What a great time to read about the rise of the Nazis. Berlin during the storm that became the German Reich. Because I am sitting in America, I thought this might be a perfect set-the-table foreshadowing of what could be headed our way in November. And I needed a novel to break up the heaviness of nonfiction. And it was free. And my wife picked it up for me, so I didn’t even have to put on pants or leave the house. It was all bonbons and sticky flesh adhering to the faux leather furniture while I effortlessly turned the well-worn pages.
Rebecca Cantrell’s “A Night of Long Knives: A Hannah Vogel Novel” paints the picture of a woman and her son secretly redirected to Germany during Hitler’s initial purge.(He killed the Nazis that weren’t Nazi enough.) The father is a well-known, high-ranking Nazi with homosexual habits that have landed him on the führer’s dark side. Kidnappings, murders, espionage, and the assistance of someone you would least expect round out this not-fun, fast read. Ya, it’s not fun. I’ve read quite a lot about this timeframe, and the slow disintegration of dignity, truth, and rule of law that accompanies both the arrival of the madman and the enablers that surround him.
What is so fascinting to me is how most of these madmen tell everyone exactly what they are going to do, and yet there is a reluctance by the “sane” portion of the public to believe what they are being told, or what they read. (Mein Kampf, Project 25, for example.) Although these people always lose in the end, it is the civilian population that suffers the most. (And the country, which often take decades to rebound.) Those on the fringe, the less fortunate, the minorities, etc. Cantrell paints the picture with ease. The blantant and the subtle. The spying. The lack of trust. And the perserverance of mothers everywhere.
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Why did Germans support Hitler? They blamed the legacy of the Treaty of Versailles and reparations for causing the depression. Nationalism and a desire for Germany to be strong again. And there was a fear of Communism taking over Germany. It’s amazing how themes in history repeat.
Author
Oh ya. We love to repeat things. Mostly the worst stuff.
Funny how we turn to
History when we think the dark matter is going to hit the fan. just finished Thunder at Twilight by Frederick Morton….Vienna on the eve of WW1 ….can’t recommend it too highly….
Author
OH, right up my alley. Thank you!
I’m glad the quality was guaranteed.
Tyranny, greed, colonialism, persecution has always been a stark fundamentalism of the human race since “civilization” began since recorded time.
Fundamentally, humans are a flawed species. Sure, there are pocket elements of grace, dignity and integrity, however, much too often overshadowed by greed and evil.
Probably, Not too many people share this view however history and dark human behaviour have consistently proven this to be true.
It’s as if having cerebral, cognitive sentient abilities ultimately corrupts us……
Author
I agree. Destined to destroy ourselves and we all have a dark side.