What We Knew
Terror, Mass Murder and Everyday Life in Nazi Germany
Published on 26. September 2005
Book
Paperback/Softback
464 pages
978-0-7195-6184-9 (ISBN)
Description
In this remarkable personal history of the Third Reich, 3,000 Germans and 500 German Jews tell of their everyday experiences of life under the Nazis. They describe their brushes with the Gestapo and what they knew at the time about the mass murder of Jews. What they say is horrifying, moving, and -- even at this distance from the war -- often surprising. Jews, many of them now in America, speak of their journeys by train to Auschwitz and elsewhere, the harassment they suffered in Nazi Germany, and sometimes of the support and friendship of ordinary German neighbours. Many ordinary Germans speak with remarkable openness too. One, for instance, was a reserve policeman who served as a concentration camp guard in Dachau, and later took part in shooting 300 Jewish women and children. About half admit to knowing about the murder of Jews before the end of WW2 and, even now, many confess that they admired Hitler and believed in the Nazi movement. It is essential that the reasons for such support are understood and remembered.
Reviews / Votes
'Hypnotic oral history ...This is not an enjoyable story but one that should be told'. -- Western Daily Press 20050217 'A necessary, careful and highly systematic addition to the Holocaust history, compiled by experts' -- Good Book Guide 20050301 'This is a splendid contribution to many of the questions asked by historians of the 21st century about daily life, complicity and dissent in Germany between 1933 and 1945.' -- History Today 20050501 'Johnson and Reuband present an unique and important work of oral history' -- Publishing News 20050520 'Horrifying and moving ... a major oral history of the Third Reich' -- Publishing News 'Vast, truthful, compassionate and illuminating, the most comprehensive study of this kind ... a thorough and worthwhile investigation, substantially gleaned from the words of those who were the participants, observers, and survivors' -- Jewish Telegraph 'Joltingly vivid testimonies open a shocking window on the mentality of the time' -- Scotsman 'The gripping immediacy of the interviews, laced as they are with anger, guilt, sadness and, still among some Christian Germans, pride, carry the book' -- Publishers Weekly 'Makes hypnotic and uncomfortable reading' -- Western Daily Press 'Fascinating ... The strength of What We Knew is its diversity, its vivid detail and extraordinary memories' -- Independent 'What We Knew" seeks to address outstanding questions ... The results are fascinating' -- BBC HistoryMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
John Murray Press
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 28 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 198 mm
Weight
311 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7195-6184-9 (9780719561849)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Eric Johnson is professor of History at Central Michigan University, a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, and a Fellow of The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences. He is the author of various books, most recently The Nazi Terror: Gestapo, Jews & Ordinary Germans. Karl-Heinz Reuband is professor of Sociology at the University of Dusseldorf and a former visiting scholar at Harvard University's Center for European Studies. He is an expert in opinion research methods.