The Bookworm: The Third Reich at War

The Third Reich at War by Richard J. Evans. 926 pages. Penguin Books. 2008.

The three gas vans based at Chelmno could kill fifty people each at a time, driving them out from the camp to woods about 16 kilometres distant, asphyxiating the people inside along the way. There they were halted to unload their grisly cargo into ditches dug by other Jewish inmates of the camp. Occasionally a mother inside the van managed to wrap up her baby tightly enough to keep it from breathing in the deadly fumes. Jakow Grojanowski, one of the gravediggers employed by the SS, reported how German guards picked up any babies who had survived the journey and smashed their heads against nearby trees. [Page 258.]

For my seventeenth birthday, in 1999, my mom gave me an “I survived the 20th century” button. It was one of those timely novelty items and I passed it off as corny. (I still have it, though.) However, having read The Third Reich at War, I realized that button means more than I previously thought.

Yes, it took me a long time to finish War, but it is not a book that should be taken lightly. The final volume of Evans’ history of the Third Reich, War offers a depressingly thorough account of Nazi Germany from its invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 to its capitulation on May 8, 1945. Though World War Two plays a prominent role in the book, it is not the main focus; much like its two companion volumes, War chronicles Nazi policies and life under the Third Reich during wartime. Central to the book is the Nazis barbaric extermination of Jews and whomever else they considered sub-humans and “life unworthy of life,” notably Slavs (especially Poles), gypsies, and the mentally and physically handicapped.

Needless to say, this book was insanely brutal. Evans dedicated War, along with the previous volumes, to his sons, who “cheered me up on innumerable occasions during the writing of a book the subject matter of which was sometimes shocking and depressing almost beyond belief.” “[B]eyond belief” is a good way to characterize much of what War outlines. Sickening as it is, the quote I used at the beginning of this post is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Nazi brutality. The descriptions of wanton violence meted out to Poles after German troops crossed the border were unbelievable; indoctrinated by years of anti-Semitic and anti-Slavic propaganda, ordinary soldiers inundated Eastern Europe with a tidal wave of sadism. After that it only gets worse. The violence at the beginning of the war is eventually overshadowed by the systematic, European-wide scale of murder instituted later. There were many times when I had to set the book down and think, “This happened. This really happened.” From the building of ghettos, the use of special gas vans (which pumped engine exhaust into the back where prisoners were placed), to the planning of massive death camps and the development of gas chambers and crematoria, War covers the Nazis’ so-called “final solution” in painful detail.

Movies and documentaries seem to portray Hitler and the Nazis as ingenious, technologically advanced, and unstoppable. They were in certain ways, but War paints a different picture of how the Third Reich and its war machine operated, one that I think is more representative and realistic — and decidedly less adaptive for the silver screen. Hitler, a self-proclaimed military genius, distrusted his generals and thankfully did more harm than good when commanding the military. He was so delusional toward the end that he was maneuvering divisions that had been destroyed and squadrons of planes that had no fuel. The advanced tactics and weaponry of the Wehrmacht overpowered the Poles (who were reported to have charged into battle on horseback), French, and eventually Soviets, but they rushed planes into combat without ironing out the defects and were never able to compete with their Allied counterparts. Funding and support for “wonder weapons,” like the V-2 rocket, ebbed and flowed with Hitler’s interests and enthusiasm. (Such was the disregard for the lives of foreign and concentration camp labor that more people were killed manufacturing the V-2 rocket (20,000) than died from its use against the Allies (5,000).) German troops were so poorly equipped during the first winter after invading Russia that coat and wool drives were held in the homeland; when surrendering at Stalingrad, Germans emerged from foxholes and shelters wearing women’s fur coats. Despite the quick military victories of 1939-40, Evans depicts Hitler and the Nazis as poorly organized, argumentative, and indecisive.

One point hammered home by War, and something which I never heard mentioned before, was the fact Germany lacked the manpower and raw material required to conquer Europe. Economically speaking, the Nazis were defeated even before the United States declared war in 1941. Despite the use of foreign labor from conquered countries and efforts to foster a “total war,” the Germans could only dream of matching the Allied war economies. Germany produced exponentially fewer guns, planes, tanks, ships, and ammunition. After being defeated in North Africa, it lacked access to large amounts of oil, and Allied bombing raids destroyed factories and vital rail lines. Once the Allies landed at Normandy and the Soviets took control of the eastern front, it was just a matter of time before it was all over. War has made me hyper aware of the essential role economics plays in warfare.

War details life on the German home front, too. Evans chronicles the uses of propaganda, the formation of the People’s Storm (a ragtag and poorly equipped national guard consisting of middle-aged men and young boys), the everyday impact of Allied bombings, the registration and deportation of previously exempt Jews and people of mixed race, trends in art and culture, the administrative disintegration and chaos that took place in cities on the verge of Allied takeover, the sense of guilt that eventually overcame many Germans as the war came home… The list could go on and on. At the end, Evans describes the unprecedented wave of suicide as defiant and prominent Nazis decided it was better to take their own lives and the lives of their families than endure the embarrassment of capture and defeat. And in the last pages he writes a little about the war’s aftermath, the Nuremburg trials, and the fate of leading Nazis.

Fortunately for me, I survived the twentieth century. Page after page of War, though, tells the story of many of the millions who did not.

New words I learned: All definitions are courtesy of my MacBook dictionary. Compulsion: “the action or state of forcing or being forced to do something; constraint.” Equanimity: “mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, esp. in a difficult situation.” Surreptitious: “kept secret, esp. because it would not be approved of.” Encyclical: “a papal letter sent to all bishops of the Roman Catholic Church.” Philately: “the collection and study of postage stamps.” Retinue: “a group of advisers, assistants, or others accompanying an important person.” Greengrocer: “a retailer of fruit and vegetables.” Cashier: “dismiss someone from the armed forces in disgrace because of a serious misdemeanor.” Antedate: in this instance it means “indicate that (a document or event) should be assigned to an earlier date.” Prelate: “a bishop or other high ecclesiastical dignitary.” Adumbrate: “report or represent in outline.” Billet: “a place, usually a civilian's house or other nonmilitary facility, where soldiers are lodged temporarily.” Breviary: “a book containing the service for each day, to be recited by those in orders in the Roman Catholic Church.” (As you can probably tell, I am not Catholic.) Éminence grise: “a person who exercises power or influence in a certain sphere without holding an official position.” Repudiate: “refuse to accept or be associated with.” Dacha: “a country house or cottage in Russia, typically used as a second or vacation home.” Metalled, as in “metalled roads”: “broken stone for use in making roads.” Salient: in this instance it is used to mean “an outward bulge in a line of military attack or defense.” Contretemps: “an unexpected and unfortunate occurrence.” Depredation: “an act of attacking or plundering.” Preparatory: “serving as or carrying out preparation for a task or undertaking.” Bacillus: “a disease-causing bacterium.” NCO: “noncommissioned officer.” Putrefaction: “the process of decay or rotting in a body or other organic matter.” Riding crop: “a short flexible whip with a loop for the hand, used in riding horses.” Refractory: “stubborn or unmanageable.” Saddlery: “saddles, bridles, and other equipment for horses,” or “the making or repairing of such equipment.” Provenance: in this sense it means “a record of ownership of a work of art or an antique, used as a guide to authenticity or quality.” Plenipotentiary: “a person, esp. a diplomat, invested with the full power of independent action on behalf of their government, typically in a foreign country.” Inveterate: “having a particular habit, activity, or interest that is long-established and unlikely to change.” Crèche: British term for “a nursery where babies and young children are cared for during the working day.” Pliant: another word for “pliable.” Connivance: “willingness to secretly allow or be involved in wrongdoing, esp. an immoral or illegal act.” Intransigent: “unwilling or refusing to change one's views or to agree about something.” Réaumur: referring to the “Réaumur scale,” “an obsolete scale of temperature at which water freezes at 0° and boils at 80° under standard conditions.” Fence: its usage in this instance means “a person who deals in stolen goods.” Scapa Flow: “a strait in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. It was the site of an important British naval base, esp. during World War I. The German High Seas Fleet was interned there after its surrender and was scuttled in 1919 as an act of defiance against the terms of the Versailles peace settlement.” Profligacy: “recklessly extravagant or wasteful in the use of resources.” Assiduity: “constant or close attention to what one is doing.” Malinger: “exaggerate or feign illness in order to escape duty or work.” Psychosomatic: “(of a physical illness or other condition) caused or aggravated by a mental factor such as internal conflict or stress.” Tiepin: “an ornamental pin for holding a tie in place.” Vestigial: “forming a very small remnant of something that was once much larger or more noticeable.” Cassock: “a full-length garment of a single color worn by certain Christian clergy, members of church choirs, acolytes, and others having some particular office or role in a church.” Supine: “failing to act or protest as a result of moral weakness or indolence.” Assiduous: “showing great care and perseverance.” Sonorous: “(of a person's voice or other sound) imposingly deep and full.” Insouciance: “casual lack of concern; indifference.” Fulsome: “complimentary or flattering to an excessive degree.” Macerate: “soften or break up (something, esp. food) by soaking in a liquid.” Septicaemia: “blood poisoning, esp. that caused by bacteria or their toxins.” Sulphonamide (or “sulfonamide”): “any of a class of synthetic drugs, derived from sulfanilamide, that are able to prevent the multiplication of some pathogenic bacteria.” Sycophant: “a person who acts obsequiously toward someone in order to gain advantage; a servile flatterer.” Phial: “another term for vial.” Militate: “(of a fact or circumstance) be a powerful or conclusive factor in preventing.” Phosgene: “a colorless poisonous gas made by the reaction of chlorine and carbon monoxide. It was used as a poison gas, notably in World War I.” Enterocolitis: “inflammation of both the small intestine and the colon.” Maudlin: “self-pityingly or tearfully sentimental, often through drunkenness.” Hauteur: “haughtiness of manner; disdainful pride.” Perambulator: it is the British term for a baby carriage, which is where the term “peram” comes from. Codicil: “an addition or supplement that explains, modifies, or revokes a will or part of one.” Adjutant: “a military officer who acts as an administrative assistant to a senior officer.” Lassitude: “a state of physical or mental weariness; lack of energy.”