Richard Evans, a leading expert on Nazi Germany and author of the acclaimed The Third Reich Trilogy, discusses his latest work, *Hitler's People*. He delves into the intricate lives of key Nazi figures, revealing their personal ambitions and failings. The conversation touches on the evolution of Holocaust discourse and the moral responsibilities of historians today. Evans highlights how the ordinary backgrounds of these individuals fueled extraordinary horrors, drawing parallels with contemporary populism and the complexities of historical interpretation.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Childhood Curiosity
Richard Evans's interest in German history stemmed from witnessing bomb sites in London's East End as a child.
He questioned who was responsible and why, sparking a lifelong fascination with the period.
question_answer ANECDOTE
From Witness to Writer
Richard Evans's involvement in the David Irving libel case led him to write his acclaimed Third Reich trilogy.
He was asked to recommend a reliable history of Nazi Germany, but finding none, decided to write his own.
insights INSIGHT
Unifying Factors
A common thread among Nazi figures was their acceptance of Hitler's leadership and anti-Semitism.
Hitler's anti-Semitism stemmed from a conspiracy theory blaming Jews for Germany's defeat in World War I.
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In this book, Goldhagen challenges common myths about the Holocaust, arguing that tens of thousands of ordinary Germans were actively involved in the extermination of European Jewry. He posits that a climate of 'eliminationist anti-Semitism' in German society made Hitler's genocidal goals possible. The book draws on unused archival materials, including the testimony of the killers themselves, to illustrate how ordinary Germans willingly participated in the persecution and murder of Jews during the Holocaust[1][4][5].
Hitler's People
The Faces of the Third Reich
Richard J. Evans
In 'Hitler’s People: The Faces of the Third Reich,' Richard J. Evans presents a detailed and meticulously researched biographical study of the men and women who were instrumental in implementing Hitler’s plans. The book delves into the lives of twenty-four individuals, ranging from top Nazi leaders like Göring, Goebbels, and Himmler to lower-level perpetrators and sympathizers. Evans examines their early years, reasons for joining the Nazi party, their roles during the war, and their postwar fates. He argues that these individuals were not inherently evil but were ordinary people whose moral compasses were distorted by their involvement with the Nazi movement. The book aims to understand how a society can come to carry out such horrific acts and highlights the importance of historical context in explaining the rise and impact of Nazism[1][3][5].
The face of the Third Reich
The face of the Third Reich
Joachim Fest
Denying the Holocaust
Deborah Lipstadt
Richard Evans, author of the acclaimed The Third Reich Trilogy and over two dozen other volumes on modern Europe, is our preeminent scholar of Nazi Germany. Having spent half a century searching for the truths behind one of the most horrifying episodes in human history, in Hitler's People: The Faces of the Third Reich(Penguin Press, 2024), he brings us back to the original site of the Nazi movement: namely, the lives of its most important members.
Working in concentric circles out from Hitler and his closest allies, Evans forms a typological framework of Germany society under Nazi rule from the top down. With a novelist's eye for detail, Evans explains the Third Reich through the personal failings and professional ambitions of its members, from its most notorious deputies--like Goebbels, the regime's propagandist, and Himmler, the Holocaust's chief architect--to the crucial enforcers and instruments of the Nazi agenda that history has largely forgotten--like the schoolteacher Julius Streicher and the actress Leni Riefenstahl. Drawing on a wealth of recently unearthed historical sources, Hitler's People lays bare the inner and outer lives of the characters whose choices led to the deaths of millions.
Nearly a century after Hitler's rise, the leading nations of the West are once again being torn apart by a will to power. By telling the stories of these infamous lives as human lives, Evans asks us to grapple with the complicated nature of complicity, showing us that the distinctions between individual and collective responsibility--and even between pathological evil and rational choice--are never easily drawn.
New Books in Sociology 
