They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45

By Milton Mayer

First published in 1955, They Thought They Were Free is an eloquent and provocative examination of the development of fascism in Germany. Mayer’s book is a study of ten Germans and their lives from 1933-45, based on interviews he conducted after the war when he lived in Germany. Mayer had a position as a research professor at the University of Frankfurt and lived in a nearby small Hessian town which he disguised with the name “Kronenberg.” “These ten men were not men of distinction,” Mayer noted, but they had been members of the Nazi Party; Mayer wanted to discover what had made them Nazis.

“What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it.”--from Chapter 13, “But Then It Was Too Late”

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Release date: May 31, 2013
• ISBN: 9780226924731

Milton Mayer

Milton Mayer was an educator, journalist, and editor who worked with Robert Hutchins at the University of Chicago. A prolific writer, among his numerous works are What Can a Man Do? and If Men Were Angels. John H. Hicks was Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst until his retirement in 1986. Studs Terkel was a journalist and author of several best-selling oral histories. He was a student at the University of Chicago when Robert Hutchins was president. 

Reviews for They Thought They Were Free

[marshapetry · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Everyone should read this book!! Wars aren't cut and dry, and there are many signs that are missed. We look back at WWII and wonder how any one could have followed Hitler but, as this book will show, it was pretty darn easy. It's also super scary how this book reflects current life in US America.

[schmerguls · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was published in 1955. The author in Germany after the war befriended ten 'ordinary' Germans and talked to them a lot. Discouragingly, he found all ten thought Hitler was a good thing for Germany, and even long after the war all still held that view except for one who changed his mind as to Hitler because of his getting into the War. Nor did they disapprove of Hitler's policy as to the Jews, although most felt that the evil done to the Jews was not known or approved by Hitler. But all or most approved of what was done against the Jews. This is what led me to read the book, to see what Germans thought after the war. But the book also spends a lot of time discussing American policy in regard to Germany after the war, most of which discussion did not excite my attention since it has been made obsolescent by events. The author of course had no idea that the USSR would fall and that Germany would be reunited without the USSR's approval. That part of the book is of only historical interest. I think this is Mayer's most famous book and it is the only book by him I've read. But in olden times I read many articles by him, including the article in 1941 in The SaturdayEvening Post entitled "I Think I Will Sit This One Out.," which I still remember and which I disagreed with when I read it at age 13 or so.

[soraxtm-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A profound experience. Opens up the experience of being a citizen and should be read by everyone. Who is responsible? How? If they aren't just exactly like us then what are they like? As much a book about America as it is about Germany. I would say it is critically important to read especially at this time so near to trump's presidency and the obvious split between what seems rational and what half the country professes to believe. If you haven't seen the red in the eyes of the people gathering in hate then perhaps this will help you to understand how little it seems to take to captivate a population.