What do you think?
Rate this book
Hitler's People: The Faces of the Third Reich
Through a connected set of biographical portraits of key Nazi figures that follows power as it radiated out from Hitler to the inner and outer circles of the regime’s leadership, one of our greatest historians answers the enduring question, how does a society come to carry out a program of unspeakable evil?Richard Evans, author of the acclaimed The Third Reich Trilogy and over two dozen other volumes on modern Europe, is our preeminent scholar of Nazi Germany. Having spent half a century searching for the truths behind one of the most horrifying episodes in human history, in Hitler’s People, he brings us back to the original site of the Nazi namely, the lives of its most important members.Working in concentric circles out from Hitler and his closest allies, Evans forms a typological framework of Germany society under Nazi rule from the top down. With a novelist’s eye for detail, Evans explains the Third Reich through the personal failings and professional ambitions of its members, from its most notorious deputies—like Goebbels, the regime’s propagandist, and Himmler, the Holocaust’s chief architect—to the crucial enforcers and instruments of the Nazi agenda that history has largely forgotten—like the schoolteacher Julius Streicher and the actress Leni Riefenstahl. Drawing on a wealth of recently unearthed historical sources, Hitler’s People lays bare the inner and outer lives of the characters whose choices led to the deaths of millions.Nearly a century after Hitler’s rise, the leading nations of the West are once again being torn apart by a will to power. By telling the stories of these infamous lives as human lives, Evans asks us to grapple with the complicated nature of complicity, showing us that the distinctions between individual and collective responsibility—and even between pathological evil and rational choice—are never easily drawn.
624 pages, Hardcover
First published August 13, 2024
About the author
Richard J. Evans
56 books696 followersRichard J. Evans is one of the world's leading historians of modern Germany. He was born in London in 1947. From 2008 to 2014 he was Regius Professor of History at Cambridge University, and from 2020 to 2017 President of Wolfson College, Cambridge. He served as Provost of Gresham College in the City of London from 2014 to 2020. In 1994 he was awarded the Hamburg Medal for Art and Science for cultural services to the city, and in 2015 received the British Academy Leverhulme Medal, awarded every three years for a significant contribution to the Humanities or Social Sciences. In 2000 he was the principal expert witness in the David Irving Holocaust Denial libel trial at the High Court in London, subsequently the subject of the film Denial. His books include Death in Hamburg (winner of the Wolfson History Prize), In Defence of History, The Coming of the Third Reich, The Third Reich in Power, and The Third Reich at War. His book The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1914, volume 7 of the Penguin History of Europe, was published in 2016. His most recent books are Eric Hobsbawm: A Life in History (2019) and The Hitler Conspiracies: The Third Reich and the Paranoid Imagination (2020). In 2012 he was knighted for services to scholarship.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
August 14, 2024
Richard Evans tells us not to think of the perpetrators of the most horrendous crimes ever committed as psychopaths. Neither were the leading Nazis gangsters or hoodlums primarily seeking to enrich themselves. They were not insane, either, because the insane do not understand what they are doing. In contrast, nearly all Nazi war criminals were completely aware, remorseless, and proud that they had murdered millions of Jews and others whose mere existence “threatened” their imaginary Aryan race.
“Apart from flying in the face of the evidence, thinking of them as depraved, deviant or degenerate puts them outside the bounds of normal humanity and so serves as a form of exculpation for the rest of us, past, present and future,” concludes Mr. Evans in his superb biographical study, “Hitler’s People.” If we look to the past to understand the popular appeal of today’s strongmen and wannabe dictators, we must view even cruel tyrants as humans rather than monsters or raving imbeciles. In the right context and conditions, any of us may be capable of contravening societal norms of decency and restraint when sanctioned from above – “to commit acts that would have been unimaginable in other circumstances.”
Please read my review:
https://martindicaro.substack.com/p/h...
“Apart from flying in the face of the evidence, thinking of them as depraved, deviant or degenerate puts them outside the bounds of normal humanity and so serves as a form of exculpation for the rest of us, past, present and future,” concludes Mr. Evans in his superb biographical study, “Hitler’s People.” If we look to the past to understand the popular appeal of today’s strongmen and wannabe dictators, we must view even cruel tyrants as humans rather than monsters or raving imbeciles. In the right context and conditions, any of us may be capable of contravening societal norms of decency and restraint when sanctioned from above – “to commit acts that would have been unimaginable in other circumstances.”
Please read my review:
https://martindicaro.substack.com/p/h...
September 18, 2024
Richard J. Evans' Hitler's People collects biographical profiles of the Third Reich's leaders, from the Fuhrer down to his small-time henchmen and hangers-on. It's not a novel approach (Evans admits a debt to Joachim Fest's The Face of the Third Reich) but Evans executes it with aplomb: colorful profiles of Eminent Nazis are laced with deflating anecdotes and wry humor that bring them down to earth without diminishing their evil. Hitler is viewed as an angry, petit bourgeois malcontent who shared the passions and prejudices of many of his background - tied with his oratorical skill and political savvy, it goes a long way towards explaining his success in seducing German voters to his side. Evans' portraiture of Goebbels, Himmler, Goering and other Hitler intimates offers fewer surprises, if only because this rogue's gallery has been profiled many times before (though I enjoyed the story of Goebbels being grabbed bodily off a train platform by a bodyguard, his legs kicking feebly in the air as the train left the station). Later chapters chronicle lesser-known, but still important figures like Robert Ley, the head of the German Labor Front who mated quasi-socialist ideas about land collectivization with a psychotic "Back to Nature" fascist agrarianism; the lawyer-bureaucrat Hans Frank, who grew fat off of his corrupt, brutal rule of occupied Poland; the vile propagandist Julius Streicher and the feckless conservative Franz von Papen, who became Hitler's Vice Chancellor expecting to manipulate him, only to be quickly outmaneuvered and put in his place. A final section discusses more marginal figures, from concentration camp guards (notably, an interesting dissection of the myth around Ilse Koch) to military officers to filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, using them to examine specific aspects of Nazi rule and culture more closely, while also deconstructing common narratives like the "Clean Wehrmacht" myth or Riefenstahl's insistence that she knew nothing about Nazi crimes. Evans' book makes a good companion to his Third Reich Trilogy, showing the kinds of people drawn to National Socialism and how they used the regime to advance their own, often conflicting, frequently idiosyncratic agendas - or how, finding success and comfort under the fascist umbrella, they didn't bother to challenge its precepts. A worthy addition to popular literature on Nazi Germany.
September 7, 2024
Richard J. Evans wrote an entire trilogy about the Third Reich, and they were critically acclaimed. I read the last two of the trilogy, and I found them to be informative. When I saw Evans was going to write this book, I was looking forward to reading it. I got it and started to read it. There were figures in Third Reich mentioned in this book that I had not heard of before. However, I found this book to be disappointing. There was no great insight, as one reviewer has already stated, it felt like Wikipedia. I felt I could have read the same profile about Heinrich Himmler on Wikipedia. I heard Evans state he is tired of writing about the Nazis and is planning to write about pandemics. His fatigue shows in this one.
August 20, 2024
Evans’ three volume history of the 3rd Reich is one of the best. He spun off this linked series of biographical essays at least in part because of increased concern about the revival of authoritarian and neofascist leadership and its appeal to ordinary people. The book itself is a useful survey of Hitler himself, the leadership, major figures, and ordinary people. There is a fair bit of repetition both in historical events (the “stab in the back” theory doesn’t need to be explained every time it occurs) and in the trajectory of the people discussed: normal German upbringing/shock of defeat/fall in status during depression/nationalism plus antisemitism/appeal of a forceful leader…. There are some surprises: Rohm was a cultured, piano playing aesthete as well as the wilding leader of the SA.
September 1, 2024
"Hitler's People" does a superb job of tracing the rise of Nazism through biographies of its leading players from Hitler on down. Evans gives us an inside view of each leader's early life, entry into the Nazi movement, and career trajectory up through WWII, Nuremburg, and even beyond. He also provides insights into their (often contentious) relationships with each other. And he notes how new evidence on them has emerged over time, changing historians' views of their roles in the Nazi regime. Very readable (and horrifying) history.
August 18, 2024
In Hitler’s People Richard Evans profiles key members of the Nazi era in Germany. It is a polyglot lot. From Goebbels to Himmler. But lesser men and women also play key parts in enabling the systematic murder machine that was the Third Reich. Hitler and his thugs took complete control over a cultured, integrated society and held sway for 13 years. The leadership was not the easy caricature of bloodthirsty sociopaths. Most in fact hailed from the educated bourgeoisie classes and some from the noble, upper crust families. They were mostly from Northern Protestant German families but a sprinkle of Catholics were also seduced. All had in common a deep resentment of the Versailles Treaty and the ensuing chaos of the Weimar Republic. And all virtually worshipped Hitler. Disturbing but essential retelling of history.
August 25, 2024
Most of the book is relatively short biographical depictions of nazis, from leadership down to relatively “everyday” people. It wasn’t entirely clear to me how these people were chosen, apart from the desire to show that perpetrators of terrible acts weren’t individually insane or inhuman. But selecting only people who actually participated in violence or racism cherry picks a certain type of person, and the author spends most of the book explaining what individual nazis were not, rather than attempting to explain what they were.
The bios had as much insight as a Wikipedia article, and when the conclusion came I hoped I’d get some kind of original thought. Instead, the author ended with an anecdote about a woman who had chosen to leave Germany when the nazis came to power, which forced him to question (seemingly for the first time) why some people didn’t go along for the ride.
The bios had as much insight as a Wikipedia article, and when the conclusion came I hoped I’d get some kind of original thought. Instead, the author ended with an anecdote about a woman who had chosen to leave Germany when the nazis came to power, which forced him to question (seemingly for the first time) why some people didn’t go along for the ride.
September 16, 2024
This book to me provide more insightful information on the internal dynamics of the Nazis and how the individual personalities interacted with Hitler and Nazi ideas.
Read
August 27, 2024There is a deliberate echo in Richard Evans’ new study of actors and perpetrators in the Third Reich of the classic book written by the German journalist Joachim C. Fest, The Face of the Third Reich: Portraits of the Nazi Leadership, now more than 60 years ago. Like Fest, Evans has chosen to focus on key figures from Hitler’s entourage alongside perpetrators of the regime’s crimes and a sample of other fellow-travellers from most walks of life. Evans has stated that he wishes to come back to a question that has eluded him in his earlier writing on the Hitler years: how did this cohort, largely of men, come to support and work for a criminal regime led by a dangerous narcissist?
Evans approaches the answer through the potted biographies of 18 men and five women. He argues that the focus in much of Third Reich literature on institutions and political structures has tended to obscure the individual contribution of the personalities at the top of the dictatorial tree, who had their own agendas, ambitions and initiatives. Hitler was certainly central – Evans rightly rejects the idea of a ‘weak dictator’ – but he could not have done what he did without the collaboration and support of those in the circles of power that rippled out from the centre. Adolf Eichmann, described here as one of the ‘enforcers’, is a good example. No one in the Gestapo apparatus played a more important part in planning and carrying out the mass murder of Europe’s Jews, but his modest office in the regime meant that he was a long way from the dictator. That did not matter. Eichmann wanted to exterminate the Jews and boasted of his success while in exile in Argentina years later.
A thread that runs through the book is Evans’ conviction that the Hitler entourage was not made up of madmen or psychopaths, but normal people whose lives were distorted by contact with Hitler and the movement. Some, of course, were not entirely normal: Julius Streicher, the ranting antisemite from Nuremberg; Rudolf Hess, whose hysteric amnesia shielded him from execution at the postwar trials; the soft-chinned, bespectacled Himmler, obsessed with the ideal Aryan man he could never be; and so on. The camp thugs, several of them explored here, including the gruesome Ilse Koch and Irma Grese, were ‘normal’ in only a relative sense. The absolute power enjoyed over the dishevelled and disorientated prisoners prompted a savage cruelty in some of those in charge, but not all. The sadism was not the behaviour of a normal person, but one literally depraved by the opportunities the terror system presented. ‘Normal’ returned if they managed to avoid capture and punishment, and were able to slip back into civilian life. A great many did.
Read the rest of the review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...
Richard Overy is Honorary Research Professor at the University of Exeter. His latest book is Why War? (Allen Lane, 2024).
Evans approaches the answer through the potted biographies of 18 men and five women. He argues that the focus in much of Third Reich literature on institutions and political structures has tended to obscure the individual contribution of the personalities at the top of the dictatorial tree, who had their own agendas, ambitions and initiatives. Hitler was certainly central – Evans rightly rejects the idea of a ‘weak dictator’ – but he could not have done what he did without the collaboration and support of those in the circles of power that rippled out from the centre. Adolf Eichmann, described here as one of the ‘enforcers’, is a good example. No one in the Gestapo apparatus played a more important part in planning and carrying out the mass murder of Europe’s Jews, but his modest office in the regime meant that he was a long way from the dictator. That did not matter. Eichmann wanted to exterminate the Jews and boasted of his success while in exile in Argentina years later.
A thread that runs through the book is Evans’ conviction that the Hitler entourage was not made up of madmen or psychopaths, but normal people whose lives were distorted by contact with Hitler and the movement. Some, of course, were not entirely normal: Julius Streicher, the ranting antisemite from Nuremberg; Rudolf Hess, whose hysteric amnesia shielded him from execution at the postwar trials; the soft-chinned, bespectacled Himmler, obsessed with the ideal Aryan man he could never be; and so on. The camp thugs, several of them explored here, including the gruesome Ilse Koch and Irma Grese, were ‘normal’ in only a relative sense. The absolute power enjoyed over the dishevelled and disorientated prisoners prompted a savage cruelty in some of those in charge, but not all. The sadism was not the behaviour of a normal person, but one literally depraved by the opportunities the terror system presented. ‘Normal’ returned if they managed to avoid capture and punishment, and were able to slip back into civilian life. A great many did.
Read the rest of the review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...
Richard Overy is Honorary Research Professor at the University of Exeter. His latest book is Why War? (Allen Lane, 2024).
September 8, 2024
The eternal question about Nazi Germany is how Germans could support Hitler and his murderous regime. Evans, one of the most-respected historians of the Nazi era, tackles that question here. He begins with a sketch of Hitler and how he developed his worldview, especially his virulent anti-semitism. Then he works his way outward, beginning one by one with Hitler’s best-known supporters, then going further and further out from personal acquaintance with Hitler, all the way to an ordinary woman whose diary reveals her (and her Jewish husband!) starting as fervent admirers of Hitler and then becoming entirely disillusioned.
Nazi-era historians like to talk about each other and critique each other’s views. Evans discusses Joachim Fest, disagreeing with him much of the time, and also discusses several of the historians who have focused on the nature of the perpetrators of the Holocaust and had different viewpoints. Evans is at pains to disagree with prior views that Hitlerites were psychopaths, or evil by nature. He points out that only two of Hitler’s close aides were virulently anti-semitic before the Nazis came to power. (Though all of them were anti-semitic to some extent.) One of Evans’s points is that Germany’s defeat in World War I and the Great Depression caused deep psychic damage, that primed Germans to support a strong, charismatic leader who offered them a scapegoat and promised to revitalize the nation. But how to bring them to accept the increasingly horrific treatment of Jews and then Slavs and other minorities in conquered countries? I wish he had spent more time on this, because he does make it clear that Germans were mostly aware of just how bad things were for the Nazis’ targets. His argument seems to be based on a combination of fear/coercion and a group mentality. Perpetrators felt they were part of a group and needed to protect and advance the interests of their group. They believed propaganda about Jews, Slavs, Roma and Sinti being both inferior and a threat to the future of the German “race,” because people on their side told them so and because they feared negative consequences if they didn’t go along. Although soldiers weren’t disciplined for refusing to execute people, the civilian population who spoke out could reasonably expect to be denounced and suffer punishment ranging anywhere from job loss to death.
Evans makes a few comments drawing attention to parallels between Nazi views and methods and those used by current-day populist leaders. But doing that isn’t a prominent part of the book.
I’ve read a lot of Evans’s books, and while this is good, it’s not on a level with some of his others. For my taste, there’s too much exposition of the history and personalities and not enough analysis. It’s still well worth reading, even if only because as authoritarianism is growing, we should be familiarizing ourselves in prior periods when that happened.
3.5 stars, rounded to 4.
Nazi-era historians like to talk about each other and critique each other’s views. Evans discusses Joachim Fest, disagreeing with him much of the time, and also discusses several of the historians who have focused on the nature of the perpetrators of the Holocaust and had different viewpoints. Evans is at pains to disagree with prior views that Hitlerites were psychopaths, or evil by nature. He points out that only two of Hitler’s close aides were virulently anti-semitic before the Nazis came to power. (Though all of them were anti-semitic to some extent.) One of Evans’s points is that Germany’s defeat in World War I and the Great Depression caused deep psychic damage, that primed Germans to support a strong, charismatic leader who offered them a scapegoat and promised to revitalize the nation. But how to bring them to accept the increasingly horrific treatment of Jews and then Slavs and other minorities in conquered countries? I wish he had spent more time on this, because he does make it clear that Germans were mostly aware of just how bad things were for the Nazis’ targets. His argument seems to be based on a combination of fear/coercion and a group mentality. Perpetrators felt they were part of a group and needed to protect and advance the interests of their group. They believed propaganda about Jews, Slavs, Roma and Sinti being both inferior and a threat to the future of the German “race,” because people on their side told them so and because they feared negative consequences if they didn’t go along. Although soldiers weren’t disciplined for refusing to execute people, the civilian population who spoke out could reasonably expect to be denounced and suffer punishment ranging anywhere from job loss to death.
Evans makes a few comments drawing attention to parallels between Nazi views and methods and those used by current-day populist leaders. But doing that isn’t a prominent part of the book.
I’ve read a lot of Evans’s books, and while this is good, it’s not on a level with some of his others. For my taste, there’s too much exposition of the history and personalities and not enough analysis. It’s still well worth reading, even if only because as authoritarianism is growing, we should be familiarizing ourselves in prior periods when that happened.
3.5 stars, rounded to 4.
September 19, 2024
Richard Evans' fascinating book doesn't focus on Hitler, but rather on the people who were in his orbit, some quite close, others at more of a distance. Evans shows how a combination of factors led to the rise of the Nazis, especially the propaganda that the Nazis were so adept with. He also looks at the psychology of some of Hitler's followers and finds a common element.
It's post-WWI Germany, and everyone is angry. Their defeat has been humiliating. The monarchy has fallen. The class system has been disrupted. Everyone wants someone to blame, and the handiest are the Jews. Hitler's people managed to get almost an entire country to believe that there was a world-wide Jewish conspiracy targeting Germany. As outlandish as such a conspiracy seems now, it was the prevailing notion among a great many of the Germans. Hitler and his minions began to use language that dehumanized the Jews, calling them vermin and animals (sound familiar?). They are to blame, they are to blame, they are to blame was the constant message. There was already a good deal of latent anti-semitism, and into this environment came not just permission to blame the Jews, but encouragement. And what do we do about this scourge? We must rid our country of it, with whatever means necessary.
Another big piece of the propaganda machine was the lauding of traditional family values and the putting of women in their rightful place--the home. A good Nazi woman was a wife and mother, caring for her Nazi man and pumping out Nazi babies (OMG, does this sound familiar?).
Another piece was Hitler's insistence that he was the only one who could solve Germany's problems. Hitler was a gifted speaker, and it was easy to fall under his sway, particularly if you couldn't or wouldn't think. If Hitler said it, it was true (sound familiar?).
The common psychological factor of Hitler's people was a devastating loss. For some, this was the internalized loss in WWI. It wasn't just about the country--it was also about the individual. The sense of what it was to be a German was destroyed. For others, this was the loss of a parent or an opportunity. In all cases, the loss led to rage. People felt as though they had completely lost control of their lives. Hitler promised them control.
It's post-WWI Germany, and everyone is angry. Their defeat has been humiliating. The monarchy has fallen. The class system has been disrupted. Everyone wants someone to blame, and the handiest are the Jews. Hitler's people managed to get almost an entire country to believe that there was a world-wide Jewish conspiracy targeting Germany. As outlandish as such a conspiracy seems now, it was the prevailing notion among a great many of the Germans. Hitler and his minions began to use language that dehumanized the Jews, calling them vermin and animals (sound familiar?). They are to blame, they are to blame, they are to blame was the constant message. There was already a good deal of latent anti-semitism, and into this environment came not just permission to blame the Jews, but encouragement. And what do we do about this scourge? We must rid our country of it, with whatever means necessary.
Another big piece of the propaganda machine was the lauding of traditional family values and the putting of women in their rightful place--the home. A good Nazi woman was a wife and mother, caring for her Nazi man and pumping out Nazi babies (OMG, does this sound familiar?).
Another piece was Hitler's insistence that he was the only one who could solve Germany's problems. Hitler was a gifted speaker, and it was easy to fall under his sway, particularly if you couldn't or wouldn't think. If Hitler said it, it was true (sound familiar?).
The common psychological factor of Hitler's people was a devastating loss. For some, this was the internalized loss in WWI. It wasn't just about the country--it was also about the individual. The sense of what it was to be a German was destroyed. For others, this was the loss of a parent or an opportunity. In all cases, the loss led to rage. People felt as though they had completely lost control of their lives. Hitler promised them control.
September 8, 2024
This certainly doesn't rank with Evans' superb 3-volume history of the Third Reich, but I found that even in the chapters on the most famous of the books subjects, I always learned some things I hadn't been aware of (and I've read a lot in this area). More interesting were the chapters on the lesser-known (or to me sometimes unknown) characters. The final subject, Luise Solmitz, the wife of a half-Jewish veteran and mother of a "mischling first degree" daughter, is especially fascinating.
Understanding how people came to be under the influence of such men as Hitler, Himmler and the rest is vital, for, as Evans says in his preface, "These questions are at the heart of the present book. And in the past few years, they have gained new urgency and importance. For, since shortly after the beginning of the twenty-first century, democratic institutions have been under threat in many countries across the world. Strongmen and would-be dictators are emerging, often with considerable popular support, to undermine democracy, muzzle the media, control the judiciary, stifle opposition, and undermine basic human rights. Political corruption, lies, dishonesty and deceit are becoming the new currency of politics, with fatal results for our fundamental freedoms. Hatred and persecution of minorities are on the increase, stoked by unscrupulous politicians. The future is bleak, the prospects for freedom and democracy uncertain."
Understanding how people came to be under the influence of such men as Hitler, Himmler and the rest is vital, for, as Evans says in his preface, "These questions are at the heart of the present book. And in the past few years, they have gained new urgency and importance. For, since shortly after the beginning of the twenty-first century, democratic institutions have been under threat in many countries across the world. Strongmen and would-be dictators are emerging, often with considerable popular support, to undermine democracy, muzzle the media, control the judiciary, stifle opposition, and undermine basic human rights. Political corruption, lies, dishonesty and deceit are becoming the new currency of politics, with fatal results for our fundamental freedoms. Hatred and persecution of minorities are on the increase, stoked by unscrupulous politicians. The future is bleak, the prospects for freedom and democracy uncertain."
September 3, 2024
A reminder that Christianity, moral codes, ethics, personal principles of decency, decorum, respect and basic knowledge of right and wrong, are not to be suddenly suspended if the times grow challenging, or if you suspect your political opponents of worse. It is precisely at those times that they count the most.
Because the temptation to abandon them a little at a time, out of fear, is always at your elbow. We can always justify our own evil, and celebrate those who sneer when they go a little further than we would, and in so doing, point down the way that we will eventually follow them.
This book is also a corrective to the idea that people who fall victim to what feels like a momentary temptation will eventually wise up. They will more than likely spend the rest of their lives justifying their actions, rather than humble themselves and resolve to do better. We are always a little too proud to admit our own undoing.
These people weren't hypnotized - they chose to close their eyes and salute. Or keep quiet. Or look away. And look what you become.
Because the temptation to abandon them a little at a time, out of fear, is always at your elbow. We can always justify our own evil, and celebrate those who sneer when they go a little further than we would, and in so doing, point down the way that we will eventually follow them.
This book is also a corrective to the idea that people who fall victim to what feels like a momentary temptation will eventually wise up. They will more than likely spend the rest of their lives justifying their actions, rather than humble themselves and resolve to do better. We are always a little too proud to admit our own undoing.
These people weren't hypnotized - they chose to close their eyes and salute. Or keep quiet. Or look away. And look what you become.
August 22, 2024
Four days. It took me four days to read this 624 page book. This is Richard Evans at his finest. There is nothing particularly new in the research but the vignettes of the people in Hitlers world become human - something that we often forget as we explore the evils these men (and several women) perpetuated.
Exploring Nazi Germany through the lens of viewing its key actors and supporters are nothing more than delusional fanatics, social rejects filled with spite and hatred dehumanizes them - making it easier for us to explain their atrocities.
Evan’s portrays these individuals as humans - not for the sake of attempting to rehabilitate their image or to draw sympathy from the reader but to illuminate us about the true banality of evil.
and that epilogueB left me with goosebumps.
Do yourself a favor and add this to your list of must reads for the rest od the hear.
Thank me later.
Exploring Nazi Germany through the lens of viewing its key actors and supporters are nothing more than delusional fanatics, social rejects filled with spite and hatred dehumanizes them - making it easier for us to explain their atrocities.
Evan’s portrays these individuals as humans - not for the sake of attempting to rehabilitate their image or to draw sympathy from the reader but to illuminate us about the true banality of evil.
and that epilogueB left me with goosebumps.
Do yourself a favor and add this to your list of must reads for the rest od the hear.
Thank me later.
September 28, 2024
pretty scary given our current political situation. given that Germany had other worsening circumstances (WWI treaty had dumped pretty well on Germany given their role in WWI, the depression had created hyper inflation on top of the war debt placed on Germany...) but the willingness of people who felt that they had lost status or position or were otherwise being 'injured' to align with a charming Hilter (Trump?) who they for the most part knew was bad news in order to 'Make Germany Great Again' is disturbing. Being convinced that the 'other' is bad (Jewish/terrorist/Democrat?) seems to be all it takes to randomly beat/torture/kill people.
September 28, 2024
A look at supporters of Hitler and the Nazi party and why they made the decision they did. He divides the people into three groups. The Paladins such people as Goring, Goebbels, and Speer are included this group. The second group he calls The Enforces includes Hess, Robert Ley, and Hans Frank among others. The Third group is called the Ine Instruments including Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, Karl Brandt, and Loise Solmitz among others. This group many of the people covered are really representative of a class or group who supported Hitler.
August 26, 2024
I’ve always wondered how Germany went from a democracy following World War I to a dictatorship with Adolf Hitler that killed six million Jews and five million non-Jewish people. In addition, they forced sterilized 400,000 people in an effort to “protect” the gene pool. How does a society allow this to happen? This book chronicles the lives of some of the people that contributed to bringing Hitler’s vision to reality. 4.5 stars
September 8, 2024
Hitler's People is another great addition to the canon of scholarship on the Nazi era produced by Richard Evans. It's a collection of short biographies of most of the members of Hitler's inner circle, but it's complemented by sketches of "ordinary Germans" who worked for the regime at lower levels, or in some cases were simply passive travelers. Excellent choice for anyone who wants to know more about the period.
September 20, 2024
An amazing read! Each “player” in the evil that was The Third Reich gets her/his own chapter profile. At first, I wasn’t sure if I liked this format (my linear brain wanted a chronological story) but I found the approach to be compelling. Each chapter delves into what led these men and women to fall under the spell of Adolph Hitler. Best non-fiction book I’ve read in a long time.
September 26, 2024
I agree with a couple of other readers who reviewed this book. I didn't find much insight, and every chapter felt like a Wikipedia article. I expected something more dynamic, with more anecdotes, links, and analysis. However, I think the author mentioned on the first pages that there isn't much to analyse about these characters. They were pretty "banal" people (to quote Arendt).
Read
September 11, 2024Fascinating background information on the key Nazi figures. Easy to read the short chapters on each.
September 11, 2024
Loved this book but I couldn't finish it. I have read over half of the book and my carpal tunnel started back again.
September 17, 2024
Tough read, but interesting!
September 18, 2024
ripped through this 500 pager...must read if you're interested in WWII/Nazism/psychology of evil
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews