Last Train From Berlin: An Eye-Witness Account of Germany at War

by Howard K. Smith

The memoirs of one of America's most distinguished correspondents--now with a new introduction and previously unpublished photos. Howard K. Smith worked as a young reporter in Berlin during Hitler's rise to power, and for the first two years of the Second World War. Finally granted a visa to leave the country--coincidentally on December 7th, 1941--he wrote everything censors had forbidden about the physical, emotional, and psychological manipulation of the German people by Hitler, Goebbels, and their lackeys. His personal experiences under difficult circumstances are extraordinary enough, but his descriptions of people forced to join the war, compulsory Nazi Youth groups, and of the German high command read like a chilling thriller.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Germany, War, Politics

266 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2001

Reviews

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was a kid in the '70s, my dad watched the news every night after work, while mom was preparing dinner. For some reason--good judgment, I guess--my dad never had any use for Walter Cronkite. ABC was our network of choice, and the anchors I remember best are Harry Reasoner and Howard K. Smith. They exuded trustworthiness and wisdom, and were to me the paragons of what a newsman should be.

When Smith was fresh out of college in the mid-1930s, he immediately embarked on a life of adventure and exploration. He caught a tramp steamer for Europe and spent time in Germany (he spoke German fluently) and England, where he was active in left-wing politics. He was an early opponent of Nazism and took part in a number of demonstrations in England against Hitler's regime. In 1940 he was assigned to Berlin as a reporter for CBS, and thus got to spend the early days of the war watching events from deep inside the enemy's lair.

Smith says that most foreign reporters in Germany in those days eventually succumbed to the "Berlin Blues," a weariness of living in the colorless, paranoid society the Nazis had built, and he was no exception. As relations between Germany and America soured in 1941, Smith was pressured by Goebbels' propaganda ministry to broadcast their censored version of news events, which he refused to do. Eventually the Nazi regime decided he was more of a nuisance to have around than he was of any value to them, so they granted him an exit visa. Smith, urged on by other American newsman colleagues, got on the next train for the Swiss border; the date was December 7th, 1941. His train crossed the border an hour before the Nazis closed it once they got news of the Pearl Harbor attack; those who had seen him off at the station were trapped inside Nazi Germany for the duration of the war.

When Smith got back to the US, he immediately sat down to write his observations of life in Nazi Germany, and the conclusions he had reached about the future of National Socialism and the probable course of the war. The first edition of the resulting book, Last Train From Berlin, was published in June 1942 and was one of the first--and at the time, the best--exposés of Nazi society seen in the West.

The first part of the book--the first third, say--was a bit of a slog for me. Not because it was uninteresting, but it was Smith detailing how he came to spend so much time in England and Germany and he used a lot of typical language for a young, well-educated man: that is to say, pretentious and a little obnoxious and self-righteous. As he details his activities in England, demonstrating against Chamberlain for being too soft on Nazism (something which struck me as highly inappropriate; imagine how it would look for an Englishman to come to America and protest our president), you start to get a feel about Smith's personal politics. These feelings are confirmed later.

The middle of the book, where he describes in great detail life under the Nazis in Berlin, are taken from his own very poignant experiences and his conversations with hundreds of ordinary Germans. This is the fascinating part, no less to me than it would have been to all his English and American readers since the curtain of Nazi censorship had descended over Germany years before. It is as a result of his personal observations that Smith makes the very shrewd and prescient prediction that Nazism can't last, and that Germany is probably going to lose the war. This at the end of 1941 and beginning of 1942, when the Nazi empire was at its height! It's an amazing piece of reasoning and convincingly argued.

But that's when Smith loses me. Since he's now convinced the reader that the Nazis can be beaten, he formulates his version of a plan for how to beat them. He says we have to offer the German people a better alternative so they will revolt against Hitler, and that the best way to show them we are serious is to...nationalize the coal and munitions industries in the UK and USA! He goes on to argue that Nazism (National Socialism, mind you), isn't really socialism like they have in Russia, and that Russian socialism is the wave of the future because it really works. He says it's more fair than capitalism and really will lead to utopia. I was stunned when he went down this road. Smith indicated earlier in the book that he had leftist leanings, but it becomes clear that a) he's truly anti-capitalist, and b) he doesn't understand that Nazism, socialism, and communism are all slightly different flavors of the same despotism and that all are on the opposite end of the political spectrum from capitalism and freedom. He actually thinks that Nazism and communism are opposites, when really they're just rivals for tyranny over their people. This completely brainwashed, long-discredited view of what "left vs right" really means undermines a lot of my respect for Smith's insights elsewhere in the book, though it doesn't invalidate the keenness of his experiences and observations in the middle part of this book.

[Alan Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1942, this book tells what is needed to beat Germany. Howard K. Smith spent a lot of time in Berlin, observing and talking to people, and he shows that the morale of the German people plummeted in October 1941 when Germany couldn't get a speedy victory in Russia. This was the beginning of the end. His insight into what was happening within the Nazi organization and their connections to various groups of citizens make this book worth reading. The only bone I have to pick with Smith is his strong socialistic leanings. My hard-working son made the case against socialism in one sentence: "Under socialism, I'd goof off."

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember as a child in the early ‘70’s watching with my parents the ABC Nightly News with Harry Reasoner and Howard K. Smith, and I always thought him a very intelligent and honest newsman. So I was surprised to see this book that he wrote during WWII about his two years as a correspondent in Berlin from 1939-1941. He was able to take literally the last train out of Berlin on Dec. 6, 1941 to neutral Switzerland before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and Germany declared war on the U.S. and closed its borders to Americans. The fact that Smith wrote this book and then published it in 1942 while the war was still going on is fascinating and makes his observations all the more telling.

Reading about the deprivations of the Germans during the early war years was illuminating since one might think that with the German army’ conquests that they would benefit from the spoils of war. However, what struck me the most were the eerie similarities between Germany under Nazi rule and the world now, including what’s been trending in the U.S. under the government in power including:
•The censorship of media.
•Cancellation of opposing viewpoints and bans on using using certain terms and words that could make the government in power (GIP) look bad or weak.
•The political and social indoctrination of children in schools and teaching of revisionist history.
•Manufactured conspiracies by the GIP against political opponents.
•The abandonment by the GIP of the middle class, while the GIP “sucks up” to the autocrats and curries favor from Big Corporations.
•The elimination of private gun ownership.
•The labeling of people with different ideologies from the GIP as racists or enemies of the state (like Jews and Bolsheviks).
•The levying of huge taxes on the German populace, especially the middle class.
•The changing and rewriting of the laws and Constitution by the Nazis.

Overall I think this book gave great first-hand insight into war-time conditions in Nazi Germany in 1939-1941 and the failure of Germany’s National Socialist Party ruling government.

[Jimmy Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Howard K. Smith was among the last American reporters in Berlin - hence the title - and through a number of serendipitous events, managed to leave on the last train out of Berlin to Switzerland in 1942, just days before Pearl Harbor was bombed. His book provides an overview of his years in Germany, his experiences with censorship and bureaucracy as a radio reporter broadcasting to America, and his thoughts about the various stages of the war, the German people, and Germany's political development.

My edition regrettably lacked the new photos and introduction - but nonetheless was exceptionally interesting for it's "man on the ground" view, augmented by his ability to blend into, if not be a part of, the native population. Unlike many books about the war, Smith provides his insights into the German population: their forced sacrifices to support the war (his first meal with real meat and coffee in two years was in Switzerland, as was his first new set of clothes). His view of their support, or rather lack thereof, of the Nazi party as the war dragged on is particularly interesting in light of the penalties for negativity. Interestingly, Smith also highlights a lack of support of the Nazi party's persecution of Jews, and mentions the Nazi relocation of Jews to conquered locations to function as slave labor, which he labels a death sentence. (There is no reference to death camps or concentration camps, only prisons.)

I was surprised to find suggestions on further separating the people from the Nazi party, in the hopes of encouraging them to overthrow the party while the war was going badly in Russia - something you might expect to see in a government document rather than a widely published book. Although his suggestions appear impractical, it's interesting that Smith maintained a sense of humanity in his time with the German people and recognized the cause of their ills in the political (if not military) leadership. He offers an interesting editorial view, an exciting narrative, and a book I wish I had known about much earlier. It's certainly not the best book ever, but there are flashes of insight and experiences about WWII Germany, and about being young during a pivotal time in the world, that you'll read nowhere else (not even in Shirer). I'd put it on the must read list for a WWII buff.

[Ktmholm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Smith, an American news correspondent based in Berlin, describes the conditions in Germany during Hitler’s rise to power and the first two years of WWII. The civilian government was in chaos. Production of everything dropped, as food, clothing (as in “voluntary” collection of warm clothes) and all supplies went to the Russian front. Rumors were rife, propaganda and lies everywhere, and morale declined into deep depression. Most ordinary Germans did not want war, remembering too vividly the previous one. News was highly censored, even for foreign correspondents, some of whom disappeared without a trace. Smith left Germany in Dec, 1941, after being secretly warned it was in his best interest.
Several chapters toward the end were particularly interesting as Smith described aspects of society, Nazi takeover of education, and the military (including the old, rigid army vs the young, opportunistic SS). My only quibble with the book was that Smith rarely provided dates (e.g. “that April”) so it was difficult to match events he described with the little I remember from history class. A useful book for anyone researching this particular aspect of the war.

[Bob Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

In an era in America where authoritarianism, anger and neo-fascist ideas have gained favor with many white underclass and our country seems to be regressing to a more repressive time, I find it useful to look back at the reality of what these people think they desire.
Howard K. Smith was a household name as a TV anchorman in the 70s and 80s but in the late 30s he lived and reported from Nazi Germany run by a manic authoritarian who Donald Trump would envy.
This book explains what it was like and why, with 80 years of hindsight, we shouldn’t want to try that system.
Hitler’s followers burned books and synagogues because he told them to do it. Trump’s followers stormed the capitol and threatened to overturn an election result they didn’t like, threatening to hang the Vice President along the way - because he told them to do it.
This book should be an object lesson, but those who need it most don’t routinely read more than 50 characters at a time.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, in that it was an attempt to convince America that Hitler was not unstoppable, at a time when the myth was that he was invincible, the Hitler myth. It was written just after America entered the war, after the journalist was forced to leave Germany.

It was disappointing in that there was a lot of editorializing, which he admits, a lot of which reads now as very unrealistic.

[Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly interesting, well described and recounted read of Nazi Germany in the 1930s up to America's entry into WWII. Smith tells his story superbly. He complements it well with his interactions with Germans of all sympathies at the time.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

1936-1941 Berlin. I’m glad I read it.

[Dan Downing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Howard K. Smith spent years reporting in Germany; he luckily got the last train out, arriving in Switzerland the day Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. He continued to cover the war from there, and published his ruminations on Germany and Berlin and the War, giving readers material German censors had not permitted anyone in the foreign press corps to file for years. What followed was a distinguished career in journalism.

He starts out with a small biography in order to establish his credentials and his youth. He then moves toward his main theme: the effect the War on the Eastern Front was having on Germany and the German people. For him, it was clear that after two years of smooth conquest the Geerman people were rather fond of the superior feeling and were hardly touched by the war. Then Hitler made two mistakes: he invaded Russia, and later guaranteed victory by Winter. Winter came and another year went by and no victory was in sight, but the hardship for Germans had been ratcheted up many notches and the faith in Herr Hitler had crumbled. The failure of the Riech came on the bones of Russians.

The details and insights offered are of highest value from this remove. They were valued at the time, too. My copy states the book was first printed on September 8, 1942. My copy is a 10th print from December 1942. Obviously a best-selling book.

Smith goes on to offer what he refers to as his first Editorial, a prescription for what must be done to win the war and then win the peace. It is jarring when, on several occasions, he notes "if we win the war". In 1942, they did not have the hindsight we enjoy.

Highly Recommended.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Howard K. Smith was a CBS journalist stationed in Berlin as part of the foreign correspondents team from the late 1930's, through the start of WWII and ending Dec. 6, 1941. He writes of the physical and moral state of the German people through this timeframe. The interactions of the Nazi government and Prussian military men are also part of the story. What hit me was his description of, at first, the slow lessening of consumer goods and the state of the city itself over the first two years of war, followed by a very rapid decline in the fall of 1941, after Germany opened up war on the Russian front. The impact was quick and severe on the Berlin population as well as the remaining foreign correspondents.

So many history books are written from the military viewpoint; this one is written from the Berliners viewpoint as well as from an American right there on the scene, which I found very interesting.

Recommended for readers of WWII books.

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid, journalistic report from the veteran newsman of his time in Berlin as Germany moved toward war. Smith provides a good you are there view of how Nazi laws and the shortages forced by the war changed the lives of Berliners. The passages on what he could and could not say in his radio reports are quite interesting, as is the reports on empty store shelves.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ironic how much America's current Tea Baggers resemble the Nazis. The plutocracy underlying Hitler's rise to power is uncannily echoed as the very wealthiest are more than willing to destroy their country for more profit.

[Toesnorth's mom]

good, but too long

[Stuart Keating · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my kind of book.

Read the first chapter, started the second
—-
DONE with it, back on the shelf never to be opened again.

Tedious reading, and analytical as the author saw things