Nazi Wives by James Wyllie (St. Martin's Press)

Nazi Wives is a history book that focuses on the wives of the leading figures in Hitler’s regime: Gerda Bormann, Magda Goebbels, Carin, and Emmy Goering, Ilse Hess, Lina Heydrich, and Margaret Himmler. 

The book is very well researched and based on historical resources. I found it very interesting that many of these women wrote a diary.

Their story offers important insights into the nature of Nazi rule and the psychology of its leaders, providing a fresh perspective on the key events that shaped its rise and fall. The book charts their lives from the moment they became involved in the Nazi movement – in several cases before they even met their husbands – through the years of struggle, power, decline, and destruction, and then into the post-war twilight of denial and delusion.

The wives were subjected to the same pressures as ordinary women. Their social lives were determined by political considerations. Friendships were questionable. Relationships – even with family members – abruptly terminated. Their behavior was a factor in the struggles within the Nazi elite, particularly where Hitler was concerned; falling out of favor with the Führer could have serious implications for their husbands’ careers. The general thrust of Nazi policy was: that a woman’s place was at home, not at work. The top Nazi wives were able to enjoy their many privileges and their gilded lifestyles because Hitler allowed them to.

Some were idealists and strong believers in the Nazi regime, the others were wilfully blind about horrid actions in this regime, just rationalizing and staying passive till the end because they benefited from the regime. And some were just ruthless as their husbands.

Acknowledging that in many respects they were no different from the rest of us creates a deeply uneasy feeling.

An instructive and fascinating read.

5/5