Reading about the measures the Nazi regime took against Jews and others they considered ‘undesirable’ is always hard. There’s multiple things people are taught, people know, about these measures. Some of the largest include: deportation to ghettos, relocation to concentration camps, the Final Solution, exclusion from society, etc.
I was a little shocked while reading Berlin at War that Moorhouse at first seemed to gloss over a lot of the first regulations set against Jews and then the beginning steps to remove them from Berlin. However, there are more stories in Berlin during the Second World War that he must spend time discussing.
Thinking on it further, I find that this slight glossing, while also providing good facts and quotes of personal experiences, was very intelligent and purposeful. Spending more time, more chapters, would make this yet another book about the Holocaust, not about Berliners at large. Making it more emotional would disturb readers, and this chapter would be difficult to handle, not to mention out of the reporting method of the other chapters. It’s as personal, as emotional, as impactful as the readers themselves allow it to be. Like I said, everyone knows something about the Holocaust, so Moorhouse didn’t need to give that much detail, or explain that much; we all in the back of our minds place more facts and knowledge on the small examples and details he gives that makes what is read more abundant.
Any book about Europe in WWII is never complete without talking about what happened to the Nazis’ ‘undesirable races’. I was expecting it to come up in this book. I guess in a way, every time I read about these measures the Nazis took I take away a different meaning and message, and this time was no different. Jews and other races were persecuted, had regulations and laws placed against them. But many times, such as in Berlin, the Nazis managed to organize and control so well they had barely any choice but to comply. Imagine having no choice…