedious rehash of the 'German war machine' theme, or yet another 'art gallery' filled with photos of Adolf and his crew?

No. This one is different. Very different. Published in 1937, fast on the heels of the excitement surrounding the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, LOOK TO GERMANY delves into the social aspects of Hitler's regime during its first four years: the earliest strides forward under the new Nazi way of doing things.

Nearly every page is filled with large, carefully reproduced photos which depict mostly average people observed while performing the tasks of daily life. We have page after page of 'back to the land' ecology camps, interspersed with photos showing mile after mile of scenic Autobahn vistas. There are huge architectural projects as well as endless tracts of worker's housing settlements. We see early TV broadcasting and race car events; interior views of huge airships; engineering feats of all types; farmers of all stripes; Hitler Youth at sport and at work. From the Hitler Youth we graduate to the RAD/Labor Service. More work - the German national pastime. We see storm troopers bringing 'meals on wheels' to the Old Volks. Here is Hermann Goering drinking beer with the guild carpenters, and Robert Ley, boss of the Labor Front, tipping a few with local cronies - something that looks like it is right out of ward politics in Boston or Cook County circa 1937. Now we swing over to the 'Strength Through Joy' program, with photos of vacation charters for 'oppressed' industrial workers. Shown is a model of the big Strength Through Joy cruiseship Wilhelm Gustloff under construction. It was later sent to the bottom of the sea by an Allied torpedo with the loss of over 7000 civilian refugees. There is a short section describing child welfare benefits and showing maternity homes, which critics of the regime (in keeping with the vulgarity of Hollywood even in those days) called 'SS stud farms'.

Fair warning! You will not see any 'glamour shots' of Third Reich icons. No blond beasts, no robot-faced beauties in braids from the palette of Wolf Willrich, and certainly no neo-Adonis statuary emerging from the studio of Professor Arno Breker. No tanks and no war planes either! What consumes this book is the utterly pedestrian quality of clean, faithful, simple citizens without a trace of guile, all connected to the voltage of a growing high-tech society on-the-march.

We have the peasantry personified and happy children who appear to be adequately fed and cared for. Plenty of gnarled seniors - rustics with a gleam of 'Sieg Heil' in their eyes. Bearded Bavarians galore. Jolly Rhinelanders toiling in vineyards. Hausfraus busy stuffing sausages and baking bread in farmhouse kitchens. Turn the page and you are hit squarely with a photo spread of Olympic glory and high achievement! Turn another page and see a peasant woman praying in a baroque church. Pater noster...Tantum ergo.

LOOK TO GERMANY is a large book, some 248 pages, a nice 8-1/2 x 11 inch format, gloss paper. The writing is typical American 'newspaper dash' of the 1930s. The text is pleasant enough and it interfaces nicely with picture captions and somewhat sensational chapter headings.

The thrust of MacClatchie's LOOK TO GERMANY is its observance and celebration of the daily lives of average citizens in Nazi Germany, with a strong desire to show the world that the first concern of the new Nazi State was the welfare of its citizens. And that is exactly what most people can not grasp, even to this day. Perhaps this book will help us get away from the endless devotions to all things purely military, and instead show us what was really going on at the Germanic home and hearth, which ultimately is where all true power resides in a nation.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent reprint of an extremely important work.
Review: Look To Germany is by far the most important and impressive English-language piece of propaganda produced prior to the beginning of WW2 by the NSDAP. This reprint is an excellent facsimilie of the original, which I am very grateful to the publishers for; the original copies typically sell for $300+. This book is a must for any person interested in the truth behind the NSDAP, and for any person interested in changing our current political climate. In addition, this book depicts the pride and glory of the German people before Allied oppression.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent reprint of an extremely important work.
Review: Look To Germany is by far the most important and impressive English-language piece of propaganda produced prior to the beginning of WW2 by the NSDAP. This reprint is an excellent facsimilie of the original, which I am very grateful to the publishers for; the original copies typically sell for $300+. This book is a must for any person interested in the truth behind the NSDAP, and for any person interested in changing our current political climate. In addition, this book depicts the pride and glory of the German people before Allied oppression.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible!
Review: This book is a masterpiece. It is fascinating from both a historical and political point of view. As the author admits, it *is* propaganda, but it shows a side of the Third Reich so often forgotten in modern day books and television documentaries. A must read for anyone interested in WWII!