The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town, 1922-1945 [Paperback]

 

 

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The book is an account of how the Nazis came to power in a way that everyone today could still relate - how it happend from the perspective of a single town. Everyone who wonders how the NSDAP could come to power through a democratic system should read this book. It was not as obvious from a day to day viewpoint, even though it was there in black and white.

The book has relevance to today's North American politics; while there are no Nazis now, there are disturbing parallels to how the democratic process can be cheapened and undermined to the point where a dictatorship can take over.

First, this should not be your first book on the Third Reich. You need to have a general grasp of the history of Germany from 1918 to 1945. I would recommend The Third Reich Trilogy by Richard Evans: 1)The Coming of the Third Reich, 2)The Third Reich in Power, 3)The Third Reich at War.

But if you do have a general grasp of that period of history, this is a fantastic book that will illuminate just exactly how the Nazis came to power. Unlike so many histories that focus on the macroscopic events, this book is microscopic. It dissects a small town down to individual inhabitants. The author has poured over thousands of documents from the period and interviewed many of the main players (the book is from the 60's).

If you are like me and get annoyed at histories that have no sources or research footnotes; and favour sensationalism and emotionality of facts and logic--then you will find this book refreshing. Allen's conclusions are all backed up. There are charts on voting, unemployment, number of meetings, party donations, memberships, political violence, terrorism, party finances, etc. There are newspaper references, party documents, letters, interviews etc. It is one of the most thoroughly researched intellectually honest popular histories I've run into.

It also accomplishes the hard task of contextualizing behaviour, and making the choices people took understandable from their point of view. From the propertied middle classes fearful of what was occurring in Russia and traumatized by the violence of post WWI when communists took over some cities; to the frustrated, armed, and impoverished returning soldiers conditioned by WWI violence to not abhor killing and fighting; to the powerless workers, looking only for bread. You get a real sense of what was motivating these people to act the way they did.

You also see how the parties operated trying to get and maintain members. Sometimes we forget that Hitler and the Nazis did not proclaim their true intentions to Germany. When they were wooing voters, they did not tell them that Hitler wanted war and to commit genocide. In fact, the Nazi's were masterful at marketing at the local level. They tailored their messages to the specific audiences they were trying to attract. So if they were holding a meeting for workers in a particular location, they would bring in a specific speaker with a specific message. If it was businessmen, the message and speaker would be entirely different (and often entirely contradictory). They would tell whoever they were talking to whatever it was they thought they wanted to hear. And they measured success by the number of people at events and the number of paid party memberships. It is a fascinating lesson in manipulation and lying. You get to understand why 35% of Germans voted Nazi in the last free elections.

You also get to understand how daily life changed post 1933 for the average person. How the Nazi party stopped caring about what people wanted to hear and started becoming a top down organization. The nature of social discourse changed fundamentally. Instead of social activities being undertaken voluntarily and because they were fun and of interest to the participants, everything became to be centered on Nazism. As clubs and organizations were Nazified, most disappeared as people stopped having fun at them and began resenting being forced to do things. Block leaders were avoided, heil Hitlers were done unenthusiastically or not done at all, people stopped talking to each other as much and some even stopped going out altogether except when they had to attend party events. Resentment bloomed as capable people were replaced by incompetents and thieves merely because they were long time party members. Allen really gives you a good sense of how daily life became stifling post '33.

The one section that is less than perfect only because it is so short is the war period. Although you do come to understand the fear and desperation of the people as the revenge seeking Russians approach and the 'Germany must be utterly defeated' Brits and Americans intensify their terrorizing carpet bombing of civilians.

In short, this is a unique look at some regular folk in 1925-45 Germany which helps make understandable how the Nazis came to power and what daily life was like for regular people.

Sheridan uses one community to explain how the Nazis (NSDAP) were able to gain power in an entire country within the democratic system. His exhaustive research of local archives shows how the NSDAP was able to set up an effiecient bureaucracy that simply outworked other parties and spread their message through 1000's of meetings. Extremists (from the right or left) don't always take power through military force - sometimes the open nature of democracies can be used to subvert them, as was the case in Germany in 1933. True, there are many other factors involved, but Sheridan's book provides clear examples that are often overlooked.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Heavy book on a heavy subject...
I read this interesting work while researching "Sacred Blood." It is heavy reading on a notoriously heavy subject, but is especially relevant in these troubled times we are... Read more

Published on Mar 20 2003 by Nelson Aspen

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and Explanitory History
By tracing the personal histories of the inhabitants of Nordheim and the practical workings of the local Nazi party structures, Allen illustrates the reasons for the sudden and... Read more

Published on May 13 2001 by Jeffrey D Kramer

4.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing way of looking at a much talked-about subject
Allen's book looks at the Nazis' rise to power through the lens of a small community in northern Germany. Read more

Published on Mar 28 2000 by rickler

3.0 out of 5 stars Important clues to the question of 'Why?'
To those transfixed by the question of how the Nazi regime could have come to power, this book provides important clues. Read more

Published on Sep 21 1998

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