Distractedness In In The Garden Of Beasts By Erik Larson

Final Exam: Distractedness Erik Larson is the author of the book In the Garden of Beasts. In this book, he has let us witness the very beginning of Hitler’s Germany through the American ambassador to Germany and his family. In 1933 president Franklin Roosevelt was on the look for a new ambassador to Germany. He received many declines to the office and finally got someone to fill the office. He was a professor who had a passion for a book he was writing entitled Old South. Though reluctant to accept the invitation as ambassador to begin with he decided to follow through with it and accept the position. Roosevelt let Dodd know that the focus for him in Germany was to get the debt they owed to the United States resolved. Dodd and his family arrived in Germany, but it took a while for them to …show more content…
People around were deceived into thinking that the persecution was ending and that things would return to normal. Hitler also had a very sneaky way of getting into people’s heads by proclaiming that he wanted peace. He used these speeches to deceive his people into believing he desired good, and in the process succeeded in distracting them from the truth (Larson 213). One man that was associated with Hitler and the Nazi’s was known by Diels. He had quit a position for Hitler and was thus hated. He was aware of threats made directed to him, and ran to Martha for help. Diels was one of Martha’s men that she was well associated with at some point, and he knew if he stayed around her and her family then no harm would be done to him. Martha just passed his actions off as being dramatic, but accepted his request. She “has no objection to spending more time with Diels. She liked being associated with him and having the insider’s view” (Larson 244). Instead of taking Diels seriously, Martha just enjoyed his company and thought nothing of anyone actually trying to harm