Customer Reviews

Nazi Princess: The Final Deception

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Fred J. Rubino, The Nazi Princess: The Final Deception, Baltimore: Publish America, 2005, paperback, 115 pages.

The title, "the final deception," adequately describes the book, which at 115 pages is more accurately described as a pamphlet. And the back cover quote, attributed to Joseph Goebbels, "if you tell a lie long enough, it becomes true," pretty well sums up the book's content. There are no source citations for any of the absurd claims made in the text. The principal subject, the alleged Heidi Goebbels, was not interviewed, all the information about her coming second-hand from a friend, Kevin, who apparently has no last name. There are no photos. There is no evidence offered to substantiate what is nothing more than a fantasy. The book is poorly written and historically inaccurate.

I'm a historian and the first thing I look at is the bibliography. In this case the bibliography is seriously lacking in relative content. Rubino gives four sources:

Manvell, Roger and Heinrich Fraenkel, Dr. Goebels, His Life and Death, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1960.

Reuth, Ralph George, Goebbels, New York: Harcourt and Brace, 1994.

Harcelrode, Peter and Brendan Pittaway, The Lost Masters: WWII and the Looting of Europe's Treasure Houses, Unk: Welcome Rain Publishers, 2000.

[...]

There are no source citations in the text that refer to any of the bibliographical entries.

The first sixty-six pages, 57% 0f the book, are devoted to a historically inaccurate rehash of the rise of the NSDAP and the final hours in the bunker. The part dealing with Heidi Goebbels is covered in the final forty-nine pages.

Among the many wildly inaccurate historical errors is this quote from page 76: "...Don't forget, the war was over in Germany, but WWII was still going on, and the United States was still bombing some sections of Germany." One has to ask, which sections-the British, French, and Soviet occupation zones?

And on page 42: "By the time the Third Reich was in full swing, Joseph Goebbels was, literally, in charge of Germany." One has to wonder, what happened to Hitler?

As a military historian I particularly liked this gem, which describes the night of 30 April 1945, found on page 60: "As the night continued, both US forces and Soviet forces entered Berlin..." US troops did not participate in the Battle of Berlin.

There are many more examples of similar historical error and distortion, but those that I have provided give an idea of the lack of historical research that went into the writing of this book.
Dwight R. Messimer, Professor of History, Ret.

I felt Mr.Rubino gave a very powerful re-enactment of what trasnspired with these characters. Nazi Princess is a powerful and gripping book that is a must read. Once you pick it up .. you will not be able to put it down. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you

Mr. Rubino's tale of deception and deceit is not only informative and insightful, but also quite a page turner if I may be so bold. I have read many texts on the final days of Hitler and his minister of propaganda in the bunker, and always found it odd that the Goebbles children would be sacrificed. The Nazi Princess answers all of the questions that have been haunting me for years, as it relates to the last days of the Third Reich, and then some. Even if you are not a historian you will find this novel captivating, as it reads like a novel, not like a boring historic documentary. I for one, can't wait for Mr. Rubino's to spin his next historical yarn!!!!!!

I read this book and could not put it down. i am not even a history buff, but this book carried me through chapter after chapter. I quickly learned a brief history of the horrors of Nazi Germany, and became aquainted with Joseph Goebbels, the master of Nazi propoganda. As the book panned out, it became clear that a major conspiracy took place in Hitler's bunker in the war's end. i liked the way the book took all the facts we thought we knew of for 40 years about the last days in Hitler's bunker and one by one dispells these so called truths. It becomes clear at the end when several eye witnesses contradict each other that a conspiracy surrounding the Goebbels children was taking place. I loved the pace of the book and how engrossed i became after the first few pages. i'm sure that now this information has come to light that there must be an investigation about what actually happened to the six Goebbels children and i would love to know if any of the others are still alive. this book is a must read.

This "book" was by far the worst purchase I have ever made. It is poorly written and even more poorly edited. I have never come across published material with as many blatant grammatical errors, including (but not limited to): missing punctuation, misuse of words, improper capitalization and nonsensical sentences that run on and on and on and on.

Here are a few examples:

pg. 18 "With this, Kevin began to recant [sic] other stories she had told him about her life in post-war Germany...Keven assured me that the stories she told him were genuine and would hurt her every time she would recant [sic] them to her."

pg. 20 Chapter Two: "Rise of the Nazi"

pg. 20 "The general population...[was] now forced to come to terms with not only defeat of there [sic] military..."

pg. 24 "The greatest turnaround in German history from rags to riches is do [sic] to the emergence of the Nazi party..."

pg. 30 "To a great country like America with all it's [sic] checks and balances set into it's [sic] system of government."

Some may consider the above comments to be nitpicking, but it was difficult to read this "book" while constantly encountering elementary grammatical mistakes. Perhaps the author should have had an editor with a grasp of English grammar read the manuscript and correct it prior to publication.

Even with the mistakes noted above, I believe I could have enjoyed the "book" had the ideas it contained been well constucted. Basically, 60% of the book is an inaccurate summary of the history of Germany before, during and after the rule of the Nazi party. A few pages in the middle of the book are dedicated to a few stories the author heard from a drinking buddy about the drinking buddy's girlfriend/ex-girlfriend. The author never interviews or obtains any documentation from or about this supposed "Nazi princess". The final part of the book contains wildly speculative theories about how the Goebbels children were smuggled out of the bunker and their lives immediately after the war. I would have been interested in some logical theories grounded in historical fact about the Goebbels children's fate. However, the author's ramblings fail utterly to convince the reader of the feasibility of his theories.

This could have been an interesting read. Instead, it was a poorly written and edited waste of time.