Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer”

Resist the temptation to let out a groan about the appearance of yet another history of Nazi Germany. Having lectured on the Third Reich for over 35 years, I had few expectations that yet another textbook on the topic contained very much that would spark my imagination. Yet this compact and wide-ranging survey by Dietmar Süß is a worthwhile addition to the bookshelves of students and scholars alike. The tone of the book, amidst a good deal of factual detail and useful analysis, seems more handily attuned to a younger audience than some previous standard works. Not only does the author delve into the theoretical discussions on the nature of National Socialism, but he returns always to the experiences and reflections of regular Germans at the time—Nazis, their opponents, simple bystanders or Jews. In this endeavour, he draws astutely on the ever-growing corpus of diaries from the period. Other historians, such as Richard J. Evans, have done this for English-speaking audiences. Sometimes Süß will draw on the same diarist as, for example, Peter Fritzsche does (the anti-Nazi Karl Dürkefälden). Some now familiar diarists like Victor Klemperer are quoted, but only rarely. And there is just one mention of Friedrich Kellner. But it is noteworthy that he utilizes some of the very latest publications, such as the diary of the Hitler Youth, Franz Albrecht Schall, which appeared only in 2016.

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