They Thought They Were Free

The Germans, 1933-45

By: Milton Mayer

Narrated by: Michael Page

First published in 1955, They Thought They Were Free is an eloquent and provocative examination of the development of fascism in Germany. Milton Mayer's book is a study of 10 Germans and their lives from 1933-45, based on interviews he conducted after the war when he lived in Germany.

Mayer had a position as a research professor at the University of Frankfurt and lived in a nearby small Hessian town which he disguised with the name "Kronenberg". "These ten men were not men of distinction," Mayer noted, but they had been members of the Nazi Party; Mayer wanted to discover what had made them Nazis.

©1955 The University of Chicago (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Among the many books written on Germany after the collapse of Hitler's Thousand Year Reich, this book by Milton Mayer is one of the most readable and most enlightening." ( New York Times)

Time might change ones behaviour pattern

Would you listen to They Thought They Were Free again? Why?

Yes. It is a detailed account of the thought pattern(s) that led to the destruction of the German nation through the lives of ten average individuals in a small rural town, community.

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

I found it a detailed book. Mr. Mayer, his presentation throughout the book gives the reader a constant barrage of options, in the various acts and behaviour of his 10 nazi friends. The constant how when where or why is always being asked in ones own mind. The book moves quickly from chapter to chapter and as often in my case, does soul searching.

Any additional comments?

I suggest that this book, might be presented to students throughout the world as an "eye opener" in regards to human behaviour. How it all did manage to come together, through no pattern of behaviour that might be deemed as what I call normal. To attempt to obliterate, erase humanity with justification? The world that I know weeps, I weep.

Must read(Listen)for anyone serious about history

An engaging insight as to how a nation was swayed into despotism incrementally yet whloley

Thought provoking an excellent narration

Although dry in parts, this was mostly a fascinating read. It puts alot of things in perspective that you wont get from a textbook and contains alot of quotables that are still relevant today.

Fascinating look @ racism, nationalism & survival.

I loved it. I know this sounds picky but I would have liked to know more about the 10 men. Fascinating. Excellent work.

An Unsettling View into History

This is history told from the viewpoint of ordinary German residents of a single town, all sharing one common attribute: during the Nazi era, they joined the Nazi party. Few of their memories recount the horrific end of Hitler's Third Reich. Most of their remembering involves the years from 1938 to 1940. These years were the high water mark of German fascism, when German Jews were stripped of their citizenship, their homes and businesses set ablaze, and the concentration camps began to fill. The era culminated in the too-easy defeat of France, and the Occupation of Paris. That all the jubilation ended with German cities being bombed to rubble and American, British, French, and Soviet troops treading Nazi banners underfoot seems not to have influenced these Germans negatively towards Nazi policies regarding war, race, or human rights. Some of them chalk up the outcome of the war to bad luck or poor leadership rather than moral rot among the German populace. For a few, there were moments when they sensed they were being used by a malevolent government to do horrible, inhuman things. They shrugged and did nothing to impede such atrocities. Others just "went along" with current thinking until well-deserved defeat swallowed them.

This book was originally written in the mid-1950s, when Germany had been divided East and West, wartime memories were still fresh, and Nazis were still being arrested and tried by both Allied and German courts. Today, it can be read as a warning from History. Decency, humanity, and compassion are shown to be fungible. If all around you seem to agree that Jews, Roma, Socialists, Catholics, homosexuals (name your "out" group) are liabilities rather than assets to good social order, it is easy to "go along" with mistreating them--until the roundups begin and the extermination camps begin receiving trainloads of the doomed.

Some of those interviewed in this book have no regrets, other than that Germany lost two World Wars. The American insurrectionists of 1/6/21 have made the same arguments about the 2020 election, and have identified many of the same "out" groups as the real threat to an "orderly" American society. There is the warning.

Very thought provoking.

Truly made me aware of our similar plight in America. Hopefully more people will wake up to how serious a threat to democracy right wingers pose.

What is freedom and what is the price?

Ten ordinary Germans , 10 lives before during and after the Nazi regime. First - never forget how and why the Nazi regime became to be. Not as an excuse but as a warning to us all. Second- never forget who the first victims were , the opponents of the regime. Freedom of thought and speech were curtailed. Children indoctrinated. Young adults middle aged people - all followed the promise of a better Germany and if you disagree then you better pretended . Today we should be alarmed by how Germany allowed Nazism to take an ugly grip , if you look at today’s political climate you would recognize the tell tale signs of suppression of free speech, main stream media rather than objectivity, prefer pushing political agenda. Pseudoscience pseudo medicine- all happened then in 1933 and again today. CRT - indoctrination of oppressed vs supreme beings. We haven’t learned anything . Sad.

Must read for those seeking understanding.

A must read for those wanting to better understand the realities of WW2 and how so many could fall into such a dark ideology.

One of the greatest

This is one of the greatest books ever written. It is a contemporaneous account of normal people, which history usually overlooks

Insiteful

I highly recommend this book. A different perspective on how WW2 came to be. It went over some of the cultural and historical attitudes of the German people prior to Nazi Germany and during. Interesting analysis on group and individual psychology as well as political ideologies.