In the Garden of Beasts

Erik Larson's "In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin" recounts the era William Dodd and his family spent in Germany during his tenure as U.S. Ambassador. Dodd, a former history professor, his wife, and two adult children, lived in Berlin from July 1933 to the end of December 1937. Dodd was no one's first choice for the job and remained always on the outside as an ambassador. Much of this stemmed from the fact that he was not a career diplomat like most members of the American corps, the majority of whom were not only wealthy but all came from similar Ivy League backgrounds and schools. 

The Dodd family arrive in Germany in 1933.

This is what gives the story much of its impact: the view of the outsider in the worst spot in the world at a time in history that only spiraled downward. Narrative non-fiction, the book is filled with quotes from Dodd's letters, reports and diaries and contains everything from diplomatic concerns to his annoyance at how opulently the diplomats lived when there was a Depression on. He vowed to be the simple man he was — and thus was the butt of ridicule from Hitler on down. Some of the most interesting and amazing parts of the book come from the commentary by Dodd's daughter, Martha, who had no discernment or discretion when it came to men. Former friends Carl Sandburg and Thornton Wilder pale in comparison to life if Germany. Not-quite-divorced when she arrived in Berlin, Martha immediately has liaisons with assorted Soviets and Nazis (like Rudolf Diels, the head of the Gestapo) — which make her privy to lots of secrets and a target to be recruited as a potential foreign spy. 

Father and daughter are the heart of the story; Martha spoiled and irresponsible and William Dodd an academic out of his element. Martha is initially charmed by the German energy and all those gorgeous young men, while dad searches for the lost Germany he loved in his youthful travels there. Dodd, a Southerner by birth and inclination, is barely aware of why his family has their pick of elegantly furnished Berlin mansions to chose from when they go house-hunting. The two are casually anti-Semitic but their eyes are gradually opened by brutal events that become commonplace around them. Dodd is one of the few in the diplomatic community who will not attend the giant Nazi rallies, not even the Olympics; seeing them for what they were: Hitler's chance to shine and make everyone think that life in Germany was wonderful for all its citizens. 

When Dodd is recalled to the U.S. at the end of 1937, he is one of the few diplomats to have spoken out against the Nazi government both publicly and privately while in Germany. Once home he travels the country trying to make Americans understand that Germany is arming for war, aiming for world-domination — and that Hitler's intent is to kill all Jews. But the American power brokers were only concerned that Germany not default on its massive WWI debt to the U.S. Anything else happening in Germany was incidental to that financial issue. 

This is a page turner of a book, with massive research (and great footnotes) behind it. We know the end of this story but not Dodd's own tale or his daughter's, which are fascinating and quirky to the finale. And it is by telling a story we thought we knew through the eyes of Americans that Larson makes the book so compelling. The accounts the family left — especially Martha's — let us see how ordinary citizens can slowly turn a blind eye to what is happening around them. They become complicit in the breakdown of their own society and eventually become — willingly — part of that machine of terror and destruction.

. . .

Perhaps the most unexpected thing I noticed while reading "Garden of Beasts" was the number of times I was struck by descriptions of 1930s Germany that were uncannily like contemporary life in Wisconsin and America. Suddenly we Americans live in a country where hate and prejudice (against immigrants, gays, name your group) are becoming more open and acceptable rather than less; where one group is willing to destroy our great democratic institutions to get their way. How do the following comments strike you?

"The thing that weighed on him (Ambassador Dodd) the most, was the irrationality of the world in which he now found himself . . . government was neither civil nor coherent, and the nation lurched from one inexplicable moment to another."

Or this:

"The economy showed little signs of improvement, other than the illusory decline in unemployment . . . And there continued to be moments — strange, ludicrous moments — that suggested that Germany was merely the stage set for some grotesque comedy, not a serious country in a serious time."

. . .

 

Mildred Harnack in Madison in the 1920s/WSJ

Of particular interest to Wisconsin readers: Among the characters we meet are Mildred Fish Harnack, a Milwaukee native, who met her German husband at UW-Madison in the 1920s. The two married and moved to Germany where Mildred later became a friend of Martha Dodd during the years the Dodds were in Germany. The Hanacks — both academics — had a well-known salon that they modeled on one in Madison called the "Friday Niters" which had been started by the famed Wisconsin Progressive John R. Commons, a labor historian who drafted Wisconsin's workers' compensation legislation, the first of its kind in the U.S.

The Harnacks eventually became underground resistance fighters in Germany during the war, and both were executed by the Nazis. Mildred initially got life in prison, but Hitler ordered a retrial and she died at his command via the guillotine. She was the only American woman explicitly ordered killed by Hitler.

Mildred Harnack's birthday, September 16, was designated Mildred Harnack Day in Wisconsin by the state Legislature in 1986 and public schools are supposed to use that day annually to tell her tale to students, but reports suggest that appears to have rarely happened. But the UW's International Studies department does hold an annual Mildred Fish Harnack Human Rights and Democracy Lecture, so her story and her message are still alive. And Larson's book will introduce her to an even wider audience.

Comments

[gretchen]

thank you for the fascinating book recommendation. mildred and her husband will not go unremembered here in iowa this friday!

[Barbara H.]

Yes, these are scary times again, I'm sorry to say. And it's amazing how quickly things can go downhill. The book sounds fascinating. Thanks!

[Lisa at Greenbow]

Yes, you have brought to light another good read. Plus a heroine that I have never heard of and I will look forward to reading more.

[sandy lawrence]

Thanks so much for a review of this book and for your thoughts, which are quite validating. I think the thing that is chilling to me is how casually, even at times with out of place humor, that basic underpinnings of our way of life are being capriciously changed or removed without a word of explanation or dissent; hence, the quote so apropos regarding "strange, ludicrous moments — that suggested [a] stage set for some grotesque comedy..."
I agree with Barbara H. that these are scary times. Just today, I signed on my support of Prof. Paul Krugman against an attempt to censure him as "unpatriotic" for writing his critical opinion.
You can see that here:

http://other98.com/i-stand-with-paul-krugman

[Les]

This sounds like a fascinating story. Thank you for the recommendation, it is now on the list.