Did they know what Communism, “Bolshevism,” was? They did not; not my friends. Except for Herr Kessler, Teacher Hildebrandt, and young Horstmar Rupprecht (after he entered the university, in 1941), they knew Bolshevism as a specter which, as it took on body in their imaginings, embraced not only the Communists but the Social Democrats, the trade-unions, and, of course, the Jews, the gypsies, the neighbor next door whose dog had bit them, and his dog; the bundled root cause of all their past, present, and possible tribulations.

-They Thought They Were Free— The Germans 1933-45 by Milton Mayer

It’s been a mainstay of reactionary politics since the rise of Fascism in the early 20th century. This book follows ten “friends” the author made after the war who were members of the Nazi party.