38 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Secret Germany: A Righting of the Record, October 12, 2003
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SECRET GERMANY: A RIGHTING OF THE RECORD
Reviewed by William Courson
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It is often asserted and widely believed - largely within conventionally religious and particularly Christian circles - that Adolph Hitler was both a devotee and practitioner of unspecified "esoteric" and occult arts including astrology, thaumaturgy, necromancy, and geomancy, inter alia. To an extent, these assertions are correct. The reason they are made, however, appears to be the unjustified attempt at the placing of blame for the Third Reich's evil on the Occult, thus absolving the Christian churches of Germany for their more-or-less willing complicity in the Nazi nightmare.
Omitted from such assertions, of course, is the role played by the occult movement in formulating a plan that has come to be known as "Secret Germany," through which a number of prominent esotericists and occult practitioners opposed to their country's criminal government and resisting the depredations of Hitler and his genocidal minions sought to kill the Fuhrer.
One of the "Secret Germany" movement opposed to National Socialism, Count Claus von Stauffenberg, detonated a bomb in Hitler's Eastern Front headquarters. Failing to kill Hitler led Stauffenberg to the firing squad and then to a meat-hook. This book chronicles the 46 other assassination attempts on Hitler over a two year period, many of them inspired by the life and teachings of Germany's great esotericist and mystic, Stefan George, whose circle of intimates and initiates were also known by the name "Secret Germany."
Had Von Satuffenberg succeeded in his efforts to exterminate the most infamous madman in all of history, he would undoubtedly have emerged as Germany's rightful savior: more than a deGaulle-like figure; rather, a Christ-like figure whose very physical aspect was strongly reminiscent of the quasi-mythic "Knight of Bamberg" who centuries before had been prepared to sacrifice his life for that of his beloved fatherland.
There are several relatively small difficulties with this work. The authors' homophobia is embarrassinmgly evident in their shrill but ineffective attempt to disprove the widely (and in the reviewer's view, correctly) held belief that Stefan George was homosexual. But given the overall chacter and quality of the volume, that is small criticism indeed.
Like all of Baigent's and Leigh's works, this volume belongs in the library of every professional historian and every student of history. It is not simply an invaluable work of historic scholarship, it is an irreplaceable and necessary one.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
New but misleading title, February 22, 2009
I am so glad to see this book is once again available, since I think it is one of the most well-researched and well-written on this subject: who von Stauffenberg is, how he became the hero we know and who his mentor is, how Germany was born and what it was like after WWI for Hitler to seize power, and, of course, von Stauffenberg's attemp to kill him. In other words, a great book for anyone wants to understand von Stauffenberg and his time.
So I am very surprised that till now there are one 5-star rating to two 1-star ratings. After reading these 1-star reviews, [...]
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Fairly Good History, April 28, 2009
Overall I found this book a good history of Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators. It tells the Valkyrie story not only in an exciting way, but with keen psychological insights that do not assume to know more about the characters and their motivation than the authors possibly could. What I found most fascinating was its exploration of the national psyche of the German nation -- the authors make the reader understand how German "volk" character, mysticism, the defeat of WWI, the Treaty of Versailles, and the Teutonic need for order and a leader all conspired to make Hitler not only a predictable leader growing out of the Weimar Republic, but an almost inevitable one.
The book does have its shortcomings. There is a real sense of the authors wanting to hear themselves talk -- one gets the feeling reading the book that they went off on tangents to show just how smart they are. Granted, they're bright men, but several times I caught myself thinking, "Would you just make your point and move on? We don't need all the babble!" This truly got in the way of my enjoyment of the work.
The other problem is the authors' hatred and contempt for the Irish. They manage to work their disdain for the Irish people in 6-7 times throughout the book, and they go out of their way to do it, so that the condemnation seems forced, as if they were desperate to find an excuse to slander the Irish. It's really quite unbecoming for them, and I can only assume that the British author led the American astray in getting him to go along with it. The disparagement simply doesn't belong in a book about Germany; it's far too elitist British for anyone's taste, and it's both unnecesary and inappropriate. Surely the authors could have found more Teutonic bogeymen to use as their examples of bad people in the world.
If one can overlook the verbosity and anti-Irish prejudice, he or she will find this book a worthwhile read, and a fine portrait of both Stauffenberg and the men who joined him in trying to destroy the monster they helped to create.
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