Author(s): Adam Lebor & Roger Boyes

Third Reich | Second World War

How ordinary German citizens, leading uneventful lives, could adapt so easily to the evils of the Nazi regime remains one of the most important questions of the twentieth century, and up till now no one has found a satisfactory explanation. In Surviving Hitler, Adam LeBor and Roger Boyes argue that the only way to understand how this happened is to step into the heart of daily life in the Third Reich. Drawing on new research and recently declassified documents, they paint a compelling picture of life for the average German, uncovering new examples of protest and disenchantment as well as eager complicity with the Nazis. They examine how many Germans really knew about the extermination camps, and ask how ideologically driven was the Holocaust? Above all they show how, for normal 'decent' Germans, life was steadily warped under Hitler and how moral compromises were made at work and at home which allowed a corrupt, inefficient and genocidal regime to stay in power. Richly detailed, Surviving Hitler not only provides the most comprehensive illustration of the reality of life under the Nazi dictatorship, but gives the most convincing explanation yet of how mass murder could be accepted by a supposedly civilised country.