In the Garden of Beasts | Erik Larson | 2011
Here’s a short review of Erik Larson’s highly regarded book “In the Garden of Beasts”, which describes a period in German history after Hitler came to power, more or less from Spring 1933 to 1937, with some reflections on the years that followed. In this as-told-by account, Larson describes Germany in upheaval, mostly through the eyes of U.S. ambassador William Dodd and his family.
Over the decades I’ve read many books about Nazi Germany, most from a military perspective, but few about the prewar years. To me the most interesting part of this book are the perceptions of everyday Germans – their assumptions about Hitler and his inner circle. It turns out many Germans expected the Nazis to lose power because of how unlike typical politicians they were, and how out of touch with the values of the average German.
As many of you know, Hitler only acquired power because of a power vacuum, hyper-inflation and a worldwide economic depression. In other circumstances he would have had no chance to prevail over less radical candidates. Hitler appealed primarily to uneducated people who accepted his claim that during the Great War, Germany had been undermined by traitors at home, then maltreated by the victorious powers who demanded war reparations beyond what Germany could easily pay.
A general perception that the Nazis wouldn’t be able to govern Germany for more than a few months was reinforced by the fact that Hitler’s power base, including flying ace Hermann Göring and propagandist Joseph Goebbels, appeared to be competing for influence against Ernst Röhm, leader of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the so-called “Brown Shirts,” which were the Nazi party’s paramilitary wing before Hitler came to power. Röhm contributed to this tension by continuing to call for basic changes in German society, beyond what Hitler was planning.
The central event in the book is now known as the “Night of the Long Knives”, during which Hitler and his cronies rounded up and killed all his political opponents including Röhm and any people loyal to him (from late June to early July 1934). This purge fundamentally changed people’s assumptions about Hitler, but because his opponents had all just been murdered, Hitler’s position had become unassailable. He had morphed from a somewhat comical extremist to someone who would have you killed if you expressed any doubt about his divine mission, all within a time span of a few days.
Unlike this thumbnail account, Larson’s book narrates these events from the perspective of individuals, primarily through their written communications. He describes how people’s perceptions changed along with events, from doubting that such an obvious crackpot could possibly bend an entire civilized nation to his will, to living in fear and making plans to leave the country as soon as possible.
To me, this book has particular resonance as a reminder that we can take to heart the tragic lessons of history, or we can relive them.
One more item before I go – the book title “Garden of Beasts” is a near-perfect translation of the name of a famous park in Berlin, the Tiergarten. Larsen misses nothing.