The Nazis: A Warning from History (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Ian Kershaw (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For this History channel tie-in book, Laurence Rees interviewed more than 50 people who were active participants of the Nazi regime. Galvanized by the unilateral collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, the subjects are now free to relate their harrowing tales. One, a Lithuanian soldier, candidly recalls his vicious crimes against humanity, in service to the Nazis. Civilians--rarely heard from until now--also tell their side of the story. Popular myth says that the civilians were victims to the Nazi spell, but instead the interviews reveal the depth of German complicity with Nazi policy. As Rees writes, it wasn't just the "quasi-divine" character of Hitler that hypnotized an entire population, "there was massive voluntary collaboration with the Nazi regime." Germany's erratic state of democracy allowed Hitler and the Nazis to open a gateway into power, as did a German populace still reeling from the "unjust" surrender and humiliating terms of defeat at the end of the First World War that gave focus and justification to their enmity. Rees's painstaking work may not be comfortable reading, but in today's hot political climate--in areas like the former Yugoslavia and the fragile state of Russia--the message echoes with significance. --Jeremy Storey

From Publishers Weekly

Rees, head of the BBC's history programming division, has drawn on newly available archival material and about 50 interviews he conducted with "eyewitnesses" to present a chilling crash course on the Nazis' chaotic rule. According to the author, despite the Germans' much-vaunted reputation for efficiency, Hitler's regime was largely an improvisation, with his underlings ever striving to do the Fuhrer's bidding. Rees traces how measures affecting countless lives, e.g., establishing ghettos for Jews, were often decided haphazardly, with Hitler instructing subordinates, who were frequently bitter rivals, to "sit down together and when you've made up [your minds about a policy], come and see me." Though most Gestapo files were destroyed before war's end, one revealing discovery from intact archives in the town of Wurzburg indicates that the secret police?far from randomly unleashing terror?spent much of its time responding to denunciations by ordinary citizens against their neighbors. An interesting focus of this book is on perpetrators of Nazi crimes. Fritz Arlt, a ranking German official in occupied Poland, when asked whether he knew what went on in the concentration camps to which his orders consigned thousands of Poles, conceded only, "They were places where people were concentrated." The inhuman face of the Nazi enterprise is exposed here as a significantly grass-roots construction. Throughout, graphic photos highlight Nazi crimes.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: New Press, The (April 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565844459
• ISBN-13: 978-1565844452
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,491,574 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Photographic Journey Into The Hell Of Nazi Atrocities!, June 19, 2000

By	Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

For the serious history student interested in a quick cold-water style immersion in an excellent though disturbing look at the murderous excesses of the Nazi years, this startling book provides a sanguine, surprising, and totally readable overview of the brutalities, torturous acts, and murder accomplished by the Germans during their 12-year reign of terror, complete with hundreds of compelling photographs. Generated as a companion tome to a History Channel documentary, this is a good introduction to the scope and breadth of a mind-boggling range of Nazi atrocities perpetrated not only on European Jews, but also to the infirm, mentally impaired, and to anyone else they had motivation to exterminate. From the early acts of euthanasia of its own `infirm' and "undesirables" to the systeamtic and publicly witnessed clubbing murder of hundreds of Jews in the streets of 'liberated' Latvian villages, this is a journey into the belly of the fascist beast.

This is a cautionary (and absolutely historically accurate) tale, made especially relevant in the year 2000 by the recent "ethnic cleansing" barbarism in Bosnia and Kosovo, of what can happen when people begin to surrender to the worst impulses of the social realm, and decide to ignore, or stand aside, or to pretend they just don't see where it is all leading. It has something to teach us about the very real dangers associated with unleashing the politics of hate, of what happens when ordinary citizens let other groups break the law to bully and terrorize minorities, when we let the central Government get out of control. History, as told in this excellent book, can teach us about how easily we humans succumb to subconscious evil, and seem to passively slip, almost without really deciding to, down the social and political slope to easy excuses and euphemisms, toward depravity, torture, and genocide. This is a book I highly recommend, although given its provocative and graphic photographic contents I would use caution about limiting its viewing by younger readers.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a good overview of the subject, December 31, 1998

By A Customer

this book provides a good introduction to the history of the nazi party. it is readable, even for someone who knows very little about the subject, and yet is also a good review for those familiar with WWII-era german history. the many pictures in the book are wonderful and help not only to break up long bits of text to keep the reading interesting, but also to remind one that the people being read about were living, breathing human beings. umm, i like it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars HUMAN SIDE OF NAZI HORROR, December 24, 2006

By	Severin Olson (Hyattsville, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Most books on Nazism start at the top with Hitler and his regime and offer brief glimpses, if any, at what it was like for the common soul. This work takes the opposite approach, putting us in the shoes of the war's victims. We learn plenty about the doings at the top, but the focus is on individual stories, many of which will chill the reader to the bone.

I was a bit puzzled by the moralistic tone of the work, however. After all, few readers need to be told that the Nazis were bad and did terrible things that should never be done again. And a real anti-German animus pervades the book. The author points the finger of guilt at the Germans again and again, insisting that they were completely responsible for all that happened, and can make no excuses. Perhaps this is so, but I wonder what lesson it provides for the rest of us.