A Village in the Third Reich: How Ordinary Lives Were Transformed By the Rise of Fascism

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Oberstdorf is a beautiful village high up in the Bavarian Alps, a place where for hundreds of years people lived simple lives while history was made elsewhere. Yet even here, in the southernmost corner of Germany, National Socialism sought to control not only peoples lives but also their minds.

Drawing on archive material, letters, interviews and memoirs, A Village in the Third Reich is an extraordinarily intimate portrait of Germany under Hitler, of the descent into totalitarianism and of the tragedies that befell all of those touched by Nazism. In its pages we meet the Jews who survived and those who didnt; the Nazi mayor who tried to shield those persecuted by the regime; and a blind boy whose life was judged not worth living.

It is a tale of conflicting loyalties and desires, of shattered dreams, despair and destruction but one in which, ultimately, human resilience triumphs. These are the stories of ordinary lives at the crossroads of history.

Reviews

A fascinating deep dive into one community as it experiences the rise and fall of Hitler. The Times

Boyd is an outstanding micro-historian. iNews

Masterly . . . [Boyd is] a leading historian of human responses in political extremis. The Oldie

Fascinating Youll learn more about the psychological workings of Nazism by reading this superbly researched chronicle than you will by reading a shelf of wider-canvas volumes on the rise of Nazism. Daily Mail

Exceptional... Boyd's book reminds us that even the most brutal regimes cannot extinguish all semblance of human feeling' Mail on Sunday

Gripping vividly depicted [a] humane and richly detailed book Spectator

An absorbing, thoroughly recommended read Family Tree magazine

Compelling and evocative All About History

The rise of Nazi Germany through the prism of one small village in Bavaria. [] Astonishing Jane Garvey on Fortunately with Fi and Jane

incredibly engaging History of War magazine

Author Bio

Julia Boyd is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller Travellers in the Third Reich: The Rise of Fascism through the Eyes of Everyday People. Her previous books include A Dance with the Dragon: The Vanished World of Peking's Foreign Colony, The Excellent Doctor Blackwell: The Life of the First Woman Physician and Hannah Riddell: An Englishwoman in Japan. As the widow of a former diplomat, she lived in Germany from 1977 to 1981. She lives in London. Angelika Patel was born into an old Oberstdorf family. She studied History and German Literature before taking an MBA at INSEAD at Fontainebleu. She is the author of Ein Dorf im Spiegel seiner Zeit (A Village in the Mirror of its Time): Oberstdorf 19181952. She lives in London and Oberstdorf.