Name: The Third Reich at war
ISBN: 9780143116714

The Third Reich at war

The final volume in Richard J. Evans's masterly trilogy on the history of Nazi Germany traces the rise and fall of German military might, the mobilization of a "people's community to serve a war of conquest, and Hitler's campaign of racial subjugation and genocideAlready hailed as "a masterpiece" (William Grimes in The New York Times) and "the most comprehensive history...of the Third Reich" (Ian Kershaw), this epic trilogy reaches its terrifying climax in this volume.Evans interweaves a broad narrative of the war's progress with viscerally affecting personal testimony from a wide range of people—from generals to front-line soldiers, from Hitler Youth activists to middle-class housewives. The Third Reich at War lays bare the dynamics of a nation more deeply immersed in war than any society before or since. Fresh insights into the conflict's great events are here, from the invasion of Poland to the Battle of Stalingrad to Hitler's suicide in the bunker. But just as important is the re-creation of the daily experience of ordinary Germans in wartime, staggering under pressure from Allied bombing and their own government's mounting demands upon them.

What Hacker News says

metabagelJun 2025

This true story was also mentioned in "The Third Reich at War" by Richard J. Evans in the chapter "Deadly Science".

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azernikApr 2017

In fact, it was rather draining. The Einsatzgruppen - SS task forces that manually machine-gunned people (mostly Jews) during the invasion of the Soviet Union, including at Babi Yar - were disbanded fairly early in the war because of mental health problems among the staff. One of the main motivations of the characteristically "industrial" methods of the later Holocaust - first gassing trucks, then gas chambers and starvation - was to reduce the exposure of SS personnel to the act of killing, even when they were aware of and enthusiastic about their mission.

Source: "The Third Reich At War", by Richard J. Evans.

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tokenadultFeb 2015

The three-book series on the Third Reich by historian Richard Evans[1] (the author of the essay kindly submitted here) was recommended to Hacker News readers in a comment in August 2014. I am glad I saw that recommendation. Three volumes of thoroughly footnoted history covering a lifetime (Bismarck's era to the end of World War II) in a large country was a lot of reading, but I'm glad I plunged in. The Allied war effort against the Nazi regime was a big part of the young experience of several of my uncles, and undoubtedly shaped the childhoods of both of my parents. And of course the result of World War II redrew the map of Europe. I think it's useful to be aware of the facts (and Evans's book series digs deeply into the facts) and not just the legends about the Nazis.

Anyway, the Nazis still have followers today. I have been doing research on a younger generation (that is, people with birth years like my parents, in the 1930s) of neo-Nazis[2] in the postwar era, and there are even people younger than that (birth years in the 1980s and 1990s) who haven't learned enough about Nazi history to know that the Nazis are no example worth following for anyone. We must never forget.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Third-Reich-Richard-Evans/dp/01...

http://www.amazon.com/Third-Reich-Power-Richard-Evans/dp/014...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Third-Reich-at-War/dp/0143116711

[2] http://www.amazon.com/Nazi-Connection-Eugenics-American-Soci...

http://www.amazon.com/Funding-Scientific-Racism-Wickliffe-Pi...

http://www.amazon.com/Race-Racism-Science-Interaction-Societ...

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tokenadultOct 2014

I've curated my list of Facebook friends to be something like that. The list of real-life friends who make up a core part of my list of Facebook friends includes a lot of people from a membership organization gifted children, whose parents then form a mutual support network. This, to be sure, is a hard strategy to replicate exactly, but over time I think that your professional or other affinity groupings will help you find people who like to discuss books you like thoughtfully.

I get good book recommendations here on HN all the time, most recently a set of books about German history,[1] but we hardly ever have extended book discussions here.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Third-Reich-Richard-Evans/dp/01...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143037900/

http://www.amazon.com/The-Third-Reich-at-War/dp/0143116711/

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