"In his [Cardinal Bertram] own hand he gave all the parish priests of the archdiocese instructions 'to hold a solemn requiem in memory of the Fuhrer and all those members of the Wehrmacht who have fallen...' Despite all the insults to the church, the threats and the persecutions, he continued to see and respect Hitler as the Catholic state head of the Reich. He did not have to live to realize how wrong he was in this. He died on 6 July 1945.
pickThis book is a sort of romp through German history, geography, art and conspicuous personalities. The author is neither German nor a historian, but he is well traveled across Central Europe and demonstrates what seems to be a good grasp of the terrain and culture. This book is good and humorous, playful even, but it is very dense, each chapter or essay taking some time to digest before moving onto the next. Incidentally, Winder does not cover WW2.
so-soI can‘t say I wasn‘t warned. The above sentence appears in the introduction. While the methodology of the surveys is important for academics and the differences in interpretation of the data by the 2 authors points to some issues, this book is not readable. And it doesn‘t offer me any ideas on how to safely resist. How anyone can make such horror so dry is beyond me. The information is good, but if you put people to sleep they won‘t absorb it.
I finished this public-domain translation of Michael Kohlhaas and other short stories or novellas by Heinrich von Kleist (or Henry de Kleist, as the 19th-c. Swiss translators wrote). I liked the novella Michael Kohlhaas best, although it did play with my nerves a little bit, as the MC went up the nobility chain of command to appeal and plead his case, all in vain, to nobody's surprise 😒 I could see the parallels with Kafka.
#Germany
repost for @ChrisBohjalian
I am deeply alarmed by the state of the U.S. Many of you are, too. So, let‘s learn about fascism — a book club, perhaps. But, if nothing else, book suggestions. Let‘s start with WHAT WE KNEW: TERROR, MASS MURDER, AND EVERYDAY LIFE IN NAZI GERMANY.
#BuddyRead
I am deeply alarmed by the state of the U.S. Many of you are, too. So, let‘s learn about fascism — a book club, perhaps. But, if nothing else, book suggestions. Let‘s start with WHAT WE KNEW: TERROR, MASS MURDER, AND EVERYDAY LIFE IN NAZI GERMANY.
pickGood Girl was a beautifully written reflection on poverty, identity, xenophobia, youth, shame, and abuse of power.
I'd struggle to name many characters I've hated as vitriolically as Marlowe. He is emblematic of the way people exploit the vulnerability of others.
The romanticisation of recreational drug use is tedious, but makes contextual sense.
This book was poetic and brilliant, but also miserable and devoid of much hope.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The last few years I‘ve stepped back from reading about WWII because it felt so overdone. But with the rise of authoritarianism currently happening in the US it has pushed back to reading about that era. The 2 on the left I found at Hachette Books (I signed up for the newsletter & got a 20% off coupon). I have not been able to find “What We Knew” anywhere. The other 2 I found wondering around the bookstore.
From at erinreadstheworld on Instagram. I‘m going to post each page for those of you not on instagram. This is the third page of 6. For those of you on Instagram, here‘s the link:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DMuilAfyip4/?img_index=1&igsh=MWxyZDVpZTMyd2hseQ==
Links to books above are tagged below in the comments.
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}
