The idea that all of Germany and all Germans blindly supported Adolf Hitler and his fanatical band of power-drunk monsters is sometimes lost in history books. The more popular books about Nazi Germany tend to focus on just Hitler, or the German Army, or just the Holocaust, thereby missing the fact that not all Germans agreed with his draconian policies.
Just as all Americans aren't Democrats or Republicans, not all Germans in the 1930s belonged to the Nazi party.
Erik Larson's latest work, In the Garden of Beasts, doesn't focus on just Hitler, or just the German army or just the Holocaust, but rather the mid 1930s that served as a prologue to one of the world's darkest times. Much like his previous works, most notably Devil in the White City, Larson's research finds tidbits previously forgotten, or almost lost, information. This is a fascinating perspective from an outsider.
William E. Dodd was a man that President FDR really didn't want to put into Berlin as American's German ambassador because Dodd had zero political skills on his resume, and was merely an accomplished scholar. But since no one wanted the position, FDR gave Dodd the job. Dodd figured it would be an adventure, but he really wanted to write his book about the American South during the Civil War.
What transpired during Dodd's tenure in Berlin can be seen now as vital to Hitler's rise to power in Germany. The roughly 370-page book focuses on Dodd's time in Berlin, and covers many subtle specifics that will make you sick. While Dodd was quietly railing against the entitled attitude of the embassy lifestyle during a time when much of the world was broke, he also spoke out for the need to be wary of Hitler. Dodd believed America's position on remaining strictly isolated was wrong.
Larson finds case after case of world leaders who just wanted no part of confronting Hitler, who if confronted lied to their face about his intentions. This much is known. Dodd's few meetings with Hitler portray a man who could play any room.
Meanwhile, Dodd's family lived with him in Berlin which allowed his comely-daughter, Martha, to play the field among some interesting political, Russian and Nazi power brokers. His daughter was attractive, knew it, and even was nearly set up with Hitler. She met Hitler, and came away mostly unimpressed.
Yet when she first arrived in Berlin she loved the Nazi cause, and the revolution.
As her time continued in Berlin and evidence of Jewish persecution continued, she like so many began to see what this movement was about. William E. Dodd had some anti-Semitical statements from time to time, but the empirical evidence he collected of the lengths of hatred spewed by the Nazis prompted him to speak out against this regime in America when it was more kosher to say nothing.
Shortly before the time Dodd left his position and returned to America is when Hitler, Herman Gorring and the rest of the top Nazis went on their "purge" to eliminate anyone within Germany that would stop their power-grab. Larson describes a Berlin that was truly terrified to do, or say, anything against this regime because to do so meant death. This was a society that would, behind closed doors, often mock the "Sieg Heil" they were mandated to do.
Dodd continually hoped something within Berlin would be done to evict Hitler from power, but when Von Hindenburg died and Hitler grabbed his seat, too the path was cleared. Dodd left his post in Berlin shortly thereafter.
The rest is a history we pretty much know. This book chronicles how, perhaps, it could have been avoided had so many people from so many different countries not been so afraid of Hitler. To do so, however, either within Germany itself or from outside influences, was going to require violence at a time when the world was simply sick of it.
Larson's research is, again, so commendable and enjoyable that you never feel you are reading a text book. He has a wonderful ear, and touch, for establishing a fictional story arc to make reading non-fiction feel like anything but reading a homework assignment.
This is not a WWII book per se, but covers a period mostly ignored, and a man a lot of people should have listened to more intently.
For my interview with Erik Larson about this book click here.
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