What We Knew: Terror, Mass Murder, and Everyday Life in Nazi Germany

This book gives an excellent insight as to what did or did not happen in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 and gives excellent surveys about what both Jewish and non-Jewish people knew or didn’t know about the Final Solution but the author gets too drawn out and repeats material causing a person seeking to learn about the treatment and murder of the Jews in Europe during WWII to become bored and bogged down by this. This is a book for those doing advanced studies about the genocide committed towards the Jewish people in WWII.

At this time in American history, it seems wise to me to understand what it was like for the ordinary citizen living in Nazi Germany. This book is the third I've read in this vein. It answers the important question of what everyone knew about what was going on with that regime. The answer: Whatever they were prepared to know. What they *wanted* to know. If you were a member of a group that was being targeted by Nazi policies, you paid a lot closer attention to the "rumors" and the evidence that backed them up. If you were not a member of such a group, it was easier to not notice important things, to dismiss "rumors" as unsubstantiated misinformation.....I learned one other thing from this book. My previous impression of the Nazi "labor camps" had been that they were all focused on executing masses of people and disposing of the bodies. I now understand them in a more nuanced way. Certainly the "final solution" was one function of the camps and comprised a lot of their activity. But outright murder was not the only way in which brutality was inflicted on masses of people. Those not initially exterminated were subjected to living conditions so draconian as to be unsurvivable, which of course resulted in many, many more deaths. And before those benighted souls died, they were effectively tortured by the demands their captors placed upon them.That human beings can do this--and allow this to be done--to other human beings is a reason to despair of the human race. Will we EVER grow up?

An oral history drawn from both WWII Germans and Jews about what was known in Germany at the time regarding killings of the Jews as it was occurring, camps, etc. This book provides evidence that the Germans did know about the camps and mass murders. Also points out that Hitler was genuinely popular among ordinary Germans and that it was not because of the use of intimidation to enforce his policies.At the end of the book there are interesting summaries by the authors detailing what they have learned and information supporting the judgments that the authors reached.There are also really great descriptions of life in Germany for Germans saying that it was mostly pleasant and normal.A great book to delve into some of those nagging questions that I'm sure most of us readers of WWII history have had. In this reviewer's opinion, an altogether wonderful, interesting and informative read.Took me some years to decide to read this book...was sure it was dry and boring. So wrong. Entirely well written, interspersed with facts and personal stories. Within the first 3-4 pages this reviewers hair on the back of my neck stood up with feelings of the danger from 70 years ago.Recommended viewing is a new documentary being shown on the American Heroes Channel entitled: Nazis: Evolution of Evil. Put to rest was any lingering question whether most Germans supported Hitler's regime, his war efforts, and the murdering of Jews, and ultimately millions of others. Germans did know. Germans typically supported Hitler.Or buy the revealing DVD on Amazon: The Rise of the Nazi Party ... stunning eye-opener, stunning conclusions ...Another Recommendation: Year Zero, A History of 1945, author BurumaRead Soldaten in which German POWs reminisce about how fun it was to kill people.

I just finished this book after some weeks of reading and putting it down then reading again, etc. In short, it was a difficult read but having made that qualifier, it was also positive and surprisingly interesting and valuable. For any person, primarily students, who are researching with an intention of writing a paper about Nazi Germany and any subtopics therein, this is a must-read book.The first two thirds of the book are fascinating primary sources--interviews with people who experienced various aspects of being caught up in this horrendous machine that was Nazi state power. The conclusion makes the premise that virtually everybody at the time knew what the Nazi state was working to accomplish. The authors lay waste to the old claim that "we didn't know". Almost every person knew of the collections and the deportation because it happened in daylight and no attempt was made to hide the event. The "network information" that came from stories told by soldiers on leave and by undercover BBC broadcasts contributed to this general knowledge. The plethora of work camps in Germany itself provided evidence of major wrong-doing. The size of the operations and the number of people involved preclude any reasonable denial that major parts of the Nazi Party's Manifesto was being acted upon.The general reader and I certainly include myself among this group, will particularly get bogged down in the last section. The authors take their data and display it in numerous charts and conduct a precise analysis of this raw information. It is all terribly useful if you are footnoting a research paper but considerably less so if you are trying to have a quiet read. Therefore, be warned. This is a book containing many pearls of information but the water where they are located is deep and sometimes murky.

The first part of this book, namely the first person accounts by eyewitnesses involved in the period of the Third Reich are very rewarding reading, however you will read some 100 pages of bewildering statistical data based upon survey results from the very same respondents, and this in my opinion deservedly merits my rating of 3 stars. The people were asked to relate their experiences about the crimes associated with the Nazi regime, and I feel of great importance are the words spoken by the victims of the dictatorial policies of the Hitler Government, you will find them at times harrowing reading. Naturally the co Authors relied on witnesses commonly born around the 1920's, it would have fascinating to have heard from voices born somewhere around the the early 1900's, for these people were more mature, and experienced the the total rise of the Nazi party from its humble beginnings. Naturally they had since passed away!

Oral history brings to us the feelings of people who lived through events and experiences, rather than of historians who write about the facts involved. Here we have the voices of Jews and non-Jews from before and during the Third Reich, telling what they knew about the treatment of Jews. This collection answers a lot of questions - and poses a lot more. Compulsory reading for all with an interest in the period.

Brilliant for History students.

REALISTIC VIEWS.

V good