Inside Hitler's Germany: Life Under the Third Reich

by Chris Mann, Matthew Hughes, Chris Mann, et al.

Book Overview

With photographs and text, Hughes (modern world history, U. College, Northampton, England) and Mann (European history, U. of Surrey and U. College, London) reconstruct life in Germany not just during... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1567316212
• ISBN13: 9781567316216
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: MJF Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An excellent first look into the workings of the Third Reich

Inside Hitler's Germany is a book well described by its title. It gives a brief yet deep view of life under Hitler's power throughout the entire Third Reich. The content is conveniently organized into 16 chapters, each a different aspect of the society and duty. Although the Nazis control Germany from 1933 to 1945, the book starts with the state of Germany after World War One and some of Adolf Hitler's background. Hitler is described as a memorizing authoritarian from a troubled background with clear objectives (only truly known by him and other top Nazis). The 20's and early 30's are proved to be problematic and unsatisfactory in Germany. After an unsuccessful war for which they were held entirely responsible for, things went from bad to worse. The new government was too ineffectual and liberal for most of Germany's taste. When they couldn't keep up with their reparation payments, other countries (like France) took their anger out on them. The economy collapsed multiple times and the population felt the Treaty of Versailles was forcing them into unfair terms after a war they didn't feel they had lost. This angst and longing to be great again is what led Germany towards Hitler and the Nazi party. What this book shows that others don't is that life for many was at a high point during Nazi Germany. Once Hitler took power, the economy strengthened, employment went up. Kids became more active, public programs were created, families went on vacations, and the quality of life increased almost all around. Almost is the important qualifier, because it was all a façade and the horrors of the real Nazi Germany would fall through during World War Two. The rest of the book explains the major developments of the downfall of Nazi Germany through the limitations of Nazism. Overall, Inside Hitler's Germany is an excellent first book into German life during the Third Reich. This book gives the reader a solid first look into the most important of the many aspects. It is as straightforward and neutral as can be which allows the facts to tell the story clearly. Quotes and anecdotes by common people of the time help give feeling to the history. Most of all, the wonderful pictures on nearly every page help support the story and bring an eerie reminder of how not long ago all this was happening.