Travellers in the Third Reich: The Rise of Fascism Through the Eyes of Everyday People: The Rise of Fascism Seen Through the Eyes of Everyday People

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Congratulations to Julia Boyd whose Travellers in the Third Reich has won the LA Times Book Prize in the history section.

To modern eyes, the failure of many of these correspondents to recognise the dangers of Nazism is galling. The complacency and the wilful blindness to sinister truths are plain to see, though it became impossible to maintain as the Nazis started openly persecuting the Jews and annexing surrounding territories. For who could sensibly fail to understand the implications of cities festooned in massive Nazi banners flapping above state-sanctioned, anti-Semitic graffiti – the writing, literally, on the walls?Yet it was interesting to see further evidence of the fact that only the communists were able to immediately recognise the actual essence of fascism and fight against it at a time when the European bourgeoisie tailed Hitler or tried to accommodate it at best. It was tragic to see that the Nazi extermination campaign against the communists, socialists, Jewish were experienced as a mere nuisance by the visitors. Many of the children are shown to have been indoctrinated into total belief and a lots of Obersdorf residents are killed during WW2 fighting with the Mountain Division or in the death camps. A compelling historical narrative … both flatters and challenges our hindsight. [Boyd] lets her voices, skilfully orchestrated, speak for themselves, which they do with great eloquence." Travellers in the Third Reich: The Rise of Fascism through the Eyes of Everyday People, Pegasus, 2018 At the end of the war a list of the Nazis in the village was completed from various sorts. From an incomplete list it was found that there were 455 names on the list, roughly 10% of the village, which also happened to mirror the Nazis membership across Germany.

This is a fascinating account of visitors to Germany from after WWI all the way through the Second World War. Indeed it is interesting to note that the hospitality industry was trying to entice overseas tourists immediately after the ending of hostilities in 1919. Also, that while British and American visitors were generally welcomed, the French were definitely not. Fascinating … This absorbing and beautifully organised book is full of small encounters that jolt the reader into a historical past that seems still very near." But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in. If you have an interest in Weimar and Third Reich history, enjoy histories with views from the bottom—of how real people experience it—or like travel writing, you can’t go wrong with this thoroughly compelling book. Julia Boyd weaves together stories and anecdotes with such skill and fluidity, reading her account seemingly takes no effort whatsoever. It’s like sitting down with a good storyteller. We know where this story will eventually end, but the stories she recounts seem so fresh because they are written from the points of view of the travelers in their times, not “with the clarity of post-war hindsight.”

Book Reviews

Keliautojai buvo itin subtiliai įtraukiami į propogandos mašiną. Kokia Vokietija didinga ir nuostabi, kokie sveiki žmonės, kultūra ir kaip viskam trukdo žydai. There are countless books on World War 2, from serious and weighty tomes, stories of daring do and detailed explanations of pivotal moments that changed the course of a continent. Whilst there has been lots of analysis about the failings of the post-World War 1 reparations and oppression by the victors led to the problems that Germany found itself in, there has been very little written about the way it was rapidly changing from the perceptive of holidaymakers and visitors to the country. Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this interesting study is just how difficult it is for any individual to discern what is going on without the perspective that hindsight offers. Unique, original and engagingly written. This account of visitors and tourists to Germany brings to life these difficult decades in a most refreshing way [and] should attract a wide circle of readers."