| On
March 30, 1933, two months after Hitler achieved power, Paul
Nikolaus, a Berlin cabaret comedian, wrote disconsolately,
"For once, no joke. I am taking my own life.... [U]nfortunately
I have fallen in love with my Fatherland. I cannot live in
these times." How Germans could remain in love with their
fatherland under Nazism and even contribute willingly to its
horrific extremism is the subject of Cambridge historian Evans's
gripping if overwhelmingly detailed study, the first of three
projected volumes. Readers watch a great and historic culture
grow grotesquely warped from within, until, in 1933, a dictatorial
state was imposed upon the ruins of the Weimar republic. A
host of shrill demagogues had, in the preceding decades, become
missionaries to an uneasy coalition of the discontented, eager
to subvert Germany's democratic institutions. This account
contrasts with oversimplified diagnoses of how Nazism succeeded
in taking possession of the German psyche. Evans asserts that
Hitler's manipulative charisma required massive dissatisfaction
and resentment available to be exploited. Nazism found convenient
scapegoats in historic anti-Semitism, the shame of an imposed
peace after WWI and the weakness of an unstable government
alien to the disciplined German past. Although there have
been significant recent studies of Hitler and his regime,
like Ian Kershaw's brilliant two volumes, Evans (In Hitler's
Shadow, etc.) broadens the historic perspective to demythologize
how morbidly fertile the years before WWI were as an incubator
for Hitler. 31 illus., 18 maps.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of
Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
All Customer Reviews
5 out of 5 - April 20, 2004
I have read perhaps more than a hundred books
on the Third Reich from almost every angle possible. This
morning, I finished the Coming of the Third Reich then I read
the reviews posted here to see just how different perceptions
affect other readers' understanding of the material. After
digesting some of the commentary, I wondered if we had read
the same book.
This is the first time I've read a book by Richard
Evans so I can't compare and contrast with his other work
on the same subject. At no point did I detect excessive moralizing
or self-congratulatory passages. I would urge those who have
not yet read the book to read the preface. Its very important.
Evans explains that he is breaking no new ground but that
this book is primarily for the edification of those who know
little or nothing about Hitler or the Third Reich. It is an
overview with different angles than those of Shirer, Kershaw,
and Burleigh and that is part of what makes this book so useful.
Rather than dwell on the poverty of Hitler's youth and his
anti-Semitism, though Evans does cover these, the focus is
on the political, economic and social situation of the ill-fated
Weimar Republic and how it became fertile soil for extremism.
Evans has written a coherent, interesting, and
fast-paced explanation for the rise of the Nazis to the top
of the extremist crop of political fringe groups that got
their start following WWI. It is useful to remember that out
of the ashes of defeat in the war, myriad extremist groups
popped up in Germany like mushrooms in a Mississippi cow pasture
after a spring shower.
The Weimar Republic was a fractious cacophony
of partisan squabbling. Many Germans rejected its legitimacy
and after twelve years of abject political failure despite
the constant shuffling of Cabinets, millions were ready for
a strong leader to take control and restore German pride and
economic clout.
Many party leaders vowed to dismantle the Weimar
system should they come to power, but only Hitler and his
Nazi Party promised to do so while restoring Germany to its
rightful place in the world. People increasingly began to
see Hitler as a decisive leader and the Nazis as a youthful,
dynamic movement that had the capabilities of fulfilling its
promise. The Nazi Party was the first to use technology and
science to further its aims and to build support.
Innovations like focus groups that we take for
granted today were potent weapons in the Nazi political arsenal
then. With the guidance of Goebbels and others, Hitler learned
to tailor his speeches to his audience. Where his anti-Semitic
harangues were not working, he dropped any talk of the Jews.
When he spoke to workers, he spoke against capital. When he
spoke to industrialists, he emphasized the party's program
for individual initiative and profits for those who earned
them.
The book shows that at no time was Hitler's
appointment as Reich Chancellor inevitable, that the Nazis
were actually seen by many, including some of their own worried
leaders, to have already peaked in electoral support and that
much of the support they had was soft. It was only a matter
of tenacity coupled with luck on Hitler's part and stupid
overconfidence on the part of others that got him a shot at
running the country to begin with. Of great interest to readers
are the electoral maps which show the relative strength of
the Nazis around the country in a series of elections. It
is interesting to note that one area where the Nazis lacked
substantial support was in the south focusing on Munich and
southern Bavaria, the birthplace of Naziism.
Evans brings to life the daily street violence
from the left and the right that had ordinary people living
in fear. Hitler had promised a dictatorship time and again,
but no one was more surprised than the mass of the people
when that is exactly what he gave them.
I highly recommend this book, even if you already
think you know about all there is to know about Hitler and
the Third Reich. Trust me. You don't. I sure didn't! And I'm
looking forward to learning more in the next volume!
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