Nazi Germany book/textbook for high school

[sea_mommy]

My son is interested in learning more about Hitler/Nazi Germany.  Does anyone have recommendations for high school level/perhaps college level books and/or textbooks?

Thank you!

(Accidently posted in K-8 so moving the question over here 🙂)

[Matryoshka]

1 hour ago, sea_mommy said:

My son is interested in learning more about Hitler/Nazi Germany.  Does anyone have recommendations for high school level/perhaps college level books and/or textbooks?

Thank you!

(Accidently posted in K-8 so moving the question over here 🙂)

A very interesting and well-done book I read with my kids on the subject was Hitler Youth by Susan Campbell Bartoletti.  She did interviews with people who had grown up during that time (and all boys of that age were required to be Hitler Youth - at first it was optional, but later there was no opt-out.  There was a different program for girls).  

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer is excellent, but long.

Berlin Diary is just that, Shirer's diary of experiences as a radio correspondent in Berlin. 

 

[sea_mommy]

All of those options are great and look like things my son would enjoy--thank you so much!

[Lawyer&Mom]

Everyone should read Maus by Art Spiegelman.  It captures both the horror of the war and the Holocaust, as well as the emotional toll on the survivors.  It’s a gutting read, but appropriate for high schoolers.  

[HomeAgain]

24 minutes ago, Lawyer&Mom said:

Everyone should read Maus by Art Spiegelman.  It captures both the horror of the war and the Holocaust, as well as the emotional toll on the survivors.  It’s a gutting read, but appropriate for high schoolers.  

I agree.  I'd also suggest The Diary of Mary Berg.  Her mother was an American, the family lived in Poland.  They were kept in the Warsaw ghetto with "privileged" status. 

There were a few books that really made an impact on me about the war.  These two, along with Surviving The Angel of Death (Mengele), Back Home (child sent to America and returned to Britain - fiction) and one I cannot remember the name of about two sisters sent to the Netherlands(?) and choosing not to return to their old life.  The various ways people were impacted made me want to know more about each aspect.

[mjbucks1]

The Boy on the Wooden Box is an autobiography about Leon Leyson.  His family was in the Warsaw Ghetto, and many in his family were either killed or taken to a concentration camp.  He and his father and mother were saved by Oskar Schindler.  Great read.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I was looking at our shelves last night. Ordinary Men might be another good title. 

It's the account of a reserve police battalion and their participation in crimes against humanity. 

Also, the movie Conspiracy, about the Wannsee Conference is well done.

[Malam]

Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland

Ron Applebaum's Explaining Hitler

These are pretty weighty texts. To broaden his perspective, he can pair this with texts on the Stanford prison experiment and the Milgram experiment