Home truths
ROBERT CROWCROFT enjoys a social history that uses newspapers, diaries and private letters to build a picture of the people’s reactions to the outbreak of war
(rederick Taylor’s new book covers the months prior to the outbreak of the 5econd World War. It eschews a focus on political, diplomatic and military actors and instead endeavours to piece together a history of the times from the perspective of ‘ordinary’ men and women. The book focuses on popular reactions in $ritain and )ermany to the mounting crisis that eventually culminated in war. 5elf-consciously a ‘people’s history’, Taylor’s work argues that there was a marked lack of widespread public enthusiasm for war. This is perhaps unsurprising, given how potent memories of the slaughter of the (irst World War remained.
Taylor’s desire to eZplore how it felt to be an ‘ordinary’ person is founded on a diverse range of source material. $ritish sources include /ass-1bservation social research, newspapers, diaries, private correspondence and the repository of audio recordings at the Imperial War /useum. )erman sources eZtend from newspapers to the records of the )estapo, the 55 security service and private diaries. Together, these materials enable Taylor to paint an engaging picture he is particularly good at weaving together vignettes, character sketches and humorous asides to recreate an atmosphere of febrile anZiety.
#long the way, we encounter everyday $ritish folk, as conscription approaches, worrying about their courage and whether they will be up to the task the $ritish government offering grants to build air-raid shelters the stubborn persistence of ‘normal’ life as people go the cinema to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Gone With the Wind a )erman serial killer and rapist awaiting eZecution IR# bombs in .ondon an official 0a\i crackdown on political satire and jokes ppolitical joking around is a remnant of liberalismq, as )oebbels put it the mass euthanasia of pet cats and dogs in $ritain once war has broken
As conscription arrived, Brits worried about their courage and whether thG[’d DG up to thG tasM
out in four days in 5eptember 3 , 00,000 animals were killed in .ondon alone – a Suarter of the pets in the capital the rising tide of anti-5emitism in )ermany as mobs attack ,ewish businesses and ,ews are murdered in the streets declining living standards across the Reich the shortage of coffee was particularly infuriating as income per head remains only two-thirds that of $ritain and half that of the 7nited 5tates and the arrival of 0,000 ,ewish refugees in $ritain. Taylor provides insights into everyday hopes, fears and eZperiences in $ritain and )ermany from
a multiplicity of perspectives, with the incidents covered ranging from the tragic to the surreal.
The book offers an entertaining eZcursion, but there are problems. It reads as a random assortment of distinctive and brief stories, and this constant darting around means it lacks a clear thread for the reader to follow. It also ends rather abruptly without a proper conclusion, which is a great shame, because the reader is left wondering what it all means. Taylor also mounts a clumsy political intervention, seeing ‘chilling’ parallels between the 30s and the world of $reZit. *e even hyperbolically suggests the presence of unnerving similarities in the ‘national psyche’ between contemporary $ritain and 0a\i )ermany. The author’s political fiZations aside, however, this compendium of ground-level snapshots of $ritain and )ermany in the build-up to war is worth perusing.