THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH -BOOK REVIEW

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH

BOOK REVIEW

                           

One of the books which caught my attention recently in the library was ‘ The Rise and Fall of the third Reich’. It is one of the incontrovertible books based on the Nazi era and World War II written by William L. Shirer. Unlike many historians who write late at night in cramped basements and backroom offices, he was there, a witness to the ascent and subsequent decline of Hitler’s thousand-year Reich. It included all the private writings of the officials and the vast paperwork of Hitler’s unambiguous intentions to conquer the whole world

William has shown the unavoidable descend of the  great nation into the cruel hands by unimaginable journalism and observation skills.  His sheer determination for the book to be accessible to common readers made his writing simple and unique like an interesting novel. He relied mainly on his visual experience and knowledge of the newspapers. The structure of the book pulls the readers into the great depths. The way he testifies some incident is amusing. Many political identities during his time failed to get his recognition. The inner working of Nazi proceedings were seen in great detail by him as he was the Berlin correspondent of CBS news. The interesting part of the whole thing is that Hitler wanted to present Germany as a peaceful and convivial nation under his rule which made some journalists including him to witness the rallies and the events.

 The implications caused in his regime has been depicted through unique insights in the novel. Hitler thought that the nation would thrive in the fear and presence of organized gangsters and thugs who will ensure the rules of his ‘imagined peaceful Germany’. It reveals the unspeakable atrocities caused to the people through the unquenchable truth revealed by William. Hitler proved the world with false expectations leading to a wide indifference of opinions among people.  The vitiation and eventual destruction of the moribund Weimar Republic occurred not because of Hitler’s persuasiveness but because of a desire for instantaneous change. The Germans, Shirer argued, wanted a leader who would unburden the country from the chains of Versailles, democratic fluctuations and return Germany to her old greatness. In short, a dictator. The people of the nation were also at fault at that time as they blindly accepted the norms of Hitler in the hopes of their bright future . But what happened was just the opposite as they suffered a lot during this time which was explained vividly by William in this book.

Hitler also enshrined his political ideologies in the his book,  ‘ Mein Kampf’, which literally means my struggle. Later this book was ignored on a high scale as it did show any valuable reason for atrocities depicted in his book. The author has not ended on a positive note but rather in the scared hopes of a new Hitler who would rise where there was political ambition, sheer certainty and determination.

-RITIKA KANAKARAJ
BSc FND (2nd year)