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John Davis

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Sinister Refuge (Boyd and Abboud Mystery Series)

by Rick George

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Apr 13, 2025 01:46PM

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Out of the Darkness: The Germans, 1942-2022

by Frank Trentmann

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read in April 2024

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John Davis said: " Out of the Darkness, by Frank Trentmann; Alfred A. Knopf: New York; $50.00
An appreciation of ‘The Germans, 1942-2022’, requires an Homeric effort. Nevertheless, often awarded Professor Frank Trentmann, currently of Birkbeck in London and Helsinki Un Out of the Darkness, by Frank Trentmann; Alfred A. Knopf: New York; $50.00
An appreciation of ‘The Germans, 1942-2022’, requires an Homeric effort. Nevertheless, often awarded Professor Frank Trentmann, currently of Birkbeck in London and Helsinki Universities, has done so with brio. What such an appreciation requires is not only a nuanced understanding of the myriad great facts of this time frame, but also the social, popular, and religious influences as well. Trentmann has surely done this in a readable, memorable way.
We follow as he delves into, for example, the diaries of front-line soldiers of the latter part of the Second World War. We understand many of them to be passive, but clearly firm in their belief of the rightness of their cause. How such people dealt with total defeat, and total personal loss, to live under foreign occupations, is instructive. Some sought consolation in self-pity and parity of pain. Why should we alone be blamed, some asked, since our cities too were bombed to dust? Yet what Trentmann is a master of is finding whether such beliefs alone prevailed among various German groups. What often seems a commonly accepted historical synopsis, Trentmann reveals to be less so, highly differentiated by his remarkable research. Many Germans, less self-centered and overwhelmed by loss, concentrated on Germany’s invasion of other lands, and their often-bestial behavior, especially toward the Jews. They lamented the fall of a great enlightened nation. How these, and other sentiments evolved, and on behalf of whom, is a masterpiece of explanation. How Germans came to reconciliation with their past to become models of international cooperation, is instructive. So too do we discern how the great socialist experiment of East Germany, under Soviet guns, became a dictatorship akin to Stalinism.
We find Trentmann has uncovered not only myriad original sources, but has deployed his excellent skills to blend in the religious controversies of the era. Especially significant are his excellent explorations of the role of the Cold War Peace marches and the paradoxical teastube (church sponsored peace discussions.) The latter was denounced by some in the West as communist fronts, but indeed proved critical in bringing about the initial actions which undermined the Communist regime in East Germany.
Likewise, Trentmann introduces the role of theater, film, and literature to show how Germans tried to understand themselves. We learn that Draussen vor der Tur, (The Outside Man) spread throughout the nation via radio readings and thousands of theater presentations in the late 1940s. This appreciation of the recent war was not, as some claim, evidence of people not wanting to talk about their fate. Far from it. This exemplifies how artworks were critical to a nation coming to grips with its past to inform its future. So too are Germany’s post-Cold War challenges addressed, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. A nation once marching on behalf of racial superiority has today welcomed more immigrants, promoted global climate initiatives, and fostered a united Europe, to name but a few. We see them engaged in the defense of national liberty in support of Ukraine today.
Trentmann has scoured endless source materials to provide a very nuanced, but in fact wise book. We see in his study of the effects of various acts, laws, international actions, and other winds of change how its varied population has responded for well or ill. You’ll feel as if you’ve been there, listening to Germans. ...more "

Apr 03, 2024 10:27AM · see review

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All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler

by Rebecca Donner (Goodreads Author)

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John Davis said: " All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days, by Rebecca Donner; Little, Brown: New York; $32.00 hardback
Those who seek to know what the subtle, horrific, then relentless growth of dictatorship looks like will do well to read of the final years of Mildred All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days, by Rebecca Donner; Little, Brown: New York; $32.00 hardback
Those who seek to know what the subtle, horrific, then relentless growth of dictatorship looks like will do well to read of the final years of Mildred Harnack in this, ‘The true story of the American woman at the heart of the German resistance to Hitler.” Harnack, American wife of Arvid Harnack, himself from a renowned German democratic family, became involved in resisting the encroachment of Nazi power from the onset of her married life in Berlin of the late 1920s. Rebecca Donner, widely published and greatly respected author and essayist, brings us a thoroughly researched, nuanced, and insightful study of the largest German resistance movement during the 12 year reign of Nazi terror. She offers this appreciation through the prism of the life of Mildred Harnack, one of its most active underground members.
That Harnack’s life in the underground was well hidden is only now appreciated. We only now have access to hitherto classified records of the former Nazi, Soviet, and American governments. These documents allow insight to what was then known, and clarifies what had been speculated about, a group of anti-Nazis whose activities were to last from roughly the mid ‘30s until 1943.
Well educated, socially interlinked, largely bourgeois, Mildred Harnack’s associates came from all walks of Berlin diplomatic, military, academic and social milieus. Indeed, her club memberships, social outreach groups, and academic communities served as valuable centers for identification and recruitment of fellow spies. For in the end, this is what she did. Strange to confirm, the group’s title, Red Orchestra, was given by their Gestapo opponents who believed they served Stalin alone. This, as Donner demonstrates, was not the case. The largely middle class membership was drawn from various sectors of Berlin society. Each recruitment was based upon a potential member’s access to information that, if betrayed, would help defeat Hitler. Largely amateurs, resisters were often recruited by professional Soviet spy-handlers. When their access to valuable information was confirmed Soviet training, communications equipment, and espionage trade craft materials were provided. How all of this finally unraveled, due to poor compartmentalization, is a study in tragedy.
Donner is a master of research. She literally found diaries, rescued troves of forgotten letters, and interviewed the few surviving knowledgeable observers of those pre- and early war years. Writing in the present tense for the most part, she brings a vivid sense of you-are-there to her writing. Best of all, she tells this truly tragic tale of noble efforts-- brought down by the powers of absolute Gestapo lawlessness-- in utterly readable fashion. Donner’s work is magnificent, because her storytelling skill will keep you at once intrigued by the numerous schemes, stunned by the revelations, and horrified at the moral dilemmas revealed. In the end, the choices made by Harnack’s group to secretly fight for a Germany based on the rule of law, in the face of Nazi torture chambers and relentless persecution, is a testimony to humanity’s best qualities ...more "

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Aug 09, 2021 08:42AM · see review

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John’s Quotes

“We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us.”
― Ken Levine

tags: choices, consequences, decisions, life

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“When you choose an action, you choose the consequences of that action. When you desire a consequence you had damned well better take the action that would create it.”
― Lois McMaster Bujold, Memory

tags: consequences

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“The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.”
― George Orwell, 1984

tags: 1984

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“To possess another language, Charlemagne tells us, is to possess another soul. German is such a language. Once you have it in your head, you can go there anytime, you can close the door, you have a refuge.”
― John Le Carre

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