Sebastian Haffner was a non-Jewish German who emigrated to England in 1938. This memoir (written in 1939 but only published now for the first time) begins in 1914 when the family summer holiday is cut short by the outbreak of war, and ends with Hitler's assumption of power in 1933. It is a portrait of himself and his own generation in Germany, those born between 1900 and 1910, and brilliantly explains through his own experiences and those of his friends how that generation came to be seduced by Hitler and Nazism. The Germans lacked an outlet for self-expression: where the French had amour, food and wine, and the British their gardens and their pets, the Germans had nothing, leading to a tendency towards mass psychosis. The upheaval of post-WWI revolution, factionalism and inflation left the Germans addicted to excitement and action: Hitler provided this, and more.
Defying Hitler: A Memoir
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Bookstalls in Britain and Germany always seem to be laden with titles about the Nazi period, but Sebastian Haffner's Defying Hitler stands out from the crowd. Haffner's memoir is an account of one man's personal odyssey through the 1920s and 1930s as Nazism took hold amongst the German people.
When Hitler swept to power in 1933 Haffner was completing his legal training by day, and enjoying Berlin by night. Indeed, what makes Defying Hitler quite such compelling reading is that it shows just how insidiously Nazism crept into every facet of a well-heeled German's life: at work in the law library , at leisure in Berlin's carnivals and parks, and most poignantly and divisively of all, amongst friends and lovers.
Haffner also reveals how the Nazis first corrupted and then refashioned a version of German nationalism, and how they also dissolved the boundaries between public and private bourgeois morality by their insistence on complete 24-hour allegiance to the state. Perhaps only a member of the Prussian elite, such as Haffner, could write with such sensitivity about the loss of privilege, patriotism and privacy, but as a moral tale of how the extraordinary can so easily become the ordinary this is an eye-opener. It is not difficult to see why it has been a bestseller in Germany, and equally why Haffner, who fled to England in 1938, became part of the post-war German conscience. Even if you sometimes tire of the relentless output of books about the 20th century's blackest decade, this book should definitely go into your shopping basket. --Miles Taylor --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Congratulations all round as this has just won the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Literary Prize for Non-Fiction 2003. Oliver Pretzel, Sebastian Haffner's son,is enjoying a well-earned holiday in Mexico before he retires from his position in the Maths department at Imperial College so his son, Sebastian Haffner's grandson, was on hand to accept the award and pose for pictures with lovely Zadie Smith who also won the Fiction Award. Needless to say, we made sure that Zadie went home with a copy under her arm. Obviously this is great timingfor the paperback, and we are working with Colman Getty who handle the PR for the prize to maximise this. Already we've seen an article in the INDEPENDENT, and a feature on FRON ROW. There has also been a piece in the DAILY MAIL and THE JEWISH CHRONICLE. Finished copies are now in - and don't forget this comes with 6 new chapters, a revised afterword and the full version of chapter25 (April 1. 1933) which was discovered at the same time as these chapters. These were discovered in March 2002 by a young historian working on SebastianHaffner's papers in the German state archives. As Oliver Pretzel says: 'The manuscript now really is, I believe, in its final form, as my father abandoned it in 1939. Although still incomplete, the book also has a more satisfactory ending. Instead of the earlier final note of unreal bliss, it now concludeswith a powerful close-up of Nazi methods in action.' Pick of the Week in theSunday Times: "Haffner has written a painfully honest and effective account of how the best in German culture was so swiftly destroyed." "Tells exactly how Hitler and the Nazis managed to subject an entire nation to their evil will." Daily Express "Graphically describes how a generation of German youth wasseduced by Hitler and the Nazis." Sunday Telegraph "With the belated but highly welcome publication of this book Haffner has had the last word in his struggle to be a German in Nazi Germany." FINANCIAL TIMES
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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The author became a respected writer and as a young man in Germany held, as he makes clear, right wing views - but not extremist ones that came to be adopted by Hitler and the Nazis. For much of the book, his tone is matter of fact, descriptive of his upbringing. The writing is clear - the book is deceptively easy to read, which makes it all the more of a shock to feel the horror that Haffner himself felt at the way political events were developing. The analysis towards the end of the book is astonishing - inasmuch as it made me realise how this young man understood that his beliefs in decency could be so destroyed - helped by willing ordinary people, who convinced themselves of the 'right' of what was happening. I have never read anything quite so simply convincing to try to explain the reality of Hitler and how people were drawn into acceptance of what took place. I urge readers to sit down with this remarkable book and be transported into pre-war Germany and then be brutally awakened into what happened.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By Doug Reid
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Throughout my adult life, I have often wondered how the Nazis could have come to be so powerful in a country which, to the casual observer, seemed so 'civilised'. How could the German people have been taken in by Hitler, allowing him to become so powerful when most felt he was repulsive and inappropriate? Even more, how could so many of these people then be persuaded to commit such horrendous atrocities in the name of the Third Reich and Aryanism?
Sebastian Haffner will, I think, begin to give you the answer in this book. The Germanic culture is without doubt different form the British and events during and after the First World War were very significant in creating an attitude amongst those who were to eventually 'run' Germany in the 1930s and 40s. How many of us are aware that there was a revolution in Germany after WW1?
Mr Haffner was undoubtedly someone who had enough of a conscience, was intelligent and independent enough to have been able to think for himself when the Nazis were so successfully terrorising the majority of Germans into following them. You will see that he too was very aware of the manipulation, introduced by the emerging Nazi party, to acheve it all.
To be able to read an ordinary man's account of the rise of Nazism was, I found, fascinating. His insights, perceptions and feelings as to why and what was happening around him are rivetting.
Above all, this is a book you can read. Haffner's style is moreish; the more you read the more you want to keep going.
It is only a pity that the book ends so suddenly because he never finished it.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
I am going through a bit of a German period at the moment, but after reading Antony Beevor's Berlin, Michael Burleigh's The Third Reich and now this book, I'm doing it chronologically in reverse. Many non-Germans wonder how Germany was taken in by Hitler and this book is particularly good at describing the country's crazy circumstances of post 1918 (Burleigh's book is good on this too). It's written in an entertaining, breezy style and filled contemporary insight. All three books leave me more sympathetic to the plight of ordinary Germans through this period and even more impressed by the (largely) pacifist and peaceful modern European state...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating historical overview
Fascinating, personal and honest account about a key time in history that I did not know much about, the focus is usually the second world war not the politics leading up to it. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Maddy
5.0 out of 5 stars
How Were the Nazis Possible?Why Didnt You Stop Them ?
These are questions asked by the post war generation of their parents.Reading this book may well give them some answers to these questions. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Mb Davis
4.0 out of 5 stars
An answer of sorts
This book has been the answer to my main question about Hitler and the Third Reich. I always wanted to know why so many people, some very clever and well read, went silently behind... Read more
Published on 23 July 2010 by Sontee
5.0 out of 5 stars
A memoir with huge explanatory power
Haffner became a well-known historian but this memoir was written in England when in exile and was not published until 2000, after his death, becoming a bestseller. Read more
Published on 30 Dec 2009 by Martin White
5.0 out of 5 stars
A 'must read ' book
A contemporary account of life in Germany between WWI and WWII as seen through the eyes of a young, middle-class, law student. Read more
Published on 7 Oct 2009 by D. M. Gethin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Germany as the first Nazi-occupied land
Sebastian Haffner gives a chilling account of how, after the exhilarations and traumas of 1914-33, an advanced land fell into the hands of totalitarianism. Read more
Published on 23 Sep 2009 by Mr. Terence H. Edwards
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Fantasic educational and effective book"
This book was a revelation to me and helped me understand a time that was a major turning point in the world's history - it helped me to look at how people behave when they are... Read more
Published on 12 Sep 2008 by Mr. R. N. Lock
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hitler explained
The subtitle of this book might well be "Hitler for Dummies" in that it is so concise and well written (without being high brow), that you can read it in half an afternoon and feel... Read more
Published on 3 Sep 2008 by JJA Kiefte
5.0 out of 5 stars
Agree with the others - a worthy 5 stars
Just to say that I fully agree with the general high ratings for this book, and that I agree with most of the comments that Cyber Vigilantes made
(except that I had not... Read more
(except that I had not... Read more
Published on 4 Mar 2008 by M. W. Ellwood
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating and empowering - a layman witnessing ponerology in action
It is unusual to find such well-written personal accounts that deal with the biggest question of Hitler's rise to power: why did normal Germans become Nazis, kill and wave flags... Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2008 by Cyber Vigilantes
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