In the Garden of Beasts

On January 9, 1934, the Germans execute Marinus van der Lubbe by guillotine: “Now anyone who felt the need for an ending could point to an official act of state: van der Lubbe had set the fire, and now van der Lubbe was dead" (209).

After a year in office, Hitler seems more diplomatic and conciliatory. The German economy is in fair working order. Abuse of Jews appears to wane; many who had left the year before return. A Quaker, Gilbert MacMaster, visits the Dachau concentration camp, which has steam heat and appears orderly; the prisoners, only a few dozen of which are Jewish, appear to be in good shape.

However, Dachau’s rules stipulate severe punishment for minor offenses and execution for anyone who “discussed politics or was caught meeting with others" (212). These harsh rules become the model for all camps. Outside Berlin, there are “new large military establishments, including training fields, airports, barracks, proving grounds, anti-aircraft stations and the like" (213). 

Dodd and Undersecretary Phillips continue their chilly correspondence. Privately, each tries to undermine the other. Dodd writes to Roosevelt, asking him to transfer Phillips away from Washington, “perhaps as an ambassador somewhere," hoping this “would limit a little the favoritisms that prevail there" (217).