Customer Reviews

The Field Men: The SS Officers Who Led the Einsatzkommandos - the Nazi Mobile Killing Units (Schiffer Military History)

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I'm a little surprised that a review of this excellent book has not been written sooner. French McLean has once again proven his ability to conduct archival research and translate it into a creative and effective reference tool for serious historians. I highly recommend this book--it is a jolt to the senses to see how mainly ordinary bureaucrats could be lured by the "system" into committing the massive-scale murders that they did. This is probably the first book of its kind to present that depth of insight into Heydrich's SD. Well done, French.

Consisting of a long section presenting (very abridged) cv's, and a photo section, the photos are what makes the tome valuable. These pictures aren't to be found elsewhere, and for those who are fond of reading facial features, they make for a very interesting journey into the heinous world of everyday neighbors turned mass murderers. The leaders of the Einsatzgruppen in particular were a crowd of often accomplished lawyers conversant in several languages, so their voyage into the abyss is all the more disturbing.

Not a few of the likenesses shown in this volume might have blended in at any Ivy League law school. Also, note a faint resemblance of one of the most bloodthirsty Einsatzgruppen leaders standing trial in Nuremberg, Paul Blobel, to the Unabomber. (Blobel having been the person who, driving with Albert Speer to Blobel's quarters near Kiev one night in 1941, passed through the Babiy Yar valley. According to Speer, the car headlights illuminated the earth erupting with eerie fog plumes the way the Yellowstone Park earth erupts. Blobel turned to Speer and remarked: "Here, my 30.000 Jews are resting.")

As more information related to the persons shown is to be found on the internet at a mouse's stroke, the cv section is basically just a starter, and could well have been done away with.