Murderous Intellectuals: German Elites and the Nazi SS [Paperback]

Jonathan Maxwell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 2009

Searching for a sense of understanding and a hope for future prevention, Jonathan Maxwell explores the different officials of the Holocaust, giving an extensive background of each. He investigates mental defects, childhood occurrences, and family situations of these horrific leaders and identifies the desk murderers (those who did not directly kill, but gave orders to kill). In this concentrated look at the events that took place, Maxwell attempts to identify the key causes of the mass murders in an effort to prevent future Holocausts.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Jonathan Maxwell s compellingly readable book takes the reader inside Nazi Germany on many different levels. The book provides a portrait of a people and a country in continuous flux, from the events that led to Hitler s popularity, to the Hitler Youth movement, to the embrace of national socialism, to Hitler s warped inner circle. A fine piece of work, Maxwell s book will appeal to general readers interested in the inherent drama of Hitler s unnerving rise to power and his subsequent apocalyptic fall. --Jean Sasson, New York Times bestselling author

Product Details

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: American Book Publishing (November 2, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1589825632
• ISBN-13: 978-1589825635
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,343,003 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jonathan Maxwell is a Georgia-based author, editor, and critic. Murderous Intellectuals: German Elites and the Nazi SS, is his first book. The work explores why so many well-educated professionals willingly joined the Nazi SS, the notorious group that spearheaded the Holocaust. Murderous Intellectuals: German Elites and the Nazi SS received the 2011 Allbooks Review Editor's Choice Award in the Category of Best Non/fiction Book. In addition, Author Exposure rated the work as being one of the "20 Most Memorable Debut Books of 2010."

His second book, Piltdown Man and Other Hoaxes, will be released in early 2012 and is a lighthearted examination of scientific frauds through history, such as the Missing Link Hoax and the Minnesota Iceman Hoax.

Maxwell holds a BA in English from Berry College, along with a psychology minor. In addition, he possesses a Paralegal Certificate. He is currently in the Master's of English program at Jacksonville State University in Alabama. Aside from reading and writing, the author enjoys cinema, dining-out, cycling, and going to the beach.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All Nazis Weren't Thugs, So Why Did the Unthinkable Happen?, November 3, 2009

By 

Douglas R. Cobb (Fort Smith, AR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Murderous Intellectuals: German Elites and the Nazi SS (Paperback)

What drove the Nazis to embark on one of the cruelest mass murder sprees in history, the Holocaust? Also, what caused even the most brilliant of the Germans, some of the country's most renowned intellects, and many people in it upper classes - the German elite - to go along with Hitler's mad plans of genocide, and to sometimes fanatically embrace them as their own? These are the questions that author Jonathan Maxwell tries to answer in his excellent and very well researched book, Murderous Intellectuals: German Elites and the Nazi SS.

Though it's difficult for any one book to fully attempt to explain such a complicated topic, Maxwell's book does a pretty good job of highlighting many of the reasons that may have been behind why many of Germany's intellectuals and elites went along with and participated in the Holocaust. It's a very good book I'd recommend to anyone who likes to read about history and who has always wondered what could have caused an entire nation to seem to have fallen under Hitler's spell.

I won't go into great detail about the book - I don't want to spoil the enjoyment of reading it for others - but I'll touch on some of the reasons the author mentions which others have come up with over the years as possible explanations for Germany's elites and intellectuals, by and large, to become Nazis and support Hitler, Nazism, and the Holocaust. The author gives an overview of the various possible reasons in some of the book's chapters, which have titles like: "Personal Reasons," "Sadism," "Racism and Ethnic Hatred," "The Autocratic Nature of German Society" ("I was only following orders"), and "Human Genetics."

The "Personal Reasons" theory is that, as Jonathan Maxwell writes, "each member joined the organization because it offered something of great value to the individual recruit." These items of "great value" could include "something material, such as good clothes or a job with substantial pay. It could also be something intangible, such as a sense of security or belonging." We can all understand such a reason - sometimes, to improve one's social and/or economic standing, a person will join an organization that he/she otherwise might not join, like the Nazi party. If everyone around you is a member of the organization, and the only way you won't be ostracized (or potentially beaten, or wind up in a concentration camp) is to also become a member, personal reasons can be a powerful motivating factor.

"Sadism" and "Racism and Ethnic Hatred" are self-explanatory, though what could have caused people to be, as some were, so filled with a loathing of Jews as to want to kill them on sight is something people have always wondered about. The Jews became the scapegoats of not only Germany, but of France, and many other European nations, who would rather blame their economic and other problems on people other than themselves. Though Germany had always had a segment of its population (like most other countries have, including the United States) who were anti-Semetic, Hitler's and Himmler's hatred of the Jews seems to have infected an entire nation, who revered its leaders and thought they could do no wrong.

This leads into the theory that people were coerced or led into doing what they'd ordinarily not consider doing because of "The Autocratic Nature of German Society" ("I was only following orders."). In fact, this theory is discussed and presented int many courses in Psychology even today. Germany, the author points out, was:

...a militaristic nation obsessed with law and order. German leaders expect `regular' citizens to be compliant and submissive. `Regular' Germans essentially do what their government tells them to do. Therefore, when the Nazi regime ordered the Fianl Solution, average Germans unblinkingly tried to comply with the order.

There are several other theories the author delves into, all of which make for very interesting reading. The "Human Genetics" one asks: "Is violence in our genes? Are human beings `wired' to hate one another?" Also, the book gives background on historical events that led up to Hitler's coming into power, and I read a few things that I had either never heard of before, or had forgotten about, such as the fact that gas chambers were first used on Germany's own citizens - those who were considered to be "undesirables," who were mentally or physically deficient, or who were hopeless alcoholics.

Perhaps besides the racial and ethnic hatred of many Germans towards the Jews, one of the other main reasons people had for callously knowing about and often participating in the killing of their fellow human beings is that they were trying to create a perfect society. In their minds, to their twisted perspectives, this meant that they would have to eliminate anyone who might be, to them, not worthy of being a member of the "utopia" they were trying to establish.

There is no one reason, theory, or explanation why Germany's intellectual and elites joined the Nazi party, why some of its doctors engaged in gruesome "experiments" and dissections on living people, and why its industries went along with Hitler's plans (though cheap slave labor was one big motivation). Maxwell doesn't arrive at one answer, as there isn't a cut-and-dried one, but his examination of the various theories is very interesting and makes for a great addition to the shelves of anyone who enjoys reading about WWII . Also, if we don't learn from the past, we're condemned to repeat it, and sadly, there have been other mass genocides elsewhere in the world since WWII, such as in Czechoslovakia and in Darfur. Any book that causes us to think about what drives man's inhumanity to man and was behind the Holocaust and genocides since then is well worth reading and considering.

--Douglas R. Cobb--

5.0 out of 5 stars History buffs know the Elite were the most brutal!, January 28, 2011

By 

Yolanda Renee "Renee" (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murderous Intellectuals: German Elites and the Nazi SS (Paperback)

MURDEROUS INTELLECTUALS - GERMAN ELITES AND THE NAZI SS is a book that makes you think, makes you take a second look at the atrocity--the holocaust. Jonathan Maxwell takes on the top players--the physicians, the scientists, the educators, the lawyers, the soldiers; he investigates and documents their motivations.

It was the intention of Adolf Hitler and his henchmen to eliminate the socialists, communists, democrats, Gypsies but especially the Jews. The thing we all have tendency to forget is that his henchmen were the elite in their society--the physicians, scientists, educators, lawyers, and soldiers. As Jonathan points out, the extermination of millions required organization, structure, and planning. It required men with skill, with education, and men of intent, and despite the claim they were only following orders, it took dedication to the cause.

In this book Jonathan Maxwell, details the backgrounds of these men, and while some of them can be labeled sadistic, most were just ordinary men in non-ordinary jobs. Jobs they were good at, jobs they wanted to keep, and jobs that meant the death of millions.

We tend to forget their backgrounds as we try to explain their crimes. Jonathan explores what made them who they became and what he discovered is that the answers are not so easy to compartmentalize. Labeling them as sadistic, cold-blooded, or sociopaths does not explain the number of men and women who took lives as if they were taking an order for widgets.

Jonathan Maxwell's book MURDEROUS INTELLECTUALS is a must read for any history buff, and it should be required reading for all students. Forgetting what happened is not an option, finding out why it happened is important and we once believed necessary to keep it from happening again. However, current history proves it continues. Only when all humanity believes in the sanctity of all life will the lessons learned mean the end of holocausts worldwide.

5.0 out of 5 stars Jonathan Maxwell's MURDEROUS INTELLECTUALS Is A Smart, Historical Read, December 5, 2010

By 

C. A. Webb "Conversations Book Club" (Jackson, MS) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Murderous Intellectuals: German Elites and the Nazi SS (Paperback)

I read Jonathan Maxwell's book MURDEROUS INTELLECTUALS with little expectation, but left it feeling like I had just been reminded of an important chapter in humanity's history. Sometimes we forget how the mind's beauty can be used to do horrific things not just to ourselves but those around us. What Maxwell has done is taken the reader into the motivations of those who committed the horrific deeds in Nazi Germany but how that same mindset can be manifested today.

As someone who reads not just for myself but those I might come in contact with, I found this book to be both disturbing and necessary at the same time. We need to know what has happened in this world to make sure that none of those atrocities repeat themselves.

I applaud Maxwell for taking this journey himself in order to report back for us the reader. If good can come from madness, than I think discecting this historical chapter is definitely worth the time.