Daily Life in Hitler's Germany

by John McDonald, John Davidson, John McDonald

Daily Life in Hitler's Germany tells the story of what it was like to actually live under the Nazi regime in the 1930s and during the war years of the early 1940s. The wide range of topics examined in the book include the Nazi indoctrination of children through such organizations as the Hitler Youth, the subversion of the arts to serve National Socialist ideology, the Nazi obsession with sport as a means of creating a super-fit Aryan race, the role of women in Germany in the 1930s, and the fate of those individuals and races who had no place in the Thousand Year Reich. In addition, Daily Life in Hitler's Germany looks closely at the Nazi "economic miracle" of the 1930s to explain how unemployment in Germany had virtually disappeared by 1939.

Written by experts on twentieth-century and German history, the book gets under the skin of the Third Reich to bring the most chilling era in Germany's part to life. Above all, the Third Reich was the manifestation of the character, ambitions, and will of its leader, Adolf Hitler. Dogmatic and intolerant in his simplistic views, eventually the Nazi state reflected his crude belief in Darwinism: that struggle was the father of all things. Daily Life in Hitler's Germany examines fully how Hitler influenced the everyday lives of millions of ordinary Germans.

The hundreds of photographs in the book are particularly interesting, and show many facets of the Nazi regime. Propaganda and ritual were central to Nazi social control, and so Daily Life in Hitler's Germany contains images of the mass Nuremberg rallies, the persecution of the Jews and other minorities, the 1936 Olympic Games, and the large-scale military maneuvers conducted by the armed forces. Ultimately, the Third Reich failed in its aim of building a large empire in Eastern Europe, and the price was paid by the German people themselves. As Daily Life in Hitler's Germany shows, Germany's cities were reduced to rubble by strategic bombing, and the country itself was torn apart and then divided in the most destructive war in modern history.

Includes:
- Highly illustrated account of everyday life as it affected ordinary Germands during the Third Reich, 1933-1945
- Contains first-hand accounts from German civilians and military personnel who lived through the years of Nazi rule
- Written by experts on the social, political, economic, and military history of the Third Reich
- Includes chapters on resistance to Nazi rule, the role of women in the Third Reich, and minorities and genocide
- Illustrated with 270 black-and-white photographs showing all aspects of life in the Third Reich

Genres: History, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published August 17, 2004

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

Reviews

[Captain Pixel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting but sad and gloomy read (as expected).
I believe this serves well as general introduction and starting point for further reading (last chapter).

[Nilendu Misra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was interesting to note Nazi Germany was the first nation to start a regular state television broadcast service. Lots of rare photographs and a simplistic but accurate read.

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good...despite the occasional dubious and/or inane remark/assertion. Arguably the best part of all were the individual stories toward the end.