Customer Reviews

Encyclopedia of the Third Reich

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Anyone interested in Nazi Germany and want to be well-armed in knowledge of that era can look no further than Louis L. Snyder's Encyclopedia of the Third Reich. Major entries are very detailed. Most of them are two to three pages, such as Goebbels, Goering, Hess and the Hess flight together, the July Plot, and the Katyn Massacre. Hitler himself takes up ten full pages, if that's any indication of the detail of the entries. Considering how the book is 388 pages minus bibliography and the number of entries, that isn't too bad.

Apart from Hitler and friends, there are also events and people of the Weimar Republic, such as Paul von Hindenburg, who named Hitler chancellor, as well as Hitler's predecessors, such as Heinrich Bruning, Franz von Papen, and Kurt von Schleicher. After all, Weimar's downfall caused Hitler's rise.

There are also organizational charts throughout, such as the Hierarchy of the NSDAP and the ranks in the Third Reich. This latter entry lists the army ranks of the German Army, and the equivalent ranking in the SS, NSDAP, German Police, and United States Army. For example, a general in the German Army has a rank equal to an SS-Obergruppenfuehrer, a NSDAP Gauleiter, the General der Polizei in the German Police, and a General in the US Army. Tables are also included, such as the list of Gaus (districts) under the third reich and the Gauleiter in charge.

Key conferences and attendees include the Rastenburg Conference, where Hitler and his military advisors were on 20 July 1944, which is the day of the bomb plot, and the Wannsee Conference, where Reinhard Heydrich chaired a meeting detailing the Endlosung or Final Solution.

Many entries are concepts in the original German. So for the entry Night and Fog Decree, it will say See Nacht- Und Nebel Erlass, where the data will be.

Acronyms usual have See the full name. E.g. NSAG. See Nationalsozialistische Arbeitgemeinschaft. Looking up that entry, one will find it's English for National Socialist Working Association. Damn, those Nazis really liked long words, didn't they?

Trial results include that of the Frankfurt Trial, for the chief SS officers at Auschwitz, the Doctor's Trial, for those doctors who experimented on prisoners of war, and of course, the Nuremberg Trials. Each has the defendant, DOB or age, position, verdict and punishment.

As for actual documents, there are Hitler's Last Will and Political Testament. There are also general essays on art, architecture, film and theatre (especially Triumph Of The Will, which has an entry all its own), music, and education. Other things of interest: the lyrics and translation of the Horst Wessel anthem and "Lili Marlene."

At the beginning, there is a chronology of key dates in history, with the exact day. Under 1933, there is an entry January 30. Appointment of Hitler as Chancellor.

I have the 1989 edition, so Albert Speer and Rudolf Hess had died, but according to the book, they are still alive. Why the lack of corrections, especially when the discovery of bones in Brazil in 1985 presumably of Josef Mengele, is listed in the entry for Josef Mengele? Still, a minor quibble in this extremely invaluable reference work on a very infamous period in history.

Any student of the Third Reich will have a definite advantage over others with this book.

This book serves as a good tool for quick reference, but falls short when it comes to details. Due to the great number of subjects and people covered in this mini "encyclopedia", the descriptions are superficial and lacking in depth.
I also found that quite a few important figures of the time were missing, whereas less important ones were abundant.
The book, if done properly, would have been at least twice its current size and a far more accurate tool of reference. Still, good intentions, right?

This book covers most of the important people, events and ideas behind the Third Reich. As with any good encylopedia, it is fairly comprehensive. Most listings are easy to find, although Snyder refers to German names more often than English ones. I found one minor fault with this book, at least in the 1993 edition. Snyder frequently lists dead people as still living. In a few cases, individuals may have passed since publication, but not usually. Albert Speer, for instance, is listed as still living, even though he died in 1981! I know this is true of many others ( some were born in the 19th century). But this is a small flaw in an otherwise fine book.

This is an informative resource of Nazi Germany. Many people who wouldn't normally be included in such encyclopedias are here, such as Lieut.-General Walther Wever and Goering's first wife. It also includes philosophers who lived before the formation of the Nazi party that influenced the Nazi ideology including Paul Anton de Legarde and Joseph Arthur Comte de Gobineau.

Yet another fascinating aspect of the book is that includes many victims of the Nazi regime, such as Walter Gempp, the chief of the Fire Brigade of Berlin.

Overall, the variety and detail of this book is stunning, and I would recommend it for any student of World War II or Third Reich history.

I have been reading about the Third Reich over the last several years and had been wanting a resource that would give me some insight on various characters / events as I came across them. This volume helped. I would have preferred that the pictures were better.

The book is presented much like a A-Z dictionary with a focus on the people and personalities of the Nazi Party and Nazi Germany. This book first came out in 1976 and it shows. It has never been updated as far as newer information (from newer books and materials as reference) as to people listed; and still lists certain people as living who have long since died.

There are also errors that have never been corrected. Such as stating: Jochen Peiper was a SS-Sturmbannfuhrer (Major) instead of the fact he obtained the rank of SS-Standartenführer (Colonel). And stating that Schellenberg was the "number 2 man in the GESTAPO after Himmler". This is complete error. Heydrich was appointed head of the GESTAPO in 1934. By 1936, Müller was it's chief of operations and thereby the "number 2 man" under Heydrich (who reported only to Himmler, head of the SS). In September 1939, when the Gestapo and other police organizations were consolidated under Heydrich into the RSHA, Müller was made chief of RSHA "Department 4": the Gestapo. Further, it is surprising that certain people are missing, such as: General Reinhard Gehlen, Chief of intelligence for Foreign Armies East (who after the war was head of West German intelligence and worked closely with the CIA).

With that said, the book still has a lot of information as to the Third Reich but should be read with the caveat that many of it's sources are now dated and some not correct.