Why You Wouldn’t Survive Life in Nazi Germany

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As the sun set on a shattered Europe in the aftermath of the First World War, the birth pangs of a nightmarish reality were felt across Germany. From these turbulent times emerged the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, colloquially known as the Nazis. Rising to full power in 1933 under the malevolent leadership of Adolf Hitler and his cadre of ruthless lieutenants like Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany erected an edifice of tyranny, intolerance, and unparalleled cruelty.

Picture this: the year is 1939, and you are a resident of Berlin. Kristallnacht, the infamous “Night of Broken Glass,” occurred just a year prior, marking an escalation of state-sponsored terror. Can you even begin to fathom the depths of moral decay you’d be embroiled in? Would you dare to be a dissenting voice in a society where speaking out could result in your abrupt disappearance, or worse?

As historian Ian Kershaw observed, “The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference.” His chilling words underscore the moral bankruptcy that made it not just possible, but perilous for the average citizen to survive in the Third Reich, let alone offer resistance.

Join us as we unearth the unsettling truths about life in Nazi Germany, exposing the machinery of a regime that systematically dehumanized its populace and decimated the very fabric of human decency. Welcome to the diary of Julius Caesar.

The Iron Fist of the Führer. Living Under the Watchful Eyes of Nazi Totalitarianism.

When Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933, he ignited the slow-burning fuse of totalitarian rule, a chilling climate where personal freedoms were as rare as a dissenting voice. Within weeks, the Reichstag Fire Decree was passed, essentially nullifying key civil liberties like freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly. But this was just the prelude to an orchestra of oppression that would crescendo into the Enabling Act, a legal instrument that transferred legislative powers to Hitler, granting him near-absolute authority.

Enter the Gestapo—the Secret State Police—led by the sinister Heinrich Himmler. Imagine walking through cobbled Berlin streets, knowing that a casual conversation with your neighbor could land you in a clandestine prison for “subversive activities.” You’d find solace neither in churches nor in cafes, as surveillance was omnipresent, from the pulpit to the coffee table. “Gossip,” as one Nazi slogan ominously warned, “costs lives.”

The totalitarian tentacles extended not just into public squares but into private lives. Listening to foreign radio stations? That was a criminal offense, worthy of severe punishment. Even your diary wasn’t safe; words of dissent etched in private could become chains that bound you. Literature was scrutinized, and works by authors like Thomas Mann and Erich Maria Remarque were tossed into bonfires as examples of “un-German” spirit during the infamous book-burning ceremonies.

Speaking of spirits, the air was thick with ideological indoctrination. Hitler’s confidant, Joseph Goebbels, orchestrated a symphony of propaganda so pervasive that it weaved itself into the very fabric of daily life. Radios were no longer mere household items; they were state-controlled instruments for funneling the Führer’s propaganda into German homes. The 1936 Berlin Olympics served as a grand stage to portray Nazi Germany as a utopia, albeit one that was cracking beneath its own façade.

00:00 Nazi Germany
1:35 Living Under the Watchful Eyes of Nazi Totalitarianism
5:00 The Nuremberg Laws and the Architecting of Apartheid
8:24 Nazi Germany’s Sinister Quest for ‘Racial Purity’
11:30 The Dark Symphony of Anti-Semitic Propaganda and the Night of Shattered Lives
14:52 The Other Faces in the Nazi Gallery of Prejudice
18:20 The War on Hunger
22:20 Gleichschaltung, The Totalitarian Orchestra of Nazi Germany
25:53 The Paradox of Nazi Femininity
29:10 The Lost Childhoods of Hitler’s Twilight Kingdom
32:55 The Sinister Alchemy of Nazi Economic Exploitation
36:26 The Unsung Choruses of Resistance in Nazi Germany
40:08 The Horrifying Labyrinths of Auschwitz, Sobibor, and Treblinka
43:52 The Nuremberg Trials and the Quest for a Just Aftermath

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36 thoughts on “Why You Wouldn’t Survive Life in Nazi Germany”

  5. This is joe bidens New america people. If you cannot see the parallel then you are a pos demorat. Only difference is hitler got rid of commies and biden wants us to become commies. Same tactics fjb

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  7. Yeah and don't forget how Hitler wanted to kill everybody who was disabled. That would include a whole lot of people who are disabled from fighting for Germany in the first World War. I have often wondered why and how these people managed not to realize they were next😅

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  33. This video is chilling, as no one would ask to live in such a society, but I’ve come to a couple conclusions, one being, Germany was treated very unfairly long before the Holocaust, and this in turn gave someone like Hitler the ability to come to power. As other countries started wars in Europe and Russia, but were not punished with paying for the cost of the war, and combined with a global economic downturn, what choice would people have? Secondly, Germany had some merit as to the idea that communism would have to be eventually dealt with thru armed conflict, as communists were trying to infiltrate politics in many European countries, and this issue was ignored by British and Americans, because it was not in their backyard. But it is now, due to their own way they handled the 2 world wars. Germany was at least half right, and sounded the alarm, but we ignored it. National socialism was doomed due to it treating outsiders with cruelty, and Soviet communism treats its own people, and acquired people with cruelty, witch one is better? This question is hard to answer, democracy is the best system, and should be expanded to all people, but due to our past, we can’t change it now, new ideas are needed, so we don’t keep fighting the same battles that can’t be won, witch is what modern society is doing now.

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  36. My grandfather on my mother's side was in Australia's 2/28th and he actually saw Rommel in person when he was captured by the Germans at Tobruk. My grand father was a Scotsman and had good Nordic blood so he was seen as an equal and was reasonably well treated by the Germans . I'm only sub human on my father's side 😅

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