What’s germane here is my sense of accomplishment at having
finally read this brick that has loomed over my bookshelves for many a year,
William Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. When I say year, I
mean decades. I mean that literally. I bought this tome back in the Eighties,
and after a rather lackluster first stab at its nearly 1500 pages of fairly
fine print (my attention span was, shall we say, shorter then), I set it aside
for lighter reading, daunted by its heft, believing that it would take as many
months to complete as that long ago war waged. Little did I know how long it
would remain perched on my shelves. Indeed, it would remain on those shelves
even after a move, even after those selves were upgraded to larger, loftier,
units. Before long, I wondered if I ever would read it cover-to-cover; always
telling myself… someday….
One day, rather recently (in relation to the length of my
not-too-short life), in a lock-down, far, far away, I decided, I would finally
give Shirer’s epic history its long-awaited go. And give it a go I did. This is
not to say I succeeded. I did manage far more pages than I did in that first
attempt, but I did not plow through Rise and Fall… as I had intended. I
did not fail, entirely, though. I managed to not set Shirer’s history back on
the shelf, merely burying it under “more pressing” volumes on my end table.
After a time, I picked it up again, sure that this time was indeed the time I
would riffle through it. This time, I decided, I would not fail; that I would
have a strategy: I would read ten pages a day, every day, whilst I read other
books. I succeeded in this. And before long, as I watched my bookmark inch
along the spine, those 10 pages grew to 20. And, before I knew it (not as
quickly as this sounds, however), I found myself very near the end. And then,
finally, I did come to the end. I felt like I’d scaled the Matterhorn!
Was it worth it? Yes. Very much so! It’s a remarkable
work, as detailed and as insightful as only someone who lived through those
dark days could expound.
It is dated, though. It’s a work of its time: a top-down
history. Today, most histories are bottom-up. What’s the difference? Top-down
is fact and event oriented. It may contain excerpts from letters and diaries,
but only insofar as those entries add detail to the events related. Bottom-up
is far more personal. More immersion. Letters and diaries entries are integral
to giving the reader what feels like firsthand experience to the events as they
unfold. A great many bottom-up histories will follow only a few “diarists,” so
as to give the most dramatic experience possible, allowing the reader to
empathise with those living through the events related. Shirer, however, has no
wish for us to empathise with his diarists. His were the generals and the
architects of the Third Reich. Even hapless conspirators who professed to end
Hitler’s reign, if doing nothing. Or failing. His intent is to unveil that
heinous regime in all its horror, for what it was, and not, in any way,
apologise for their actions. He does that with great skill.
I will not detail the events within this weighty tome.
Most people alive are already well acquainted with the events of the Second
World War and all its horrors. Or should I say, I hope they are. I do wonder,
at times, though. If they are not, I would wish this book were required
reading. For everyone. It is still, I believe, one of the best histories of the
War. But it is Reich-sentric. Let’s be clear about that. What happens outside
Germany is merely mentioned, only insofar as it is relevant to what is
unfolding within the Reich. Thus, the United States does not loom large here;
indeed, it is barely mentioned until it begins its convoys to beleaguered
Britain. Britain and the Soviet Union are far larger players in the Reich’s
narrative; probably because they were of greater concern to Nazi Germany than
even it's allies, Mussolini’s Italy, and Imperial Japan (which hardly factors
in, at all). What is of greatest weight is Shirer’s firsthand accounts: He was
an American journalist within the Reich, until he had to exit from there upon
America’s entrance in the war. His “Berlin Diary” is as important to this work
as it is in its own right; as is his having reported on the Nuremberg Trials. It
was these writings that allowed this work to be as personal as it is. And as
insightful. No one else (then, anyway) could have given us the book he did.
I obviously recommend this book, however daunting it may
appear; but if the reader is not well versed with the overall history of WW2, I
would recommend they look elsewhere first, overarching documentaries, perhaps,
before diving in.
So, why would I say this book is prophetic? Because, to
my mind, anyway, there are worrisome parallels today around the world to those early days before
Weimar Germany became Nazi Germany. Is it just fearmongering? Is it that we, as
humans, find patterns everywhere, even if there are none? Perhaps. I do hope,
though, that no country finds itself travelling down the road of autocratic totalitarianism
ever again. Or that anyone should ever have to experience such horrors as the people then did. Or those who do now do.
Not to belabour the point, but,
“No class or group or party in Germany could escape its share of responsibility for the abandonment of the democratic Republic and the advent of Adolf Hitler. The cardinal error of the Germans who opposed Nazism was their failure to unite against it.” ― William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany
Regardless my polemic, William Shirer’s spic history is
likely one of the most important contemporary histories ever written, I would
wish that everyone read it.
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