There have probably been more books written about the Second World War than any other event in history. Every facet of the conflict has been covered from every imaginable angle, and it is sometimes hard to accept that anything new can be written about it, but this book proves that’s not the case.
The author sets out to understand what was happening in the minds of Germans during the war; a war that was deeply unpopular when it broke out. He analyses what they thought about their leaders, about the progress of the war and how and when they learned about the various darker sides of the conflict. He is not telling the story of the war, but digging into the thoughts and feelings of the participants.
The book centres on diaries and letters, principally between soldiers and their families, and a number of other first hand sources. He also makes good use of the regular morale surveys undertaken by the SD; given their reputation, these are surprisingly honest and level-headed. I doubt the results ever got as far as Hitler – who would have ignored them anyway – but they would have been used by Goebbels, for example, to refine his output, and analyse the responses.
What he uncovers is a very complex story indeed. Germany was a very disparate country in the 1930’s (it was, after all, only 70 years old), split by regional, political and religious differences, and the effects of the First World War were still vivid in the memories of millions. These factors were vital to the Nazis gaining power, and what emerges clearly is that there is no simple answer to explaining the motives of those who fought, or those who supported them at home.
One or two things, though, do stand out. Firstly, the feeling amongst First World War generation that they had somehow ‘failed’ their people. Whether they believed the myths about being ‘stabbed in the back’ or not, when conflict approached in the 1930s, their experience of war didn’t make them want to avoid another; far from it. They wanted to make up for their perceived failure by ensuring victory in the next war so that their descendants would not have to go through yet another conflict in 20 years time. This is a strong thread, and goes a long way to explain the tenacity of German soldiers.
Secondly, the myths that the SS were bad and the Wehrmacht good, and that ordinary Germans knew nothing about the extermination of the Jews and other atrocities, are truly blown apart. Time and time again, almost from the beginning of war in the east, soldiers were writing home hinting at the horrors they had seen. The details spread fairly rapidly, and it wasn’t long before those at home were at least aware of the general course of events. The interesting part is how ordinary soldiers and civilians dealt with – and justified – these actions.
The book is very well written. The author gives enough context to all the sources, without telling the whole history of the war, and allows those sources to tell their own story. The people followed comprise a good cross-section of class, politics and faith, and some of the stories are quite touching. I know it is dangerous to generalise, and talk about ‘the German psyche’, but by the end, I felt I had a much better understanding of what held the country and its people together throughout the war, and made its soldiers fight to the bitter end.
This is a review of the Bodley Head 2015 Kindle edition.
It is an extended version of my review first published on Amazon and Goodreads.
