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The 12-Year Reich: A Social History of Nazi Germany 1933-1945
"In chilling detail, this social history brilliantly demonstrates the awesome power of a brutal government to corrode the human spirit."-- Wall Street Journal
"Invaluable for every student of the Nazi era."-- New York Times Book Review
The 12-Year Reich , the first comprehensive social study of the Third Reich, shows what the Nazi regime proffered as the "ideal" society and how the German people responded. Along with the violence, corruption, persecution, public extravaganzas, the ever-present Party, and the cult of the Fuhrer, a ghastly imitation of ordinary life went on.
How did people talk during the Third Reich? What films could they see? What political jokes did they tell? Did Nazi ranting about the role of women (no make-up, smoking, or dieting) correspond with reality? What was the effect of the regime on family life (where fathers were encouraged to inform on sons, and children on parents)? When the country embraced National Socialism in 1933, how did that acceptance impact the churches, the civil service, farmers, housewives, businessmen, health care, sports, education, "justice," the army, the arts, and the Jews? Using examples that range from the horrifying to the absurd, Grunberger captures vividly the nightmarish texture of the times and reveals how Nazis effectively permeated the everyday lives of German citizens. The result is a brilliant, terrifying glimpse of the people who dwelt along the edges of an abyss-often disappearing into it.
"Invaluable for every student of the Nazi era."-- New York Times Book Review
The 12-Year Reich , the first comprehensive social study of the Third Reich, shows what the Nazi regime proffered as the "ideal" society and how the German people responded. Along with the violence, corruption, persecution, public extravaganzas, the ever-present Party, and the cult of the Fuhrer, a ghastly imitation of ordinary life went on.
How did people talk during the Third Reich? What films could they see? What political jokes did they tell? Did Nazi ranting about the role of women (no make-up, smoking, or dieting) correspond with reality? What was the effect of the regime on family life (where fathers were encouraged to inform on sons, and children on parents)? When the country embraced National Socialism in 1933, how did that acceptance impact the churches, the civil service, farmers, housewives, businessmen, health care, sports, education, "justice," the army, the arts, and the Jews? Using examples that range from the horrifying to the absurd, Grunberger captures vividly the nightmarish texture of the times and reveals how Nazis effectively permeated the everyday lives of German citizens. The result is a brilliant, terrifying glimpse of the people who dwelt along the edges of an abyss-often disappearing into it.
535 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
About the author
Richard Grunberger
18 books8 followersRichard Grunberger was a British historian, who specialised in study of the Third Reich.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 7, 2022
“Because I’m a coward. Do you understand? I’m a coward, a coward!”
-German novelist Gerhardt Hauptmann on being asked why he hadn’t fled Germany
While there have been countless pages dedicated to military histories of the Third Reich, there has been until recently, less emphasis on the social impact on everyday Germans living under the Nazis.
This book provides a wonderful and informative overview of virtually every facet of German society that was touched by the 12 year nightmare.
Even for someone like myself who has read quite a bit on the period, I learned quite a bit about education during that period. (many teachers were, even during Weimar, predisposed to anti-democratic impulses. So much so that it was arguably the sector of society that needed the least overhaul by the Nazis).
Women also endured particularly sexist treatment under the aegis of a regime obsessed with women as solely a vehicle for producing children.
Despite all of the profound changes during these 12 years however, if you weren’t Jewish, communist, or a non-German, you generally lived a fairly mundane existence.
Crime was down (with the exception of sexually related crimes), people continued to read books (albeit government approved ones), go to the cinema, laugh (of the 1,100 films produced by the Nazis, close to half were love stories or comedies), and shop at roughly the same amount, in some sectors more, than they did during the Weimar Republic.
As the author justly points out, what was happening in Poland, in Russia, or to their former Jewish neighbors seemed to barely register on the radars of most everyday Germans.
While for most of us it seems inconceivable that life could go on more or less normally while atrocities were being carried out in our names, but perhaps less so when one considers that even before the Nazis, Jews and non-Aryans had been so relentlessly demonized that the leap from seeing them as non-human to it hardly registering when they “disappeared”, is in fact not much of a leap at all.
“Most Germans never knew the constant fear of the early morning knock on the door, and found such encroachments on their privacy as the monotonous appearance of Winter Relief and NS People’s Welfare collectors on their doorstep as merely irritating”
Does this indifference to others if your own life is untroubled rise to the level of Hannah Arendt’s famous dictum about ‘the banality of evil’?
“The physical removal of the Jews went largely unremarked, because the Germans had long since removed them from their hearts and minds. No doubt by 1941-42, the stress of war partly accounted for public indifference to Jewish suffering, but basically the Holocaust was not a real event to most Germans, not because it occurred in wartime and under conditions of secrecy, but because Jews were astronomically remote and not real people”
The behavior of everyday Germans under the Nazis reminds me instead of another quote, often attributed to Edmund Burke: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
-German novelist Gerhardt Hauptmann on being asked why he hadn’t fled Germany
While there have been countless pages dedicated to military histories of the Third Reich, there has been until recently, less emphasis on the social impact on everyday Germans living under the Nazis.
This book provides a wonderful and informative overview of virtually every facet of German society that was touched by the 12 year nightmare.
Even for someone like myself who has read quite a bit on the period, I learned quite a bit about education during that period. (many teachers were, even during Weimar, predisposed to anti-democratic impulses. So much so that it was arguably the sector of society that needed the least overhaul by the Nazis).
Women also endured particularly sexist treatment under the aegis of a regime obsessed with women as solely a vehicle for producing children.
Despite all of the profound changes during these 12 years however, if you weren’t Jewish, communist, or a non-German, you generally lived a fairly mundane existence.
Crime was down (with the exception of sexually related crimes), people continued to read books (albeit government approved ones), go to the cinema, laugh (of the 1,100 films produced by the Nazis, close to half were love stories or comedies), and shop at roughly the same amount, in some sectors more, than they did during the Weimar Republic.
As the author justly points out, what was happening in Poland, in Russia, or to their former Jewish neighbors seemed to barely register on the radars of most everyday Germans.
While for most of us it seems inconceivable that life could go on more or less normally while atrocities were being carried out in our names, but perhaps less so when one considers that even before the Nazis, Jews and non-Aryans had been so relentlessly demonized that the leap from seeing them as non-human to it hardly registering when they “disappeared”, is in fact not much of a leap at all.
“Most Germans never knew the constant fear of the early morning knock on the door, and found such encroachments on their privacy as the monotonous appearance of Winter Relief and NS People’s Welfare collectors on their doorstep as merely irritating”
Does this indifference to others if your own life is untroubled rise to the level of Hannah Arendt’s famous dictum about ‘the banality of evil’?
“The physical removal of the Jews went largely unremarked, because the Germans had long since removed them from their hearts and minds. No doubt by 1941-42, the stress of war partly accounted for public indifference to Jewish suffering, but basically the Holocaust was not a real event to most Germans, not because it occurred in wartime and under conditions of secrecy, but because Jews were astronomically remote and not real people”
The behavior of everyday Germans under the Nazis reminds me instead of another quote, often attributed to Edmund Burke: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
March 19, 2015
I found this book most helpful when writing my own book "Birth, Sex and Abuse" Women's Voices Under Nazi Rule". It's expose of social and psychological issues at this time is rare in the world of Holocaust literature.
March 20, 2017
Very enjoyable overview of German culture 1933 to 1945, organised by theme.
Many chapters cover everyday details and sometimes have the air of a series of anecdotes (i.e. Consumption, Women, Humour) - very enjoyable and often unbelievable incidents! Chapters on Justice, The Civil Service, Religion etc. cover wider themes with a more academic tone and help to tie the larger picture together. Despite the thematic coverage, all themes tend to interweave coherently.
Worth noting the excellent (chilling) final chapter covering impact on the Jews: emphasising the absent empathy and indifference of society at large. Recommend reading Grunberger's obituary online, he was personally affected by Anschluss.
Many chapters cover everyday details and sometimes have the air of a series of anecdotes (i.e. Consumption, Women, Humour) - very enjoyable and often unbelievable incidents! Chapters on Justice, The Civil Service, Religion etc. cover wider themes with a more academic tone and help to tie the larger picture together. Despite the thematic coverage, all themes tend to interweave coherently.
Worth noting the excellent (chilling) final chapter covering impact on the Jews: emphasising the absent empathy and indifference of society at large. Recommend reading Grunberger's obituary online, he was personally affected by Anschluss.
May 21, 2015
A scholarly look at what it was like to live in Germany during the Nazi era. I've had this book for a long time and I've read at least parts of it, but don't remember much and pretty sure I didn't finish. Very small type and lots of info -- 520 pages of text plus another 50 or so pages of notes.
Topical organization of 30 chapters includes such entries as Corruption; Denunciation; Nazi Speech; Humour (it's a Brit book); the Theatre; the Cinema; Health; Women; and, of course, the Jews. About 32 pages of photos.
I'd put this on the "now reading shelf," except I don't expect to get back to it soon.
Topical organization of 30 chapters includes such entries as Corruption; Denunciation; Nazi Speech; Humour (it's a Brit book); the Theatre; the Cinema; Health; Women; and, of course, the Jews. About 32 pages of photos.
I'd put this on the "now reading shelf," except I don't expect to get back to it soon.
March 15, 2022
Książka napisana w latach 70. o społeczeństwie lat 20-40, niezwykle aktualna w XXI wieku.
Niemożliwym jest czytać "Historię społeczną Trzeciej Rzeszy", bez analogii do wojny w Ukrainie i rosyjskiej propagandy. Według mnie ta książka to świadectwo na to, że świat nic nie wynosi z historii, a ta najgorsza właśnie się powtarza.
"Historia społeczna Trzeciej Rzeszy" to rozkład na czynniki pierwsze wszystkich dziedzin życia niemieckiego społeczeństwa, podczas początków i rządów nazistów w Niemczech. To obrzydliwa książka o tym jak dać się ponieść propagandzie, o tym jak rodził się antysemityzm i jak z Żydów stworzono niewidzialnych ludzi, którzy stali się obojętni dla całej reszty Niemiec. Książka to przede wszystkim historia nazistowskiej propagandy i tego jak partia wchodziła w każdą dziedzinę życia niemieckiego społeczeństwa. Wszystko co otaczało każdą jednostkę było polityczne, to naziści decydowali o sztuce, kulturze o całym życiu. Napisałam, że książka jest obrzydliwa, bo obrzydliwe jest to, że historia ta jest prawdziwa i że właśnie ta historia odradza się na naszych oczach.
Książka Grunbergera jest dość szczegółowym opisem nazistowskich Niemiec, w którym zniszczono nie tylko więzy społeczne, ale i rodzinne (przez 12 lat ludzie żyli w świecie, w którym nie można było ufać nawet własnej rodzinie) zburzono tym samym poczucie bezpieczeństwa. Naziści chcieli zbudować świat na nowo, wywracając język, historię, zmieniając obrzędy, religię, zmieniając styl życia całego pokolenia. To też i historia o tym jak pragnienie zniszczenie całego świata, niszczyło również i Trzecią Rzeszę. W książce były rozdziały, które podobały mi się bardziej niż inne i takie które lepiej mi się czytało, ale spowodowane było to tym, że bardziej interesują mnie w ogóle aspekty kulturowe i społeczne niż ekonomiczne. Nie zmienia to jednak tego, że książka jest kompendium wiedzy na temat życia w Trzeciej Rzeszy i jej propagandowych mechanizmów. Przede wszystkim jest to bardzo dobra pozycja do tego, by zgłębić bardziej i szukać kolejnych książek na temat nazizmu. Watro, bardzo warto przeczytać tę pozycję, zwłaszcza teraz.
Niemożliwym jest czytać "Historię społeczną Trzeciej Rzeszy", bez analogii do wojny w Ukrainie i rosyjskiej propagandy. Według mnie ta książka to świadectwo na to, że świat nic nie wynosi z historii, a ta najgorsza właśnie się powtarza.
"Historia społeczna Trzeciej Rzeszy" to rozkład na czynniki pierwsze wszystkich dziedzin życia niemieckiego społeczeństwa, podczas początków i rządów nazistów w Niemczech. To obrzydliwa książka o tym jak dać się ponieść propagandzie, o tym jak rodził się antysemityzm i jak z Żydów stworzono niewidzialnych ludzi, którzy stali się obojętni dla całej reszty Niemiec. Książka to przede wszystkim historia nazistowskiej propagandy i tego jak partia wchodziła w każdą dziedzinę życia niemieckiego społeczeństwa. Wszystko co otaczało każdą jednostkę było polityczne, to naziści decydowali o sztuce, kulturze o całym życiu. Napisałam, że książka jest obrzydliwa, bo obrzydliwe jest to, że historia ta jest prawdziwa i że właśnie ta historia odradza się na naszych oczach.
Książka Grunbergera jest dość szczegółowym opisem nazistowskich Niemiec, w którym zniszczono nie tylko więzy społeczne, ale i rodzinne (przez 12 lat ludzie żyli w świecie, w którym nie można było ufać nawet własnej rodzinie) zburzono tym samym poczucie bezpieczeństwa. Naziści chcieli zbudować świat na nowo, wywracając język, historię, zmieniając obrzędy, religię, zmieniając styl życia całego pokolenia. To też i historia o tym jak pragnienie zniszczenie całego świata, niszczyło również i Trzecią Rzeszę. W książce były rozdziały, które podobały mi się bardziej niż inne i takie które lepiej mi się czytało, ale spowodowane było to tym, że bardziej interesują mnie w ogóle aspekty kulturowe i społeczne niż ekonomiczne. Nie zmienia to jednak tego, że książka jest kompendium wiedzy na temat życia w Trzeciej Rzeszy i jej propagandowych mechanizmów. Przede wszystkim jest to bardzo dobra pozycja do tego, by zgłębić bardziej i szukać kolejnych książek na temat nazizmu. Watro, bardzo warto przeczytać tę pozycję, zwłaszcza teraz.
Want to read
June 22, 2020I read the "University" chapter as I wanted to see if the book had anything in it on psychology. This chapter didn't.
The translation is a bit clunky as many of these kind of translations tend to be. It feels like it's a manual and not a book written for the random reader. There are a lot of cool facts on every page but at the same time the translation makes it hard to fully understand all the points. It's a book that's perfect for Trivial Pursuit or as a source for small claims. But it's sometimes hard to understand what the real data for all of this is.
It's a book your read if you really want to know everything there is to know about Nazi Germany in detail. But it's more of a handbook than a fun light read. It's for sure very well-researched. You just don't get the feel for much of this as you are bombarded with facts. I know much more about the education system in Nazi Germany now at any rate.
The translation is a bit clunky as many of these kind of translations tend to be. It feels like it's a manual and not a book written for the random reader. There are a lot of cool facts on every page but at the same time the translation makes it hard to fully understand all the points. It's a book that's perfect for Trivial Pursuit or as a source for small claims. But it's sometimes hard to understand what the real data for all of this is.
It's a book your read if you really want to know everything there is to know about Nazi Germany in detail. But it's more of a handbook than a fun light read. It's for sure very well-researched. You just don't get the feel for much of this as you are bombarded with facts. I know much more about the education system in Nazi Germany now at any rate.
September 16, 2020
Apart from some strange transcription errors with German names and words, this is a strangely fascinating book on the worst period in German history. Germans were locked up in a mad world run by lunatics and criminals. Sadly some used the opportunity to advance themselves at the expense of their neighbours. This book is a good warning to what happen to societies in the present mad climate of populism and fantasy.
October 11, 2022
Książka solidna i przekrojowa, ale trącąca już mychą. Od 1970 zmieniło się wiele w pisaniu o Trzeciej Rzeszy, przesunęły akcenty w traktowaniu takich tematów jak choćby sytuacja kobiet i mniejszości seksualnych. Z dzisiejszej perspektywy u Grunenbergera szczególnie uderza kompletne pominięcie jakichkolwiek porównań z ZSRR, co może oczywiście można złożyć na karb braku wiedzy i dostępnych źródeł. Ale już napisanie rozdziału o muzyce z pominięciem nazwiska Karajana (w momencie powstania książki będącego u szczytu kariery) jest symptomatyczne. Szkoda, że współcześnie dołączona przemowa ani słowem się na te tematy nie zająkuje.
Polskie wydanie cierpi też na typową przypadłość książek o Niemczech tłumaczonych z angielskiego — o ile autor słabo zanurzony w niemieckiej kulturze siłą rzeczy nie uniknie pewnych przeinaczeń, tak tłumacz dodatkowo nie znający niemieckiego dodaje do tego kolejną warstwę pomyłek, a wydawca — literówek, błędów językowych i niechlujstwa, w tym przypadku zresztą bezkrytycznie skopiowanych z poprzedniego polskiego wydania. Mamy więc w przypisach tłumacza takie kurioza jak uznanie Winifred Wagner za syna kompozytora (synowa), albo Milczącej kobiety i Kobiety bez cienia za dwa tłumaczenia jednego tytułu (to są różne opery) oraz masę literówek w ebooku wyglądających na błędy OCR przepuszczone przez nieznającą niemieckiego korektę.
Polskie wydanie cierpi też na typową przypadłość książek o Niemczech tłumaczonych z angielskiego — o ile autor słabo zanurzony w niemieckiej kulturze siłą rzeczy nie uniknie pewnych przeinaczeń, tak tłumacz dodatkowo nie znający niemieckiego dodaje do tego kolejną warstwę pomyłek, a wydawca — literówek, błędów językowych i niechlujstwa, w tym przypadku zresztą bezkrytycznie skopiowanych z poprzedniego polskiego wydania. Mamy więc w przypisach tłumacza takie kurioza jak uznanie Winifred Wagner za syna kompozytora (synowa), albo Milczącej kobiety i Kobiety bez cienia za dwa tłumaczenia jednego tytułu (to są różne opery) oraz masę literówek w ebooku wyglądających na błędy OCR przepuszczone przez nieznającą niemieckiego korektę.
August 10, 2024
This is without question one of the most powerful books I've ever read. Richard Grunberger was himself a survivor of the Nazi horrors, and does a good job of giving the non-specialist a taste of what like was like for the average person in the Germany of Hitler's day. Shortly and simply put, if you were a white German, life in some ways was not all that different from how it was before the war, with the exception of the incremental attempts at brainwashing as tine went on. Grunberger argues that Germany was predisposed to brainwashing due to its cultural fetish for orderliness and an unfriendly introversion built on harsh discipline and firm speaking. Germans loved being obedient, and as naturally pliant people willing to childishly go by whatever_______ told them to do, they logically went along with a failed art student who brainwashed them into hating an entire group of people for their race. As one girl quoted in the book stated, "We don't want freedom, we want Hitler." Indeed she (and most others) got her wish. Grunberger (himself a believing Jew) also demonstrates the sticky situation the Christian community was forced to deal with as a result of Nazi edicts—particularly with Jews who were in their ranks (of which there were a sizable number before the war, some of whom were married to gentiles). Christian leaders were either (a) strangely indifferent, (b) grudgingly went along with the Nazi program (even though many, such as Pastors Galen and Niemoller, knew that openly speaking out against the Nazis cost them their safety—Christians of all types—not just the Jewish ones—were next on the persecution list, and in fact, many Christians keenly sensed the coming persecution), or (c) genuine horror at what was being done to the Jews, coupled with harassment and bullying for their faith (as happened to Luftwaffe ace Werner Molders, who was roundly abused for his faith and Jewish sympathies due his extreme disgust at the horror he saw his fellows doing to them—Molders died in a plane crash during a heated battle). Some professing Christians showed themselves to be compromising turncoats, as had been the case with Bishops Mueller and Dibelius, who enthusiastically lent their support to the regime. Muller and Sibelius and others like them were behind efforts at de-Judaizing the Christian faith by removing the Old Testament, the Pauline epistles, most of the Gospels, and other areas, refashioning Jesus from a Jewish carpenter and rabbi into a sort of German hero; others wanted to remove Jesus and ban the Bible entirely, creating a new religion based on the old paganism practiced before the missionaries came.
Grunbeger also shows the origins of modern Germany lie in the Nazis (and it's not just Volkswagen). Even their free college system comes from the Nazis. Yet, as he reminds us, this was done to keep the people under control and compliant. Even free vacations funded by the Strength Through Joy were motivated by a desire to control the people and keep them from questioning what their Nazi masters told them.
Overall, this book is really important to read! if you love freedom, read this book! It is scholarly, but approachable for the non-scholar. Great for general reading or an undergraduate Holocaust or WWII survey class.
Grunbeger also shows the origins of modern Germany lie in the Nazis (and it's not just Volkswagen). Even their free college system comes from the Nazis. Yet, as he reminds us, this was done to keep the people under control and compliant. Even free vacations funded by the Strength Through Joy were motivated by a desire to control the people and keep them from questioning what their Nazi masters told them.
Overall, this book is really important to read! if you love freedom, read this book! It is scholarly, but approachable for the non-scholar. Great for general reading or an undergraduate Holocaust or WWII survey class.
September 16, 2022
Dosyć ciężko przyswajalna książka, to duże opracowanie i autor się na pewno napracował, ale w czytaniu jest dość ciężka. Jest dużo polityki, gospodarki, dosyć "sucho" opisane. Ciężko się wciągnąć w czytanie (tym bardziej słuchanie) i tak naprawdę udało mi się to dopiero po iluś stronach. I w sumie chyba trochę czegoś innego się spodziewałem... Ogólnie uważam, że przeczytać warto jeśli ktoś się tematem bardzo interesuje, jeśli nie - raczej się zanudzi ;)
Trudno mi też powiedzieć czy wyniosłem z niej coś nowego... na pewno tak, ale to będą raczej szczegóły czy jakieś inne ujęcie danego tematu, bo jeśli ktoś interesuje się tym działem historii, to ciężko by było coś zupełnie nowego tu odnaleźć ;)
(czytana/słuchana: 9-15.09.2022)
4/5 (7/10)
Trudno mi też powiedzieć czy wyniosłem z niej coś nowego... na pewno tak, ale to będą raczej szczegóły czy jakieś inne ujęcie danego tematu, bo jeśli ktoś interesuje się tym działem historii, to ciężko by było coś zupełnie nowego tu odnaleźć ;)
(czytana/słuchana: 9-15.09.2022)
4/5 (7/10)
Read
November 21, 2020My Dad was in WW and he had this book stashed next to his copy of Mein Kempf, or how ever you spell that piece of shit book. The 12 year Reich is the price a society pays when the chips are down and through peer pressure and stupidity, a lunatic gets behind the wheel. This book regales the step by step impact of Hitler’s ideology on each segment of society. They had kids turning in parents, the treatment of minorities especially the Jews was sickening. I read this book to know more about the worst of the worst the NAZIS impact was. I know a little more now about a time I’m grateful the world destroyed.
December 8, 2021
This has a lot of information on various parts of what it was like in the Third Reich of Germany, such as in Education, the Arts, Community, etc., but it is not an easy read. It's very methodical and it took me awhile to get through it. Still valuable if you want to understand that time and place. It did skip a few important things like the Wannsee Conference, etc.
September 11, 2022
The book was very interesting, but due to the dry narrative and some information taken out of context, I read it for quite a long time.however, there were some very interesting things that I didn't know before, I gave this book 4 stars because it helped me learn about the Third Reich
February 12, 2024
Engrossing. Told through diaries and other original material, it has immediacy and terrific storytelling.
May 7, 2024
A broad yet detailed survey of the over two dozen aspects of life within The Third Reich. Grunberger writes in adroit manner of the, at times, contradictory and multi-faceted nature of how The Third Reich functioned. Every chapter carries fascinating pieces of information and data, ranging from the consumption of potatoes to the amount of radio sets in a given year. The inspection of the role of women, food, labour and the army are rich with detail and standout. Moreover, Grunberger is able to grasp and make easily digestible the broader movements of thought and motivation that propelled a society that was ultimately geared toward massacre. As the contemporary saying went, "fascism means war."
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews