The shocking oral history that reveals the truth about daily life in Nazi Germany The horrors of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust still present some of the most disturbing questions in modern history: Why did Hitler's party appeal to millions of Germans, and how entrenched was anti-Semitism among the population? How could anyone claim, after the war, that the genocide of Europe's Jews was a secret? Did ordinary non-Jewish Germans live in fear of the Nazi state? In this unprecedented firsthand analysis of daily life as experienced in the Third Reich, What We Knew offers answers to these most important questions. Combining the expertise of Eric A. Johnson, an American historian, and Karl-Heinz Reuband, a German sociologist, What We Knew is the most startling oral history yet of everyday life in the Third Reich. "A very important book." ( Financial Times ) "A wellspring of information, this text provides unprecedented insights into the mind set and daily lives of 'average' Germans, and the lives led by Jews in Nazi Germany." ( History in Review ) "A major contribution to the understanding of life in Nazi Germany." ( Booklist )