In the Garden of Beasts

“That you have found me… among so many millions is the miracle of our time!  And that I have found you, that is Germany’s fortune!”  -Adolf Hitler

In the Garden of BeastsI just finished reading “In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin”, a nonfiction book by Erik Larson that tells in somewhat graphics about the ascent of Hitler from chancellor to absolute tyrant.  In 1933 President Roosevelt appointed a new ambassador to Germany, and the book was based on first-hand eyewitness experience of the Dodds family living in Berlin.  There are a few things that I saw as striking resemblance of what happened then with what is happening nowadays:

  • On the surface everything was fine, but underneath a foundational transformation was taking place.
  • Everything changed quickly in one day without warning.
  • People were immune to their surrounding.  They applauded evil as good and good as evil.
  • Only few people saw what’s coming.

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