Twenty-First Century
Whether it is a story about Nazi's and talking dogs or an Allied plan abandoned, to slip female hormones into Adolf Hitler's meals to feminize Hitler, Adolf Hitler and his legacy is alive and well in the twenty-first century; almost 67 years after taking his own life, in his Berlin bunker, by shooting himself. We have Skinheads, anti-semitism, and various groups who sympathize with many of Hitler's ideas and goals. Virtually any dictator or tyrant is compared to Hitler and brings to life the specter of a new Hitler. We often forget, Hitler was a very popular man in Germany and respected outside Germany; by men respected and ordinary. Few realized, until too late, the evil Hitler represented. Hitler's rise changed the world forever, despite his death. So, why this discussion of Adolf Hitler?
Two Worthy Books
Two worthy books, written and published in the Twentieth Century, remain vital to any discussion of Adolf Hitler, Nazism, and those turbulent times; including today's troubled times. Though dated, the books are: (1.) The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer; (2.) Inside The Third Reich: Memoirs By Albert Speer.
There are many excellent books on Adolf Hitler, the Third Reich, Nazism, Nazi Germany, and World War 2. I don't pretend to know them all nor the very best of them, but I bought and read the named books. More important, if books can call to a person, these two books call me to read them again and again. Sometimes a few chapters; sometimes from start to finish. Neither book is small. Shirer's book is 1,143 pages long in the softcover edition, while Speer's book is 526 pages long in the softcover edition. Both should be available in bookstores or online; price unresearched.
The Authors
Their authors make them invaluable to me. Willian L. Shirer was in Germany and Europe during Hitler's rise to power from obscurity; even a laughingstock character, written off more than once. He covered Germany from within as a reporter, until too dangerous to remain. He returned after World War 2 to see a destroyed Germany. Shirer was conversant with German life and was eyewitness to much of what he writes about.
Albert Speer was a native, apolitical German, who joined the Nazi Party. He rose from an architect, who found little work, to a key government figure. Speer kept the Nazi war machine running, long after it should have collapsed; according to Allied leaders. During that time, he became disillusioned with Hitler, saw Hitler for what he was, and spent 20 years in Spandau Prison weighing how an apolitical, upper middle class, civilzed German; could buy into all that Nazi Germany became, blindly following it, until almost the bitter end. He even said, if Hitler had had a friend, Speer would be Hitler's friend.
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Having described Shirer above, his book is an eyewitness history backed with some of the most complete historical documentation ever provided to a news reporter / witness / historian. It traces Hitler's birth, life, and rise as thoroughly as could be documented at the time the book was published in 1959-1960--in 3 volumes originally, I believe. Shirer describes this history as only a man intimate with the times, the places, and having the Nazi documentation, can describe. He accepts the genius of Hitler when it's displayed, then points out failures and shortcomings, only an ignorant Hitler could not have recognized, once Hitler begins to make bad decisions. The book is hard to read without wondering why the civilized world was not conquered by Hitler and Nazi Germany. You will be thankful it wasn't when you read this book. You will feel a debt of gratitude to Churchill and the British people, who together, willingly chose total annihilation, rather than capitulation to Hitler. Given how late America entered the war, the British should have been annihilated by Nazi Germany. The English Channel saved the day; saved the world.
However excellent, this book is coming in for modern criticism. Professional Historians see the book as not written from a detached point of view, along with other failings. Some point out the book was written too soon after the events. One can not dismiss such criticisms, for they are important points. Yet, you can't read the book, without feeling its importance to the present and future. Historians will write their historical tomes. It's important they do so. Yet, historical tomes should not banish this book to the library dungeon or trash heap. Today's changing moral climate has also led to criticisms of the content and its author. Even so, Shirer witnessed the immoral natures of many whom Hitler gathered around him, even executing some, when it served his purposes. When future editions of this book are released, whole sections you can read today, may disappear from those future editions. It won't be a meaningless loss. Buy it now to read it as originally published!
Inside The Third Reich
Albert Speer's book is a book of personal morality. Originally published in Germany in 1969, then America in 1970, it's a remarkable book. Speer was a young, unhealthy boy from a well-off family, who gradually grew into a healthy, well-educated college graduate architect, who finds his ideal mate, marries, and appears to have a reasonably bright future ahead of him, even in a stagnant German economy. He makes a series of choices, all wrong--thoughtless choices, he muses; which totally destroy his life, sending him to prison for 20 years. He was fortunate not to hang for his choices. The liferoad that Albert Speer travels, as he mentions, seems synonymous with the story of Faust, a book by the great German author Goethe. The lessons Speer teaches in his book are profoundly important. A man's / woman's choices in life matter. They should not be made lightly, without thought, and research; especially our political and moral choices. Hitler, whom Speer describes as an empty shell containing an unknowable man, probably was the most persuasive, deceptive, and magnetic personality to ever live. So much so, Speer felt he would never be totally free of Hitler. Speer could only hope to tell us his experience with as little self-serving bias as possible.
Today, Speer's book is also under attack for being too self-serving, too biased, and in interviews with those who wrote about him, his book, and his experiences; Speer is portrayed as less than a forthright man; a man, who hoped in the end, he had reclaimed some respect, dignity, and a civilized life. It's an opinion, but I believe people misjudge Speer. In his book, Speer concedes, he can only look at his life with a certain measure of objectivity. I say, one can accept blame, but God judges the truth of an individual. It's fair for those who point out they see flaws in Speer, but God will reveal that truth to Speer. (Or any of us when it comes to self.) In my opinion, Speer didn't fail; he did his best and God judges the rest.
Other Books
David C. Cassidy's Beyond Uncertainty and Ronald W. Clark's Einstein: The Life and Times are quality books that add background on German history, Germany's economy, and other facets of life in Germany, before and during the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany. I suggest those two books for anyone interested in a deeper look into this time period. Biographies led me to much of what I know about this period of important history.
Final Thoughts
Shirer gives a history of Germany he felt set the stage for Hitler. He points to mistakes at the end of World War 1; how the mistakes destroyed the German economy, the Democratic German government, and ended German Democracy. In America, no one believes a tyrant like Hitler can arise. I beg to differ. There are parallels to be drawn between that time and our time. The tyrant would arise from flaws in our Democracy and our idiosyncrasies. Hitler did the same in Germany. Though Hitler was not elected to power, he used the Democratic principles of Germany to legally gain power, then set about crushing everything and everyone who got in the Nazi's way. Shirer's intentions may not be to warn us how our country might be destroyed, but it's worth considering. Some historians disagree with Shirer's point of view on German history. Tyrants are not seen rising in America, either. Still, open eyes see more than closed eyes.
Speer, predicts our future. Impossible not to see; ignore it at our peril. His warning? We live in a technological age. For him, this was radio, instant telephone communication, movie propaganda, the V2 rocket, and the atomic bomb. Technology, he pointed out, gives a leader the ability to communicate directly with ordinary soldiers on the battlefield, who feel compelled to obey. President Obama could personally kill Bin Laden when captured, with Bin Laden watching the President fire the bullet on a webcam or some other device. Thankfully, this was not the case. That's getting very personal and that's possible today. Worse, it's possible, with the press of a button, for a soldier sitting at a secure computer, at home in America, to kill millions with great accuracy, without engaging in personal combat. The soldier, after killing millions could sit down to dinner with his family; no remorse, no negative feelings. That future, Speer warned us, has arrived. Self-responsibility, is now the key to every human who uses technology.
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