1933
Using letters, diaries and memoirs, Metcalfe distills the personalities, viewpoints and day-to-day reactions of five alert and often directly involved witnesses to Hitler's consolidation of power. They are: U.S. ambassador to Germany, William Dodd and his high-spirited daughter Martha; Bella Fromm, a glamorous German society columnist who was Jewish and made no secret ot it; Ernst Hanfstaengl, Hitler's somewhat buffoonish foreign-press chief; and Rudolf Diels, the first head of the Gestapo. Events and trends related here include the Reichstag fire, the turning-loose of the Storm Troops, book-burnings and the outbreak of violent, organized anti-Semitism. The bloody Roehm purge of June 30, 1934, when Hitler liquidated the homosexual leadership of the SA, had a shock effect on each of the five witnesses on whom Metcalfe focuses. Their varied reactions form the climax to this exciting, historically important book by a first-time author. Particularly intriguing is the account of the Gestapo chief's "courting" of the American diplomatic circle (Martha Dodd found his "sinister beauty" fascinating), largely in hopes of protecting himself from his enemies. Photos. Paperback rights to Harper & Row.Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.