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    The Order of the Day
    The Order of the Day
    The Order of the Day
    Audiobook2 hours

    The Order of the Day

    Written by Eric Vuillard

    Narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Winner of the 2017 Prix Goncourt, this eye-opening account of the muddled forces at work behind the Anschluss brilliantly dismantles the myth of a glorious and inevitable Nazi victory.

    February 20, 1933: On an unremarkable day during a harsh Berlin winter, a meeting of twenty-four German captains of industry and senior Nazi dignitaries is being held in secret in the plush lounges of the Reichstag. They are there to “stump up” funding for the accession to power of the National Socialist Party and its fearsome Chancellor. This inaugural scene sets the tone of consent which will lead to the worst possible repercussions.

    March 12, 1938: The annexation of Austria is on the agenda and a grotesque day ensues that is intended to make history: the newsreels capture for eternity a motorized army, a terrible, inexorable power. But behind Goebbels’s splendid propaganda, it is an ersatz Blitzkrieg which unfolds, the Panzers breaking down en mass on the roads of Austria. The true behind-the-scenes story of the Anschluss—a patchwork of minor shows of strength and fine words, a string of fevered telephone calls and vulgar threats—reveals a starkly different picture: it is no longer strength of character or the determination of a people that wins the day, but rather a combination of intimidation and bluff.

    With this vivid, compelling history, Éric Vuillard warns against the perils of willfully blind acquiescence, and offers a crucial reminder that, ultimately, the worst is not inescapable.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    TranslatorMark Polizzotti
    Release dateSep 25, 2018
    ISBN9781543689044
    The Order of the Day
    Author

    Eric Vuillard

    Éric Vuillard is a writer and filmmaker born in Lyon in 1968 who has written nine award-winning books, including Conquistadors (winner of the 2010 Prix Ignatius J. Reilly), and La bataille d’Occident and Congo (both of which received the 2012 Prix Franz-Hessel and the 2013 Prix Valery-Larbaud). He won the 2017 Prix Goncourt, France’s most prestigious literary prize, for L’ordre du jour.

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    Reviews for The Order of the Day

    3.5/5

    208 ratings11 reviews

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    • 5/5
      With a spellbinding command of language and history, Éric Vuillard writes a short story (132 pages) of Anschluss, the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany (March 12, 1938), in "The Order of the Day (New York: Other Press)," translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti. Vuillard began the story with a sordid meeting of 24 masked business leaders, who ponied up the funds to bring the Nazi Party to Austria in 1933, and ended with their faces unmasked as "omnipotent conglomerates" today. In between, Vuillard put the Anschluss in historical context. Before WWII started, "costumes of Nazi soldiers were already on markdown at the prop shop" in Hollywood, California. In an asylum in Ballaigues, Louis Soutter "delivered the moribund truth of his times: one big danse macabre." All the while, "Vienna witnessed scenes of murderous insanity," and the great democracies of the world took little notice. Vuillard's story reflects how "great catastrophes often creep up on us in tiny steps," and although we may not make the same mistakes, we make mistakes in the same way. Ignorance.
    • 3/5
      A very short book. I'm not sure whether it is fiction or history. German industrialists who supported Hitler in the 30s and through the war and who today continue to make millions feature. As does the German invasion of Austria told via the key Austrian politicians. Interesting enough but It could easily have been a magazine article.
    • 4/5
      This is not your typical WWII book. At first, I thought it was non-fiction, and it is definitely based on what happened in Austria in the lead-up to WWII, but it also provides more interpretation, characterization, and storyline behind it, so it is a novel of historical fiction. It begins in 1933, when Hitler meets German industrial leaders to obtain financing for his plans. It then moves to the Austrian leaders in 1938 as they attempt to delay Anschluss. It is short and focused solely on one episode in history.

      It reads as an indictment of the companies that funded Hitler’s campaigns, resulting in great personal gain and free labor from the concentration camps. It employs excerpts from the Nuremburg trials to portray Hitler’s use of propaganda, bluff, and manipulations. It serves as a warning. Be extremely wary of supporting demagogues. "Great catastrophes often creep up on us in tiny steps."
    • 3/5
      I am not at all familiar with the history of Germany's annexation of Austria as Hitler came to power. In less than 150 pages, Vuillard explains how this happened with a voice dripping with disdain and snarkiness. And he is right to be disdainful and mocking of the heads of industry and heads of state who so easily and fearfully gave in. It is at times comical: the traffic jam of broken-down tanks that Hitler wanted to accompany him into Austria. A fly-on-the-wall view of a historical event from inside the cabinets of the men involved.
    • 5/5
      Very interesting read, pretty style, though some parts are a little long.
    • 3/5
      A fictionalised account of meetings between 1933 and 1938, considered pivotal in enabling the Nazis to commit the well-documented atrocities that took place before and during the Second World War. None of the information is new, though it will be new to many people, and it is thought-provoking, though there is no doubt as to what conclusions Vuillard wants the reader to reach. Nothing is completely black and white, though. Coincidentally, on the day I read this book, I also read a review of The Gravediggers by Rüdiger Barth and Hauke Friederichs, a day-by-day account of how Hitler got his hands on the reins of power, which I think will make for interesting reading alongside The Order of the Day.

      Whilst I am not wholly enamoured with this book, I do believe it to be a timely reminder of how we should not allow one person’s charisma to take control, and of how duplicitous those with power can be, if they choose - in case anyone needed reminding of that these days....
    • 5/5
      One of those rare incidences where the hype about a book lives up to the reality. This isn't history of course, because some of the details aren't true or at least aren't verifiable, but some new form, whether fiction, faction, or something in between. But as a portrait of the human motivations that underpin the seemingly unstoppable forces of history, its very insightful.The narrative is formed by a series of vignettes, of small, perhaps overlooked moments on the road to war. In 1933 a group of faceless, identical German industrialists fund the new Chancellor Hitler and his party of eccentric extremists who will no doubt calm down once the realities of government become apparent. Of course they do. Of course they would today. Of course their businesses flourished and continue to flourish today. Of course history has let them off virtually scot free. But what if they'd refused?Another vignette follows Schuschnigg, Austrian Chancellor as he is bullied into signing away his country into Anschluss with Germany. There is a moment of resistance - just a moment - what if there had been more? Another follows the incompetent German entry into Austria; the flags and bunting are out, the girls anticipate the glorious German soldiers, but where are they? Could it be that the tanks have broken down? What if the Fuhrer is revealed to have no clothes? But he is not. An excellent book, highly recommended. And an excellent translation too
    • 3/5
      A lyrical, almost ethereal description, more of the Central European situation, just prior to the Second World War, with a touch of moral indignation, at the state of affairs with some obvious contempt for the obliviousness of he Great Powers. Easy to read, yet a with a touching, engaging prose, this isn't historical fiction in the sense of dates and events this is historical fiction with a broad brush stroke. Interesting, readable, try to complete it in one session if you can, it's power weakens when diluted.
    • 3/5
      Les plus grandes catastrophes s'annoncent souvent à petits pas.This is an odd little book - the French edition is 150 pages in a weird 2:1 format (19x10cm) so that you are reading the text in a very narrow column, like a cut-up newspaper. And with a curious full-length photo of a politician in a wing-collar on the front cover - not Chamberlain, as you might think from a first glance, but Austrian chancellor Schuschnigg, who turns out to be one of the principal villains of Vuillard's story. For this is the story of the Anschluss of 1938, dramatically reimagined as a series of semi-farcical tableaux of human cowardice, self-interest and incompetence, in support of Vuillard's argument that history is not about the inevitable progression of big, unstoppable forces, but about fallible humans taking bad decisions (rather like what Christopher Clark did in The sleepwalkers, but on a much smaller scale). Vuillard starts off with a meeting of prominent German industrialists convened by Goering in Berlin in February 1933 to raise the funds the Nazi party needs for its coming election campaign - he wants us to appreciate that none of these men was under any obligation to contribute, but that they all did so, calculating just as their present-day counterparts would that it is good business to have the next government - whatever its political colour - owing you a favour. And of course, being a novelist not a historian, Vuillard doesn't need to go into the difficult question of "what if?" - would the Nazis have found another source of funds, would they have come to power anyway without the support of industry..? - for him, what matters is that there was a decision point and those present took a bad decision. And - perhaps more to the point - that all those present did benefit from the Nazis coming to power, and all of their companies in various combinations and under various names are still with us and doing well to this day (also possibly debatable...).The farce continues with the Anschluss itself - Schuschnigg (who wasn't exactly a poster-boy for democracy to start with, having presided over the banning of trade unions and the social-democratic party, the suspension of parliament, etc.) fails to call Hitler's bluff when he is summoned to Berchtesgaden, and, despite a last-minute change of heart, doesn't take any decisive action that would have undermined Hitler's pretence that Austria has voluntarily merged itself into the Reich. Ribbentrop, meanwhile, has invited himself to lunch with Chamberlain (from whom he rented a flat whilst in London as German ambassador) on the day the Germans are to march into Austria, and draws out the meal as long as possible to reduce the risk of any precipitate British reaction. Austrians - and the rest of the world - buy into the myth of Blitzkrieg and the jubilant reception of German troops by the Austrian people, as promoted in German reporting carefully managed by Goebbels, and apparently no-one notices the lines of broken-down Panzer columns blocking the roads into Austria. Interesting, and certainly written with plenty of sense for the entertainment value of history, but I don't know whom he is trying to convince. If you already know something about the history, it comes over as too fragmented and incomplete to prove anything; if you don't, then there are far better, more comprehensive accounts available in conventional history books. But it got very good reviews in the press, and obviously impressed the Goncourt judges. I suppose that, in these times, we should be prepared to welcome anything that reminds us how idiocy, weakness and self-interest could open the gates to totalitarian abuse of power.According to Wikipedia, this is the first Goncourt winner to have been translated into Esperanto. So now you know!
    • 1/5
      The meetings and compromises preceding Hitler's annexation of Austria are rendered by Eric Vuillard with a remarkable care for historical precision. Everything is marred, however, by the author's attempt to reach a literary level he is blatantly incapable to put in practice. The reader senses Vuillard's painstaking efforts to imagine some "expressive" details, such as the cold feeling of metal in a door's latch when some german capitalist comes to see Goering, or some other nazi official. The effect of these predictable touches is none than an embarrassing evidence of Vuillard's banality of style. This is "literature" in the worst meaning of the word.
    • 5/5
      With a spellbinding command of language and history, Éric Vuillard writes a short story (132 pages) of Anschluss, the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany (March 12, 1938), in "The Order of the Day (New York: Other Press)," translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti. Vuillard began the story with a sordid meeting of 24 masked business leaders, who ponied up the funds to bring the Nazi Party to Austria in 1933, and ended with their faces unmasked as "omnipotent conglomerates" today. In between, Vuillard put the Anschluss in historical context. Before WWII started, "costumes of Nazi soldiers were already on markdown at the prop shop" in Hollywood, California. In an asylum in Ballaigues, Louis Soutter "delivered the moribund truth of his times: one big danse macabre." All the while, "Vienna witnessed scenes of murderous insanity," and the great democracies of the world took little notice. Vuillard's story reflects how "great catastrophes often creep up on us in tiny steps," and although we may not make the same mistakes, we make mistakes in the same way. Ignorance.