UC Santa Barbara > History Department > Prof. Marcuse > Courses > Hist 133B Homepage > 133B Book Essays Index page > Student essay
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So
war die Sache: Book Essay
on: Milton Mayer, They Thought They Were Free: The Germans,
1933-1945
by Karen Snider for Prof. Marcuse's lecture course |
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& Abstract |
and Links |
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About Karen Snider I am a senior History major and Art History minor. I studied abroad at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark where I studied daily life in German occupied Denmark during WWII. While abroad I had the chance to make several German friends, which enabled me to travel to Dortmund, Berlin, Cologne, Munich, and Hamburg. I chose Milton Mayer's book because I hoped to gain insight into the lives of ordinary Nazis during WWII. Abstract (back to top) Milton Mayer's book examines the lives of ten Nazi men. Mayer lived in Kronenberg, Germany for a year in order to achieve his main goal in writing the book, to give Americans insight into the lives of "ordinary" Nazis. Mayer, an American journalist of Jewish and German descent, admits that he expected to hate the Nazis he spoke with but later came to regard them as friends. In his interviews, he explores the reasons why his ten friends were motivated to join the Nazi movement and why they chose not to resist. The author also investigates how the men reflect upon Nazism in its aftermath. Through the study of ten men Mayer is able to effectively draw some conclusions about what enabled the rise of Nazism and how the Nazi system was able to commit such atrocities and crimes against humanity. Mayer's book is ultimately a warning to current and future generations that something similar to Nazism could happen to anyone, anywhere. |
Essay (back to top) Students studying German history in the pre-WWII period often ask themselves the difficult question: What would I have done? Milton Mayer, author of They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-1945, examines the lives of ten Nazis, people who actually faced this question. Mayer, an American journalist of Jewish and German descent, moved to the small town of Kronenberg, Germany. In Kronenberg, he met, interviewed, and got to know ten Nazi men. Mayer readily admits that he expected to hate the Nazi men he spoke with, but was shocked to discover that he liked them and even came to regard them as his friends. The ten men Mayer interviewed were not "men of distinction" or "men of influence," they were common men in a nation of around seventy million (Mayer, 45). Through these interviews, Mayer hoped to gain insight into the lives of these Nazi men and the German people as a whole. He hoped to be able to pass along this knowledge to the American people so that they would have a better understanding of what life was truly like for the 'average' German person in 1933 to 1945. By examining the men's reasons for joining the Nazi party, why they chose not to resist, and how they reflect back on Nazism, Mayer convincingly demonstrates that while the German people did have a unique poltical culture and history that enabled the rise of Nazism, the Nazi movement or one like it could happen anywhere or to any people. Mayer explores the reasons why his ten Nazi friends joined the Nazi movement. and persuasively concludes that most joined for practical reasons. Many of the men decided to join the Nazi party because it was the easy thing to do. Heinrich Hildebrandt, a high school teacher, made the decision to become a Nazi because it made work easier. Hildebrandt, who had been an active member of the old Democratic Party in 1930, found that joining the Nazi party made him stand out less. Once in the party, he was in less danger than if he had decided not to join. While some joined the Nazis to remain anonymous, many joined for purely economic reasons. Many Germans struggled in the fiscally tough times of the 1920s and 1930s, Johann Kessler, a labor front inspector, was one of these men. Kessler joined the party because he desperately wanted and needed a job. Similarly, Herr Wedekind, a baker, joined National Socialism because he thought it solved the unemployment problem. The other men Mayer interviewed included: Karl-Heinz Schwenke, Gustav Schwenke, Carl Klingelhofer, Heinrich Damm, Horstmar Rupprecht, Hans Simon, and Willy Hofmeister. Men like these joined the Nazi party for practical reasons, such as to improve their economic status. Mayer discovers some of the other reasons his Nazi friends were drawn to the party. In such desperate times, Mayer's Nazi friends went to hear someone talk about something inspiring, a new and better Germany. Hitler talked to the German people, railed against the failing Weimar democracy, the Versailles peace treaty, and unemployment. Mayer's friends hated politicians, the parliamentary system, and the current government. National Socialism was also viewed as a defense against the Communist Party. All ten of Mayer's Nazis describe Nazism as a way to combat the rise of Communism. One man describes Bolshevism as "the death of the soul" (Mayer, 97). He goes on to explain the feeling that, during this time, Nazism was the only choice other than Communism. The men discuss Nazism as a positive thing for Germany. In such hard times, the Nazi party cared for the German people and their needs. All ten of the men discuss how Nazism restored social services and helped the German people. Herr Kessler describes the way the party helped with everything from domestic problems to religious matters to housing problems. He explains: "No organization had ever done this before in Germany…such an organization is irresistible to men. No one in Germany was alone in his troubles" (Mayer, 222). Mayer also notes that almost all of the men often refer to themselves as, "wir kleine Leute, we little people" (Mayer, 44). National Socialism was viewed as an organization that broke down class distinctions. Under Nazism, "little men" felt important and not inferior to intellectuals who, by 1933, were looked upon as untrustworthy and unreliable by the Nazis (Mayer, 112). Mayer provides the reader with a good sense of why other 'ordinary' men were drawn to the Nazi organization. Mayer convincingly draws some broad conclusions about the German people, German history, and German culture that could have also influenced 'ordinary' men like his ten friends to join the Nazi movement. After spending an extended period of time in Germany and among its people, Mayer admitts that he believes that there is something uniquely different about the Germans. Because of its geographic location, Germany is surrounded by other European countries and has a history of being invaded. This history has led to a very real or imaginary sense of external pressure on the German people. The author states: "What the rest of the world knows as German aggression the Germans know as their struggle for liberation" (Mayer, 251). The author admitts that this pressure may be real or imaginary, but that it ultimately does not matter because the German people believe the pressure to be real. He concludes that German history is different from the American experience. Mayer argues that the concept of any citizen as a potential ruler does not exist in Germany. The author writes: "The concept that the citizen might become the actual Head of the State has no reality for my friends" (Mayer, 159). Mayer provides some sound insight into German history and its political culture that contributed to the success of Nazism in the 1930s and 1940s. Mayer investigates why none of the ten Nazis resisted and how, as a result of the lack of German resistance, the Nazi party came to be responsible for the death of millions of Europeans. The author fails in one aspect because he does not address any specific cases in which Germans did engage in active resistance to their government. Despite this lack of acknowledgment, Mayer does make some great arguements about why the 'average' German did not resist. Mayer comes to an understanding that the real community had very little to do with Hitler and the State. The author believes that real people were concerned with their day to day business and that the State did not come into direct contact with the average person's life very often. Mayer provides readers with an intelligent explanation on why the majority of German people did not put forth any type of resistance to Hitler and Nazism. One explanation the author supplies is the idea that Nazism was not an overnight transformation. Rather, it was a gradual process that occurred little by little, step by step. He explains: "Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D" (Mayer, 170-171). All of the small steps built up gradually, and as many of the men explain to Mayer, it was not them who were personally in danger. In many of the interviews, the Nazi men convey an "it wasn't me" attitude. One man explained to Mayer how when the Communists were attacked, he was not a Communist, so he did nothing; and then when the Gypsies were attacked he again did nothing because he was not a Gypsie; and then finally when the Jews were attacked he yet again did nothing because he was simply not a Jew (Mayer, 169). From stories like this, Mayer concludes that this attitude greatly contributed to the lack of German resistance to Nazism. The author also points out that German society was already stratified into Jews and non-Jews. Not one of the ten Nazis had ever known a Jewish person intimately. People are less likely to do something for someone else, or put their own lives or jobs at risk, for someone they do not even know personally. Most of Mayer's interviews illustrate that most Nazis were antisemitic for economic reasons. In one interview, Herr Hildebrandt explained to Mayer how him and his wife moved into the home of a Jewish family after they had been deported. Although Hildebrandt expressed some feelings of shame and embarrassment, he justified the act because his wife was pregnant and housing at the time was in very short supply. Through examples such as Hildebrandt's and one's similar to his experience, Mayer concludes that 'average' Germans did not resist because they were not personally being affected by the Nazi regime and in many cases stood to benefit from their silence. After his year in Germany, Mayer draws some insightful conclusions about how his ten Nazi friends reflect upon the Nazi movement. Almost all of his ten friends still talked about Nazism in a positive light. Herr Kessler openly admits that while he regards National Socialism as a bad thing for him personally because he "lost his soul," overall it was good for Germany (Mayer, 209). Most of Mayer's Nazi friends shared a similar sentiment to Kessler's. None of the men expressed feeling any extreme guilt about the Holocaust, and on multiple occasions some of the Nazi men Mayer talks to alluded that they are not fully convinced that the Holocaust actually happened. Mayer seems frustrated when he writes: "Nobody has proven to my friends that the Nazis were wrong about the Jews. Nobody can" (Mayer, 142). Mayer expresses a sense of annoyance when talking about the concept of shame and guilt with the ten Nazi men. In the end, Mayer's friends thought of themselves as "little men" and as a result were not convinced of their own personal guilt.Mayer is disheartened by the German people's lack of collective shame. He lements: "Shame is a state of being, guilt a juridicial fact. A passer-by cannot be guilty of failure to try to prevent a lynching. He can only be ashamed of not having done so" (Mayer, 181). From this, Mayer concludes that his friends feel little personal responsibility or shame for the actions taken by Nazism throughout 1933 to 1945. At one point or another, almost all of Mayer's Nazi friends use the phrase, "so war die sache," meaning "thats the way it was" (Mayer, 93). This phrase exemplifies what the author believes to be a rather laissez faire attitude about Nazism, the Nazi movement, and ultimately the destruction that the Nazi regime brought about in Europe. None of Mayer's ten friends feel extreme shame or guilt for their involvement in the Nazism party, for this reason, the author does not address the fact that there were many Germans in the post-WWII period who did admit strong feelings of guilt, and express that through depression or in some cases suicide. Despite Mayer's failure to discuss Germans that felt guilt in the post war period, the author still draws some astute conclusions about the 'average' German's reaction to the Nazi movement. Although Mayer fails to explore some specific cases, exceptions to the 'average' German, such as Germans who resisted Hitler and Nazism or Germans who expressed great shame and remorse after WWII, the author ultimately provides readers with a look into the lives of ten Nazi men and is able to effectively draw some conclusions about the lives of 'ordianary' Germans. Mayer achieves his main goal in writing the book: to give Americans insight into the lives of 'ordinary' Nazis. Mayer's analysis of why his friends chose to join the Nazi movement, why they did not resist, and how they feel about Nazism in its aftermath is a valuable source of information. While there are elements of Germany's political culture and history that are unique to the German people, the author ultimately proves that the Nazi movement, or one similar to it, could happen anywhere and to any people. Mayer's message is a warning to current and future generations that something like Nazism could happen again. |
Bibliography and Links (back to top)(links last checked 4/15/09) Book Reviews: Adler, Franz. American Sociological Review, Vol. 20, No.5 (Oct.,
1995), pp 595-596. Hartmann, Thom. “Independent Thinker”. Book of the Month Review.
7 Nov. 2005. <http://www.buzzflash.com/hartmann/05/11/har05011.html>. Wolff, Kurt H. The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 61, No.
4 (Jan., 1956), pp. 388-389.<http://www.jstor.org/stable/2773558>.
Web Sites: ThirdReich.Net <http://www.thirdreich.net/index.html>. Jewish Virtual Library, “The Nazi Party (NSDAP), (archive.org: May 2007),
<http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/nsdap.html>. “Ordinary Men, Band of Brothers, and Natural Born Killers”, <http://www.spectacle.org/295/ordinary.html>. Georg Bonisch and Klaus Wiegrefe, “Nazi Atrocities, Committed By Ordinary
People”, March 2008, <http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,542245,00.html>. Related Books: Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans
and the Holocaust. Vintage Books, 1997. Ernst Klee, Willi Dressen, and Volker Reiss, “The Good Old Days”:
The Holocaust As Seen By Its Perpetrators and Bystanders. Free Press,
1996. Peter Fritzsche, Germans Into Nazis. Harvard University Press,
1999. |
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Any student tempted to use this paper for an assignment in another course or school should be aware of the serious consequences for plagiarism. Here is what I write in my syllabi:
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