Summary of Milton Mayer's They Thought They Were Free

By IRB Media

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#1 On November 9, 1938, the synagogue was burned down. The SA burned it. The men who were there said they could hear the talk but not the words from the other room. The men who were upstairs with Schwenke and Kramer said they didn’t care if they burned the synagogue oil or not, it was duty.

#2 The SA men went to the synagogue and took the floor oil, which they used to light the fires in the furnace-room of the synagogue. The innkeeper of the Huntsmen’s Rest called the Fire Department when he heard about the fire.

#3 The groom’s father, Sturmführer Schwenke, was against the marriage because the bride’s father was not a Party member. The bride, who was always crying, was not a strong Party woman. The boy, who was a bed-wetter, hated his mother.

#4 When Gustav was away from Kronenberg, he didn't feel so bad about spending something. He didn't feel so bad about anything. Away from Kronenberg, your bride didn't cry, your mother didn't talk, and your father didn't buy himself uniforms.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822529366

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Insights on Milton Mayer's They Thought They Were Free

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

On November 9, 1938, the synagogue was burned down. The SA burned it. The men who were there said they could hear the talk but not the words from the other room. The men who were upstairs with Schwenke and Kramer said they didn’t care if they burned the synagogue oil or not, it was duty.

#2

The SA men went to the synagogue and took the floor oil, which they used to light the fires in the furnace-room of the synagogue. The innkeeper of the Huntsmen’s Rest called the Fire Department when he heard about the fire.

#3

The groom’s father, Sturmführer Schwenke, was against the marriage because the bride’s father was not a Party member. The bride, who was always crying, was not a strong Party woman. The boy, who was a bed-wetter, hated his mother.

#4

When Gustav was away from Kronenberg, he didn't feel so bad about spending something. He didn't feel so bad about anything. Away from Kronenberg, your bride didn't cry, your mother didn't talk, and your father didn't buy himself uniforms.

#5

The synagogue was burning, and Klingelhòfer went to help put it out. He broke into the building, and when he went around the edge of the floor in the smaller room, he found an altar cloths and sets of embroidered hangings.

#6

The prayer hall was still burning, and the smoke was being carried off faster now. Klingelhòfer saw a set of gold-embroidered hangings like those he had gotten from the chest, and something built into the wall behind them.

#7

Heinrich Damm was a country boy who had been in the town ten years now. He was home from the Party anniversary celebration at 9:15, and at 9:30 he was in bed and asleep in his apartment in the attic of the Kreisleitung, Party headquarters for Kronenberg. But he slept light that night, as there had been talk around town and from SA headquarters in the basement of the Kreisleitung about out-of-town visitors and unusual activity.

#8

Horst was a 14-year-old who couldn’t stand things. He was in the Hitler Youth,