They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933–45 Cover
Podcast Mentions

They Thought They Were Free The Germans, 1933–45

Milton Sanford Mayer

National Book Award Finalist: Never before has the mentality of the average German under the Nazi regime been made as intelligible to the outsider.” — They Thought They Were Free

Podcasts 1
Quotes 5
Behind the Bastards

It was discussed as the first postwar investigation into the Nazi party, specifically focusing on the 'little Nazis' or ordinary German citizens who joined and supported Hitler.

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the delineation of the the personal conditions under which the little man anywhere becomes involved in the development of totalitarian evil and the ways in which he assumes or avoids moral responsibil...

— Episode: Part One: How Nice, Normal People Made T...

Episode: Part One: How Nice, Normal People Made The Holocau...

It was discussed as the first postwar investigation into the Nazi party, specifically focusing on the 'little Nazis' or ordinary German citizens who joined and supported Hitler.

"

the delineation of the the personal conditions under which the little man anywhere becomes involved in the development of totalitarian evil and the ways in which he assumes or avoids moral responsibility for his participation in it

These ten men were little men. Only Herr Hildebrandt, the teacher, had any substantial status in the community. And when I say little men, I mean not only the men for whom the mass media and the campaign speeches are everywhere designed, but specifically in sharply stratified societies like Germany, the men who think of themselves in that way.

They calculated wrong, but they meant what they said.

Hitlerism had to answer communism with something just as radical. Communism always used force. Hitlerism answered it with force.

Inside the system, you see the benefits outside it. When you are not benefited by it, you see the faults, I suppose.

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