Customer Reviews

Official Secrets: What the Nazis Planned, What the British and Americans Knew

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In this account of Nazi atrocities,Richard Breitman, professor of history at American University, presents a factual picture in many ways more horrifying than dramatizations of the events.

The author draws on recently released transcripts of British intelligence intercepts of German Order Police (ORPO) radio transmissions, and he integrates this information with material previously known to scholars of the Holocaust.

Breitman presents convincing evidence that ridding Europe of all Jews was an early goal of Hitler, not one that emerged later in the war. This goal was pursued ruthlessly by the SS and ORPO with ever-increasing efficiency as the war progressed. Even when it was clear that the Germany could not win the war, its leaders continued their all-out effort to accomplish this objective.

What did the Allies know of the atrocities? During the war, the American people had heard reports of persecution of the Jews by the Nazis, but they were astounded when allied troops uncovered the horrifying extent of the extermination. Yet this book presents evidence that high officials in Britian and the United States were aware of this throughout the war. Reports from the Polish Government-in-Exile emphasized that all Jews, including women and children were being eliminated. Jewish organizations, and individul citizens in many countries were also reporting this, and the ORPO radio intercepts confirmed it.

Unfortunately, not all allied officials had access to all of the information, and there was considerable disagreement about its accuracy and relevance. Some thought the reports were fabricated or grossly exaggerated. Even if substantially true, there was disagreement over what could be done about it. Winning the war was the overriding goal at the time; everything else was subordinate to it. Thus it was argued that only working harder to win the war sooner could help the Jews.

The author is convinced that much more could have been done. German officials went to considerable trouble to keep the mass atrocities secret. And Allied broadcasts into Europe failed to give the Holocaust the emphasis it deserved. If the truth had been more widely known, more Jews could have gone into hiding; sympathetic neighbors could have given more help; and neutral and allied countries could have accepted more refugees. Despite widespread anti-Semitism in Germany and other countries, some people were sympathetic to the Jews, and even many prejudiced people would have helped save potential victims had they known they were fated for death. That the Nazis were concerned about this is evident, not only from their efforts at secrecy, but also from the vicious and incessant propaganda they used to intensify existing anti-Semitism.

Allied threats of post-war reprisals against participants in atrocities also might have been employed more effectively, although they had some impact. Italian and Hungarian leaders, for example, frequently resisted deporting Jews, in part for fear of reprisals to come.

The most disturbing aspect of Allied policy, however, was the attitude toward refugees. Rather than making every effort to accept as many as possible and to urge neutral countries to do the same, procrastination and outright resistance were common. There was much discussion, but little action. How would refugees be transported and supported? What was their legal status? Would it help or hurt the blockade? Would it give credence to German propaganda which claimed the war was being fought for the Jews?

Some officials argued that the Allies should not relieve Germany of the resonsibilty of taking care of dependent children by making efforts to accept them as refugees. Tragically, the Nazis did "take care of them."

All in all, an informative and thought-provoking work.

I have read this book twice. Perhaps the author repeats himself. I may even have a few minor quibbles with some of research regarding conclusions. All that does not matter. Why? Because the author makes you think twice about commonly held beliefs. A good author in this area makes you want to read his footnotes. Again why? Because what he has written makes you want to know more. The author had me bookmarking where I was reading, and his footnotes, so I could go back and forth.

This book goes into detail about the role of the German police battalions in the mass murder that resulted from Hitlers racial policies. Something that very few researchers have written about. I would rate this book, and Brownings writing on Police Battalion 101, as the two best books on the subject.

Professor Breitman has managed in a couple of hundred pages to give a picture of Nazi attrocities against the Jews during their terrible reign. The 'Final Solution' was not entirely planned from the outset of the Nazi reign but, according to Breitman, begun at the start of the war with mass shootings from Order Police Battalions and SS units.

However, I must agree with a previous review that states the somewhat repetitive nature of the book. Another weakness, I feel is the fact that the book does not deal at all with the persecution of other people by the Nazis. Overall, it is a well written, well sustantiated book that is evidently the result of excellent research.

Like anything on this topic, it is first and foremost heartbreaking. I did have questions about the repeated assertion that the Allies should have bombed Auschwitz because they absolutely knew the extent and nature of what was going on there and could have stopped/slowed down the monstrous "machinery" of death. What I don't understand is why he thinks that would have helped. The very people that the bombing was supposed to save, according to the author, were THERE, on the ground - and would have been killed too. It's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. From what I've read/seen on the bombing subject, precision bombing was not all that precise back then, which is why plenty of towns without military value were hit. So I'm not convinced on that point. Additionally, regarding the decoded info, it may have been impossible to act on without revealing the source. The big picture was to win the war and letting on that they knew these "top secrets" may have saved some lives but cost more lives in the long run. Also, as the author acknowledges numerous times, much remains classified so the full story is not yet known. As far as making accusations about who didn't do what or didn't do enough, I feel strongly that fingers should be pointed in the right place - at the Nazis and their wicked collaborators alone. The Allies may have been imperfect but they were on the side of the Angels,and they did no less than save the world! The monstrous Nazis, and they alone, have the blood of those poor innocent people on their hands to eternity. Lastly,it would be decent to give a mention to the millions of other, non-Jewish victims - such as the gypsies, prisoners of war,etc. who shared the tragic fate of the Jews. They seem forgotten.

A good overview of the subject, but Breitman, at times, becomes repetitious, and it does get confusing trying to follow the trail of evidence that he presents. Another problem is that many of the suppositions are made based on documents not yet de-classified, so his hands are tied before he even starts the book. But, it is still a powerful book, on a disturbing subject that needs further examination, and I would hope that his efforts bring out these long-classified documents from their secret hiding places, so that we can get the full picture (if that is indeed ever possible) about these horrible and tragic crimes against humanity.

Like the reviewers before me I found this work very repetitive and light in areas of Nazi attrocities. True, it discusses in overexacting detail the horrors inflicted upon the Jews but what about the non-Jewish children, Gypsies and others? Why have their voices gone unheard?

The true picture of how the allies treated the refugees comes to light and will bring many to realize that the horrors of modern conflict are nothing more than mankind reliving the wrongs committed by those who came before us. Those that forget the past are condemned to repeat it!

This work is somewhat confusing but filled with detail and is worth the effort to pick apart the excellent research within.