New Yorker Article "Revisiting Hitler’s Final Days in the Bunker"

JoeArthur

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Thought this might be of interest:


Saying it was Hitler's generals that helped keep him going in the final days.

And the no s**t Sherlock moment:

"The final paragraph contains a dark assessment of Hitler’s legacy: “If his life and career teaches us anything, it is how quickly democracy can be prised from its hinges when political institutions fail and civilizing forces in society are too weak to combat the lure of authoritarianism.”"
 

von Marwitz

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"The final paragraph contains a dark assessment of Hitler’s legacy: “If his life and career teaches us anything, it is how quickly democracy can be prised from its hinges when political institutions fail and civilizing forces in society are too weak to combat the lure of authoritarianism.”
This is it. One cannot overstate the importance of this remark. And it should give us to think or rather to act with regard of what is happening right around us.

von Marwitz
 

Michael Dorosh

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Saying it was Hitler's generals that helped keep him going in the final days.
Jodl and Keitel held the rank, but they were not field generals. Guderian was, or at least had been, but Hitler threw him out on his ear just as he did any general who disagreed with him. I'd put some of the credit - or blame - on keeping Hitler going on his personal doctor and staff.

It's a good article, curious he doesn't mention O'Donnell's book, though it was not a scholarly one with citations. Nor does he mention Speer at all - Speer's book, like O'Donnell's, were the ones that fueled film and TV productions, and thus public understanding of the last days. Perhaps he didn't read them.

But, it's the New Yorker. The author wisely denounces the "Trump is Hitler" school of thought early on, but can't help himself by the concluding paragraph. I've read Mary Trump's book, I'll be curious to see how actual historians deal with this period in coming years. Kershaw's books on Hitler are mentioned in the article - my own take on them is that they were masterful books, but not really just about Hitler. Hubris and Nemesis are really a very good social history of the Third Reich. We'll see if Trump gets (or for that matter, merits, given the relative scale of their accomplishments) his own Kershaw.
 
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R Hooks

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Or we can start comparing the Biden family, joke of course, our tech masters ban any thoughts like that.
 

M.Koch

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This is it. One cannot overstate the importance of this remark. And it should give us to think or rather to act with regard of what is happening right around us.

von Marwitz
Ja sagen Sie...
 

Old Noob

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I've got the books by Kershaw, good reads both. I think that I have the O'Donnell book (hazy memory), when it was a Bantam paperback.
"The Last Battle" by Cornelius Ryan also is recommended for reading Hitler's final days. It will take at least one or two presidential terms
served for any valuable assessment of Mr. Trump's effectiveness will be valid {personal opinion on last sentence}.
 

RandyT0001

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That is the last reference to present day politics.
 

Michael Dorosh

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I've got the books by Kershaw, good reads both.
I bought the second of the pair at our local bookstore and got a snarky "wow, feel good book of the summer" from the kid behind the counter. I just shrugged and said "well, it has a happy ending."
 
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