Due to how little I’ve been reading lately (thank you, summer), it’s taken me a while to finish this book, but I’m so glad I have. Why? Because since I opened it, I wanted to share it with you all. I don’t know if it’s the history major or the teacher within me, but I love to share what I learn, especially when it’s something as fascinating as the rise of Nazi Germany.
I’ve read books set during World War II ad nauseam, and while I didn’t want to pick up another for a while, it got me thinking about the roots of Nazi Germany. How in the world did someone like Hitler come to power, to murder over 11 million of his own people? How did people much like me actually vote him into power?
I won’t lie, my fascination with this in part comes from my fascination with the Star Wars series. Actually, the more I study it, the more I see how George Lucas created the Empire in the type of Nazi Germany. The scene where the senate votes Palpatine emergency powers and Padme’s comment, “So this is how liberty dies, to the sound of thunderous applause” is easily in my top 5 favorite moments of the series.
Enough Star Wars. I promise I’m not that geeky.
Milton Mayer, an American journalist and a Jew had the same question about Hitler’s rise to power. So in the early 50s, he goes to West Germany to interview 10 everyday, former Nazis. The answers they give him are insightful into human nature and in many cases, frightening.
In spite of what I believed before, these people weren’t hypnotized by Hitler. It wasn’t chiefly his charisma or his ability to rally the people that drew them to him. They chose him and his party because they saw him as the only practical answer to communism–the great enemy.
They joined the Nazi party to gain jobs and because they thought that Germany would be better off under Nazism (remember, that the Great Depression of the 30s was as big a motivator for them as it was for them). And in some cases, they still thought that at the time of their interviews.
It is that motivation that is incredibly scary to me. Americans seem to evaluate politicians based on what they promise to do for them. What a poor evaluation criteria, but one you’d expect from a selfish people.
Only one of the 10 Nazis really regrets his party involvement, and he knew it was wrong from the beginning. He joined primarily in order to be able to help out his friends (both Jews and Jewish supporters), but he rightly argued afterwards that by saving say 300 people is nothing like saving the millions that died because he went along with it. Sure, by himself he couldn’t have stopped the momentum of the Nazi movement, but if more people had stood up against it, it would have made a difference.
I’m afraid I would have been like him…know that it was wrong, but go along with it because I perceived some greater good. But we know now, 11 million lives is a high cost for any earthly good. Don’t go along with anyone or anything–politician, social activist, or party–just because it’s against a perceived evil.
There is so much more to this book (and certainly to the discussion) than I can talk about here. I wish I could quote huge chunks, but that’s just not practical. I’ll just say that if this interests you at all, pick it up. I had to order it through Interlibrary Loan, but I’m so glad that I did. Though it’s printed by an academic press, it’s accessible to any who are at all familiar with World War II in Europe.
I look forward to one day using this book to teach my children about the rise of Nazi Germany (and you bet we’ll watch the Star Wars movies alongside).
