Customer Reviews

Nazi War Trials (Pocket Essential series)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

NAZI WAR TRIALS is a short but comprehensive summary of the most famous trial in history, that being the 1945/46 Nuremberg trial of the surviving Nazi bigwigs for crimes against humanity.

Given its small size - 5' x 7 1/2' and 160 pages - NAZI WAR TRIALS is at best a basic guide to the subject. Author Andrew Walker describes how the trials came to be; presents background information on Goering, Hess and the other defendants; summarizes the case for the prosecution; the defense; the verdicts and how they were arrived at; sentencing; and a brief epilogue. He also touches upon how effective the various presentations were; the defendant's behavior; the significance of the trials themselves; etc.

While Walker does a good job of compressing that monumental event into 160 pages, he is less successful at conveying how monstrous the Nazi crimes were. Or how pathetic were the various Nazi psychos, stooges and lowlifes tried at Nuremberg. (For a more detailed treatment, readers should seek out Ehrenfreund's NUREMBERG LEGACY, Joseph Persico's NUREMBERG, Conot's JUSTICE AT NUREMBERG, etc.).

Yet, for those wanting a basic understanding of the Nuremberg trials or students writing reports, Andrew Walker's book, published in 2006 by Pocket Essentials, will do just fine. It's concise yet insightful and ably summarizes the extraordinary event that took place in Nuremberg some 60-odd years ago. Recommended.