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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A different anlge though which to study,
By
This review is from: World War Two Through German Eyes (Hardcover)
It is always interesting to see things through the other side's vantage. This book well serves.
Nicely written. Nicely illustrated. Well informative.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Recommended With Caveats,
By
This review is from: World War Two Through German Eyes (Hardcover)
Trying to see the Third Reich and World War II "through the eyes of the enemy" is always going to be a challenge for a Brit, American, or Russian (including Ukranians, Kazakhs, and other ethnicities within the U.S.S.R). As I have studied in Germany before the reunification, and travelled there several times since 2000, this has been a subject always on my mind. These experiences, including actually seeing the grandeur of the restored Olympic Stadium (for the 2006 World Cup), the ruins of the Gestapo HQ at Prinz Albrechtstrasse, the resoration of the Reichstag, living in a prewar residence in Cologne, with a family whose head was a war veteran, meeting and becoming acquainted with war veterans and holocaust survivors, I grabbed this book as soon as I saw the title.
Color pictures are only on the jacket, although many stills and film in color have been recovered in the past 20 years. Photo reproduction in the book is not great (this is not printed on archival paper such as the R. James Bender books are). Nonetheless, I recommend the book highly to anyone interested in the rise of National Socialism, the war, and social life in the Fatherland. This is not an academic book (no extensive footnoting). From my extensive reading about the War and Germany, it is fairly accurate. Also, it covers most major subjects relevant to the topic, including the Hitler Youth, the Society of German Girls, German Labour Front, concentration camps and the use of forced labour. At one point in the chapter on concentration camps, the is a reference to Goebbels' having once pronounced that if the German people (the Volk) had known the true agenda of the Nazi Party, they never would have voted for it. Yet, by 1932, almost 1/3 of the Reichstag was occupied by members of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi), which led Hindenburg to appoint Hitler Chancellor on Jan. 30, 1933, in hopes the party could be controlled by other right-wing groups. Hindenburg died shortly thereafter, leading to the worst 12 years imaginable within a country with a population of only about 80 million. By 1945, most young men who would have formed families that would have dominated Germany through the first decade of the 21st century were dead--all of the strong, best and brightest were driven out (such as Jewish intellectuals and professionals), killed in the camps, or killed in battle or bombing of German cities. One area in which the book is relatively weak is its treatment of eugenics, the race and settlement issues, the Nuremberg Race Laws of 1935, and the effects of false genetics on German society. This led Hitler to dismiss all men with Jewish ancestry (Mischlinge) of any significance entirely from the Armed Forces. These men led a horrible existence throughout the rest of the century, documented well in Bryan Mark Riggs' book "Hitler's Jewish Soldiers." Also receiving little treatment is the arbitrary way in which "Aryanization" of appropriated Jewish property was conducted, as well as Hitler's reserved ability to pronounce anyone "Aryan" with his signature (leading, for example, to the retention of a Major in the Abwehr who assisted in rescuing the Rebbe of Warsaw from the Blitzkrieg of 1939. Treatment of the Gypsies (Roma and Sinti) is nonexistent, that of homosexuals brief but correct (it is true that lesbians were not discriminated against, because of the belief they might one day bear Aryan children). The correct treatment of this seemingly minor distinction, one very foreign to Americans), tends to lead me to have relative faith in the treatment of other subjects in the book. I have no doubt that Lucas, through his long years of study, research, and experience in Germany and Austria, was thoroughly familiar with what he wrote about. Particularly outstanding, for a book of this type, is his treatment of Operation Sealion--the planned invasion of England. This he gives the treatment of a military historian, and it is written from a German perspective as to the pros and cons, as well as reproducing little-known relevant documents (of the type of hypothetical military planning and war-gaming that is common today). Also receiving less in-depth treatment is the role of the Protestant (Lutheran) and Catholic churches in the creeping rise of National Socialism. Most of the High Command and high-level beauracrats would have to abandon the faith of their youth for a new religion, in effect--that of National Socialism and belief in racial superiority of full-blooded Aryans (a concept that has no basis in genetics). Treatment of the rise of National Socialism gives the SA little mention despite its significance. This would included the murder of Roehm in 1934 (once Hitler's strong man), Night of the Long Knives, when the SA command was destroyed and Kristallnacht (November 8, 1938) during which hundreds of synagogues and Jewish businesses were destroyed or burned, and the murder of Jews was ignored by the Police (giving the populace tacit approval of the government and police for anti-semitic, anti-Sinti, and anti-Roma discrimination). To see Germany through German eyes today, reminders of the concentration camps, ruthless anti-semitism, and the devouring destructive character of what Germans call the "NS-Zeit" (the time of National Socialism, which is a rather benign moniker) can hardly be ignored--memorials and reminders are prominent. Even with its flaws, I give the book a high rating. It is absolutely necessary to consider other sources before one could say that a nearly complete understanding of World War II from the German perspective had been gained. There are a number of books in English, and in German (for example, by the German sociologist Harald Wenzler) that are crucial and more critical.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An Incomplete Effort,
By Mr. Truthteller (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: World War Two Through German Eyes (Hardcover)
The purpose of this book (self-evident from its title) is to examine World War Two through the perspective of the Germans.
The book is divided into three sections: (1) Political and Social Perspectives, (2) Economic Perspectives, and (3) Military Perspectives. The section on Political and Social Perspectives is well done, explaining how Germans were influenced, affected, and indocrinated in many ways after the Nazis came to power. The section on Economic Perspectives, the shortest section in the book at a mere 15 pages, is not well done, focusing not on the overall economy during the Nazi regime, 1933-45, but only on certain aspects of it: the industrialists' relationship with Hitler, Speer's last-ditch efforts to invigorate war production, and Hitler's pet weapons projects. The section on Military Perspectives is surprisingly the worst section in the book. It focuses on four wartime objectives: Operation Sealion, the code name for the Nazi invasion of Britain (20+ pages), the securing of the Balkan states prior to the invasion of Russia (2 pages), the invasion of Russia (20+ pages), and the siege of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge (6 pages). Of these, the only enlightening discussion is on the invasion of the Soviet Union. The discussion of Operation Sealion needs a good editor and should have been trimmed in half as it just goes on and on; the discussion also excludes basic facts about the Battle of Britain, such as the effective use of radar (which provided the RAF with superior concentration of its inferior forces against incoming Luftwaffe attacks, equalizing the battles and fooling the Germans into thinking the RAF had more planes available to it than it actually did), that explains why the RAF survived, stalling Operation Sealion. A more through discussion of the Balkans campaign should have been undertaken as the one in this book is too brief to be of any use. Similarly, there should have been a more complete explanation of the siege of Bastogne, which as written is pointless as it does not provide sufficient detail on how Bastogne held out (effective use of artillery and airdropped supplies) and was relieved. [...]
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