The SS: Alibi of a Nation, 1922-1945 [Paperback]

Gerald Reitlinger (Author)

Book Description

Series: Da Capo Paperback | Publication Date: March 22, 1989

The SS—short for the German Schutzstaffeln—was a far-flung organization, of which the Gestapo was only one branch, that served as the tyrannical expression of Nazi bureaucracy, a politics of terror. Germans in high places still use the SS as a standard excuse for the acts of murder, extortion, and genocide that were facts of daily life under the Nazis. Reitlinger explores the complex social machinery that allowed the SS to operate—the administration and internal rivalries, the SS field divisions, German military intelligence, and the organization of the concentration and death camps. He shows how the SS was embedded in the basic government of the country during those years and how its members were not so much lunatic killers as loyal citizens doing the bidding of a country that had gone insane. Powerful, objective, and based on original German documents and interviews—including information from Himmler’s statistician—this book rejects the SS as an alibi for a nation’s responsibility in the most far-reaching racial massacre in history.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (March 22, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306803518
• ISBN-13: 978-0306803512
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,111,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterful Work of History, September 6, 2000

By 

Cody Carlson (Salt Lake City, UT United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The SS: Alibi of a Nation, 1922-1945 (Paperback)

It's been over thirty years since Gerald Reitlinger's 'The SS. Alibi of a nation, 1922-45' was published and yet it still remains one of the most informative and important books on the subject of Nazi Germany and the SS. In 1945-6 the Nuremburg court ruled that the SS was a criminal organization and membership itself was a crime. Reitlinger argues that this was a mistake- in criminalizing this one organization, the court all but absolved the other bureacratic agencies that contributed no less assiduously to the 'Final Solution,' and provided a nation that willingly followed Hitler with the ultimate scapegoat. Throughout the book the reader is introduced to lesser known, though no less responsible, members of Hitler's Reich- Martin Luther, Walter Schellenberg, and Gottlieb Berger are just some of the every-day bureacrats that allowed such terror to reign supreme in Germany for twelve years. Truly a great work of history.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant analysis of the Third Reich internal structure, March 16, 2001

By 

IVAN JIMENEZ CORREAL (MADRID Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The SS: Alibi of a Nation, 1922-1945 (Paperback)

This book provides a very accurate description of the facts, the tactics and the people who ruled the destinies of the Third Reich. The story of the SS is in fact the story of Nationalsocialism. The author displays a wide and precise knowledge of the events, and offers a complete vision of it, both global and detailed. The analysis spreads from the NSDAP takeover, the rise and fall of the Sturmabteilung (SA),the development of the Schutztaffeln (SS) and the Intelligence Services before the war, to the II World War, the role of Waffen SS (Armed SS) and the finally apocalypse which came over Germany, all through the period 1922-1945. It's really worth while, for instance, the acute descriptions of the RSHA (Reichsicherheitshauptamt-Reich Main Security Office), the SD (Sicherheitsdienst-Security Service) as well as its transformations through the war, the role they played with the SA in overthrowing constitutional legality of the Weimar Republic. In this book you can also realize who is who in Nazi Germany, the account of all the dramatis personae such as Himmler, Heydrich, Kaltenbrunner, Muller, Schellenberg, Ohlendorf,..., as well as the Waffen SS generals, their rank and position in the widest and most complex totalitarian organization ever created, except perhaps the KGB. To draw a conclussion, a wonderful exposition of what the SS was in its origins and what it became: a Staat in Staat, a State inside a State. Definitely, a non replaceable book.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The oldest, yet still the best!, August 3, 2000

By 

P. Bjel (Richmond Hill, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The SS: Alibi of a Nation, 1922-1945 (Paperback)

This book was first published in 1956 in England, written by a prolific scholar of the Nazi era. This current work is well worth a careful read, as it is saturated with a wealth of information. Upon examination, one can see the facts that others have gathered from Reitlinger's work (eg. William L. Shirer), and with good reason. There is so much written about the SS in this book!

The backgrounds of the major personalities, and later chief architects of the Final Solution, notably SS chief Heinrich Himmler, and SD chief Reinhard Heydrich, are discussed at some length, as are the backgrounds of those that commanded and became associated with affiliates of the SS, an elite organization originally intended as a small body designed to protect Adolf Hitler. Their crimes so immense that they are without number, this organization became another phrase for mayhem.

Reitlinger's writing style is brilliant, adding to the ever-growing list of good things about this book. Sure, it is long (almost 500 pages), but once you begin reading, you will find the book absolutely scrumptuous, filling you with knowledge that everyone must know if they are to undertake any serious study of the Nazis and their crimes, notably the Holocaust.

The SS...an "Alibi of a Nation"? Most certainly. So many Germans (and other Europeans that turned to fascism) have used the SS as a scapegoat for the far-reaching genocide that ensued during WWII. As Reitlinger has demonstrated, this same force that slaughtered millions was a byproduct of the German Reich, comprised of people so ordinary, so banal, so everyday in their background, that one could easily note the evident German presence behind the figures with the black uniforms pierced with two parallel lightning bolts, pointing a tommy gun in your face. The very "alibis" for the most far-reaching racial massacre in history were the very same individuals searching for a scapegoat following the end of the war and the fall of Nazi anonymity.

Highly reccomended...how come Reitlinger's other books are out of print? There isn't anything to hide...or is there?