Travellers in the Third Reich: The Rise of Fascism Through the Eyes of Everyday People: The Rise of Fascism Seen Through the Eyes of Everyday People

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Much as I love medieval towns, I confess I'd never really paused to reflect on how beautiful Germany must have been before the war, mainly because regret over this feels like a third rail in Germany today. Travellers in the Third Reich is an extraordinary history of the rise of the Nazis based on fascinating first-hand accounts, drawing together a multitude of voices and stories, including students, politicians, musicians, diplomats, schoolchildren, communists, scholars, athletes, poets, journalists, fascists, artists, tourists, even celebrities like Charles Lindbergh and Samuel Beckett. The author doesn't take the psychology head-on but I think there were several things in the mix: moral laziness, yes, but also aversion to war, and a lack of exposure to the kind of insidious propaganda that we, in 2018 at least, should be able to recognize.

Travellers in the Third Reich - The Historical Association Travellers in the Third Reich - The Historical Association

I would have understood better the Germans whom I knew and admired even more what West Germans achieved after 1945. A truly fascinating read" -- Keith Lowe, Sunday Times bestselling author of Savage Continent and Inferno; "Engrossing . I think this is a more worthwhile read than In the Garden of Beasts, because that is about only one family and an idiosyncratic one at that.Hitler understood completely the power of theatre: the weekly rallies, the speeches, the marching songs, the torchlight processions and, importantly I think, the semi-erotic power of all those alpha males in beautifully designed uniforms.

Travellers in the Third Reich By Julia Boyd | Used - Wob Travellers in the Third Reich By Julia Boyd | Used - Wob

Boyd synthesises a wide range of material into a chronological narrative very effectively, employing only loose themes.Three examples should suffice—we are told of when Göring’s lion cub pees on him, of when Göring’s bison refuses to mate before an audience and of when the released Olympic doves defecate on a group of American Olympic athletes. You can read hundreds of histories of the Nazi era, and they will all describe the steps to Hitler’s takeover. But the facade over everything - it's not so much you're fooled by it, but you're in just in love with this country! Astonishingly, the real-life newlyweds didn’t make the excuses that you or I would probably have made. This book has stories from a diverse range of people, schoolchildren, musicians, tourist and the political classes that were in and travelling through Germany in the 1930's.

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd | Goodreads Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd | Goodreads

In the short term, Hitler took Germany from desperation to prosperity and people were feeling much better.Up until Kristallnacht in 1938, visitors could downplay or even ignore anti-Jewish measures and the treatment of political foes of the Nazis, because they weren’t so easy to see for an outsider.