Customer Reviews

Where Ghosts Walked: Munich's Road to the Third Reich

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I found this book very enjoyable: convincing as a work of history, vivid in detail and surprisingly light in touch given its subject matter. The book is more about the origins and development of right-wing extremism in Bavaria as a whole, rather than just Munich. But of course it is the capital that has always attracted most attention, thanks partly to its cultural pre-eminence in German life and rather more to the fact that Hitler and the Nazis started up there. What the book brings out most clearly is a) the existence of far-right attitudes and anti-Semitism many years before Hitler's arrival in Munich, and b) the way in which Bavaria's abortive Soviet revolution in 1919 turned most of the population into ultra-conservatives unable to see clearly the terrible dangers inherent in Nazism. Even today, Bavaria is the most conservative of German states, and there are still Bavarians alive who prefer to remember the war more for the Allied bombing of Munich than for the abominations committed by the Nazis and SS.

If you love the city of Munich and are interested in WWII history - especially the prelude that led to the Nazi Dictatorship, you will enjoy this book. With solid research behind it, this book will appeal to the average reader as much as the scholar.

This is a well written history on Munich from the 1890's to 1945 (followed by a brief post-war synopsis).

Munich was touted as Germany's most cosmopolitan art centre - even over Berlin. The author, while explaining some of the Bohemian aspects clarifies that beneath this façade lurked somnolent (and not so somnolent) reactionary tendencies. Anti-Semitism was a part of this along with a negative reaction by many native Munchners to this Bohemian-foreign influx. Part of the anti-foreignism was equivalent to anti-Semitism. As Large demonstrates, Munich being a part of Bavaria had strong nationalistic tendencies and did not like taking orders from the Berlin government. Large also quotes several passages from the diaries of various Munchners including Thomas Mann who was initially in favour of this narrow nationalistic outlook.

Of course Hitler's rise to power started in Munich following the end of the First World War. There was a brief communist interlude which the Berlin government helped to suppress. As Large explains violence from left-wing forces was always suppressed ruthlessly by the government police forces of Munich. Violence occurring from conservative forces towards Communists, foreign influences (Jews) could easily be overlooked.

Hitler did overstep in the Beer Hall Putsch but he was certainly not ruthlessly suppressed. His trial became an advertisement for National Socialism where the judges viewed him with great sympathy. His jail time allowed for numerous visitors (male and female) and he wrote his political biography (Mein Kampf) with the help of some of his cohorts.

Dachau, a few miles outside of Munich, was built and expanded immediately after the Nazi takeover. It was the first concentration camp to house undesirables - namely any political opponent of the Nazis.

Large describes some of the opponents of the Nazis. For example Johann Elser in November 1939 put a bomb in a Munich pub in an attempt to kill Hitler, but Hitler left earlier for a conference in Berlin. But as Large says these attempts (like the `White Rose' movement during the war) were never supported by the majority of the people of Munich. Although some might denigrate the Nazi Party from time to time they continued to love their Fuhrer even when bombs started to rain down on their city.

Large also shows that protests - such as ones by Catholic or Protestant groups were narrow in scope and only wanted to preserve their interests - such as allowing crucifixes in schools.

The coverage in this book is excellent - it follows the overall historical flow in Munich with examples from various individuals who lived through this horrific epoch.

If you enjoy history and have a day or two for a walking tour in Munich, this is a great book!!