Customer Reviews

Inside Nazi Germany: Conformity, Opposition, and Racism in Everyday Life

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The main emphasis of this book is on German social groups and classes and their behavior in Nazi Germany. Peukert looks at the working and middle classes, as well as the youth, and shows how each choose to conform or resist to authority. The youth, we are told, resisted actively by banding together in small groups to resist the Hitler Jugend and passively by listening to forbidden music. Working class organizations resisted in small ways but were generally unable to offer any real challenge to the Nazis.

The book's second half looks at Nazi terror and racialism. Peukert explains how much of Nazi ideology was in fact borrowed from 19th Century sources. He also argues that the Third Reich broke up traditional social networks, thereby 'atomizing' every German.

My one major fault with this book is that pivotal events such as the seizure of power in 33, the Rohm purge and the Kristalnacht are referred to only in passing. I know the author did not intend to write a general history by any means, but such fascinating events should not be thought unimportant by any researcher of Nazi Germany

While this book isn't as revealing as it's title would suggest, it's a worthy contribution to the vast amount of literature on the subject. It makes good use of primary sources to illuminate the era, though the author often quotes these at excessive length. Some of the revelations surprised me, like the amount of juvenile resistance to Hitler that took the form of listening to "decadent" forms of music like Jazz. It's admirable in it's lack of willingness to point the finger at anyone for the existence of Nazism and level-headed in it's conclusions about the amount of continuity between the "Third Reich" and it's predecessors and successors in Germany. Sometimes the sobreity of it's tone can be grating, but there's enough fascinating details to keep you reading.

If you enjoy learning about WW2 this is a must read . Do not pass this one up. It is beyond being informative , it is fabulous reading for a researcher. The Third Reich like all Control Freak governments was extremely complex to say the least. It was extremely multi leveled and overpowered everyone it touched.
They were diabolical maniacs that controlled every facet of Europe in those 12 years and reached across the world controlling nearly everyone else. The world would grow to hate them or love them in very short time. Yet few have taken the time to read what went on inside the Nazi empire.
Reading combat novels only gives one view and without undersanding the political side you will not learn the complete picture. The poor citizens of Germany suffered beyond blief , those outside of their borders were not worth living and their lives meant nothing and had to be eliminated from the face of the earth to make fertilzer.
Take a few hours to read what an inside expert saw . Mind boggling emotions.

There is a lot of important information about civilian attitudes in Nazi Germany in this book. Unfortunately, it is written in a very stultifying style. The author sometimes runs half a paragraph on one sentence. It is quite obvious that he has a degree in Political Science, as he uses "vis-a-vis" numerous times. Well worth the read, though, if you are interested in how the civilian population responded to various Nazi programs and proclamations.

From the title of this book, I expected something very different. Looking at the title, I think one could safely assume that you would be treated to a first-hand, look-inside account of the finer workings of the machine that was the Third Reich. Having read this book, I can now tell you that THAT is not what you will find.

In this book, Peukert assembles a wealth of information and literature on the existence of the "every day" German citizen during era of Hitler's reign. I found this book to be so heavily laden with quotes and references to documentation that at times it distracted from the overall reading. I also found it odd that some of the more pivotal moments in the Nazi's seizure of power were merely glossed over, e.g. the Röhm putsch and Kristallnacht.

"Inside Nazi Germany" has a great overall line of logic that flows well and offers a tremendous amount of information within its thirteen chapters . However, within each of those thirteen chapters, I felt at times the author's transitions and developments should have been a bit smoother and seamless. Quiet a few times I found myself reading a passage and then wondering how I came to this idea. A prime example can be found in "Chapter 11: Order and Terror". Peukert talks about the measures the Nazis took to ensure order was maintained, paraphrasing a passage about how bicycles should not need to be locked up because everyone should follow rules. Suddenly, I find myself reading about Heinrich Himmler's upbringing and ability to suppress his personal desires, and his expectation of the same from the youth of Germany .

There are several themes that appear and reappear throughout this book, but I think the primary issues were on the ideas of "normalcy" (or rather conformity), atomization, terror, and rebellion/resistance . In the first half of the book, Peukert focuses on social groups and classes, particularly the middle-class, working class, and youth (and subsequent gangs). Within each of these groups, we are presented with the choices people make either to conform (to) or rebel (against) authority. He talks about adults participating in "underground" organizations; youths rebelling by listening to "forbidden" music, taking weekend excursions (which were forbidden during war times), or creating gangs that acted contrary to the Hitler Jungend and Mädels. I did not like?the style Peukert used in the end of this section. He chooses to close by mentioning how a 16-year-old boy gang leader was hanged in public by the policing authorities .

Peukert also stresses the disappearance of the private sphere. He puts in a great quote where someone mentions the only time there is privacy is when you are sleeping and dreaming. (cite)The second half of book focuses more exclusively on the use of Terror and racialism, and the methods utilized to demolish traditional social networks, in an attempt to atomize every German. One section I found particularly interesting, but also most disappointing, was the section in which Peukert addresses women's issues within the Third Reich. Peukert simply does not elaborate this section; it literally spans only nine pages. He also touches, very briefly, the ideology that addresses racism and how it was used to not only rid the German people of the "alien" presence, but also to weed out those (citizens) not willing to conform and be a "good German citizen". I thought there was so much potential that could have/should have been addressed as far as ideology on the evolution of racism in Germany or feminist theory here .

Something I found a little strange about this text is that in the end of the book there is a section that basically summarizes what each chapter is about in one paragraph. So I suppose if one doesn't have the time (or desire) to read the book in it's entirety, you could read the summaries. Overall, I thought this book did a good job of analyzing how fascist rule altered the distinction between political acts and everyday behavior, but found it to be lacking to a degree. I do not believe this book would make for a good stand alone resource or read in general, but would make a great companion for another book that offers greater and broader examination of the period.