In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family
in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson (Broadway Books, division of Random House
Inc., 2011) 448 pages
Before the Russian Revolution when the serfs experienced the
terror of Russia's police forces, the people would often exclaim, "If only
the Czar knew ..." In Nazi Germany, not only does the Czar (President von
Hindenburg) and many of the principals know, including the democratic countries
that were soon to be named the Allies and wage a war against the Nazis in WWII,
but many were content in the knowledge that Hitler and his men would quash the
Communists and other "disruptive" elements in German society.
Honorable men and women who opposed the Nazis were quickly silenced and/or
destroyed.
William Dodd, Ambassador to Germany in the mid 1930s, was a
lonely and largely futile voice in the woods who protested what he saw during
his tenure there.
How apt a title for the depiction of this era -"Garden
of Beasts". It is a literal translation of the word
Tiergarten in central
Berlin, an enormous urban park. William Dodd and his family resided along the
perimeter of the Tiergarten in the mid 1930s. The title represents the
juxtaposition of the beauty and culture of Germany (the image of the cultivated
garden) and the horror and monstrosity of the Nazi regime (a menagerie of
beasts) with the Dodd family thrust in the midst of it.
William Dodd was asked to serve in Germany in 1933 by
Roosevelt in a period where it became increasingly obvious that the country was
rearming for war. Jews (and others suspected of hostility towards the Nazis)
were being singled out, stripped of their civil rights, beaten in the streets,
deprived of their livelihoods, driven out of their professions, and, taken to
secret cells to be tortured. Purity laws were being refined and acted upon in
some regions. Violence was rampant and despite vociferous disavowals from the
German government that these were isolated instances, the violence was
spreading.
Germany was on the cusp of tremendous change. Hitler had
just been appointed Chancellor. He was seen by some as powerful and charismatic
with legitimate grievances against the Jews. Germany had an "image
problem" internationally and part of Dodd's responsibility as an
Ambassador was controlling the negative impact of this image.
This, initially, was not what most concerned the Americans
even when Americans themselves were being beaten as well sometimes just for
failing to salute in the Nazi manner in the street. ("Give men a chance to
try their schemes." Dodd was told when he protested about the treatment of
Jews and Americans in Germany.) The American government was concerned that Dodd
do nothing to upset the
payment of reparations for the damages of the First
World War under the Treaty of Versailles - perceived by some to be excessive
and unsustainable. Some fifteen years after the war, the Germans were still
expected to pay.
Dodd, a history professor who was once a student in Germany
and fluent in the language, had moved to Germany with his wife, son Bill Jr.
and daughter Martha. Martha was, shall we say, a ... coquette? Let's use that
word rather than a more obvious one. She had relations with a number of Nazi
officials. She was not particularly partial to Nazis or their ideology - after all,
she also had an intense love affair with Boris Vinogradov, a Communist and
diplomatic official representing the newly formed Soviet Union - but initially
she was largely indifferent to the violence even that which she had witnessed
herself such as the public beating and humiliation of a German woman named Anna
Rath (a horrifying incident you made read about
here) who was being punished
for the unpardonable crime of being engaged to a Jew.
On a more personal level, Martha, at one point, was being
urged to throw herself in the path of Hitler as a possible consort by one of
her own admirers
Ernst Hanfstaengl, nicknamed "Putzi", who was one of
Hitler's confidants. She was told, "Hitler needs a woman. Hitler should
have an American woman - a lovely woman would change the whole destiny of
Europe. Martha, you are the woman!"
 |
| The Dodds arriving in Berlin |
Martha was "convinced that Hitler was a glamorous and
brilliant personality who must have great power and charm.” But she was perhaps
not sufficiently enthusiastic to enchant der Fuhrer. The encounter came to
nothing.
Dodd, largely liberal, humane and educated, was alarmed by
Hitler and his cohorts but disconcertingly anxious to preserve relations
between the two countries. When he became aware of these disturbing instances
he protested quietly to the appropriate persons. But the casual racism of the
diplomatic circles appall. He freely uses the phrase "Jewish
problem", citing America's own issue with the "growth" of Jews
in powerful positions.
Dodd is not blameless. He spends an inordinate amount of
time complaining about bureaucratic waste - for instance the length and cost of
telegrams sent by embassy staff rather than being alarmed by more pressing
concerns. More disturbing is his concern that the number of Jewish staff at the
embassy will distress German officials and his desire to reduce that number.
The casual racism of the Dodds often infuriates although is likely very
representative of their class and the time.
But, within a year, daughter Martha's own admiration slowly recedes
despite her attraction to the handsome, blonde youths of the movement. The Dodds
begin to have paranoid sentiments that their home is likely bugged and that
they might be being followed and observed. Martha lies in bed dreading the
thought and imagining the worst. Politically the winds are shifting ominously
with President von Hindenburg's death in 1934 and Hitler's consolidation of
absolute power as President.
Eventually Dodd is removed despite (or perhaps because of)
his dire warnings. The family does not fare much better in America. Mattie Dodd
soon dies after moving back. Bill Jr. ends up working for Federal Express and
the senior Bill's health soon falters and he eventually declines. Only Martha
appears to land on her feet. Martha's relationship with Boris fizzles when he
delays in divorcing his wife and marrying her. Perhaps this is a lucky escape
as he as trying to recruit her for the
NKVD (precursor of the KGB). But she
marries well and lives a long and prosperous life.
If only the fate of the Germans and those persecuted by the
Nazis had been as fortunate.
