"In the Garden of Beasts"

Disturbing as Hell, Then and Now

I’m a huge Erik Larson fan, having read a number of his narrative history books in recent years. On Churchill. The Lusitania. The horrific hurricane that destroyed Galveston. All page-turners.

A few weeks ago, I had the honor of meeting Larson and hearing him speak. Over the course of his fascinating and humorous speech, I bought most of his remaining books I hadn’t already read.

And somehow, the last one on my pile was “In the Garden of Beasts,” an eyewitness account of developments in Germany in the mid-1930s. Given my interest in history, politics and international affairs, it’s odd that that was the final one I hadn’t read.

But now I’m glad that it was.

Because if I’d read it at a different time (it came out in 2011) it would’ve been fascinating and page-turning history, as his books always are.

But reading it right now takes it way beyond history.  It’s about today.

It’s content is a clear warning about the ominous storm clouds gathered all around us right now when it comes to hate, violence, lawlessness and the looming threat of fascism and autocracy. It’s a reminder to take the unmistakeable signals deadly seriously. To take nothing for granted, and to not dismiss the warning signs everywhere, hoping they just go away on their own. Or that someone else will save us.

I’ll spare you all of the book. Many of you will have read it. If you haven’t, you should.

But let me at least share some observations and passages I found to be the most chilling. Of course because of the horrors that ultimately happened in Germany in the 1930s and later. But also because of disturbing parallels to today.

As background, the book is about William Dodd, a professor of Southern history who, somewhat out of the blue, the newly elected FDR taps to be Ambassador to Germany. Ambassador Dodd, a true outsider to the ways of the State Department, arrives in Berlin just after Hitler has risen to become chancellor, but before he seizes absolute control.

The humble Dodd takes up residence in Berlin with his wife and two adult kids, and the rest of the book documents their up-close observations and relationships, and evolving perspective, as Hitler and his inner circle consolidate power.

And that’s where the dark events feel too on the nose to developments today. You want a wake-up call? This book will do it.

Just some examples:

• Early on in their stay, perhaps the most pressing issue the new Ambassador faces is the rise in sporadic violence against Jews, Jewish-Americans, and soon, Americans in general who refuse to signal their support for Hitler. The acts of violence and hate—punches, beatings, stabbings, violent mobs—creep into every day life. And local authorities do little to nothing to stop them. That onset of regular violence—random as to its timing and location, but systematic and targeted as to the perpetrators and victims—and its ultimate normalization, is a sign that something dark is overtaking German society. Suicides also increase, another ominous indicator.

• Early on, Hitler and his inner circle of loyalists (in their 40s or younger) are dismissed by others as clownish. Buffoons. Adolescents. Not serious. Germans and foreign diplomats alike just assume they won’t last long, and that elder statesman who still wield considerable public sway and power—or a lower tier of more serious-minded officials waiting in the wings—who know better will at some point just push them aside so the “adults” can be back in charge. An economic crisis, they assume, will quickly end Hitler’s reign. Occasional assurances from Hitler and others also convince officials that the disturbing rhetoric and actions that keep occurring will ebb.

• And because they too don’t take the threat of Hitler seriously, those German “adults” also go along with it. They decide it’s better to go along in the short term, confident that Hitler and his ilk won’t last long. Or confident that they can control Hitler at the time they need to. We now know that all that time accommodating and legitimizing was critical as Hitler consolidated his power.

• The dominant instinct of the U.S. State Department throughout the book (beyond wanting to be sure Germany pays the full debt it owes back to the United States) is to not offend Hitler by calling out the violence and the ever more heated violent and anti-Semitic rhetoric arising from the chancellor and those around him. The view is that muting criticism will somehow convince Hitler to behave better; and that being openly critical will fuel him to get worse.

  • Ambassador Dodd adheres to this for some time; but when he begins to share concerns and outright criticism of behavior and actions he is seeing, he finds himself criticized for doing so (by US diplomats, and emissaries from other countries). They compare him to a “schoolmaster lecturing his pupils.” At a certain point, in a form of personal protest, Dodd refuses to participate or attend German political events he knows will include violent and anti-semitic rhetoric. Again, he’s considered a poor diplomat because of it.

  • But he’s not the only one who’s told to dial down the open criticism. American Jewish leaders are consistently discouraged from raising their concerns—or sharing disturbing details from on the ground—in both Europe and back in America. (When negative stories are shared in America, the German government is quick to complain to the American government). The dedicated Embassy staffer sending the most concerned and detailed accounts is treated as unnecessarily alarmist—and unhelpful to the American cause. A journalist who has been the most critical (and accurate) of the new Nazi regime is dispatched to another country.

• Despite those efforts to mollify, the tension and facts on the ground grow worse. More and more laws separating Jewish citizens from participating in everyday activities, from jobs to culture to writing. More animated crowds, intoxicated by Hitler and his movement. Intensifying rhetoric from those crowds, spilling into songs and chants. Rapidly spreading use of the “Sig Heil” salute. Speeches from top Nazi leaders spilling into violent and dehumanizing rhetoric. Increasingly hysterical and extreme language "(“superman,” “subhuman,” “punitive expeditions,” etc.) becoming a part of everyday government communications. An ever growing military presence. A show trial. Hitler pulling out of the League of Nations. Belligerent talk and tantrums from Hitler to American officials in private meetings. Growing fear expressed to Americans by German insiders who understand what was happening; more and more pressure not to public criticize the regime. The rise of detention and concentration camps housing thousands of prisoners. Growing surveillance and fear of arrest. Promises by German officials that they will do something about it—never acted upon—evolving into official denials, amid a continuation/acceleration of all that is happening.

• Another change that accompanied all this was growing acerbic relations among everyday citizens. “Neighbors turned surly. Petty jealousies flared into denunciations.”

• Part of the normalization is that in eerie ways, the rest of life still goes on. Galas. Social functions. Fancy dinners. Packed restaurants and shows. Affairs across all ideological divides. Active tourism. Even when denying what is happening becomes more difficult, so much of everyday activity continues as if all is well. “The prevailing normalcy was seductive.” “Superficial normalcy.” There was a collective failure to understand what was happening.

• For me, one of the most chilling scenes in the book is of a large, day-long event/party hosted by General Gohring, in which numerous foreign diplomats and dignitaries take part. It’s a multi-hour display of just how bizarre and deranged the top tier of the Nazi leadership has become. It takes place at an enormous and osentatious country estate Gohring has secured for himself. All day long, the guests are treated to a series of bizarre displays by Gohring—dressed in wild costumes, driving a race car, wielding a large hunting knife, giving loud speeches, mourning his dead wife, and so on. The entire day would have been borderline amusing had it not been so disturbing, particularly given Gohring’s centrality to Hitler’s position in power. One diplomat wrote this the next day: “The whole proceedings were so strange as at times to convey a feeling of unreality…The chief impression was that of the most pathetic naivete of General Gohring, who showed us his toys like a big, fat, spoilt child; his primeval woods, his bison and birds, [his] bathing beach…his wife’s mausoleum and swans and Larsen stones….And then I remembered there were other toys, less innocent though winged, and these might some day be launched on their murderous mission in the same childlike spirit and with the same childlike glee.” Within weeks, Gohring would order the cold-blooded killing of numerous “traitors.”

• In late June 1934, the growing tension boils over—from sporadic violence and violent rhetoric into an event called “the purge”—involving mass assassinations and killings. It starts with conspiracy theories by Hitler’s inner circle that certain Germans—Hitler’s prime rival, along with those who have dared criticize the regime in various ways—are traitors, planning to overthrow him. And it ends in an explosion of violence, beginning one night and continuing for days. One of Hitler’s original closest allies, Rohm, is the first target—Hitlers arrests him himself in a hotel room; he’s later shot in his cell. Hundreds more are shot in cold blood, many more jailed—among the victims are many high-level officials who only recently were socializing and dining with the Ambassador, other diplomats, journalists and even those who plotted to kill them. Only days later, Goring delivers a blood-curdling press conference publicly justifying the killings, and defending murders of people no one can conceive were part of any plot to topple Hitler.

• As bad as the bloody purge was—“now there was official murder on a terrifying scale”—equally striking to Ambassador Dodd is the reaction that follows: “Dodd continued to hope that the murders would so outrage the German public that the regime would fall, but as the days passed he saw no evidence of any outpouring of anger. Even the Army had stood by, despite the murder of its generals.” Even the nation’s senior leader, President Hindenburg, praises Hitler’s action. Other nations hardly react. “No government recalled its ambassador or filed a protest; the populace did not rise in revulsion.” When an American General criticized the purge in stark terms, America’s Secretary of State dismissed it as the words of an individual, not the views of the Administration.

• In the end, the failure of leaders in Germany and around the world to respond even to the purge would be seen as “one of the most important episodes in [Hitler’s] ascent, the first act of the great tragedy of appeasement.” As for Dodd, he would continue to raise alarms about the threat Hitler was becoming, while refusing to formally interact with Hitler’s Third Reich. He would grow further out of favor for doing so, and ultimately would be replaced in late 1937. His successor took the role in a different direction, publicly highlighting “the positive aspects” of Nazi Germany and pushing the appeasement agenda. He was praised for being a better fit.

• Once back in the United States, Dodd does all he can to continue “rais[ing] the alarm about Hitler and his plans,” even starting an organization to spread the word. He is haunted by ailing health (which got far worse over his time as Ambassador), loses his wife, then himself passes away in February 1940.

As you can see, it’s all a disturbing, sobering read.

I hope you can see why it also scared the hell out of me. Think about the key features I described above—the ones in bold—then think about what we are seeing and hearing today:

• sporadic violence against individuals—that violence often committed in the name of white supremacy, anti-semitism and hate—and targeted accordingly; largely normalized

• increasingly violent and dehumanizing rhetoric; normalized

• acerbic relations growing between everyday citizens;

• leaders behaving in autocratic and disturbing ways, using the type of rhetoric described above, dismissed as buffoons and clowns by the media and general public, with much of their rhetoric not even making it into stories or articles;

• others in the same party going along with it, either out of fear or assuming they can ultimately control those leaders; betting that they will somehow fare better by muting their criticisms as opposed to airing them loudly and clearly;

• proposals and approaches to consolidate power and eliminate checks and balances (“the 2025 plan”) that upend long-accepted principles of justice and effective, fair government;

• a few who used to be within the inner circle warning the rest of us how bad it was, and how bad it may become; but again, that criticism fades quickly from the public conversation;

• through it all, “superficial normalcy” and an instinct to dismiss those who are raising the alarm, and a continual “both sides” equating of all this with more conventional politics;

• the outbreak of an illegal and violent plot against government and government leaders themselves, including former allies thought not to be sufficiently supportive (the insurrection of Jan. 6; the attack on Pence on January 6; others killed in the process);

• the initial assumption that that moment will finally be the last straw, only to see even that evolve into yet another normalized “tragedy of appeasement,” with the ultimate leader of that insurrection still feted and endorsed by most of the figures in his own party (including by the Ohio Republican Party just the other day).

As I said, Larson wrote this book before 2011. But in documenting the exact recipe of factors that led to the takeover of fascism in 1930s Germany, he delineated factors that parallel so much of what we are experiencing today.

Folks, the moment we are in is as serious as it gets. As the American State Department learned painfully in the 1930s, pretending otherwise accomplishes nothing. Looking the other way is a losing strategy.

Never has our work to protect democracy and our way of life mattered more. And learning from the events Larson documents, so much of what we should and should not do becomes so clear:

• Do not allow everyday acts of violence to become normalized;

• Do not allow increasingly vile and inhumane and violent and disturbing rhetoric and ideas to become normalized;

• Do not dismiss those engaged in tactics that mirror so much of what I’ve described above as mere clowns or buffoons who could never carry out the things they are so clearly indicating they will do; they can and will do exactly as they say if we give them the means to do it;

• Do not tell those who are raising alarm bells that they are hurting the cause—that if only they dialed it back, that the troubling behavior they are describing will somehow go away. History shows that the opposite is true;

• Continue to call upon those with influence in the party advancing all this stuff to stop going along with it; to call it out; thank Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney for saying what they’re saying—but where are the others? The Rob Portmans of the world. Do they not see what happened in the past when those who knew better sat quietly on the side, assuming the worst would never happen? If you know them, tell them to read this book—implore them to step up;

• Do not dismiss the most bizarre, ostentatious and odd happenings as too outlandish and irrelevant — recall, as that one diplomat wrote after Gohring’s performance: “And then I remembered there were other toys…, and these might some day be launched on their murderous mission in the same childlike spirit and with the same childlike glee.” "

Many more that jump out so clearly.

But also, don’t assume it’s too late to stop what we are seeing. It’s only too late if we don’t see the threat, or if we try to dismiss it in our own minds as not as serious as it is.

There is so much we can all do. At all levels, and in all places.

And right now is the time to do it.