the book – to explain how that seduction was carried out and perpetuated.
Are there any stories told in the book that are particularly important to you? What do you think may surprise readers?
There were a few items that surprised me, certainly. The Treblinka Brooch was a fantastic find, and is a very poignant reminder of a Holocaust site which is still not very well known outside Poland. Also, it still astonishes me to think that Göring’s cyanide capsule survived all these years. But the stand-out for me is the story of Rudolf Hess’s underwear. I had long known of the rumour that Hess’s long-johns were in the archives of the Imperial War Museum in London, but when I contacted them, they told me that they had no idea of how the item had got there. So, I set about trying to solve the mystery, and I’m pleased to say that I did. It is a very interesting story, and a fascinating item.
On one hand you can take the book and choose some themes - politics, military, propaganda, social life...But what I found really valuable here is that this big, historical image starts emerging because of how they are presented.
Well, that is good to hear. The idea was that each item should stand alone and could be read in isolation, but also that a complete narrative of the Third Reich should emerge from the whole. I subtitled the book “A Material History of Nazi Germany”, so it was always intended to be something more significant than just a collection of interesting items.
I understand that your next project will deal with the very beginning of the Second World War.
That’s right. I am currently writing about the Polish defensive campaign of September/October 1939. It is a story that is still woefully unknown in the English-speaking world, so I am trying to rectify that, and to put Poland’s defensive war into its proper context, including, of course, the Soviet invasion as well. I hope it will appear in the UK in 2019, though the Polish edition might be a little later.
The Third Reich in 100 Objects: A Material History of Nazi Germany
Author: Roger Moorhouse
Publisher: Greenhill Books
ROGER MOORHOUSE (born 1968)
A British historian of the Third Reich, Poland and World War Two. Author, visiting professor, book reviewer & historical consultant.
Twitter: @roger_moorhouse