Ep106: The Nazi playbook in modern times.

But Life Was Good for Me!

How do ordinary people help a dictatorship take hold—and still believe they’re the good guys?

This week, Oldmate and Josh dig into They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933–45 by Milton Mayer. Drawing on his conversations with ten former Nazi Party members, we explore the excuses, the everyday comforts and the small compromises that helped make the unthinkable feel normal.

Work still happened. Bills still needed paying. And when someone else was being targeted, there was always a reason to keep your head down.

Expect uncomfortable questions, questionable tangents and two blokes trying to understand how “I’m staying out of politics” becomes a political decision.

Would we have recognised what was happening—or just carried on because life was good for us?

📚 The book and further reading

They Thought They Were Free — Milton Mayer

Read the excerpt: “But Then It Was Too Late”

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🎵 Music by Pity Lips.