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The SS: Alibi of a Nation, 1922-1945

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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.

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.

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?

I'm reading Reitlinger's book now, having read several others on Nazi germany and the SS. I now know where much of the material from later works have come from ... it is this book.

If this is the first real book on the SS it is an extraordinary achievement by the author - in the detail, its readability, and the author's ability to put together the complex and evil web of the SS apparatus, without being difficult or depressing to read (as many others are). Truly stands the test of time.

I can hardly believe the comments of a recent reviewer, maurice9, and would urge potential readers to ignore it. A brillant book, easily best in its class.

This book is an exceptional work, and I must first point out that while it is crammed full of factual information, intimate conversations, the overall scheming and intra-party politics in the formation of the SS and the constant power struggles, this book is by no means a dry, statistical type of read, only suitable for the determined historian. It is not always easy to keep track of the major (and minor) personalities and their constant intrigue and subterfuge at all levels, but the author does a masterful job of balancing the, at times, overwhelming amount of information with a very personal and intimate flair keeps the reader awake and engaged in the story as it develops.

Mark Werger, an author of many books on the SS, recently stated this was easily in the top 10 of best books he had read, and I can see why. When you finish this book you will have a much more throrough understanding of the SS thanks to the painstaking and meticulous research performed by Gerald Reitlinger. It is so informative you will probably never part with it if you are truly interested in the subject.

As the title suggests, Reitlinger follows for the reader the inception and budding organization of the SS and other police or civil branches within an increasingly-menacing police state in Germany. The reader must read carefully through the first fifth of the book to avoid confusing names and relationships, but ultimately the actors are well defined. Every conversation or statement from the main characters is routinely cited from firsthand accounts. The book includes an extensive bibliography and a biography of dozens of characters in the upper echelons of the Nazi military, SS and civil bureaucracy. Reitlinger weaves a remarkable tapestry of places, names and events until we have a better understanding of the inner workings of the Nazi government, their secret orders of exterminating Jews and Slavs and other "sub-human" races, the often public denials of the concentration camps by members of the highest rank, the contests for power under Hitler, and the seductions and betrayals between officers and agents(like a nest of vipers) at the heart of the German Reich. An important scholarly addition to any WWII library, this book details the most insidious plots and conversations among history's most brutal mass murderers, the corruption of their officers, and the incredible processes of armies within armies, states within the state, and secret intelligence forces within the police and other ministries.

Well-written, consise, and highly credible.

Author Gerald Reitlinger's masterpiece, The SS: Alibi of a Nation, 1922-1945, was first published in 1956. This book, in the 50 years since its publication, has been used, and rightly so, as a vital sourcebook by countless other authors penning their own works on a variety of topics concerning not only the SS, but the rise and fall of Hitler's empire.

The reason the book is so well-regarded is that the author's research encompassed an extensive review of the information then available (i.e., by 1956) on the SS, its major personalities, and its inner workings, including a review of exhaustive documentation produced at numerous post-war trials of accused German war criminals, a task many authors following in Mr. Reitlinger's footsteps did not bother to undertake.

Although Mr. Reitlinger's footnotes often disclose his biases, the text pretty much sticks to the known, or suspected facts. In so doing, Mr. Reitlinger often informs the reader that certain facts or events are disputed (or at least the subject of selective memories) and provides his opinion on what he believes actually, or probably, happened. The result is an intelligent, well-informed, and detailed history of the SS in its entirety.

The book would ordinarily get 5 stars based on its meticulous research and reasoned writing, but does not, and realistically cannot, receive the highest rating because the results of that research are now over 50 years old and have been superceded in many ways by disclosures that have come to light in the last half century.

The book includes 3 maps that are not that useful, a sprinkling of photos (all of which are terribly reproduced), and 20 pages of mini-bios (as of 1956 and never updated) of major figures linked in one way or another to the SS.

Although some people, in reviewing this book, portray Mr. Reitlinger's history of the SS as proving the SS was a "state within a state" that is a conclusion in fact rejected by Mr. Reitlinger, who writes, on page 2 of his book: "Often the SS has been described as a 'state within a state', but that had been the ideal of its creators and had never become an achievement. In the nineteen-forties the SS no longer possessed any unified purpose at all."

In fact, it is this theory of the SS as a "state within a state" that is the "alibi of a nation" Mr. Reitlinger wants to debunk in his book. He concludes, at pages 451-52 of his book, that the concept of the SS as a "state within a state" is nothing but a "myth".

In sum, a fine work but, given its age, one that needs to be read with caution, especially as to conclusions that may be based on then known, or purported, facts now superceded by more recent biographies and histories.

This book is a must for the advanced student of the Second Word War. Although first published in 1957 it has withstood the test of time.Reitlinger gives a precise and methodical history of the SS from its birth in the Freikorps in 1922 to its ultimate destruction in the flames of Berlin in 1945.

Mesmerising reading of how a protective unit [in its conception] became the most feared fighting force Europe had ever seen. Staid leader H. Himmler weaves his mideval based traditions and his diabolical plans to eventual application. Not only does his craftiness inviegle Adolph Hitler, but also the entire Nazi homeland. The author lays out a definitive study on the runes of the SS complemented by the bizarre attraction to the occult that permeates the entails of an Order that reeked havoc wherever the Nazi jack-boot stomped. Yes, this work is riveting read and a revelation to our world of what might have been, had the Allies lost WW2. Fantastic attention to detail by the writer, results in a bone chilling walk through a state within a state gone mad. Not to be redundant, a must read, to all who survived this regime, and all others, to learn from the wretched echoes of WW2.

Mesmerising reading of how a protective unit [in its conception] became the most feared fighting force Europe had ever seen. Staid leader H. Himmler weaves his mideval based traditions and his diabolical plans to eventual application. Not only does his craftiness inviegle Adolph Hitler, but also the entire Nazi homeland. The author lays out a definitive study on the runes of the SS, complemented by the bizarre attraction to the occult that permeates the entails of an Order that reeked havoc wherever the Nazi jack-boot stomped. Yes, this work is a riveting read and a revelation to our world of what might have been, had the Allies lost WW2. Fantastic attention to detail by the writer, results in a bone chilling walk through a state within a state gone mad. Not to be redundant, a must read, to all who survived this regime, and all others, to learn from the wretched echoes of WW2.