In the introduction to In The Garden of Beasts Larson writes "There are no heroes here, at least not of the Schindler's List variety, but there are glimmers of heroism and people who behave with unexpected grace. That's the trouble with nonfiction. One has to put aside what we all know -now- to be true, and try instead to to accompany my two innocents through the world as they experienced it."
That is very important as you read this book. It is the telling of William E. Dodd who was U.S. Ambassador to Germany during the rise of Hitler and his daughter Martha.
When they arrive in Berlin in the early months of Hitler's time in power they are enchanted with Berlin and with Nazism. They are buying what is being sold even as there are more and more incidents of attacks on foreigners and Jews reach Dodd.
While part of me wanted to condemn them and their early praise I had to go back and remind myself of the quote above. And they were hardly the only ones to fall under the Hitler spell.
Dodd was a man of modest means in a core of diplomats with great personal wealth. This class divide put him at an immediate disadvantage. He was also seen as being not right for the job and so when he began to see the truth of what was going on he was largely dismissed.
This turned out to be a fascinating inside look at what was going on in 1933 and 1934 as the world changed. By the end my heart went out to Dodd and I felt so bad for him, a man shouting into the wind. Of course we all know what happened but think for a moment what could have been had Dodd's warnings been taken seriously.
Of course he wasn't the only one back there trying to tell the world the truth, but this book is his story.
(Finished January 20, 2016)
No comments:
Post a Comment