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

Democracy and the Weimar Constitution loom large in Chapters 5-8. Despite his intense hatred of democracy, Hitler demonstrated the theme of An Evil Genius and a Demonic Dictator by insisting that the Nazis must achieve power through constitutional means. Furthermore, the democratic elections of the early 1930s both support and qualify Shirer’s larger thesis regarding the authoritarian inclinations of the German people as well as their gullibility. On one hand, the Nazis won enough seats through the democratic process to become the largest party in the Reichstag. The German people, therefore, voted the Nazis into power. On the other hand, the Nazis never achieved an absolute majority through the electoral process. In two presidential contests with incumbent Paul von Hindenburg—admittedly a German war hero—Hitler never polled more than 36.8% of the vote. Hence Shirer’s conclusion that a German majority “had thus given expression to their belief in the democratic Republic” (159).

In reviewing the history of these elections and their consequences, Shirer marvels at the gullibility and weakness of Germany’s anti-Nazi majority. By giving Hitler the Chancellorship but forcing him to settle for a Cabinet in which only 3 of 11 ministers were Nazis, the conservatives in the government believed they “had lassoed the Nazis for their own ends” (184). Nothing could have been further from the truth, and Hitler demonstrated his evil genius further by leveraging what small advantages he had to hold his position and wait for a moment where he could improve upon it. As for liberals and centrists, the “cardinal error of the Germans who opposed Nazism was their failure to unite against it” (185) by resting in their belief that the accommodations they made were enough to placate Hitler and his party and keep them under control. Instead, this crack was enough to allow the Nazis to take more power once Hindenburg died in office. In the end, “the Germans imposed the Nazi tyranny on themselves” (187).

The Nazis continued to use democratic and constitutional means for authoritarian ends. After acquiring power, Hitler promised Germany’s big industrialists that the Reichstag election of March 5 would be the last for many years and that thereafter Germany would re-arm. The industrialists “responded with enthusiasm to the promise of the end of the infernal elections, of democracy and disarmament” (190). When the Reichstag transferred its powers to the Chancellor by voting for the Enabling Bill, “it was all done quite legally, though accompanied by terror” (199). Ironically, Hitler “never formally abrogated” the Weimar Constitution (274). Everything he did derived its legality from emergency powers acquired after the Reichstag fire and also from the Enabling Act. This legality, however, did not extend outside of Germany since rearmament after World War I was in violation of the Versailles Treaty. It is worth noting, however, that Hitler only enhanced and increased the rearmament that was already occurring before he came into power. Hitler only made the rearmament more visible and emboldened Nazi policies that would later elicit warnings and retaliatory armament from Britain and other future Allied powers. In many ways, Hitler only took the reins of political and industrial machinations that were already in motion

Chapters 5-8 also highlight one of Shirer’s major themes: The Complicity of The German Generals and The Strange Docility of the German People. By 1934, in the minds of some Nazis, there remained the question of a possible second revolution, an overthrow of the propertied classes. The Nazi Party had always included a large number of left-wingers, who took seriously the “socialism” part of National Socialism. Having achieved dictatorial power, however, Hitler had no desire to rankle the aristocrats, the industrialists, and especially the Army. In exchange for eliminating the rival SA, which Hitler completed through the Blood Purge of June 30, 1934, the Army threw its support behind the Fuehrer. This move also further underlines the themes of An Evil Genius and a Demonic Dictator and The Complicity of The German Generals and The Strange Docility of the German People in that it shows how Hitler was able to garner support and popularity despite the betrayals that were evident in his decisions. For example, one victim of the Night of Long Knives was Roehm, cofounder of the Nazi party and a close friend and ally of the Fuehrer. Despite this long history and friendship, Hitler was willing to dispatch Roehm to gain the support of the larger and more powerful German Army. The Army saw this as proof of Hitler’s political commitments, but it illustrates Shirer’s assertion of the complicity of the German leaders in that none of these leaders noted how easily Hitler’s loyalties could be turned when offered opportunities for more power.

Readers may note in the early chapters a lack of focus on the building atrocities of the concentration camps that were established during this period to punish enemies of the Nazi regime and to extinguish those whose basic existence was considered anathema to the Aryan ideal. Shirer’s account was written before some of the information was fully revealed and digested about the Holocaust and the steps that were made prior to the opening of Auschwitz. In fact, Shirer’s book was published before the term “Holocaust” was even widely accepted (though it may also be worth noting that many Jewish leaders prefer the term “Shoah” to Holocaust, as Holocaust implies a non-human involvement while Shoah is a Hebrew word focused on destruction). As such, Shirer’s focus here is on the political and social elements of the Nazi regime as a whole. Shirer’s intention is not to diminish the atrocities of the Nazis but instead to understand why they happened at all and to build a foundation to illustrate how the “Final Solution” came to be in the first place. As the narrative moves into the early 1940s, Shirer does not shy away from describing the horrors that were inflicted on the Jewish people.