Inside Hitler's Germany: Life Under the Third Reich

Rating:
Summary: A Powerful Overview of a Dark Time
Review: Books about the rise and fall of the Third Reich usually suffer from two shortcomings. They tend to be extremely long and exquisitely detailed, which makes them hard to fit into a busy schedule. And they sometimes emphasize high level German politics and World War II without explaining what is was like for an ordinary person to live through the twelve brutal years of the "Thousand Year Reich."

"Insider Hitler's Germany", on the other hand, is a very approachable book that chronciles life in Germany after the Great War and during the Third Reich. The authors write in a clear and informative style, letting the facts speak for themselves.

Most of us assume that totalitarian Germany must have been a nightmare for the German citizens who lived through it. It certainly was for Germans who were Jewish or Communist or otherwise gave the slightest hint of being out of step with the Nazi Party. But many Germans experienced the 1930s as a golden age of low unemployment, vacations for the average worker, and resurgent national pride. For them, it was only the catastrophe of World War II that exposed the true horrors of Nazism.

The most striking feature of this book is the photography that it reproduces. All of the photos are in black and white, but many are amazingly crisp and filled with a chilling immediacy. One that really caught my attention was a photo of the Hauptstrasse in Heidelberg, which is now a pedestrian mall filled with the usual shops (including, of course, a McDonald's). I have walked down that street many times. The photo shows a procession of scholars from the university, but all of the buildings along the street are festooned with flags displaying the swastika of the Nazi party. The stunning contrast between then and now is sobering, and this photo (like the book as a whole) is a useful reminder that the abyss is often just a very short step away.

Rating:
Summary: A Powerful Overview of a Dark Time
Review: Books about the rise and fall of the Third Reich usually suffer from two shortcomings. They tend to be extremely long and exquisitely detailed, which makes them hard to fit into a busy schedule. And they sometimes emphasize high level German politics and World War II without explaining what is was like for an ordinary person to live through the twelve brutal years of the "Thousand Year Reich."

"Insider Hitler's Germany", on the other hand, is a very approachable book that chronciles life in Germany after the Great War and during the Third Reich. The authors write in a clear and informative style, letting the facts speak for themselves.

Most of us assume that totalitarian Germany must have been a nightmare for the German citizens who lived through it. It certainly was for Germans who were Jewish or Communist or otherwise gave the slightest hint of being out of step with the Nazi Party. But many Germans experienced the 1930s as a golden age of low unemployment, vacations for the average worker, and resurgent national pride. For them, it was only the catastrophe of World War II that exposed the true horrors of Nazism.

The most striking feature of this book is the photography that it reproduces. All of the photos are in black and white, but many are amazingly crisp and filled with a chilling immediacy. One that really caught my attention was a photo of the Hauptstrasse in Heidelberg, which is now a pedestrian mall filled with the usual shops (including, of course, a McDonald's). I have walked down that street many times. The photo shows a procession of scholars from the university, but all of the buildings along the street are festooned with flags displaying the swastika of the Nazi party. The stunning contrast between then and now is sobering, and this photo (like the book as a whole) is a useful reminder that the abyss is often just a very short step away.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent look at life inside Nazi Germany
Review: If you are interested in "social history" or what life was like living in Nazi Germany, than this book is a good jumping off point. The book is very well written, covers an array of differing topics, and is extremely well illustrated with numerous photographs, many of which I'd never seen before.

The content of the book itself is very good. I am a slow reader, but found myself reading a chapter a day. It features chapters on the war, economics, genocide, how the Nazis were formed and came to power, resistance movements, youth organizations, women in the Reich, and a brief bio of Hitler. The book does a good job of giving a general history of the war itself, but never straying too far from the point of the book--describing life in Nazi Germany. The book even features a two page glossary at the end with some definitions of terms. Overall, it is a wonderful read and is an excellent introdcution to life in Germany.

However, it does not get 5 stars for two reasons. First, as mentioned by a previous reviewer, I found the last chapter somewhat curious as the authors spent several pages quoting German soldiers who were captured by the Russians, but were treated well, which was not the norm. Then, they spent just a couple paragraphs describing the more common experience of being sent to gulags and not returning to Germany for several years, if at all. Second, although the authors obviously did a thorough amount of research, there are no footnotes, no endnotes, no bibliography page. As someone who received a B.A. in history, I was always taught to cite everything and the authors do not do this, which is frustrating because it does not allow the reader to verify their facts or to read further based upon their research.

Rating:
Summary: The effects on society of Hitler and his NAZI Revolution.
Review: This is a pretty decent photo book about life in Hitler's thousand year Reich (although it only lasted 12 years). The authors do a rather solid job of covering the highs and lows of the NAZI regime. Many authors review the military aspect of the struggle, but this book covers the affects on the German society and population. The beginning chapters deal with Hitler and the rise of the NAZI party. Throughout the book are great pictures which summarize the life and death of NAZI Germany.
At only 210 pages, this is a good summary read of Hitler and his Germany. The only thing which I disagreed with was one of the final chapters on the Eastern Front. It had interviews with two German soldiers captured by the Russians. These soldiers stated they were fairly treated by the front line soldiers. I don't doubt that some German soldiers did get fair treatment by the Soviets but the overwhelming percentage were interned and fewer than 10 in 100 returned to Germany after the war. Other than that, a great read on a most dispictable man and his regime.

Rating:
Summary: The effects on society of Hitler and his NAZI Revolution.
Review: This is a pretty decent photo book about life in Hitler's thousand year Reich (although it only lasted 12 years). The authors do a rather solid job of covering the highs and lows of the NAZI regime. Many authors review the military aspect of the struggle, but this book covers the affects on the German society and population. The beginning chapters deal with Hitler and the rise of the NAZI party. Throughout the book are great pictures which summarize the life and death of NAZI Germany.
At only 210 pages, this is a good summary read of Hitler and his Germany. The only thing which I disagreed with was one of the final chapters on the Eastern Front. It had interviews with two German soldiers captured by the Russians. These soldiers stated they were fairly treated by the front line soldiers. I don't doubt that some German soldiers did get fair treatment by the Soviets but the overwhelming percentage were interned and fewer than 10 in 100 returned to Germany after the war. Other than that, a great read on a most dispictable man and his regime.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Example of Life Within Nazi Germany
Review: This is a surprisingly informative book that covers each aspect of German life in the beginning of the 20th Century. It is not the most comprehensive book on the subject, but it gives the reader a good deal of information to go on for further research.

Starting with a chapter on Adolf Hitler, the book describes economics issues, Hitler Youth, the women of the Reich, genocide of Jews and others deemed racially inferior to the Nazis, and other topics of home front Germany.

It is chock full of photos, and the text is quite interesting. I knocked the book down one star because it's not a comprehensive read. It's really a well-written picture book with the kind of text normally found in school books.

In fact, to give people a better sense of how an average German lived, this is a great place to start.