Book Description
In this groundbreaking new history, Adam Tooze provides the clearest picture to date of the Nazi war machine and its undoing. There was no aspect of Nazi power untouched by economics—it was HitlerÂ's obsession and the reason the Nazis came to power in the first place. The Second World War was fought, in HitlerÂ's view, to create a European empire strong enough to take on the United States. But as The Wages of Destruction makes clear, HitlerÂ's armies were never powerful enough to beat either Britain or the Soviet Union—and Hitler never had a serious plan as to how he might defeat the United States. The Wages of Destruction is an eye-opening and controversial account that will challenge conventional interpretations of the period and will find an enthusiastic readership among fans of Ian Kershaw and Richard Evans. BACKCOVER:
Advance praise for The Wages of Destruction:
“One of the most important and original books to be published about the Third Reich in the past twenty years. A tour de force.”
—Niall Ferguson, author of Colossus
“Unputdownable epic history . . . Transforms not only our reading of HitlerÂ's sordid regime, but the history of the twentieth century itself. Brilliantly written, its original scholarship is telling and lightly borne on every page.”
—John Cornwell, author of HitlerÂ's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII
Customer Reviews:
An enlightening analysis of economic factors behind the Third Reich.......2007-10-08
Tooze occasionally mentions in passing how companies or individuals benefited from fueling the Third Reich's war effort, but his real topics are far broader and more interesting: showing how economic factors drove Hitler's war goals and timing and how the continual feedback between industrial needs and war goals drove war strategy.
Tooze starts by describing the quandary which faced Germany in the late 1920's. Germany was not self sufficient in either food or raw materials and needed to be able to export in order to finance essential imports. Germany also needed to be able to sell its exports in order to obtain hard currency to pay the reparation demands from the World War I victors. Despite these difficulties, the German finance ministry was managing to navigate Germany through a slow and painful recovery from WWI. Then disaster struck with the Great Depression. First there was an inevitable shrinking in export markets and then, much more seriously, there were conscious protectionist decisions in America, Britain, and France to block German exports in order to protect home employment.
Before reading The Wages of Destruction, I had loosely understood how the Great Depression had been a key factor in Hitler's rise to power, especially due to widespread unemployment. But Tooze clarifies that Germany was facing a much deeper strategic dilemma than a simple economic depression. Germany was dependent on the goodwill of other powers for its export markets and for its essential food and material imports, but those powers were demonstrating that in a crisis they would look entirely to their own interests and would quite cheerfully close their markets and let Germany suffer. Given this behavior, the long-term economic and political future for Germany looked extremely grim. Hitler offered a radical solution to this problem: Germany needed to expand to the East and become self sufficient in resources in the same way as the British Empire or America. Given the depth of Germany's problem, it becomes easier to understand why many thinking Germans either enthusiastically or reluctantly accepted Hitler's solution.
In succeeding chapters, Tooze describes how Hitler rapidly switched the Germany economy to focus on rearmament. He argues that while the Nazi propaganda machine emphasized efforts to increase employment and visionary projects such as the autobahn system, this was really mere window dressing and the regime was massively focused on military preparations for war. More interestingly, he also highlights how the continual shortages of hard currency (and thus of key materials) continually constrained and shaped rearmament. By 1938 lack of currency and other economic constraints were limiting further military expansion. Hitler was thus faced with a situation where Germany could see its own military abilities peaking and simultaneously see other powers starting to accelerate their own rearmament, weakening Germany's relative advantage. Hitler being Hitler, this drove an impatience for war, while Germany had its best relative position. As the war progresses, Tooze revisits this theme from several angles. Hitler was continually faced with situations where enemy military production would quickly eclipse Germany's and he reacted by trying to knock particular opponents out of the war quickly.
Tooze's major focus is on the operations and outputs of the German wartime economy. Overall, he shows us an economy that was reasonably well run and efficient but where production was dominated by shortages of key resources, especially steel and skilled manpower. By making high-level decisions about reallocations of these resources the Reich leadership could cause major leaps (or declines) in production in target sectors such as aircraft or tanks or munitions. Typically these resource shifts would take about six months to work through the system. The lucky Nazi bureaucrat who happened to be in charge of a target sector at the end of the six months would then happily boast of his productivity miracle as his sector suddenly produced startling jumps in output.
Tooze does not shy away from describing and condemning the many darker aspects of the Third Reich's war economy. A major aim of the expansion to the East was to improve Germany's food supplies. But that land was already inhabited and that food was already being consumed. So the Nazi solution was the "Hunger Plan" which quite casually assumed that food would be diverted from Poland and the Western USSR to Germany and that many millions would be deliberately starved. Tooze argues that this appalling plan was widely circulated, understood and accepted among the German political and military leadership in 1941. Thankfully, it proved difficult to execute and while there was widespread suffering, the East avoided the systematic mass starvation called for in the plan. However, in subsequent years the same desire to remove what were seen as "useless mouths" and free up food supplies was one of the many input factors towards the holocaust. In parallel, Germany manpower shortages led to large drafts of forced labor from occupied countries to German factories. Tooze illustrates both the appalling conditions of the laborers and the folly of a regime that for ideological reasons oppressed and starved the very labor it was trying to exploit.
Overall, I found this book a very enlightening read. Tooze's thorough analysis of the details of exports, imports, and production constraints provides a convincing base for his explanation of how the constraints and limits of the German economy drove high level German economic and military planning.
A PROFOUND AND FAR-REACHING STUDY.......2007-09-17
I certainly agree with other reviewers who give "Wages of Destruction" highest praise. The only wonder is why it took so long to get the story out. We've been reading histories of the war for more than sixty years, and yet I cannot recall reading anything that lays out the economic choices and consequences as well as Adam Tooze has done here. My only criticisms in this regard would be that Tooze tends to look through a lens of economic determinism, as though weight of resources would inevitably result in Germany's defeat, no matter who was in charge. What Tooze does not delineate with any degree of specificity is Hitler's confidence in the risk aversiveness, if not downright cowardice, of the Western democracies. That was certainly the case with France, which went to war profoundly divided, and whose failure of leadership echos to this day. Great Britain under Nevelle Chamberlain was hardly better. As late as May, 1940, members of the Cabinet were still debating whether to try to cut a deal with Hitler. As for the Soviet Union, the idea that Germany could defeat the Red Army in the field and expect to hold onto captured territory was wishful thinking at its worst; even if Moscow had been captured, which Napoleon did in 1812, Hitler had to know that in Stalin he faced a man as ruthless as himself. The idea that he could repeat the German Imperial Army's success against Russia in 1917, and then confront the Western Allies, throws all rational calculation to the wind. The only other comment I would make about Wages of Destruction would be that Tooze tends to summarize the events between the Summer of 1943 and May, 1945, as though that 18 month period simply followed on what had been in the pipeline before.
Profound Analysis of Nazi Germany's Economic Situation.......2007-09-11
Recently, there has been a spate of excellent books arguing that Germany was a much weaker state than it has generally been thought to be, and that the tactical brilliance of its military obscured economic inadequacies and strategic incompetence. Isabel Hull's "Absolute Destruction," Ian Kershaw's "Fatal Decisions," and now Adam Tooze's "Wages of Destruction" all make a similar point in their very different ways. They also suggest something very interesting -- that given the insane premises that Germany should be a hegemonic power and that war and conquest were the means to attain that power, Germany's military decisions in World Wars I and II made sense.
Tooze points out in convincing fashion that not only was Germany an economic basket case compared to the United States (capable of produing perhaps 1,000 warplanes at the same time the United States could produce perhaps 50,000), but that even if it were matched against the British Empire alone, its long-run prospects were little better than 50-50.
Tooze goes on to show that after France fell and Britain would not make a separate peace, Hitler faced an economic and strategic dilemma. The United States was not likely to stay out of the war indefinitely; when it inevitably entered the war on the allied side, Germany would be grossly outnumbered and outproduced.
The only possible answer was Russia, either as an ally or as a colony. As an ally, the Soviet Union was unreliable, opportunistic, and probably treacherous. Moreover, Germany would have to bend a great deal to Stalin's wishes to keep the Soviet Union happy. As a prostrate colony, Russia might just provide the material to resist Britain and the United States. So, Tooze suggests, Hitler was not so irrational when he invaded Russia (provided, of course, one does not ask the question "If Hitler faced such a daunting situation even after France was unexpected defeated, how could he ever have figured on winning the war while France was still in the allied camp"?)
If anything, Tooze suggests, Germany got lucky -- it had no business being as successful as it was by June 1941. Even at that, so many things had to go right for Germany to come out of the war in any decent shape that total victory was an impossibility. Could he successfully invade England? Little or no chance. Could he starve England out? Not with the United States on Engalnd's side. Even if he had conquered Russia where would he be -- Facing the United States across a narrow strait with his army streched from the Bering Sea to the English Channel. This was not a winning hand.
Tooze presents plenty of evidence to show that the Nazis ran a miserable war economy; that it had no idea how to put together a coherent economic or military strategy; that its solutions were ad hoc, duplicative, inefficient, and ultimately monstrous. The famous "German efficiency" takes a terrible hit, at least on the strategic level. In sum, Tooze concludes, absent a complete collapse of allied will, Germany never had a chance. But given the fact that it never had a chance and chose to take one anyway, its seemingly irrational moves made a certain kind of mad sense.
Wages is Scholarly Blut Dull.......2007-07-21
Adam Tooze has made a great contribution to the history of Germany under Nazi party rule, breaking into territory trod by few hisorians. His scholarship is superior. Few have found a way to enliven economic history and Toonze has failed to break that barrier. This along keeps the book from a five star rating.
great book.......2007-07-07
Germany lost the Second World War was because the allies out-produced them. I've known that for a long time -- but until I read The Wages of Destruction I never really understood what that statement meant, and all that it entailed. The Wages of Destruction explains, in gripping, readable detail, how the Nazi war machine worked, how it failed, and how it shaped the strategy and some of the worst crimes of the Third Reich.
So let me add to the chorus of five-star reviews. I consider The Wages of Destruction required reading if you want to understand Nazi Germany, particularly if you have an interest in economics or business. Also, if you have read Albert Speer's Inside the Third Reich, you'll be interested in this book for the counterpoint it provides.
Average customer rating:
- An amazing story, not the best account
- It gives me hope
- In All My Life
- In All My Life
- You Could Die if You Knew!
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The White Rose: Munich, 1942-1943
Inge Scholl , and
Dorothee Soelle
Manufacturer: Wesleyan
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Sophie Scholl and the White Rose
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The White Rose
ASIN: 0819560863 |
Book Description
The White Rose tells the story of Hans Scholl and Sophie Scholl, who in 1942 led a small underground organization of German students and professors to oppose the atrocities committed by Hitler and the Nazi Party. They named their group the White Rose, and they distributed leaflets denouncing the Nazi regime. Sophie, Hans, and a third student were caught and executed.
Written by Inge Scholl (Han's and Sophie's sister), The White Rose features letters, diary excerpts, photographs of Hans and Sophie, transcriptions of the leaflets, and accounts of the trial and execution. This is a gripping account of courage and morality.
CONTRIBUTORS: Dorthe Solle.
Customer Reviews:
An amazing story, not the best account.......2006-03-12
I bought this book wanting some background on the White Rose before going to see the German film on Sophie Scholl, and it was informative, if rather short - the actual story is less than 100 pages, as half the book represents documents. On the plus side, it is by the sister of Hans and Sophie Scholl, so though it isn't a great read, presumably it is an accurate account. However, I have since read some negative comments that the author used this book to place herself more centre stage, which put me off a bit as I like to think the books I read - at least those on historical events - are well-researched and unbiased.
For a more gripping account with a fast-paced narrative, I would recommend Dumbach and Newborn's Sophie Scholl and the White Rose, which I've just finished. It has some rave reviews, is a much more vivid account, and as well as all the photographs of the students also includes all the leaflets including the seventh, previously unpublished, leaflet of the White Rose group that was discovered in the Gestapo archives after the fall of the Berlin Wall. So if you want both a good read and some very interesting historical documents, this is by far the better book.
It gives me hope.......2004-08-05
For those unfamiliar with the story of The White Rose, it is a testament to the power and courage of those who are willing to stand up for freedom and independence in a world gone mad. Once again I find this book paticularly compelling today, for obvious reasons. The pamphlets the White Rose students distributed (that they subsequently paid the ultimate price for) are reprinted in their entirety in the book. They are well written, beautiful in spirit, and as compelling today as they were then.
The story is told with honor and reverence by the sister of Hans Scholl and Sophie Scholl, siblings and two of the students in Germany who brainstormed the pamphlets and were executed swiftly and denounced publicly for their trouble. In spite of that, or because of it, their efforts caused a ripple of resistance in the German republic that caused its fair share of trouble for the Nazi regime.
Calling for a policy of passive resistance -- the ability for each one, individually, to sabotage any efforts of the fascist regime in power -- was a brilliant move on their part. No fundraising, no unending meetings, no need for mailing lists or computer databases. Sabotage rallies, sabotage in all areas of science and scolarship which further the continuation of the war, sabotage in all branches of the arts, and a refusal to give a penny to any government organized charity...such was the call of these noble individuals who had no great army, but who understood the power of the individual.
I only learned of the White Rose within the past couple of years myself. Everyone should learn and understand what they did and why. It gives me hope.
In All My Life.......2003-06-13
In all my life I don't think I have read a book about such courageous people as Hans and Sophie Scholl. They are involved in an anti-fascist resistance movement and know they can be killed at any hour of the day. They are in constant fear of the people around them, wondering if they are Nazi spies, and yet they keep going.
This inspiring book, so full of tears, fearfulness, joy, anxiety, and love should be read by every young person.
Janice Wipf
In All My Life.......2003-06-13
In all my life I don't think I have read a book about such courageous people as Hans and Sophie Scholl. They are involved in an anti-fascist resistance movement and know they can be killed at any hour of the day. They are in constant fear of the people around them, wondering if they are Nazi spies, and yet they keep going. This inspiring book, so full of tears, fearfulness, joy, anxiety, and love should be read by every young person. Janice Wipf, ninth grade.
You Could Die if You Knew!.......2003-05-28
Would you be willing to join a cause, knowing that you could be killed for even associating with members of that cause? Would you be ready to leave family and friends for something that is almost impossible to achieve? The young people of the White Rose movement did just that.
Sophie and Hans Scholl lived in Germany during the reign of the cruel dictator Adolph Hitler. They and several other young people and their teacher stood up to Hitler's brutal rulership and tried to bring about peace and justice in a country devoid of almost everything but propaganda, hate, and bloodshed.
Exactly what steps these young people took is not as important as the great Idea they stood for, the vision of peace, love, and justice. Writing such things as "Freedom"and "Down with Hitler" on walls and streets took courage that only the most devout and focused person could have. These people, who were killed for their beliefs, should have more than just a book about them with the name of their group, The White Rose. They should be known and honored world-wide for their nonviolent stand against the most wicked and horrible dictatorship in modern history!
Please get this great little book, read it, and pass it on!
Kenneth Zimmerman
Book Description
A stunning account of the economic workings of the Third Reich—and the reasons ordinary Germans supported the Nazi state
In this groundbreaking book, historian Götz Aly addresses one of modern history’s greatest conundrums: How did Hitler win the allegiance of ordinary Germans? The answer is as shocking as it is persuasive: by engaging in a campaign of theft on an almost unimaginable scale—and by channeling the proceeds into generous social programs—Hitler literally “bought” his people’s consent.
Drawing on secret files and financial records, Aly shows that while Jews and citizens of occupied lands suffered crippling taxation, mass looting, enslavement, and destruction, most Germans enjoyed an improved standard of living. Buoyed by millions of packages soldiers sent from the front, Germans also benefited from the systematic plunder of conquered territory and the transfer of Jewish possessions into their homes and pockets. Any qualms were swept away by waves of government handouts, tax breaks, and preferential legislation.
Gripping and important, Hitler’s Beneficiaries makes a radically new contribution to our understanding of Nazi aggression, the Holocaust, and the complicity of a people.
Customer Reviews:
Hitler's Satisfied Thieves: Actually, the Case for Nazi German Larceny-and-Genocide Policies can be Made Stronger.......2007-08-19
German author Gotz (Goetz) Aly describes National Socialism as a form of populist wealth-redistribution welfare-state socialism. One-third of German taxpayers paid more than two-thirds of the tax burdens of war (p. 293), and businesses were heavily taxed (pp. 60-68). Hitler favored social equality for all Germans (p. 300), and worked to correct social inequities, notably in education (p. 322).
Pointedly, National Socialism massively transferred wealth from non-Germans to Germans: "In terms of wartime revenues, internal and external, low- and middle-income Germans, who together with their families numbered some 60 million, accounted for no more than 10 percent of the total sum. More affluent Germans bore 20 percent of the burden, while foreigners, forced laborers, and Jews were compelled to cover 70 percent of the funds consumed every day by Germany during the war." (p. 292). Consequently: "On average, the vast and not particularly affluent majority of Germans enjoyed more disposable income during the war that they had before it." (p. 293). Nazism also appealed to those opposed to traditional moral conventions, and to those inclined towards anticlericalism and anti-elitism (p. 319).
Not surprisingly, once voted into power by the German people, Hitler never needed draconian methods to maintain power until the end. Nearly 90% of the German dissenters executed lost their lives after 1941 (pp. 303-304). Unlike Communism, Nazism never demanded absolute devotion (pp. 23-24). In 1937, merely 7,000 Gestapo employees sufficed to handle 60 million Germans, while, in later East Germany, 190,000 surveillance experts controlled 17 million people (p. 29).
Jews weren't the only victims of larcenous Nazi policies--far from it: "This land of milk and honey in Eastern Europe was to be conquered not for the benefit of landed Prussian Junkers and powerful industrialists but to provide ordinary people with a real-world utopia." (p. 31).
Aly breaks new ground by showing that virtually ALL sectors of German society were involved in the expropriation of conquered peoples' wealth. German soldiers not only sent a considerable amount of looted goods back home (p. 178), but were encouraged to do so (p. 311). Later-writer Heinrich Boll (Boell) wrote much about this (p. 110, etc.). Not mentioned is the fact that, in German-occupied Poland, any German could enter a Polish or Jewish shop at any time and take anything at will without paying.
Poles targeted by the Germans for deportation, imprisonment, or execution immediately lost all their properties to the Reich (p. 197, 236). The 8-12 million forced laborers in the Reich, most of whom were Eastern Europeans, toiled under inhumane conditions. They were paid a wage in order to forestall resistance back home, but then the earnings were recouped by the Germans in various creative ways (pp. 156-157).
German-occupied Poland actually had to pay Germany for being occupied (pp. 76-77) "...with the result that the local population endured acute shortages of grain, potatoes, meat, and other necessities." (p. 77), leading to famine (p. 170). (This enables the reader understand why some Poles didn't aid fugitive Jews and why Poles sometimes betrayed or killed Jews known or suspected of stealing from them). Polish guerilla resistance eventually forced the Germans to slightly reduce the harshness of their exploitation of Poland (p. 160).
The Wehrmacht invaded Russia under orders to live off the land, placing 21.2 million Soviet citizens in starvation mode (p. 178). Additionally, millions of Soviet POWs were starved to death by the Germans (p. 175). Aly touches on the eventual Nazi extermination plans against Slavs: "...the most extreme proposal envisioned forcibly relocating 50 million Slavs to Siberia. (For years, the German Research Foundation also supported the development of technocratic plans for the slaughter of millions of people. Funds for research in this area were still allocated in the Nazis' final budget for the fiscal year 1945-46)." (p. 30). Yet the term "relocation" had itself already become a euphemism for extermination.
One Holocaust myth would have us believe that the destruction of Jews had been so uniquely irrational that the Germans would rather sacrifice themselves than leave Jews alive. In actuality, the deportation of the Jews from the island of Rhodes never did challenge the Wehrmacht's transport needs (p. 268), and there wasn't even talk of German retreat at the time of the Rhodes Jews' deportation (pp. 269-270). Once it did occur, the Rhodes Jews' deportation was itself governed by economic considerations (p. 273).
The case for Aly's premise that the Holocaust can't be properly understood without the larceny behind it (p. 285) can be strengthened (see: INTO THAT DARKNESS). Treblinka Kommandant Franz Stangl rejected the presumed Nazi obsession with killing all Jews, citing the creation of "honorary Aryans". Stangl asserted that the Holocaust was actually motivated by financial gain. When confronted with the obvious fact that most Jews weren't wealthy, Stangl retorted with the comment that almost every Jew had some worthy possession that could be confiscated--and that the booty added up.
How the Nazis Made All Germans Complicit in the Holocaust.......2007-07-30
Why is it that there never developed an underground resistance in Germany during WW2? According to this well researched book by Gotz Aly, it was because the Nazis spent like drunken sailors to keep the average German fat and happy during the war. The Nazis understood (from what happened in Germany during WW1) that as long as people were happy on the home front, their Armies wouldn't have to worry about their families and could concen- trate on fighting. They also mad sure that those soldiers who were not directly in battle would have ample resources with which to buy luxury goods that they could then send home.
Using all types of creative accounting, they never had to raise the tax rate that most Germans had to pay, even during the war. They were conspicuous in raising the tax rates on the wealthy and creating a war profit tax on businesses making enormous profits from the war. It's hard not to make money when your help practically works for free (force labor) and you never intend to pay for the raw materials that you purchase (steal).
So where did all this money come from? Well first of all it came via the Wehrmacht who shipped home multiple packages filled with stolen jewelry and other like items. The Wehrmacht paid it's soldiers with money extorted from the occupied nations as well as paying them in local currency that was converted at ridiculous rates. With all the extra money they had, the Wehrmacht was able to buy up anything that wasn't nailed down and strip most of the occupied nations of goods paid for with money that was inflated on the German side of the equation.
The Ministry of Finance took great pains to collect (with the help of the Wehrmacht and local collaborators) and occupation tax that was then used to pay their soldiers. In other words the occupied nations paid to be subjugated by the Nazis. They also looted the treasuries of not only the occupied nations but also those of their allies. They shipped home as much food stuffs as possible without worrying about starving the people of the occupied territories, since they were to be eventually eliminated. Goering said that, 'if some one has to starve, there's not reason that that person has to be a German'.
Lastly, not only did the Nazis (with the help of the Wehrmacht and German social agencies like the Red Cross) steal/confiscate/rob those Jews who were sent to the gas chambers; they also gave away their real estate, businesses, furniture and even clothing to the German public. You won't complain about your government if after you are bombed out, they give you a new place to live, furniture, clothing and even bed linens that might even be better than what you had before. It also costs the government nothing if these items have been stolen from people it plans to kill.
Aly estimates that overall, the money that was extorted from the occupied territories and allies, as well as the revenues collected from the liquidation of six million jews, half a million gypsies (Romi) not to mention 'other' enemies of the German people; covered almost 50 percent of the costs of the war. These costs included the manufacture and production of war material (much of it done by forced slave labor) and the salaries of the Wehrmacht and associated armed forces. Germany never saw bond drives like they had in Britain and the US because of this pool of money that they were able to extort. The saddest part of the story is that many of the financial people who helped the Nazis organize this shell game to pay for the war; ended up working for the Federal Republic after the war.
Fascist capitalism.......2007-06-22
Until recently, histories of the Third Reich have focused on Hitler and anti-Semitic ideology. The Holocaust and Hitler's military adventures have been granted an enormous number of pages. A few historians have placed some emphasis on his incompetent dabbling in military strategy. That picture is overfocussed, and misleading. Goetz Aly addresses a wider scope in this fascinating study of how the Reich was able to perservere in the face of what should have been sufficient cause for its early demise. With extensive research applied to the Reich's economic practices, he ably demonstrates what kept it functioning and accepted by the German population.
The term "Nazi" means National Socialist Workers' Party. That seeming innocuous phrase has been omitted from the consideration of its meaning, according to Aly. "National" and "Socialist" are the key terms. "National", meant just that - policies were aimed at benefitting Germany. "Socialist", of course, is a philosophy designed to benefit the most people - particularly those of the lower economic classes. Aly argues with detailed evidence that this is precisely what the Nazis achieved during the 1930s and through the war years. That it succeeded right up to the end of the Reich is testimony to the effectiveness of the Nazi economic methods. The average German began, and remained the "beneficiary" of a highly manipulated financial system.
It was a complex system. Aly begins by explaining how the Nazi leaders were a group of youthful, dynamic characters. They represented change, particularly in a restructering of the class system. The deprived were to be granted first priority in social benefits. While the 1930s witnessed a slow improvement, the onset of war allowed sweeping economic and social change. This was accomplished primarily by shifting the burden of war costs to the occupied nations. France was the testing ground for many new fiscal techniques designed to maintain a comfortable lifestyle in Germany, while bleeding the local populace of essential goods by imposing "occupation costs". One technique was simply to issue a military scrip to buy local goods. Soldiers were able to ship home foodstuffs and other goods not readily obtainable in Germany. The method worked less well in Russia where the "scorched-earth" policy reduced available foodstuffs and other goods. By the time the Wehrmacht entered the Balkans, however, it had numerous finacial tactics available to apply there.
Throughout the Reich's conquered territories, it was the Jews who bore the greatest of these burdens. A number of new laws allowed financial institutions and tax collectors to fill their coffers. Heavily taxed, then dispossessed of belongings, savings, homes and, of course ultimately their lives, the Jews "contributed" to the Reich's ongoing success in several ways. Their homes and belongings were taken and sold, often to the refugees from Allied bombing campaigns. Resettlement in real homes and apartments, sometimes fully furnished, instead of being sent to refugee camps, maintained German morale. The technique provided the gloss of "successful" government policies. Instead of being swayed by charismatic leadership or effective propaganda, Aly argues successfully that personal comfort bound the populace to an adventuresome regime. As he describes it, the Holocaust will never be properly understood until it is seen "as a campaign of murderous larceny". This book makes a major contribution to that understanding. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Organized Theft from Occupied Lands and the Jews.......2007-03-29
Mr. Aly presents new and somewhat surprising view of the Nazi years and the effort that Hitler et al went through to keep the home crowds happy. His thesis is that Hitler provided 'guns and butter' through the systematic looting of the property of others including the jews and subsequently the occupied lands. He describes and documents that such looting was not just the looting of fine art from museums and factory equipment to the huge German companies but mundane, everyday items like hams and chairs. As Goring said in a speech on October 4, 1942, 'if someone has to go hungry, let it be someone other than a German.'
The book does not explain Hitler's support before 1933, and the book does not spend much time on happenings after February 2, 1943 (Stalingrad) and April 8, 1943 (Tunesia), nor of course on the last year of the war when the British and American bomber forces were finally getting it together.
The Nazi Robbers.......2007-03-16
Nobody will be surprised to learn that the Nazis robbed the Jews and other nations in Europe. But some of the detail will be new even to those who are well read in the voluminous literature on the Nazi period, and for that we must be grateful to the author. But it must also be said that he relied on the published work of others for some of the most interesting detail even in this narrow area.
Where the author is original is in his reading of the data of Nazi robbery. He argues that the German people benefited from the Nazi thievery, and, he says, for that reason (among others) they gave their enthusiastic support to the regime. He is careful not to dismiss other factors altogether, such as anti-Semitism, but he stresses the importance of the economic benefit to the population.
There are a number of problems with this thesis.
First, the evidence for happiness with economic conditions during the Hitler regime is totally anecdotal. The author has talked with members of his own family and other acquaintances, but there is no assurance that such haphazard interviewing has resulted in a representative picture. The same goes for his unsystematic reading of published memoirs by famous writers.
Is it simply common sense to assume that people are happy when they reap economic benefits? Not in the absence of other considerations. The German people, after all, underwent great hardship under the Nazi regime, especially in wartime. Aly does not mention that, from the point of view of material comfort, they had as many reasons to be unhappy with the Nazis as to be happy. Their taxes were low during the war, says Aly, because the Nazis robbed the Jews and the occupied countries to pay for the war. And low taxes make people happy. Even if your cities get bombed and your sons and husbands die on the battlefield? If, as Aly suggests, it is material benefits that motivate people above all else, the Germans might have been expected to oppose Hitler.
In my view, writers who have assigned greater weight to non-material motivating factors, such as the Nazi theology of anti-Semitism, have given more satisfactory answers to the puzzle of the Germans' wartime approbation of Hitler.
The Germans' happiness with the Nazis, moreover, began long before Jewish properties were expropriated. Why were the Nazis so popular in 1933, 1934, 1935 - before the program of looting was put into effect? On this point, Aly is totally ahistorical. His thesis is one of cause and effect - Nazi robberies having the effect of Nazi popularity. But what if the effect began before the putative cause?
To this reader at least, Aly's thesis lacks logic.
Amazon.com
Was IBM, "The Solutions Company," partly responsible for the Final Solution? That's the question raised by Edwin Black's IBM and the Holocaust, the most controversial book on the subject since Daniel Jonah Goldhagen's Hitler's Willing Executioners. Black, a son of Holocaust survivors, is less tendentiously simplistic than Goldhagen, but his thesis is no less provocative: he argues that IBM founder Thomas Watson deserved the Merit Cross (Germany's second-highest honor) awarded him by Hitler, his second-biggest customer on earth. "IBM, primarily through its German subsidiary, made Hitler's program of Jewish destruction a technologic mission the company pursued with chilling success," writes Black. "IBM had almost single-handedly brought modern warfare into the information age [and] virtually put the 'blitz' in the krieg."
The crucial technology was a precursor to the computer, the IBM Hollerith punch card machine, which Black glimpsed on exhibit at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, inspiring his five-year, top-secret book project. The Hollerith was used to tabulate and alphabetize census data. Black says the Hollerith and its punch card data ("hole 3 signified homosexual ... hole 8 designated a Jew") was indispensable in rounding up prisoners, keeping the trains fully packed and on time, tallying the deaths, and organizing the entire war effort. Hitler's regime was fantastically, suicidally chaotic; could IBM have been the cause of its sole competence: mass-murdering civilians? Better scholars than I must sift through and appraise Black's mountainous evidence, but clearly the assessment is overdue.
The moral argument turns on one question: How much did IBM New York know about IBM Germany's work, and when? Black documents a scary game of brinksmanship orchestrated by IBM chief Watson, who walked a fine line between enraging U.S. officials and infuriating Hitler. He shamefully delayed returning the Nazi medal until forced to--and when he did return it, the Nazis almost kicked IBM and its crucial machines out of Germany. (Hitler was prone to self-defeating decisions, as demonstrated in How Hitler Could Have Won World War II.)
Black has created a must-read work of history. But it's also a fascinating business book examining the colliding influences of personality, morality, and cold strategic calculation. --Tim Appelo
Book Description
IBM and the Holocaust is the stunning story of IBM's strategic alliance with Nazi Germany -- beginning in 1933 in the first weeks that Hitler came to power and continuing well into World War II. As the Third Reich embarked upon its plan of conquest and genocide, IBM and its subsidiaries helped create enabling technologies, step-by-step, from the identification and cataloging programs of the 1930s to the selections of the 1940s.
Only after Jews were identified -- a massive and complex task that Hitler wanted done immediately -- could they be targeted for efficient asset confiscation, ghettoization, deportation, enslaved labor, and, ultimately, annihilation. It was a cross-tabulation and organizational challenge so monumental, it called for a computer. Of course, in the 1930s no computer existed.
But IBM's Hollerith punch card technology did exist. Aided by the company's custom-designed and constantly updated Hollerith systems, Hitler was able to automate his persecution of the Jews. Historians have always been amazed at the speed and accuracy with which the Nazis were able to identify and locate European Jewry. Until now, the pieces of this puzzle have never been fully assembled. The fact is, IBM technology was used to organize nearly everything in Germany and then Nazi Europe, from the identification of the Jews in censuses, registrations, and ancestral tracing programs to the running of railroads and organizing of concentration camp slave labor.
IBM and its German subsidiary custom-designed complex solutions, one by one, anticipating the Reich's needs. They did not merely sell the machines and walk away. Instead, IBM leased these machines for high fees and became the sole source of the billions of punch cards Hitler needed.
IBM and the Holocaust takes you through the carefully crafted corporate collusion with the Third Reich, as well as the structured deniability of oral agreements, undated letters, and the Geneva intermediaries -- all undertaken as the newspapers blazed with accounts of persecution and destruction.
Just as compelling is the human drama of one of our century's greatest minds, IBM founder Thomas Watson, who cooperated with the Nazis for the sake of profit.
Only with IBM's technologic assistance was Hitler able to achieve the staggering numbers of the Holocaust. Edwin Black has now uncovered one of the last great mysteries of Germany's war against the Jews -- how did Hitler get the names?
Download Description
'IBM and the Holocaust is the stunning story of IBM's strategic alliance with Nazi Germany - beginning in 1933 in the first weeks that Hitler came to power and continuing well into World War II. As the Third Reich embarked upon its plan of conquest and genocide, IBM and it's subsidiaries helped create enabling technologies, step-by-step, from the identification and cataloging programs of the 1930s to the selections of the 1940s. IBM and the Holocaust takes you through the carefully crafted corporate collusion with the Third Reich, as well as the structured deniability of oral ageements, undated letters, and the Geneva intermediaries - all undertaken as the newspapers blazed with accounts of persecution and destruction. Just as compelling is the human drama of one of our century's greatest minds, IBM founder Thomas Watson, who cooperated with the Nazis for the sake of profit. Only with IBM's technologic assistance was Hitler able to achieve the staggering numbers of the Holocaust. Edwin Black has now uncovered one of the last great mysteries of Germany's war against the Jews - How did Hitler get the names?
Customer Reviews:
IBM and the Holocaust.......2006-12-08
I did not want to read this book.
My grandfather worked for International Time Recording (ITR) in Endicott, NY before IBM was formed and Mr. Watson came on board. My father's first job, at the age of seventeen, was caretaker of the Watson Homestead. My family has had a hand in virtually every product that issued from the IBM manufacturing effort since its inception in 1924. I have deep affection for the company my family labored to build.
I approached "IBM and the Holocaust" with a high degree of skepticism. The book sat on my nightstand for two months before I opened it. Finally picked it up for the sake of completing my 14-book IBM historical reading cycle.
This book is astounding. It is impeccably researched, artfully written, highly detailed, painstakingly documented, remarkably objective and thoroughly engaging.
"IBM and the Holocaust" has finally exposed the undeniable truth: IBM became the world's most powerful corporation largely because it assisted in identifying, cataloging and exterminating millions of innocent people for Hitler. The evil that lurks in IBM history was not exposed previously only because IBM management was smart enough and powerful enough to "hide its tracks" in Nuremburg. No investigator has ever dug deeper into IBM history than Edwin Black.
A close reading of the book makes it absolutely clear that Mr. Watson (IBM CEO) knew the exact purpose, goal and expected outcome of the IBM solution in Europe. The book details the fact that unlike previous IBM engagements for the Third Reich that were completed by Dehomag (IBM's German subsidiary), the engagement in Romania (1941) was conducted directly under the management of IBM New York. That engagement resulted in the swift identification, transportation and extermination of hundreds of thousands of innocent Jews. All in the name of "IBM."
As a result of reading "IBM and the Holocaust", I no longer view Mr. Watson as the glamorous benevolent industrial icon depicted in hollywoood newsreels. Though the affectionate "shop talk" tossed through the air when I was young still captures my imagination, Mr. Watson is no longer the focus of my unqualified admiration.
Watson, for me, now stands beside Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Mellon, Jeffrey Skilling, Kenneth Lay and all the other American Industrialists throughout history who had many fine qualities yet are outrageously flawed--so good yet so very, very bad.
This book is remarkable. Have since read "Internal Combustion", Banking on Baghdad" and "War Against the Weak."
Edwin Black is "the bomb."
If you have an interest in history, corporations, corruption, good, bad, evil or fine nonfiction; you will appreciate the works of Edwin Black.
NancyRae Kjelgaard
Tallahassee, FL
December 7, 2006
a tale of two maniacs.......2006-08-03
Once upon a time in America there was a tabulating company executive who had almost done time for illegal business practices. This executive believed that the only way that he could stay in business was by selling the best tabulating machines on the market, and mercilessly crushing his competitors. Unfortunately for humanity, this maniac was doing business in a country run by another maniac, who had come to power by fomenting ethnic hatred. Even as things went down the drain, and the persecution of the Jews and other minorities reached loathsome heights, the American business executive didn't want to terminate his activities in Germany, and was supportive enough of the Nazis to accept the highest medal the Nazis could give him.
Even worse, by the time the war was in full swing, and the Nazis began the Holocaust the maniac of which I write, Tom Watson of IBM, saw no need to terminate IBM's business relationships with the Nazi governments, and, provided irreplaceable services in organizing the Holocaust. In France, where a courageous IBM employee refused to cooperate, the Nazis were "only" able to murder 25% of the Jews. Where IBM cooperated, as in the Netherlands, rates of 75% resulted. Life isn't fair; the brave Frenchman who refused to cooperate died at Dachau, the company that gladly cooperated wasn't punished. The horror, the horror.
Edwin Black has done a superb job of documenting (most of) this horror story in indisputable detail. Nevertheless I suspect that he doesn't tell the entire story, particularly when he claims that nobody guessed what was going on. Anyone who understands just how indispensable IBM's punch card machines were to the Allies during the war, "our ability to organize wouldn't have been remotely near what it was without them" to paraphrase one mathematician involved, must have wondered how the Germans were able to coordinate the logistics of their Blitzkrieg. Anyone in the punch card industry would have known of IBM's presence in Germany.
All in all this is a great book illustrating the banality of evil.
This book is chilling, and is a "must read".......2006-04-21
Reading this book, and the knowledge that IBM had during WWII and the genocide of millins of humans puts a face on cooprorate greed and hate unjlike any of the comparisions given to Halliburton today. IBM aided Hitler in his termination of the Jews, and others, and it has never, to my knowledge owned up to this, nor have they done any actions to make changes in the way companies help with genocide. Great book, great writer.
An Extraordinary Work.......2006-03-18
As proud as I am to be an American, this thoroughly documented, utterly revealing book, has for the first time made me look at the extents to which U.S. corporate greed and the amorality of one man, Thomas J. Watson, chairman of IBM, will go to satisfy there lust for money and power.
It is hard to believe that it took from the early 30's to 2001 before anyone, anywhere, put it all together. How could an American icon of business turn out to be a war criminal and go on to preside over, and build on to, a company which most of us used to consider as a proud example of American business ingenuity and integrity.
A shocking, sickening, and gut wrenching account of the most vile group of humans ever assembled, the Germans of the Third Reich, and how they could not possibly have achieved the sheer numbers of murders during the holocaust, had it not been for day to day involvement, and complete knowledge, of IBM and Thomas J. Watson.
I highly recommend this book.
Painful but needs to be exposed.......2005-08-14
I recently finished reading your extremely interesting book "IBM and the Holocaust" and want to commend you for a thorough investigation of the subject. Several years ago I too had been to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and seen the exhibit of the Dehomag Hollerith machine and wondered what was the entire story. Now I know, and I no longer view IBM the same way as I once did. Thanks for a well researched and interesting, if depressing, examination of when corporate loyalty and profits are placed above human suffering and survival.
Book Description
A great historian crowns a lifetime of thought and research by answering a question that has haunted us for more than 50 years: How did one of the most industrially and culturally advanced nations in the world embark on and continue along the path leading to one of the most enormous criminal enterprises in history, the extermination of Europe's Jews?
Giving considerable emphasis to a wealth of new archival findings, Saul Friedlander restores the voices of Jews who, after the 1933 Nazi accession to power, were engulfed in an increasingly horrifying reality. We hear from the persecutors themselves: the leaders of the Nazi party, the members of the Protestant and Catholic hierarchies, the university elites, and the heads of the business community. Most telling of all, perhaps, are the testimonies of ordinary German citizens, who in the main acquiesced to increasing waves of dismissals, segregation, humiliation, impoverishment, expulsion, and violence.
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic!.......2005-04-09
This is a wonderful book albeit with few personal experiences of the victims but on the whole you will enjoy the book. The writer's grasp of English is exceptional and in fact taking this parameter alone you can enjoy the book and learn something new in word and sentence formations. Though at first glance it may look like one of those boring and dry books, which inhabit the shelves of libraries all over the book without being opened for many years to come. The book is excellent and shows the level of utter nadir reached by Nazis and German people while persecuting their own. Seems to have been a sort of a collective disease in which even a modicum of humanity or decency taken a permanent back seat. The author has presented the facts and names of very difficult and guttural German names with such ease that there is no confusion to the reader.
I wonder why Israelis have to have any kind of relationship with Germany or Poland. . I think Israeli children are not really taught history but some kitsch formulated to draw their minds away from the murderers of their grandfathers to Palestinians. I think Israelis pretend that the Palestinians are the Germans of 1930's and 1940's, hence the highly ambiguous stance and conflicting gestures. Though it must be remembered that Arabs briefly flirted with Nazis like the Great Indian Leader Subhash Chandra Bose who fought against British imperialism - who excelled in demonstrative racial discrimination that was religiously followed by Germans with such ardor. I support the bombarding of German cities and also of the London Blitz. No doubt such "innocent" darlings hugely deserved each other.
Great Work from A Great Historian.......2004-03-10
I've taken several seminars at UCLA with Saul Friedlander, and to say that he is an objective and very insightful historian is an understatement. This book is terrific and deserves all the critical praise that it has received. Even if you are just curious about the Holocaust, or you are a serious historian of the time period, you should definitely pick this book up.
Excellent Intro to Hitler's Germany.......2003-07-04
This book is an excellent book for anyone wanting to learn about the rise of Fascism in Germany. It is factual and yet easy to read. Anyone that wants to understand how Hitler got his power should read this. The author's bias is kept to a minimum.
What a shame.......2001-07-21
This is an outstanding history. It is measured, detailed and backed by meticulous research. It is by far the best of this genre
The shame is that the much anticipated sequel is now not planned for publication.
But half a classic is better than none
Intriguing Study Of Nazi Persecution of Jews 1933-1939.......2000-07-03
This first in a two volume work by acclaimed historian is a remarkably objectivean , comprehensive and scrupulously scholarly work and represents a very critical contribution to historians' efforts to comprehend just how and why one of the most civilized and sophisticated countries in Europe descended into the systematic attempt to exterminate the Jews. The book proceeds along a chronological axis in recounting the slow but inexorably tightening of restrictions on the Jewish population within Germany during the years of the mid to late 1930s.
While centering his account of what went wrong in Nazi Germany during the pre-war years, he also humanizes his narrative considerably by interspersing individual accounts of people caught confused and unaware of what was really occurring in the crucible of cultural change. As substantiated in other recent accounts such as Victor Klemperer's "I Shall Bear Witness", Jews were very slow to recognize just how malevolent and serious the national Socialists were about ridding Germany of its Jewish population and also nationalizing and "Aryanizing" their resources and assets.
It is important to note that the author does not overlay any overall interpretive spin of his own, intent more on presenting the best evidence of what was going on than in coming to any premature general interpretation of what the mass of evidence in total might mean. This is not to suggest he offers no interpretation; on the contrary, he offers a series of brilliant insights in various aspects of the evidence. But unlike other recent authors like Goldhagen, he makes no sweeping interpretative conclusions based on all of the evidence he presents. Also, one must remember that this is the first of two volumes, and one would expect that he intends to fully conclude his systematic and chronological presentation of all of the available evidence before engaging in that sort of interpretative analysis.
In sum, I find this work to be an excellent book that is engaging, well-written and argued, and a joy to read despite its tragic and dispiriting subject matter, and a book that offers an amazing look at a wide variety of different perspectives and social situations within the Third Reich as it descended into the abyss. After finishing this volume I immediately ordered the second volume, which is slated for formal publication release later this year. This is a work that belongs on the bookshelf of any serious student of the Holocaust.
Amazon.com
From 1946 to 1966, while serving the prison sentence handed down from the Nuremburg War Crimes tribunal, Albert Speer penned 1,200 manuscript pages of personal memoirs. Titled Erinnerungen ("Recollections") upon their 1969 publication in German, Speer's critically acclaimed personal history was translated into English and published one year later as Inside the Third Reich. Long after their initial publication, Speer's memoir continues to provide one of the most detailed and fascinating portrayals of life within Hitler's inner circles, the rise and fall of the third German empire, and of Hitler himself.
Speer chronicles his entire life, but the majority of Inside the Third Reich focuses on the years between 1933 and 1945, when Speer figured prominently in Hitler's government and the German war effort as Inspector General of Buildings for the Renovation of the Federal Capital and later as Minister of Arms and Munitions. Speer's recollections of both duties foreground the impossibility of reconciling Hitler's idealistic, imperialistic ambitions with both architectural and military reality. Throughout, Inside the Third Reich remains true to its author's intentions. With compelling insight, Speer reveals many of the "premises which almost inevitably led to the disasters" of the Third Reich as well as "what comes from one man's holding unrestricted power in his hands." -- Bertina Loeffler
Book Description
The author was a personal friend of Adolf Hitler for 12 years until he turned against him. This is an inside account of The Third Reich and the man who invented it.
Customer Reviews:
Get it From the Horse's Mouth.......2007-10-09
Forget about the other books on Speer and Hitler. Get it from the horse's mouth and make your own judgement. Besides, this is such a fascinating book beautifully written, it's highly recommended and a valuable acquisition to anyone or any library.
fascinating memoire by one of Hitler's sycophants turned adversary.......2007-07-26
This is a truly great book, by a man who was one of Hitler's most intimate associates for the entire duration of one of the most evil regimes in the history of mankind. As a deeply personal memoire, it is also a testament to human dignity that is written in a wonderful and highly literary style. I was utterly rivetted by the story and learned invaluable lessons about Hitler himself, viewed as a human being and not merely the monster that he certainly was.
The book starts with Speer as a young man, deeply frustrated by his lack of career prospects as a fledgling architect. While not necessarily original or brilliant, he was highly disciplined and cultured, from the upper middle class. Thus, you see him drawn to Hitler's magnetism, an inexplicable attraction that proved irresistable to this ambitious youth. As such, I do not believe we should so facilely judge him. He came to believe that Hitler was a great leader, capable of leading the nation to great things from the chaos of the inter-war years. So, he began to associate himself with the party. As a frustrated architect himself, Hitler viewed Speer with unusual and personal favor. And so bgean a remarkable career that ended when Speer was only 40, thus his prime youth.
Slowly, Speer worked his way into Hitler's intimate entourage, spending many hours going over megalomaniacal plans for fascist buildings and even entire city plans. Everything they did had to be bigger than anything ever done, either in Rome or the US, to reflect the "glory" of the regime. This is the first third of the book and in many ways is the most revealing and fascinating. From the start, he was struck at the crudeness of the culture of Hitler's inner circle, as they gathered around him and formed a kind of court to flatter the dictator's vanity and curry favor and power. Speer held himself aloof from much of this, but also found the power and prestige irrestible. He was seduced and in psychological thrall, which essentially lasted until Hitler's death.
What was most surprising to me was how little Hitler and the others actually worked prior to the War: what they spent most of their time doing was projecting their fantasies into the minds of Germans via spectacular architecture, propanganda gestures, and aggressive though bloodless diplomacy. It was a unique combination of mass-media technology and parochial isolation that is impossible to imagine today. To a certain extent, you feel you get to know all of Hitler's entourage, from Goebbels, Goering, and Hess to lesser figures like Eva Brown, Borman and Himmler. The portraits are complex and invaluable.
During this time, Speer claims, he had many intimations of the doom and destruction that were to follow, often from solemn pronouncements by Hitler that his gamble might leave him as one of the great villains of history - if he failed. Speer even developed a theory of how to construct buildings that would decay "well" - to reflect the power of the regime for all ages, as does the Roman Colosseum or Hadrian's dome - in spite of their modern technological requirements for higher maintenance than earlier stone-based monuments.
Then, with the war and his appointment as Armaments Minister, we witness Speer's complete corruption. It is here that he becomes the ultimate technocrat, enabling the regime to carry out its violence and destruction by any means possible, from technological wizardry to slave labor. Most fascinatingly, Speer dissects his own psychology: he chose to ignore his conscience, walling off his mind to the attrocities around him and continuing to believe in Hitler's genius and will as providential and even perhaps divine. He also reveals himself as a naif, believing that the right technical arguments should win the day rather than politics. Speer nonetheless describes himself as a seasoned political in-fighter, often basing his strong position on his access to Hitler; there were times that this endangered him, as when Himmler's doctor may have been attepting to assasinate or at least allow him to grow mortally ill by "misdiagnosis."
Once the war begins to go badly, Speer gets even closer to Hitler with detailed explanations of the working of totalitarian governmental machinery. Starting out with near-dictatorial powers (as the 2nd most powerful man in the regime for a time), Speer witnesses how his dependence on Hitler's approval dooms him to the sidelines as the Nazi party apparatus gains power, in large part to protect Hitler from the seeing realities of the war losses. Moreover, he depicts the limits of Hitler's vision, stuck as it was in his WWI experience and the mediocrity of his technical imagination. Thus, Speer catalogues his increasingly catastrophic decisions, from fundaamental strategic blunders like attacking the USSR to tactical ones, such as his insistence that the first jet aircraft should serve as bombers rather than defensive fighters. This is fascinating political science, showing both the strengths of the regime - Hitler in his amateurishness could surprise enemies with audacious and unorthodox tactics supported by new technologies, hence the Blitzkrieg - to the dangers of over-centralization as Hitler proved unable to delegate even the most mundane details. From efficiency of the Nazi killing machine, you witness its decline into incompetence, with the costs in German lives rising with stupid decisions. Speer also addresses many questions, such as the extent of the regime's pursuit of a nuclear weapon and other high tech secret weapons. It is singularly illuminating.
Speer also chronicles how he began to fight Hitler, particularly after he ordered a scorched earth policy for inside of Germany, which would have destroyed its industrial base. Here Speer acts the hero, attempting to preserve factories and bridges as all order crumbles around them. In a startling transformation of loyalty that Speer cannot completely renounce, he recognises Hitler as a man devoid of human emotion and empathy, a kind of sociopathic murderer like those around him, though Speer exempts himself from these crimes in his deepest heart. This is a story of psychological deterioration and the acceptance of death as the only way out. While he fails to fully explain or comprehend Hitler, perhaps we never will; at any rate, Speer avoids simplitic psychological labels.
Finally, there is the Nuremberg trial, in which Speer claims he was truthful and accepted his guilt. While the reader must remain suspicious of Speer's persona here - it appeared nakedly self-seving to me, yet with an honest voice of remorse - he makes a good case for Germany's new course and the end of the Hitler myth.
All in all, this is one of the best hostoricl memoires I ever read. Warmly recommended.
Best Nazi CYA Autobiography........2006-09-15
You have to read this ,cum grano salis.Less than 100% is the complete truth.Why didn't the luft-mensch ,Rudolf Hess,write his own version of events? Hess' political blindness spoke louder than words.Out of sympathy ,the Brits (largely) spared Hess' life.It would have been among the top-ten WW11 books,til the end times.Dead men don't speak,and Albert Speer seized his only opportunity to save face.Speer was anothor brillant German figure,who got mixed into the Nazi vortex,and had his talents misdirected.So,when you read this interesting "Kriegzeit-Selbstschift",you have to look at Speer's readership.Take off the rose-coloured specks,and remember ,hindsight is always 20/20 and capable of revisionism.
"My sanitized memories".......2006-04-18
"My sanitized memories"
As Lieutenant Colonel Otto Skorzeny wrote on his own memories, after the war it was a very good idea to announce that you had been a dissident and an opponent against the regime of Adolf Hitler, and that maybe, Alber Speer was forced to write down those passages where he mentioned his plot to gas(!) the bunker of Hitler. Skorzeny expressed his derision and disbelief because he knew Speer and the impression he got, from Speer, was that of a commited man and of one who believed in the Third Reich and who was loyal to Hitler too.
Apart from the the written above this book is an execelent account of the war from the Nazi point of view and I highly recommend it.
a little dry.......2006-02-10
I'll be up front and say I never finished this book. I have about 70 reviews here and this is the only one on a book I never finished. It wasn't that it was terrible or lacking in information, it's just that it was so, so boring and superficial. All the encounters with Hitler had all the emotion of checking out a book from the library. The behind the scenes may have come later, but by a third of the way through I wasn't going to wait around to find out. Plus it was hard to overcome the feeling that there was no way this wasn't going to be a self-serving attempt by the author to restore his public image. Again, I didn't finish, so take my review for what it's worth, but it's rare that I read that far on a book and then find it so dull I lose all interest.
Book Description
"Here is the story of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin during which the German Nazi Party attempted to turn the Games into a propaganda vehicle for its own political agenda. This fascinating book, based on an exhibit mounted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, tells the story of those infamous Olympics. Profiled are the organizers, the politicians, and most important, the athletes: those who boycotted the games, those who were banned from participating, and those who competed. All these riveting tales are vividly recounted by Susan Bachrach, author of Tell Them We Remember. Using intriguing sidebars and evocative photographs, she brings this iconic event to life in a book that not only will be read avidly this summer as the 2000 Olympic Games take place, but also for years to come."
Customer Reviews:
Nazi Olymics.......2003-11-26
The book I read on the Holocaust was called The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936 by Susan D. Bachrach. This book is about the Olympics held by the Nazis. In this book, it tells about the steps Nazis took to hold the Olympics. It also tells you where exactly the Olympics were held. This book is not a book that actually tells a story, it is a factual book that tells facts and gives you images to describe the facts. Adolf Hitler was head of Germany's Government. In 1931, Berlin was chosen as the site of the 1936 Summer Games. After World War I, Hitler and the Nazi promised a "new Germany" that would give to those many Germans who were fearful to the future. Soon Germany was turned into a police state for "Aryans only". As the year of 1936 came closer and closer with the Olympics, people questioned whether the Olympics should be held in a country whose ideology ran counter to the ideals that inspired to the Games. Many participants questioned the same thing.
Absolutely wonderful!.......2002-05-27
This large and attractive book tells the story of the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin. Many Americans have heard of them, though their knowledge is limited to the fact that Jesse Owens, an African-American, won four gold medals, humiliating Adolf Hitler. This book tells the story of those Olympics from the choice of venue in 1931, through the rise of Hitler and National Socialism, the Nazi racial policies, the movement to boycott the games, the Olympics themselves, and finally on to the aftermath of the games and the Holocaust. Following the texts are some wonderful appendices on the chronology of the games, statistics on the 1896-1936 Olympics, and a list of nations participating in the 1936 Olympics. But don't stop there! After the index is collection of in-color reproductions of posters and artwork connected with the 1936 Olympics.
This book is absolutely wonderful! It covers everything you ever wanted to know about the 1936 Olympics, and even quite a few things you never would have thought to ask. Although this book is placed under Ages 9-12 category, it is very informative, and a must-read for anyone who wants to understand those games. I highly recommend this book!
High quality writing, graphics and layout.......2001-06-24
The most striking feature about The Nazi Olypmics is the layout. Photos from the Library of Congress, National Holocaust museum, and a variety of personal and corporate collections are nicely arranged. The illustrations emphasize that Nazi propaganda convinced participating countries that the 1936 Olympic Games were going to adhere to the Olympic code and be inclusive of all peoples and faiths. Magazine covers, newspaper headlines, political cartoons, and pictures of segregated Nazi and Jewish sports clubs reinforce the point that Nazi ideology was (and still is) directly opposite the Olympic code, in spite of Hilter's assurances to the contrary.
Occasionally, the graphics take over and result in a two page spread of captioned photos that detract from the text but in most cases, the captions are brief or enclosed in a separate boxed section of information. The writing is clear, but the subject matter is recommended for grades 6 and up. Rachbach places the Olympics in perspective of the political upheaval and the Nazi dictatorship that ensued, rather than relating just a history of the Olympics, or a rundown on record breakers and medallists (these details are included, but always admirably within the historical context).
Rachbach not only focuses on the prejudice in Germany; she also informs the reader of the racism against African-Americans and anti-Semitism on the homefront. The coverage of boycotts (both potential and realized) of athletes and countries is excellent. The author notes the positives that came out of the Olympic games, such as the new record set by Jesse Owens, and the quality of the athletic facilities in Berlin.
Two appendices include a list of locations of the summer games from 1896-1936, and a list of participating countries in the 1936 Berlin games. The chronology, index, and suggestions for further reading were excellent. Although published to capture the audience of the 2000 Games, the 1936 Games are an interesting topic and will be a good resource for students studying the Holocaust who want to go beyond concentration camps and battles, or a tool for teaching about anti-Semitism and other prejudices.
Amazon.com
When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Victor Klemperer (1881-1960), honored as a frontline veteran of World War I, was a distinguished professor at the University of Dresden. A scant few months later he was merely a Jew, protected from deportation to a death camp only by his marriage to an Aryan. He suffered every other indignity to which German Jews were subjected, from losing his job to having his driver's license revoked to being denied permission to own a pet, and all are recorded with bitter clarity in his diary entries, which cover the years 1933 to 1941. (A second volume continuing through 1945 will be published in English in 1999.) The German edition of this book caused a sensation when it was published in 1995, and it's easy to see why: the relentless, quotidian nature of Nazi racism comes through forcefully in Klemperer's litany of daily humiliations and insults, a painful chronicle of situations in which readers can readily imagine themselves. Like Anne Frank, but with a more adult understanding of political fanaticism and human weakness, he makes the abstract horror of genocidal persecution very intimate, very personal, and very real. --Wendy Smith
Book Description
The publication of Victor Klemperer's secret diaries brings to light one of the most extraordinary documents of the Nazi period. "In its cool, lucid style and power of observation," said The New York Times, "it is the best written, most evocative, most observant record of daily life in the Third Reich." I Will Bear Witness is a work of literature as well as a revelation of the day-by-day horror of the Nazi years.
A Dresden Jew, a veteran of World War I, a man of letters and historian of great sophistication, Klemperer recognized the danger of Hitler as early as 1933. His diaries, written in secrecy, provide a vivid account of everyday life in Hitler's Germany.
What makes this book so remarkable, aside from its literary distinction, is Klemperer's preoccupation with the thoughts and actions of ordinary Germans: Berger the greengrocer, who was given Klemperer's house ("anti-Hitlerist, but of course pleased at the good exchange"), the fishmonger, the baker, the much-visited dentist. All offer their thoughts and theories on the progress of the war: Will England hold out? Who listens to Goebbels? How much longer will it last?
This symphony of voices is ordered by the brilliant, grumbling Klemperer, struggling to complete his work on eighteenth-century France while documenting the ever- tightening Nazi grip. He loses first his professorship and then his car, his phone, his house, even his typewriter, and is forced to move into a Jews' House (the last step before the camps), put his cat to death (Jews may not own pets), and suffer countless other indignities.
Despite the danger his diaries would pose if discovered, Klemperer sees it as his duty to record events. "I continue to write," he notes in 1941 after a terrifying run-in with the police. "This is my heroics. I want to bear witness, precise witness, until the very end." When a neighbor remarks that, in his isolation, Klemperer will not be able to cover the main events of the war, he writes: "It's not the big things that are important, but the everyday life of tyranny, which may be forgotten. A thousand mosquito bites are worse than a blow on the head. I observe, I note, the mosquito bites."
This book covers the years from 1933 to 1941. Volume Two, from 1941 to 1945, will be published in 1999.
Customer Reviews:
A must read memoir.......2007-07-08
This is a great memoir that any history buff or historian or anyone should read. It ranks right up there with Anne Frank's diary. It offers a unique view since Mr. Klemperer was married to a German woman during the Holocaust. It is this unique view on the Holocaust that makes this memoir so good.
Fascinating Account of pre-WWII life in Germany.......2007-02-01
Victor Klemperer's diary of pre war Germany provides fascinating insight into what life was like for ordinary citizens in Germany. Interspersed with the mundane aspects of life, e.g., shopping, driving, going to the dentist, etc. are ever increasing examples of the insanity that was Nazi Germany. It was a little difficult to get into, but it soon became a page tuner. The later years are particularly interesting. I couldn't put it down.
Excellent Source for insight on Nazi Germany.......2007-01-10
This Diary was an excellent read for many reasons. It was a good primary source for information on Nazi Germany and at the same time was compelling and extremely interesting. The keeper of this diary was also a great author which makes this diary very easy to read as if it were a memoir. His story is great and it was extremely fun to see historical events through his eyes. Through his diary the reader has the ability to get a feel of what everyday people thought of the Nazis and what their true feelings were toward the National Socialist party. If you do not know a lot about German/Nazi history I would reccomend a refresher course somehow. I read this diary while taking a class on the topic of Nazi Germany and it was extremely interesting for me.
Harrowing reading.......2006-10-28
Anybody who wants to know what it was like to be a Jew under the Nazi regime should read this book and the second volume of Klemperer's diaries.
First the bestiality and the stupidity of the Nazis are shown with a simplicity and an absence of hatred that make them more disgusting. Then the courage, the resilience and the determination of this humble Professor are a lesson of courage, modesty and survival for all. One of the books that left upon me the most lasting impression, hesitating between the joy of the "happy end" and the depression about what I read. These two books should be made compulsory reading in any serious history studies...And no serious historian should avoid to read those two books.
A powerful and uplifting account of life under the Nazis.......2006-10-10
I have read many books on the history of Europe and World War 2, but for the most part they cover the big picture - the major events and key participants. Victor Klemperer's diaries ("I Will Bear Witness") describe how people like himself were tossed about by the arbitrary power of the Nazis. This record of his personal experiences from 1933 to 1945 makes the history come vividly alive in all its horror and sadness.
Through the diaries we see the inexorable erosion of his rights (and the rights of all Jews) and the tyrannies of arbitrary power. Klemperer was forced to give up his car, he was forbidden to use the library, he could not have a phone, his typewriter was confiscated, and Jews had to hand in keys to their trunks.
Each day seemed to bring another "small" persecution, another wearing down of the spirit - except that Klemperer did not succumb, although he often despairs of surviving. He read almost every day and made notes on literary works he planned to write some day - if he survived. He bore witness by recording his actual experiences of tyranny.
Klemperer describes the exercise of raw power, cloaked in the trappings of Nazi law. Any official could do pretty much as he pleased with any Jew. It is almost impossible for those of us living in countries that respect the rule of law, and in which we can assert our rights, to truly feel the powerlessness, fear and humiliation that Klemperer felt almost every day under the Nazis. The Gestapo seem to select victims almost at random, but every persecution is handled with legal punctiliousness.
Reading the diaries today and knowing the history of Germany and the Jews, we are struck by the fact that Klemperer did not flee the country in good time like so many other Jews - and other members of his own family. But at the time, the future was unknown and there were always reasons for him to stay: Lack of money. He was almost 60 and would have felt reluctant, if not unable, to start a new life and earn money in another country. His wife was often sick and clung desperately to her new house. Our lives bind us to place. "Blut and Boden" (blood and soil) as the Nazis put it.
He was a reflective academic, unused until the war started to the rough and tumble of survival. Although the final entries in his diary after the bombing of Dresden show a remarkable feat of endurance in his and Eva's homeless wanderings to seek sanctuary.
The early part of the diary tells of his struggle to get a loan and to build a house. "Don't do it!" I cry silently. Don't you know a terrible war is coming and that the Jews will be rounded up? Don't you know you will be herded into a ghetto? Don't you know that Dresden will be fire-bombed (his new house is made of wood)?
But how could he know? We see the future as a continuation of the past. We cannot know for certain what events of today will have catastrophic consequences in the future. For Klemperer, things got slowly worse over time, each change bearable (if only just) - like boiling a frog. There was no sudden cataclysm that would have prompted even the most timid to flee - until too late.
Today we see small erosions of liberty, justified by the War on Terrorism: secret monitoring of the phone calls of "suspects" is OK, the Geneva Convention does not apply to Guantanamo Bay and "coercion" of prisoners is not torture. The end justifies the means, we are told - although not in such truthful terms. We think that none of these arbitrary exercises of power apply to us. But where will they lead? We do not know. But the experiences of Klemperer under the Nazis show where they have led in the past.
The diary is essentially as Klemperer wrote it - there has been no post facto editing to make it more literary or historically apt. The result is powerful and horrifying to the reader who is like some Olympian God watching Klemperer struggle, knowing the trials to come and the futility of his struggles.
His hopes, fears and vulnerabilities are laid before us, without any editing to remove the embarrassing entries - or other entries that lesser writers would have preferred not to see the light of day, such as his furtive theft of a spoonful of jam in the Jews House in Dresden. This honesty makes the diaries such a powerful and compelling statement.
But despite the ever-present threat of arrest and "evacuation" to Poland, from which no one ever returns and about which only the sketchiest rumours are known, Klemperer finds courage to enjoy the new flowers of spring, the beauty of fresh snow on tree branches, and the pleasures of visiting his friends and fellow victims.
One of the most poignant entries in the diary is for August 1, 1943. He had received an order to come to Gestapo HQ for "questioning". By that stage of the war, virtually no Jew returned from such questioning. Their families were notified that the person was deported and "shot while trying to escape". Some "committed suicide" in the cells before then. With the words "Perhaps this is my last entry", Klemperer records his feelings and his love for his wife Eva.
Every thinking person who is worried about the state of the world today should read this book. In the struggle against terrorism we see governments in liberal democracies encroaching on our liberties, condoning torture, telling lies - all in the name of a greater good, the War on Terror. This is no different in principle to the way Nazis, and all other totalitarian regimes, justified their actions and sought to hide the truth. The propaganda is exactly the same.
Of course the liberal democracies are unlikely to round up people suspected as enemies, put them in concentration camps and torture them - or are they?
We must never take our liberties for granted, nor accept that the end (in the war on terror) justifies the means. Klemperer's diaries are a powerful reminder of where that can lead.
Book Description
Examining the role of the Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest commercial bank, in the Nazi dictatorship, Harold James asks how the bank accommodated itself to a transition from democracy and a market economy to dictatorship and a planned economy. How did the new Zeitgeist influence the bank? What opportunities for profit did it see in the National Socialist route out of the Great Depression? What role did anti-Semitism play in the bank's business relations and its dealing with employees? How was the bank connected to Auschwitz?
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The Royal Navy and Nazi Germany, 1933-39: A Study in Appeasement and the Origins of the Second World War (Studies in Military & Strategic History)
Joseph A. Maiolo
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0312214561 |
Book Description
This book is an original study of the Royal Navy's response to the rise of the German navy under Hitler within the context of the ongoing debate about Anglo-German relations and the origins of the Second World War. Drawing on wide range of sources, the author casts new light on the diplomacy leading to the Anglo-German Naval Agreements of June 1935 and July 1937, and explores the crucial connections between naval intelligence, war planning and Admiralty policy. The author suggests that the Admiralty's response to the Nazi menace was far more rational and more complex than previous studies suggest.
Customer Reviews:
A superior book.......2007-06-12
Joe Maiolo really got the ball rolling with this book. Andrew Gordon's 1988 book on Rearmament and the Admiralty was a cry in the wilderness. Maiolo's very good book began a process of reevaluation of 1930s British defense policy that is still in motion. My only real criticism of the book is its less than stellar organization and prose style. Paragraphs are occasionally dull and sentences unclear. But this book is a treasure-trove of important information and interpretations.
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