# How was life under Hitler like for people who weren't in Danger of being killed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 15, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-life-under-hitler-like-for-people-who-werent-in-danger-of-being-killed/411869 "2007-07-15T17:03:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-life-under-hitler-like-for-people-who-werent-in-danger-of-being-killed/411869/41 "2007-07-17T00:11:33Z")
This is an [interesting book review in the NY Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/books/review/Herzog.t.html?ex=1184731200&en=3c014ac14884e494&ei=5070) of a book titled \*HITLER’S BENEFICIARIES: Plunder, Racial War, and the Nazi Welfare State. \* By Götz Aly. Quote from the review: > [@](#): > > According to Aly, who teaches at the University of Frankfurt, millions of care packages of plundered items were sent back home from the occupied territories by Wehrmacht soldiers who were themselves given hearty rations and plenty of disposable cash. Clothing and household objects that had once belonged to Jews were sold at affordable prices at government-organized public auctions, or simply handed out free as emergency relief. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-life-under-hitler-like-for-people-who-werent-in-danger-of-being-killed/411869/42 "2007-07-17T07:16:00Z")
[QUOTE=Wakinyan] Not bad at all. Work, car, holidays - all you could dream of. [/QUOTE] ?? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-life-under-hitler-like-for-people-who-werent-in-danger-of-being-killed/411869/43 "2007-07-17T15:39:09Z")
[QUOTE=bonzer] [QUOTE=Si Amigo] Also, freedom of travel and move about was famously controlled by having to have the proper travel permits. [/QUOTE] Cite? It’s a serious question since, as far as I’m aware, there were no formal restrictions on domestic travel for most German citizens until midway through the war, when they began to be introduced as part of the belated more general shift towards a total war economy. [/QUOTE] From what I read of (apolitical, nonpersecuted) ordinary people’s lives and from what I heard of my own relatives’ tales there do not seem to have been significant restrictions on domestic freedom of movement. Of course, particularly during the latter part of the war, if you were a military-age male you’d better have impeccable documentation of being on leave or of your military exemption. Paradoxically, mentions of restrictions of movement and of travel permits figure prominently in accounts _of the early years of Allied occupation_. As for standard of living, **bonzer** ’s post agrees with what I read - supply of the necessities of life being largely guaranteed by the economic exploitation of the occupied countries, i.e. by war as large-scale armed robbery. Food was rationed but not to a harmful degree. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-life-under-hitler-like-for-people-who-werent-in-danger-of-being-killed/411869/44 "2007-07-17T16:17:56Z")
[QUOTE=Si Amigo] Skeptic42, not only were you forbidden to marrying a Jew if you were an Aryan it was your duty to keep the master race pure and marry another Aryan. So yes, they did have social systems set up that controlled who you married. [/QUOTE] This should be considered in light of the fact that at the time, similar miscegnation laws were in full force in other developed countries, most notably in the United States, where they persisted well after the war. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-life-under-hitler-like-for-people-who-werent-in-danger-of-being-killed/411869/45 "2007-07-18T03:18:08Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] When Hitler banned made it illegal for Jews to marry Aryans what happened to existing mixed marriages? Where they all dissolved or was there a grandfather clause? I remember watching a movie about a group of German women who’s husbands were Jewish. [/QUOTE] I believe the name of the movie is **Rossenstrasse.** It’s a pretty interesting film. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-life-under-hitler-like-for-people-who-werent-in-danger-of-being-killed/411869/46 "2007-08-11T00:41:35Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Socks] What I’m asking is what was everday life under Hitler like for a blue-eyed, blond-haired, Caucasian, heterosexual Christian of non-Jewish descent? People who didn’t belong to any of the groups he was persecuting. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Wakinyan] Not bad at all. Work, car, holidays - all you could dream of. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=DrDeth] ?? 😕 [/QUOTE] The problem with national socialism was that the majority was safe, home free, the men got jobs and got to provide for their families, there was the possibility of getting a _car_ for the ordinary worker (the “People’s car”, “Volks wagen”), _holidays_ in Austria, and so forth and so on. Unseen of. Remember, this is in the 30’s, after the great (and in Germany it was _great_) depression. People weren’t stupid, they were desperate, there was nothing to eat and the [democracy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_republic) was a joke. It didn’t work out, and at this time nobody of course had an inkling of the [the horrors](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust) of the future. Adolf Hitler was perceived as a hero who got Germany back on its feet, literaly saved it and its people - if you were “a blue-eyed, blond-haired, Caucasian, heterosexual Christian of non-Jewish descent”. Its the majority’s victory over the minority. Masters and slaves. Aryan and jews, whites and blacks, christians and muslims, pick your game and buy yourself a Chrysler on the way home. That’s how fascism works; otherwise it wouldn’t be a problem. As an ordinary man you _gain_ by fascim. You even vote for it. Otherwise it would be extinct. When things got messy Germans looked the other way. It isn’t that hard - it happens right now as I’m writing this post. We accept the news reels form the war machinery, we don’t want anything else. Back to your question: How was The Third Reich for the ordinary German guy (until the war)? - Pretty good, I mean I’m the man…! Look at me go! That’s the problem with fascim. You don’t notice, or you don’t care. (All this until the war, going back to Germany. Germans didn’t want war, and Hitler knew that, which was why the Polish invasion was more or less hid until it happened [which at the time was unusual]; also waited too long strategically before switching to [total war](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_war) ), and why the british bombings of German cities was such a defeat.) (The reason Hitler got to power is of course quite complicated, and the above is not intended to be comprehensive, but to focus on the question: “How’s it going, Schmidt, with the nazis and all?” “He’s a [great guy](http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19390102,00.html) , thanks for asking.”) ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-life-under-hitler-like-for-people-who-werent-in-danger-of-being-killed/411869/47 "2007-08-11T01:18:22Z")
[QUOTE=eenerms] I believe the name of the movie is **Rossenstrasse.** It’s a pretty interesting film. [/QUOTE] Sounded interesting so I went to Netflicks to order it. But the blurb doesn’t sound quite right. Here it is: After her father dies, Hannah Weinstein (Maria Schrader) notices that her mother, Ruth (Jutte Lampe), is acting very strangely. Is Ruth’s behavior brought on by her understandable grief at the loss of her husband, or does the suffering spring from something older, something repressed? As her mother’s troubled childhood is revealed, Hannah realizes how little she ever really knew about the woman closest to her. Margarethe von Trotta directs. (At Netflicks it was spelled Rosenstrasse. One s.) ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-life-under-hitler-like-for-people-who-werent-in-danger-of-being-killed/411869/48 "2007-08-11T06:06:21Z")
[QUOTE=BarnOwl] Sounded interesting so I went to Netflicks to order it. But the blurb doesn’t sound quite right. Here it is: [ (At Netflicks it was spelled Rosenstrasse. One s.) [/QUOTE] Extra 's’s don’t know where to put them 😃 Part of the movie is based on the ‘mother’s’ reaction to the death of her husband. But there is more to it. Don’t want to spoil it for you. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-life-under-hitler-like-for-people-who-werent-in-danger-of-being-killed/411869/49 "2007-08-11T13:14:26Z")
Thanks ---
**Author:** ![bob\_co](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@bob\_co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_co)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-life-under-hitler-like-for-people-who-werent-in-danger-of-being-killed/411869/50 "2007-08-11T22:36:01Z")
The idea might seem opressive by todays standards, but the race and ugenics part of it was widespread. It didn’t really seem unusual to the people at the time. The ideas were commonplace by common acceptance on both sides of the war. Henry Ford is always the example in this argument. Life went on, in all of the other countries and the squabble was really for naught. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2007, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-life-under-hitler-like-for-people-who-werent-in-danger-of-being-killed/411869/51 "2007-08-13T08:41:27Z")
[QUOTE=Wakinyan] Adolf Hitler was perceived as a hero who got Germany back on its feet, literaly saved it and its people - if you were "a blue-eyed, blond-haired [/QUOTE] I thought we spent a good part of this thread _debunking_ that. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-life-under-hitler-like-for-people-who-werent-in-danger-of-being-killed/411869/52 "2007-08-13T22:13:30Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] I thought we spent a good part of this thread _debunking_ that. [/QUOTE] While writing my posts in this thread there were two thoughts hesitating my fingers somewhat: (1) Is this too provocative?, and (2) will readers of these posts understand that I write from a historical, contemporary perspective rather than airing my opions? To answer the OP is of course impossible in a Internet thread, and the question of nazi German is extremely complex (politically, historically, economically, culturally, etc). But one problem often overlooked is that their was immense hope invested in the nazi regime after the humiliation and depression and the majority of “aryan” Germans gained from the nazi take over. (However, the economic boost isn’t Hilter’s merit.) Germans weren’t necessarily just dumb, and it can happen again. Walloon, do I have to add that I’m not a nazi? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2007, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-life-under-hitler-like-for-people-who-werent-in-danger-of-being-killed/411869/53 "2007-08-13T22:45:57Z")
You’re misunderstanding. Look back at the first page of this thread, where several posters, including me, pointed out that an idealized _Aryan_ racial type is not the same as an idealized _Nordic_ racial type. Aryan does not mean “blue-eyed, blond-haired.” ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-life-under-hitler-like-for-people-who-werent-in-danger-of-being-killed/411869/54 "2007-08-13T22:52:59Z")
Was that your point…? I’m sorry, I truly misunderstood you, as you say. Sorry and thanks for clearing that out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-life-under-hitler-like-for-people-who-werent-in-danger-of-being-killed/411869.md?page=2)