They thought they were free is an eloquent and provocative examination of the development of fascism in germany mayers book is a study of ten germans and their lives from 1933 45 based on interviews he conducted after the war when he lived in germany mayer had a position as a research professor at the university of frankfurt and lived in a nearby small hessian town which he disguised with the name kronenberg these ten men were not men of distinction mayer noted but they . First published in 1955 they thought they were free is an eloquent and provocative examination of the development of fascism in germany mayers book is a study of ten germans and their lives from 1933 45 based on interviews he conducted after the war when he lived in germany mayer had a position as a research professor at the university of frankfurt and lived in a nearby small hessian town which he disguised with the name kronenberg these ten men were not men of distinction . They thought they were free the germans 1933 45 c1955 1966 2017 368 pages paper 2000 isbn 9780226525839 for information on purchasing the book from bookstores or here online please go to the webpage for they thought they were free. They thought they were free the germans 1933 45 milton mayer author published by the university of chicago press first published in 1955 the book has the advantage of being a collection of recollections about the conditions of life in the small town of kronnenberg the citizens of kronneberg were of the most conservative of ordinary people in fact they were not even germans according to real germans kronnenberg was in hesse its people were sometimes referred to as blinder