Synopses & Reviews
Even today, the Third Reich--the regime that instigated the most destructive war in modern history--evokes powerful images of fascination and horror. Yet how were the lives of the ordinary German people of the 1930s and '40s affected by the politics of Hitler and his followers? Looking beyond the catalog of events, this intriguing book reveals that daily German life involved a complex mixture of bribery and terror; of fear and concessions; of barbarism and appeals to conventional moral values employed by the Nazis to maintain their grip on society. Eight leading historians present essays that shed fresh light on topics as familiar as the role of political violence in Nazi seizure of power and the German view of Hitler himself. It also focuses on lesser-known aspects of life in the Third Reich, such as village life, the treatment of "social outcasts," and the Germans' own retrospective view of this period of their history.
Review
Review from previous edition: "A useful, concise bibliography completes the picture; altogether a most welcome addition to the ever-increasing pile of books on this topic and likely to prove more attractive to our pupils than many of them."--Teaching History Review
Synopsis
This collection presents a broad view of life in Nazi Germany, descriging how ordinary Germans perceived the policies and actions of the Third Reich, as well as how they lived their daily lives. Articles by noted historians provide fascinating insights into the character of the German people, describing such phenomena as the satisfaction German nationalists took in the orderliness of Hitler's takeover; the contradictory reactions of Germany's young people to the Nazi state; the power of Hitler's popular image, created by the new techniques of propaganda; and the way that Germans today regard their experiences under Hitler. Drawing these threads together, the book offers new perspectives on some of the most challenging questions of our time, and enriches our understanding of an awful chapter in German history.
About the Author
Richard Bessel is Professor of Twentieth Century History at the University of York. He works on the social and political history of modern Germany, the aftermath of the two world wars and the history of policing. He is co-editor of
German History and is a member of the editorial board of
History Today. His recent publications include
Patterns of Provocations: Police and Public Disorder, and 'Mobilizing German Society for War', in R. Chickering and S. Foerster (eds)
Great War, Total War: Combat and Mobilization in the Western Front, 1914-1918.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction,
Richard Bessel2. Political Violence and the Nazi Seizure of Power, Richard Bessel
3. Village Life in Nazi Germany, Gerhard Wilke
4. Youth in the Third Reich, Detlev Peukert
5. Hitler and the Germans, Ian Kershaw
6. The Nazi State Reconsidered, Michael Geyer
7. Nazi policy against the Jews, William Carr
8. Social Outcasts in the Third Reich, Jeremy Noakes
9. Good Times, Bad Times: Memories of the Third Reich, Ulrich Herbert