I’ve read a few of Larson’s books and enjoyed all of them. Garden of Beasts describes a lot of day-to-day life in Germany before the war. I wasn’t aware that if the brownshirts were marching down the street, Germans were required to stop what they were doing and render the Nazi salute—or face a beating. A small offense compared to the atrocities later on, but revealing as to their true nature.
Lately, when seeing films from that time I wonder about all of those party members who had the contracts for the bunting, flags, uniforms, badges and other Nazi accouterments that you see everywhere. It’s often forgotten that the Nazis were all about making money for themselves. Hitler got royalties for every copy of Mein Kampf sold (and every library and school were required to have copies). He also received royalties for his image which was printed on millions of postage stamps.
As you point out, the Nazis were a through and through criminal enterprise!
I wonder if there are any government criminal enterprises in existence today?