This book has been on my list so long that I don’t recall how specifically it got there. I know that I love to learn from history and found intriguing a book about what it was like to live in Nazi Germany as Hitler and the Nazis consolidated power. I picked this up now due to the political situation here in the US.
Shortly after the Reichstag fire on February 27, 1933, Franklin Roosevelt named an erudite professor at the University of Chicago as the ambassador to Germany. He was not the president’s first choice, or even his second choice. He was way down the line as no one else seemed to want the job. In July of 1933 Professor Dodd and his wife, son, and daughter, all moved to Berlin. This book follows their experience of living under Hitler as violence against Jews and foreigners rose there, culminating in the Night of the Long Knives that started on June 30, 1934. It is as much about the private life of his daughter Martha as it is about his experience as ambassador. As such, it is a very interesting look inside the social as well as the political world within Nazi Germany.
This is a remarkable book about what it was like to experience first hand the rise of Nazi power in Germany. It is astounding how willing everyone was to look away and make excuses, both foreign and domestic. The US government was myopically interested in getting bond payments on WWI debt. Europe was intent on avoiding another devastating war. With today’s political world rhyming so closely with the 1930s, there is a lot to learn from the history in this book.
My rating: 4.5/5
