Life and death in the Third Reich

Fritzsche (Univ. of Illinois) combines the most recent research with his own investigation of primary sources to create an important synthesis of National Socialist goals and ideology among the ordinary citizenry of the Third Reich. He begins by asserting that the ideal of a racial community found widespread support among a majority of Germans whose social identities had remained divided by class and region. From this radical nationalism (bolstered by the pseudoscience of eugenics) flowed the subsequent political developments and attitudes that culminated in the highly energetic display of belonging to a "folk community" that excluded others. Assent from ordinary Germans fed into the transition from a republic to a dictatorship; the people served as willing partners in new activities designed to foster that special exclusivity of the racially defined community. Fritzsche augments Claudia Koonz's argument (The Nazi Conscience, CH, Jun'04, 41-6149) about Hitler's ability to pervert the German conscience to do what was right "by the folk" first and foremost, despite the horrific consequences: sterilization, euthanasia, genocide. He argues persuasively that these last and most radical processes involved so many people that knowledge became widespread. In fact, one needed a strong desire not to know in order to remain ignorant. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. J. Kleiman University of Wisconsin Colleges

University of Illinois historian Fritzsche (Germans into Nazis) effectively takes up one of the key controversies surrounding the Third Reich: to what extent were the German people accomplices of the regime? Over the years, the answers have ranged widely. Daniel Goldhagen's argument that the annihilation of the Jews was what the German people had always wanted has never persuaded specialists. Others have argued that the German people were either manipulated and deceived by, or converted to, Nazism. Fritzsche provides a more nuanced argument that the Nazis were quite successful in winning the people's support, but it took time and effort. He cites diaries showing that individuals had to examine how they could become reconciled, or converted, to National Socialism. The fabled Volksgemeinschaft--people's community--was not mere propaganda but had a powerful allure that drew Germans into the Nazi orbit. Fritzsche mines diaries and letters written by the famous and well-placed as well as the unknown, to show that the prospects of German grandeur and unity resonated deeply with many people, even when it meant a hugely destructive war and the genocide of the Jews. Fritzsche offers a significant interpretation of Nazism and the German people, and writes with a vibrancy that is not often found in studies of the Third Reich. (Mar.) Drawing the Line at the Big Ditch: The Panama Canal Treaties and the Rise of the Right (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Historians often debate the degree to which ordinary Germans supported the Nazi regime. Fritzsche (history, Univ. of Illinois) redirects the question by asking, How did people adapt to the Nazi regime? His fascinating book reveals how many Germans internalized Nazi doctrines in a variety of ways, for example, by investigating their own genealogy to demonstrate to Nazi bureaucrats their Aryan bona fides. Perhaps the most compelling aspects of this study are the parallel stories of how Jews and non-Jews viewed World War II. For German Jews, the story was one of descent into destruction, with only a pitiful few voices heard after 1943. For gentiles, knowledge about the annihilation of German and European Jewry was widespread, although the actual details were sketchy. Fritzsche's book demolishes the myth of contemporary ignorance about the Shoah and the artificial divide between the apolitical Wehrmacht and the evil SS. As the aerial bombing campaign destroyed German cities, the citizenry transformed their status as perpetrators and beneficiaries of Nazi policy into that of victims, thereby quelling postwar confrontation with reality for more than a generation. Fritzsche's book demonstrates that there are still numerous areas of the Nazi era in which historians may delve. Highly recommended.-Frederic Krome, Univ. of Cincinnati Clermont Coll. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.