In the Garden of Beasts

To Dodd, the countryside hasn’t changed much in 35 years, except for all the Nazi Party flags and insignia. After an overnight in Leipzig, Dodd and his wife take the train back to Berlin: “The young ones headed off by car toward Nuremberg" (93).

An American doctor, visiting Berlin to study surgical techniques, is watching a parade when a Storm Trooper strikes him on the head for failing to offer the Hitler salute: “The US consulate immediately protested" (94). The Gestapo arrests the assailant; the government announces that “foreigners were not expected to give or return the Hitler salute" (94). An SA officer visits Dodd and issues an apology and a “promise that no such attack would occur again” (95). Dodd lectures him on the SA’s recent behavior.

Martha, Bill Jr, and Reynolds drive through towns filled with SA troops “parading and singing and holding Nazi banners aloft" (95). Thinking their car belongs to high Nazi officials, the troops give them the Hitler salute; Martha salutes back enthusiastically, discomfiting her companions.

They arrive in Nuremburg at midnight to find the streets crowded with revelers who cheer as torch-bearing Storm Troopers drag a young woman, head shaven, through the streets.