Europe's Dark Journey: The Rise and Fall of Hitler and Nazi Germany

by Beth A. Griech-Polelle

Beth A. Griech-Polelle examines the factors that led to the ascendance of Adolf Hitler during the rebuilding of post-World War I Germany. Moving from the birth of modern Germany through the First World, War, Polelle then focuses on Hitler's early years and the creation of the National Social German Workers' Party. Polelle illustrates how Hitler consolidated power-resulting in a society divided against itself and at war with a major portion of the world-and also maintains a special focus on the persecution of the Jewish population, both inside Nazi Germany and in conquered parts of Europe.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

144 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Ross Rawnsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good lecture series, and Beth Griech-Polelle is a very clear and concise narrator.

Not a lot of new ground covered here, but an informative series of lectures nonetheless. She presents the journey of Europe from the origin of Germany through the end of WWII, albeit only scratching the surface. She could have easily doubled or even tripled the number of lectures on this subject.

4.5 stars

[Abdul Alhazred · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not a bad overview, but the pacing of the material is very frontloaded with "the rise", covers very little of the war years, and the fall is pretty abrupt. The "rise" portion has a lot of discussion of WWI, which is appropriate, and the resulting Versailles peace and its discontents, but I felt like the lecturer glossed over Nazism's failure to launch, and increasing irrelevancy until the great depression threw the status quo out the window. Instead we get an idea everything went from strength to strength (even the failed coup) to some predestined outcome.
It only briefly covers the crimes against humanity, and sticks close to the death camps, but as Timothy Snyder's Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin made clear, by the time they were operational, more than half of all deaths had already occurred. More time could also have been spent on the Hitler/Stalin relationship as it explains the ultimate fall of the regime (with some 70% of casualties occurring in the east, it's ultimately where the war was lost).
Since the focus is very much on the "rise", I think it competes directly with A History of Hitler's Empire which had a similar focus but was much better laid out. Read that instead.

[Mohamed al-Jamri · Rating 2 out of 5]

The general history is right, but it's filled with factual mistakes and over simplifications.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audio book in English -- only Goodreads edition listed says "French" -- picked up at library for road trip with my wife. Eight hours, four discs. There was a lot of material on Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm I that was interesting to me, but when it finally got around to Hitler (in the third hour) there was not much new information for me -- just one bit about an anti-Semitic periodical and cult from pre-WW I period that was an important influence on Hitler's thinking. However, might be a good primer for someone who doesn't know very much about the rise of Hitler and the Nazis. I didn't hear anything that was totally wrong -- which in these days of poor editing, is saying something.

One more note -- the presenter is the professor herself, and she's not the world's most engaging speaker . . . not horrible, but not someone you'd be dying to hear for MORE than eight hours.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

So scary. Never think this could not happen in the United States. All it took was one charismatic man in a democracy who rode into power with a majority. He had no experience and convinced everyone he had all the answers. He became more and more paranoid and vindictive, blaming others for problems they were not responsible for or he caused. Not a long book; won't take long.