The SS: Hitler's Instrument of Terror: The Full Story From Street Fighters to the Waffen-SS [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Gordon Williamson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1994

The definitive account of the Nazi's most notorious organization and its role in the Third Reich's internal security forces. Filled with rare historical photos and color maps and illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The constant flow of information on the SS has caused some authors to picture SS members as mindless killers, while others have labeled them "just soldiers." Further, there has been an effort to distance the Waffen SS from the SS who guarded the concentration camps. Williamson (Infantry Aces of the Reich, Sterling, 1991) has produced a lavishly illustrated book that purports to give a balanced view of the elite Nazi organization. While he does trace its history, he is too anxious to show that, perhaps, not all the SS was bad. As he states, when all the records of World War II are opened, "history may look upon some units of the Waffen-SS less harshly." This is an old argument to which Williamson adds nothing, though some of his illustrations are good. Readers who wish in-depth information should consult at least George Stein's The Waffen SS (1966). A marginal purchase for public libraries.
Dennis L. Noble, Eastern Montana Coll., Billings, Mont.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Motorbooks International; illustrated edition edition (March 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879389052
• ISBN-13: 978-0879389055
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,305,875 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth the $$, July 30, 2000

By 

Paul J. Moade (Jacksonville, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The SS: Hitler's Instrument of Terror: The Full Story From Street Fighters to the Waffen-SS (Hardcover)

Williamson's history of the German SS is a very readible, very comprehensive work on one of the world's most notorious organizations. His writing from a neutral stand point is a breath of fresh air -- permitting readers to draw their own conclusions on the nature of the SS and the men (and women) who filled it's ranks. The Waffen-SS, Hitler Youth, RHSA, SD, Gestapo, concentration camps, einsatzgruppen (death squads), commercial enterprises, Himmler's theories on Race and heredity ... it's all here - laid out in painstaking detail.

The book traces the SS from it's tiny beginnings in the 1920's, its growth in the early 30's, thru to it's final days with the collapse of Nazi Germany. Actually, Williamson goes even further back to explain the grim mood of Germany at the close of World War I and how this paved the way for the fledgling Nazi party. Many significant details of how the SS interfaced and was intertwined with organizations such as the SA, the Wehrmacht the German government (before Hitler became the absolute ruler) and the regular police are laid out for the reader's inspection. It's also quite illuminating to discover how many invaded countries supplied willing volunteers to the SS. Many fascinating facts and stories are related.

The book itself is durably bound in a hard cover with a handsome black paper jacket. Inside are a wealth of photos and reproduced posters - combat, personnel and civilian - complete with descriptions, which allow one to gain a closer understanding of the units and men that made up the Nazi party's protection and security arm.

Have an interest in pre-war and World War II Germany? If so, this is a book you will want for your collection.

Highly recommended

~P~

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Informative and readable, September 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The SS: Hitler's Instrument of Terror: The Full Story From Street Fighters to the Waffen-SS (Hardcover)

This book is a must read for anyone interested in world war 2 and the rise and fall of the third reich. Unlike many illustrated world war 2 books this book is very readable. Of particular interest to me was the chapter "Hitler's Foreign Legions" on the foreign component that served in the SS. It may come as a surprise to many to learn that hundreds of thousands of Dutch, Belgian, French, Norwegian, Finnish, Danish, Hungarian, Romanian, Croatian, Serbian, Swedish, Italian, Ukraine, Albanian, Russian, Bulgarian and Bosnian nationalities voluntered and fought for the Germans in the ranks of the waffen SS Divisions. There was even a small contingent of British ex-POWs a few of whom fought in the Third Reich's final cataclysm in Berlin. Odly many of the foreign volunteers were from races distinctly non-aryan - a massive contradiction with the racial politics of Himmler, Hitler and the Nazis. The book outlines the beginnings of the SS through the years of German victories and then of German defeats to the destruction of the SS in the collapse of the Third Reich.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good history of the SS, July 21, 2000

By 

TG "herr_leutnant" (Muncie, IN, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The SS: Hitler's Instrument of Terror: The Full Story From Street Fighters to the Waffen-SS (Hardcover)

I am very glad I read this book- informative, intuitive, and it provides the reader with accurate information with no personal bias, something hard to find in books written these days. Williamson goes into the history of the SS, what the recruits were trained, home service within the Reich, the Waffen-SS, differences between the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS trainees, the constant struggle between the branches for manpower, and lots more. If your just getting interested in the SS and what it was created to do, this book might not be a good beginners reference. For someone whos studied it off and on for a little while, this book will be great because you might need some previous knowledge in order to fully understand what the author is telling you. Definetly worth the price, and its worth a lot more too.