Customer Reviews

In Hitler's Germany: Everyday Life in the Third Reich

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3 star:		(1)
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The bulk of the books I have seen on Nazi Germany focus on the political and theoretical aspects and include discussion of Nazi industrial and agricultural policy from the 30's through the war. They include much useful material but can hardly be said to be very interesting. The violence and horror of the police state simply doesn't come across. Even when the brutality is described, it appears quite distant from the reader and difficult to fathom. Such is most certainly not the case here. Englemann's story of his years in the Reich is never dull and will grip the reader from start to finish.

Bernt Englemann opposed the Nazis from the first, having come from a cultured and well educated family in Germany. From 1933 on, he assisted Jews and other targeted individuals escape the country. He served in the Luftwaffe during the war and was eventually arrested and imprisoned for clandestine activities, being liberated at war's end.

After the conflict, he visits many of the characters from these years and asks them about their experiences. Why did they act as they did? What were they thinking? Their answers are interspersed through the book, giving us a glimpse at what life was like for the Germans in those times.

The book does have one significant weakness, although I didn't find it serious enough to subtract a star from the rating. The years from 1933-45 are covered so quickly that the reader barely has a moment to digest it all. Englemann jumps from scene to scene to a degree that is most confusing. And we are not told what happened to many of the characters in the story. Did they survive? Were they punished or rewarded in any way? As it is the book ends abruptly with the war's end. But don't let this deter you from getting a copy and seeing how at least some Germans resisted the Nazi regime.

I have read this book in its original version and what I am about to write is a review of the original German edition. I fled from the Nazis

late in 1938. The author feathered into what happened into several decades after. This is not a Text but describes one's person experience who was perhaps 15 or 16 when the "Machtergreifung" (seizure of power) on 30 January 1933 occurred. He manages to show Hitler Germany snd its people, their feelings and the way many formerly decent people reacted enthusiastically to Hiler. You will not read about historical events as they occurred but uses the horrors of Hitlerism through the eyes of bystanders of various sorts, of the resistance to Hitler which surprisingly it did not depend on religion, education, occupation, social standing, etc. Further it shows how some living during these dreadful times shook them off if they did not interfere with their amusement. "It's too bad but its none of my business". Despite the threatening and horrible times there is some humour which makes this book very readable indeed. It is not a book aimed at historians studying that period--except perhaps as getting a true picture of how people with diverse background reacted to evil incarnate.

Dr. Erich H. Loewy

Prof & F'dg Chair of Bioethics (Emeritus)

U of CA, Davis

ehloewy@ucdavis,edu

I have had this book on my shelf - unopened for many years, and recently decided to read it. It really opened my eyes to what happened in Nazi Germany, and what could potentially happen in our own country if we are not careful. It is very well written, and I plan to recommend it to friends.

I bought this book because I was hoping that it would actually be an account of day to day life in Nazi Germany. I was curious how life under the dictatorial mad man looked to everyday German people. What I got was one man's struggle against the Nazi government. I was impressed that Mr. Engelmann was a man who did his best to stand up to the forces of evil whenever possible. He was imprisoned in Dachau and survived the war to go on to become a successful journalist. Men of his bravery deserve our respect and admiration. Had his book been entitled something more along the lines of "My private Struggle Against the Nazi Government" perhaps more people would have bought the book. My interest is in how it looked from the inside; not by someone who knew the truth from the beginning. Rather, how was everyday life like to an apolitical individual who went about his day to day life. I have always wondered about how such a monstrosity like Hitler came into power and staid in power. Maybe I've already found the answer but don't know it. Maybe I'll never fully understand such an answer. However, the answer certainly wasn't in this book. That's why I was disappointed in it. I'm sure if I had read it for what it actually is, I would have appreciated it more.