The German War

A Nation Under Arms, 1939-1945; Citizens and Soldiers

By: Nicholas Stargardt

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

Length: 24 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

A major new history of the Third Reich that explores the German psyche.

As early as 1941, Allied victory in World War II seemed all but assured. How and why, then, did the Germans prolong the barbaric conflict for three and a half more years?

In The German War, acclaimed historian Nicholas Stargardt draws on an extraordinary range of primary source materials - personal diaries, court records, and military correspondence - to answer this question. He offers an unprecedented portrait of wartime Germany, bringing the hopes and expectations of the German people - from infantrymen and tank commanders on the Eastern Front to civilians on the home front - to vivid life. While most historians identify the German defeat at Stalingrad as the moment when the average German citizen turned against the war effort, Stargardt demonstrates that the Wehrmacht in fact retained the staunch support of the patriotic German populace until the bitter end.

Astonishing in its breadth and humanity, The German War is a groundbreaking new interpretation of what drove the Germans to fight - and keep fighting - for a lost cause.

©2015 Nicholas Stargardt (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Very insightful

Michael Kramer is the best in the business! This is a very interesting and insightful book. I have read a lot of ww2 history but nothing with this point of view. I highly recommend this book for any interested in this area of history.

Exhaustive But Not Exhausting

Not for the squeamish, the author goes into exacting detail, bringing scenes of battle, starvation, torture and rape very much to life. As many of my extended family were murdered by the Germans, the gruesome depictions of Soviet soldiers exacting revenge provided welcome schadenfreude.

A touching authentic history

A valuable, wonderfully researched and presented work on the personal stories of those Germans who experienced, survived and died in the Third Reich and 2nd World War. Accompanied objective accurate historical commentary.

Good insights into WWII German attitudes

I've long wanted to understand better how the German people felt about the Nazis and their crimes against humanity. This book has given me some insights and a further hunger for more understanding.

Interesting take on an oft overlooked side of WWII

Any additional comments?

This is a very well researched book. I was particularly impressed with what the author, Nicholas Stargardt, set out to do in the introduction - "provide a sense of breadth and depth" of the feeling of the German people. I feel like that goal was accomplished effectively. That phrase jumped out at me and stuck with me throughout the book. You see how not all Germans were foaming-at-the-mouth-maniac Nazis. You get a sense of how confused the thought was among a public who's only information came from Goebbel's propaganda. You find out how the feeling of national unity, so strong at the beginning of the War, slowly changed to distrust of their government and eventually of their neighbors. You find out how the Churches in Germany struggled with Nazism and the news of atrocities increasingly coming back from the front. You follow a Jewish family who struggles to hide in plain sight as bombed out refugees. You see moderate to hard-line Nazi families and how they refuse to believe the truth of the terrible things the Third Reich has done as the War comes to a close. You get a sense of the helpless rage so many felt about the Allied terror bombing of German cities. All this information and more is in this book. As a WWII historian, I learned many aspects of the War I previously knew little about. This is definitely worth a read and an Audible credit.

Great book and very informative

What made the experience of listening to The German War the most enjoyable?

The narration and all the personal stories.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The German War?

Soldier experiences at home and at the front.

Which scene was your favorite?

The horrors of the mass killings.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Any additional comments?

Great story, interesting letters, all the drama of real life.

The good, the bad & the horrific

A disturbing insight - yet one that should be remembered. The book reminds us of our ability to accept (and advance) a community of hate that resulted in the wholesale meaningless destruction of life. The willingness to both commit atrocities and then accept these acts for "the greater good" is beyond comprehension.

The book captivates the listener through the diaries, letters and events of German soldiers, their families and loved ones - the listener is invested in "what happens to them".

I would like to say "how could an entire nation accept the propaganda and participate in willful blindness to extermination of the Jews" but I also realize hindsight self-righteousness is cheap. I can only hope I would have been one of "the good", one that would have stood up and said no, one who risked my safety to shelter the persecuted. But....reading history and living history are two different things.

In summary, an excellent book - the lessons of which - including the dangers of collective mentality - should never been forgotten.

compelling

poignant reminder to the futility of war, and how good people can be led down a path leading to dehumanization of people based on worship of a man and his ideology.

A good to excellent read

Narrator excellent. I love the this period of history and this book described a time I had not studied.

Unusual and Worthwhile Perspective

Where does The German War rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's in the top-50% of the hundreds I've listened to, but it doesn't stand out as exceptional.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The German soldier who deserted the Eastern Front to go to Switzerland

Which scene was your favorite?

When the deserting soldier decided to leave.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It's a bit of a sad story, knowing where its heading the entire time, but it's not an extreme emotion.

Any additional comments?

The focus of this book is how the war impacted Germans over the course of the war and the immediate aftermath. The book does not try to paint the Germans as True Victims - it's not apologist in tone or content. But it does take the perspective of the Germans as a people both collectively and individually, warts and all. It discusses how they experienced the war, how they saw things, how many of them dismissed the casual murder of so many, and how the war was presented to them by the regime. The book doesn't go out of its way to be condemning, either. It discusses some of the people who stood up to the regime, some of the flaws in those people, and does a good job of being an objective witness and limiting bias.

This book isn't one I'd recommend to someone to learn about WWII, but I do recommend it to people familiar with the war and want to understand better how the war and the Holocaust could unfold as it did.