Tom’s Reviews > The Third Reich in Power > Status Update

There's a niche idea that the Nazis prosecuted Christians. That's mostly false.
Christian thought leaders A.K.A priests/pastors who openly spoke against the Nazis on the basis of religion were prosecuted, but Christians, as a group, were not targeted by the Nazis like Jews or even "ideological enemies" such as Communists and Social Democrats.
Hardline Christians were seen as sheep to be converted - not prosecuted.

Catholic CSA was already being talked about in the 1930s, but it's obvious that the Nazis motivation on reporting on it was purely due to their hatred of the fact that Catholic clergy, unlike Protestants, are not as susceptible to the disease which is (ethnic) nationalism.

It's a shame that Catholic voters were largely just as oblivious as their Protestant counterparts.

The excellence of Evans' prose and navigation of this book is realized when you notice that throughout this chapter you've unknowingly been following the life of the man who wrote the "First they came for the..." poem until it's "revealed" at the very end.

And even then, Evans hits you skilfully over the head because he reminds you of the absence of one group in that poem: Catholics.

It is clear that Evans does not agree with the phrase '[all] art is political'.

"Nazism anaesthetized politics; but it also politicized the arts."

Yet isn't that the crux of politics and the truth behind art?

This was something which Goebbels understood on an intellectual level. So far, he seems to have been the only truly intelligent member of the Nazi regime.

Goebbels isn't incorrect in his statement: "All art is political."
It's an ignorance to this statement, which Evans engages in - which leads to the degradation of art, the acceptance of mediocrity and subservice to the status quo.

Goebbels, who seems to be the smartest top Nazi, pushed for 'subtle' propaganda while his colleges simply wanted overt propaganda. He overestimated the intelligence of the average Nazi!

Is it possible that the Germans under the Nazis were less ontologically evil than those who support evil regimes today? Or does the internet simply amplify and encourage the stupid and hateful to relish in their evil nature?

I mean MAGA mostly.

The idea of signing up to the SS and then changing your mind because it's too evil is just so odd. I wish/I hope there's more detailed testimony on these types of people.

The German Communists gave so much aura that the Nazis were too scared to even do public executions after one instant of the Communists yelling slogans and assaulting their executors in front of 'sensible audiences'.

I have never liked Stalin but I think it is finally time to read and understand WHY I don't like him from the perspective of somebody who is anti-fascist, anti-capitalist, and pro-communist.

I've been operating on the phrase that Stalin was a fascist, and it always gets people mad so ha ha.