The Night Haffner Analysis

Haffner describes many stories on the changing scene in Germany during the Nazis rise to power. One reflection I found particularly interesting was his first encounter with the SA. Haffner initially explains what the tradition of Carnival in Berlin was like and how it was a time of youthful partying and liveliness. The young Haffner and a long time friend were enjoying this period of festivities at a local ball when a rumor of the police being in attendance spread around the party. Suddenly, an SA member started threatening everyone that he would take them to jail if they did not immediately leave. He later realizes that this was his first face-to-face meeting with the Nazi’s police force.
After becoming Chancellor in January 1933, Hitler

authorized a government sanctioned, auxiliary, police force – the SA. This group was allowed to take people into custody without reasonable cause, censor media, and even execute enemies of the Nazis without penalty. Hitler used the SA to establish a sense of fear in Germany. From what we have discussed in lecture as well as Haffner’s account of his first run in with the SA, I think it safe to say that living in Germany while Hitler was building a dictatorship must have been an intimidating time. I had always questioned why non-Nazis, the majority, just went along with what they were doing; however, I now understand that it would have been very difficult and risky to aggressively go against the Nazi movement.