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Germany: Jekyll & Hyde: An Eyewitness Analysis of Nazi Germany
A few years ago, Sebastian Haffner's DEFYING HITLER, a memoir about growing up in interwar Germany, sold over forty thousand copies. After he moved to Britain in the 1930s Haffner became so shocked about the situation in his native country that he wrote this book, JEKYLL AND HYDE, in an effort to help people understand the danger Hitler presented to the world.
An incredibly accessible book, it is packed with acute analysis of both Hitler and the German people - from the Nazi leaders all the way down to those who opposed them - and is a must-read for anyone interested in the literature of the Second World War.
An incredibly accessible book, it is packed with acute analysis of both Hitler and the German people - from the Nazi leaders all the way down to those who opposed them - and is a must-read for anyone interested in the literature of the Second World War.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1940
27 people are currently reading
401 people want to read
About the author
Sebastian Haffner
37 books174 followersSebastian Haffner (the pseudonym for Raimund Pretzel) was a German journalist and author whose focus was the history of the German Reich (1871-1945). His books dealt with the origins and course of the First World War, the failure of the Weimar Republic and the subsequent rise and fall of Nazi Germany under Hitler.
In 1938 he emigrated from Nazi Germany with his Jewish fiancée to London, hardly able to speak English but becoming rapidly proficient in the language. He adopted the pseudonym Sebastian Haffner so that his family back in Germany would not be endangered by his writing.
Haffner wrote for the London Sunday newspaper, The Observer, and then became its editor-in-chief. In 1954, he became its German correspondent in Berlin, a position which he kept until the building of the Berlin Wall.
He wrote for the German newspaper, Die Welt, until 1962, and then until 1975 was a columnist for the Stern magazine. Haffner was a frequent guest on the television show Internationaler Frühschoppen and had his own television program on the German channel, Sender Freies Berlin.
In 1938 he emigrated from Nazi Germany with his Jewish fiancée to London, hardly able to speak English but becoming rapidly proficient in the language. He adopted the pseudonym Sebastian Haffner so that his family back in Germany would not be endangered by his writing.
Haffner wrote for the London Sunday newspaper, The Observer, and then became its editor-in-chief. In 1954, he became its German correspondent in Berlin, a position which he kept until the building of the Berlin Wall.
He wrote for the German newspaper, Die Welt, until 1962, and then until 1975 was a columnist for the Stern magazine. Haffner was a frequent guest on the television show Internationaler Frühschoppen and had his own television program on the German channel, Sender Freies Berlin.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 17, 2016
The sections on Hitler are excellent, providing a 1939 perspective from one of Germany's premier journalists, expressing his profound anger that Germany had allowed a monster to come to power and now had no ability to overthrow him.
... In spite of the treachery, deceit and fell play that accompanied the seizure and maintenance of power, Hitler has gained more adherents in Germany and come nearer to absolute power then anyone before him … he has secured for his regime at least the appearance of popularity
... Hitler loves nothing and no one but himself … he is completely indifferent to the fate of states or men, whose existence he stakes at play ... Hitler serves no idea, no nation, no statesman-like conception, but it exclusively the propulsion of his own ego
... the destiny of a great nation has been placed into the hands of a swindler, a gambler, a potential suicide
... There is no hope for any resistance movement inside the Reich … the repression is far too intense for anything of that kind to be effective
... In spite of the treachery, deceit and fell play that accompanied the seizure and maintenance of power, Hitler has gained more adherents in Germany and come nearer to absolute power then anyone before him … he has secured for his regime at least the appearance of popularity
... Hitler loves nothing and no one but himself … he is completely indifferent to the fate of states or men, whose existence he stakes at play ... Hitler serves no idea, no nation, no statesman-like conception, but it exclusively the propulsion of his own ego
... the destiny of a great nation has been placed into the hands of a swindler, a gambler, a potential suicide
... There is no hope for any resistance movement inside the Reich … the repression is far too intense for anything of that kind to be effective
July 5, 2021
A fascinating revealing book about Hitler and Germany under the Nazis that isn’t a history book, because it was first published in 1940. It's interesting (and frightening) to see the parallels with the world today, e.g. the bigger the lie, the more likely people will accept it. And certain politicians still love huge rallies, with lots of flags and baying crowds, don’t they?
August 11, 2023
"One cannot be sufficiently warned of the extent to which Goering is over-estimated among foreign politicians of the Right, Goebbels by intellectual emigrants, Himmler by a certain circle of second generation Nazis, and Ribbentrop by himself. None of them, without or against Hitler, could continue to weave the Hitlerian spells. None of then has, like Hitler, a single creative (in its bad sense) political contribution to offer; none of them, apart from self-advertisement, has shown more than a furiously exaggerated departmental activity, the highly questionable character of which will presently be laid bare. None of them is more than a finger of Hitler's hand, and of his left hand at that. None of them merits, as a personality, any such interest as Hitler undoubtedly deserves as a phenomenon. None of them, considered for himself, alone is a political force or even potentiality of the least importance."
Most students of history and of The Third Reich, at that, will find nothing new in the previous descriptions. However, this book was published in 1941. Mr. Haffner was born and raised in Germany. He spent the first six years inside The Third Reich. While engaged to a Jewish girl he successful booked passage to England in 1938. It would be the last passage granted to Jews.
This reader found this entire book fascinating to read. Mr. Haffner writes his story from first hand experience and knowledge inside the mind set of not only Hitler, but the men who blindingly followed him into Germany's ultimate destruction. Mr. Haffner discovered that between 40 and 45 assassination attempts were made on Hitler's life throughout his public life starting in the 1920's.
Most students of history and of The Third Reich, at that, will find nothing new in the previous descriptions. However, this book was published in 1941. Mr. Haffner was born and raised in Germany. He spent the first six years inside The Third Reich. While engaged to a Jewish girl he successful booked passage to England in 1938. It would be the last passage granted to Jews.
This reader found this entire book fascinating to read. Mr. Haffner writes his story from first hand experience and knowledge inside the mind set of not only Hitler, but the men who blindingly followed him into Germany's ultimate destruction. Mr. Haffner discovered that between 40 and 45 assassination attempts were made on Hitler's life throughout his public life starting in the 1920's.
May 2, 2017
Written in 1940 by a journalist who fled Germany for England when his marriage to a Jew puts them both at risk. It had been recommended for its parallels between the rise of Hitler and Trump. He is attempting to advise the allies as to how best to combat and defeat Hitler and Hitlerism. He emphasizes that a simple assassination would not be sufficient to root out the problem and he takes England and others to task for not recognizing that the Germans who left, whether high or low in professional status, should be recognized as valuable assets in defeating the madness that has overtaken Germany. He tries to point out the many inroads for potentially undermining Hitler and areas to emphasize with propaganda that will best and most effectively address the mindset of those that are allowing Hitler to remain in power. There has to be a firm vision for a post-Hitler Germany that is both realistic and desirable and a path to carrying it out. Same in the U.S. today I’d say.
May 2, 2012
An excellent book... the author writes in 1940 and slices his German countrymen into sensible groups, to answer my toughest question: "What the heck were they thinking?"
No shortage of belittlement for Hitler. I guess that's to be expected. He correctly predicts Hitler's suicide and a dozen other things.
No shortage of belittlement for Hitler. I guess that's to be expected. He correctly predicts Hitler's suicide and a dozen other things.
June 20, 2015
Haffner, a German author living in Germany in the 1930s, wrote a prescient and insightful analysis, originally published in London in 1940, on the rise of Nazi Germany and its likely consequences. He highlights the ineffectiveness of passive resistance to such a regime. Interestingly, Haffner specifically describes the rise of Nazism as the falling of an "iron curtain" in Germany.
April 28, 2012
author is chilling in his predictions about the third reich.and what it meant to live in germany at the time.
August 2, 2020
Sebastian Haffner fue un perspicaz periodista y ensayista, testigo de los acontecimientos que conmovieron a Alemania a lo largo de la turbulenta primera mitad del siglo XX. No hay que acercarse a la lectura de Haffner esperando encontrarse con una rigurosa narración histórica. Sus juicios no son corroborados por fuentes de indudable procedencia, sino que a menudo el conocimiento de la realidad alemana sirve como aval para emitir dichas opiniones. No se trata de una lectura historiográfica, sino de un testimonio. Al igual que Stefan Zweig cuando recapitula la historia del imperio dual de los Habsburgo al borde del abismo, las reflexiones de Haffner son interesantes a un siglo de ser mecanografiadas por la imagen que ofrecen de la mentalidad de su autor, representativo de una intelectualidad liberal que se sustrajo del influjo que el fascismo ejerció sobre la sociedad a la que pertenecía.
En este caso, prefiero las 'Anotaciones sobre Hitler' que Haffner firmó décadas después, en un contexto mucho más sosegado , alejado de la situación de desarraigo e inquietud con que vivió la redacción del libro que nos ocupa (emigración en Inglaterra e incipiente guerra entre las potencias occidentales y la Alemania nazi) El objetivo con que acometió la tarea de escribir ambos libros también es distinto. Para 'Jeckyl y Hyde' Haffner pretendió contribuir con el esfuerzo de guerra aliado desde el frente propagandístico, mientras que en las 'Anotaciones' se esfuerza por reconstruir la esquiva personalidad del caudillo austriaco. Un trabajo que se desenvuelve en medio la urgencia del momento de guerra no deja de tener incentivos para el historiador que quiera conocer los escenarios que se manejaban a la altura de 1940 para la prevista posguerra, pero para un lector profano no proporciona un muchos estímulos.
Preferible por ello a pesar de la limitación del enfoque psicológico esa reconstrucción del carácter de Hitler que se esboza en las 'Anotaciones'.
En este caso, prefiero las 'Anotaciones sobre Hitler' que Haffner firmó décadas después, en un contexto mucho más sosegado , alejado de la situación de desarraigo e inquietud con que vivió la redacción del libro que nos ocupa (emigración en Inglaterra e incipiente guerra entre las potencias occidentales y la Alemania nazi) El objetivo con que acometió la tarea de escribir ambos libros también es distinto. Para 'Jeckyl y Hyde' Haffner pretendió contribuir con el esfuerzo de guerra aliado desde el frente propagandístico, mientras que en las 'Anotaciones' se esfuerza por reconstruir la esquiva personalidad del caudillo austriaco. Un trabajo que se desenvuelve en medio la urgencia del momento de guerra no deja de tener incentivos para el historiador que quiera conocer los escenarios que se manejaban a la altura de 1940 para la prevista posguerra, pero para un lector profano no proporciona un muchos estímulos.
Preferible por ello a pesar de la limitación del enfoque psicológico esa reconstrucción del carácter de Hitler que se esboza en las 'Anotaciones'.
February 28, 2024
This is a bit of an oddity. Written in 1940 as attempt to establish his ant-Nazi credentials, the book was originally written in German and translated into English. It has recently been translated back into German, the original German text having been lost, with the hope that nothing would be lost. Hmm, Haffner is no simple thinker and this is a very convoluted attempt to explain Germany and the Germans to his British hosts. It has some interesting moments but generally it is dull and pedestrian.
February 5, 2022
Furious, sometimes quite odd, very much of its time.
dnf-2024
July 8, 2024100/283 dnf. Es nota l’epoca que esta escrit. Em va agradar historia de un aleman. El ser biografia i una altra traductora potser estava millor.
July 7, 2016
The idea of a book written before the Second World War and giving an inside view of the Nazi regime looked appealing.
Unfortunately I discovered very little I did not know from other books about how the Hitler regime was behaving at the time the style is too convoluted with references unintelligible for nowadays reader.
Unfortunately I discovered very little I did not know from other books about how the Hitler regime was behaving at the time the style is too convoluted with references unintelligible for nowadays reader.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews