Defying Hitler By Sebastian Haffner: An Analysis

Throughout Sebastian Haffner’s memoir, Defying Hitler, Haffner understood that not being a Nazi could be detrimental to his career and potentially his life. The statement claims that Haffner went along with the Nazi regime even though he opposed it. Haffner only went along with the Nazi regime to protect his career and his life by showing nationalism to the party and by submitting to Nazi commands. In order for Haffner to maintain his job as a Referendar, he had to understand that allowing the Nazis to rule over him and essentially control the environment he worked in was completely necessary. Haffner’s political views of the Nazis were questionable in the early thirties because of his lack of interest in politics, “I had no strong political …show more content…
The Nazi party’s persuasion over Haffner showed when he talked of the marching through cities, “I was wearing jackboots and a uniform and . . . we even had a flag – with a swastika, of course – and sometimes this flag was carried before us” (Haffner 257). This embodiment of nationalism throughout Haffner’s life made it clear that submission to the Nazis was inevitable. Haffner talked about people who would run and hide when the marching would take place and that he would do the same thing when he wasn’t marching (Haffner 257). The acts that Haffner was performing was in some ways hypocritical to his views of wishing not to associate with either side of the political spectrum. He even had to be skeptical of people he thought he could associate with who were against the Nazis as well. This was hard to do because people who were against the Nazis were people who referred to the Nazis as Nazis instead of the NSDAP or associating themselves as an active member of the party (Haffner 266). No matter what, Haffner had to support the Nazis on the outside, but on the inside, his mind could go any direction he