The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany

Simon and Schuster published The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich in 1960. It is important, therefore, to understand two different historical contexts: first, the era on which the book focuses, which includes the rise of Hitler and Nazism through the fall of the Third Reich in 1945; and second, the post-war era in which the book was written.

The first of these two contexts primarily involves the Nazi era but also encompasses more than four centuries of German history. In describing this history, Shirer asserts that the German people, at least since Martin Luther and the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, had been uniquely conditioned to embrace both antisemitism and authoritarian government. The inference is that what happened in Germany between 1933 and 1945 can be explained primarily through a kind of historical determinism. While wrestling with this argument, readers might consider two questions. First, rather than appearing as unique to Germany, did Hitler’s racial ideas actually constitute a grotesque amplification of attitudes toward race that prevailed throughout the Western world in the late-19th and early-20th centuries? Second, by attributing Hitler’s reign to historical forces that shaped the German people and thus prepared them for dictatorship, might The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich leave the impression that totalitarianism is unlikely to develop elsewhere?

The second historical context runs from the end of World War II in 1945 to the book’s publication in 1960. Shirer wrote The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich in the late 1950s, when Germany was still divided between West and East, and when the Soviet Union had replaced the Third Reich as the primary threat to freedom in Europe and elsewhere. The Soviets, in fact, argued that by rebuilding Germany the Americans and British had joined the Nazis in a war against communism—the Cold War. In Shirer’s footnotes, therefore, readers will find occasional references to the geopolitics of the 1950s, which bear no direct relation to the history of the Third Reich.

Some references to postwar developments, however, do have a direct bearing on the Nazi terror. For instance, Shirer notes that Hans Lammers, chief of the Reich Chancellery, who during the postwar trials admitted to having known about the “Final Solution,” received a 20-year prison sentence at Nuremberg, but this sentence and others like it “were greatly reduced by American authorities,” in large part because “most Germans, at least so far as their sentiment was represented in the West German parliament, did not approve of even the relatively mild sentences meted out to Hitler’s accomplices” (965). The clear implication is that by the early 1950s—Lammers was released from prison in 1951—the need to shore up West German support for the Cold War against Soviet Communism had taken precedence over the pursuit of justice for the victims of Nazism.

Likewise, one must consider the book’s publication date in light of Shirer’s periodic references to the sexual inclinations of notable Nazis. He describes the leaders of the SA, for instance, including Ernst Roehm, as “notorious homosexual perverts” (120). Edmund Heines, chief of the Munich SA, was “not only a homosexual but a convicted murderer” (120). Of the Nazis in general, Shirer writes that “a conglomeration of pimps, murderers, homosexuals, alcoholics, and blackmailers flocked to the party as if to a natural haven” (122). Furthermore, Hitler knew “that a large number of his closest and most important followers were sexual perverts and convicted murderers” (225). Statements of this kind recur throughout the book’s early chapters, where the SA leaders appear in the narrative with some frequency.

Finally, it is also worth considering that much of Shirer’s information about the events of World War II is incomplete in comparison to current understanding. Though Shirer had inordinate access to some primary sources, still more information has been revealed since 1960 that sheds more light on some of the events described in the book. For example, Shirer often finds Hitler’s behavior baffling, but recent scholarship has revealed that Hitler was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and treated with heavy opiates, which may have contributed to some of his more erratic behavior or contradictory decisions. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is still an important work, but modern audiences should treat it as foundational reading that leads to a more enhanced understanding of the topic as continued scholarship reveals new insights.