A review, by Gerald T. Westbrook, of
A Most Dangerous Book
............
A review, by Christopher B. Krebs, of a book with the title
Tacitus Germania
and the sub-title
Fron the Roman Empire to the Third Reich
............
Background
As those who have read some of my more recent reviews know, the structure of a book is important to me. This book has an excellent book structure. This includes a fine table of Contents, which in turn includes a list of Illustrations and a very good Index. It also included an excellent book jacket, which was an immediate help to this reader.
It was not clear to me initially as to why Krebs's book was "A Most Dangerous Book." For that issue I have gone to considerable trouble to layout the review by myself of Kelb's book, and the review by Kelb of Tacitus's treatise. Hence, the "Dangerous Book" is not the book by Krebs, but rather to a book by the Roman historian, Tacitus. Two thousand years ago he wrote a non-flattering book entitled: "Germania", about German tribes. Surely he could not have seen that it would be distorted into claiming German superiority and, ultimately became the perfect tool for Nazi ideology.
Tacitus described the German people as loyal and strong, but were uncultured, unsophisticated and almost primitive. His book lay dormant until the 15th century. Then a new interpretation started to emerge that focused on the Germans purity, as well as their strength and loyalty. Over the following 500 years this treatise was reinterpreted, misinterpreted and misfitted to promote political agendas. "Ultimately, the Germainia was twisted into a statement of the purity of the German blood and a testament of German superiority. "Adolph Hitler was indebted to it for his racial theories, and Heinrich Himmler, - - - launched a secret campaign to confiscate the manuscript, vowing to resurrect an untainted Germany on its grounds."
This led me to the Index in Kelb's book to search for such words as confiscate or expropriate, but these were not there. However, it was interesting to note the coverage for Hitler and Himmler. It is hard to believe that Himmler had a bit more coverage than Hitler. Why? That is a question that needs answering. In any event this is a most interesting, but complex book. The front cover should have been a warning with two key symbols. The first was crossed olive branches, bracketing the letter A in the title, and representing the Roman period of 2000 years ago. The second was a red Swastika, representing the Nazi regime in the 20th century.
Another unique feature of this book was a list of illustrations. Unlike other recent books where I have had to flip pages to find the pictures, here I felt I would not need to do that. Wrong! For some strange reason Krebs did not include the page numbers in this list. Picture numbers yes, page numbers no! A new list with the page numbers, is included below.
1. Mosaic, 1855, Introduction, page 16.
2. Codex Aesines, Introduction, page 18.
3. Fumerary inscription of Tacitus, Chapter 1, page 31.
4. Woodcut of Poggio Braccioluni (1380 - 14590, Chapter 2, page 67.
5. Noah's son, Tuysco, the German primogenitor, Chapter 3, page 103.
6. Tuisco, the father of all Germans, Chapter 3, page 115.
7. A Germanic feast, Chapter 4, page 137.
8. A German farmer, Chapter 6, page 170.
9. SS Runes, Chapter 6, page 174
10. The facial angle, Chapter 7, page 192.
11. Illustration of the cephalic index, Chapter 7, page 193
12. The Germanic Warrior, Chapter 7, page 205.
13. Photograph of Heinrich Himmler, Chapter 8, page 236.
14. Tacitean motto of a Hitler youth manual, Chapter 8, page 239.
Major Inputs
.
Again this listing seems to give a higher ranking to Himmler vs Hitler. It also leads to some interesting questions and to some new words, which needed interpretation. Examples follow.
1. Noah and Noah's son, Tuysco, the German primogenitor.
First off this Noah was coupled to the Noah of the Arc legend. The author talks of interesting references, as follows.
(1) In 1498, the "Commentaries on the Works of Various Authors Discussing Antiquities," was published. This was a collection of historical texts thought lost. It included a novel account of the times before and after the "Flood." It also included stories of nations founded by Noah's sons on soil still saturated with rain.
(2) "For Germans these rediscovered texts contained sensational information as well." They learned they descended from Tuysco.
(3) However, it turns out that "the nature of the `Antiquities' as a whole, whose slyly understated title hid what to this day counts as a masterpiece of artful forgery."
This event makes it rather difficult to capture fact from fiction. Wikipedia also starts its report as follows:"A flood myth or deluge myth is a mythical or religious story of a great flood sent by a deity to destroy civilization as an act of divine retribution." This description makes it even more difficult to separate fact from fiction. All of this complexity was particularly disturbing to this writer as I have read the book "Noah's" Flood by William Ryan and Walter Pitman. I have also written on "Noah's Flood." Indeed I was convinced I knew fact from fiction on this subject. I still do, but I concede a need to re-visit this subject.
2. The Word of the Day
This book out shines the Bill O'Reilly show, in introducing new words into my vocabulary. A few examples follow.
(1) cephalic of or relating to the head; cephalic index (CI) - the ratio of the short and long axis of the fetal cranium.
(2) codex - a manuscript volume, especially of a classic work or of the Scriptures.
(3) ethnography - the branch of anthropology that deals with the scientific description of specific human cultures.
(4) portentous - ominous; portending evil. marvelous; prodigious; wonderful.
(5) The Völkisch movement is the German interpretation of the populist movement, with a romantic focus on folklore. This movement was not unified, but a cauldron of beliefs, fears and hopes. It was arguably the largest group in the Conservative Revolutionary movement in Germany. However, like "conservative- revolutionary" or "fascist" völkisch is a complex term
3. SS Runes
The picture of the SSRunes is the cover of Photo Album B in the Himmler Collection. It appears to represent a flag, with a large circle enclosing four rectangles. These are shown as two sets, with each set having the two rectangles joined. It might be a precursor of the Swastika.
A Google search for "SS runes" provided many interesting replies, with one entitled: "Norse Rune Symbols and the Third Reich" the most interesting.
The book also had much to say on this subject, stating with Copenhagen, where Germany and Scandinavia meet. The writer mentions several people, several books and much commentary on whether Denmark or Germany was the true cradle of greatness.
The subject of Nordic myths was also reviewed and "provided subject matter for rune stones." - - - "The runic letters -- use of which was stitched and printed on millions of lapels and and documents, would come to symbolize the terror spread in the Third Reich."
4. Heinrich Himmler.
Chapter 8 has much to say about HH. And the title of Chapter8, namely: "A Bible for National Socialists" begs that this chapter be investigated.
The initial paragraph begins with "A Foreign Correspondent noted the `breathless silence' in the in the mighty room." The cardinal-archbishop of Munich and Friesing--in giving his New Years Eve address, on December 31st 1933--held the attention of the numerois journalists from around the world, but also the many members of the newly installed National Socialist Regime." These grave diggers for the Weimer Republic were not yet certain of their power and the cardinal made them nervous. On the preceding Sundays
of Advent his sermons were heard in three churches, filled to the last seat. These sermons covered inappropriate issues. One of these was that the National Socialist program contained an article that decried the Old Testament as an offense against the "moral sense and the sense of decency of the Germanic race," he had spoken about its value. He was surely careful to qualify his statements, but he should have foreseen that in praising the people of Israel for having `exhibited the noblest of religious values' he would outrage some and comfort many others." One German Jew wrote that he hoped that "God would strengthen his wonderful courage." The cardinal showed courage again in his fifth sermon that NY's Eve. He would need more for many weeks thereafter.
The cardinal-archbishop worried that there was "a movement afoot to establish a Nordic or Germanic religion." The value of Christianity was being cast into question. Kelb noted the cardinal painted a picture of the Germanic character, prior to Christianity. It was an "abhorent picture of polytheism, human sacrifice and `savage superstition'." The list of faults was very long. The Germanic nature, the cardinal concluded, owed its civilization and very existence to Christianity.
This New Years Eve sermon triggered the "National Socialists of all ages and ranks refuted, scorned and attacked the address - - -." It was a "political crime" they said, and its speaker, the Cardinal, "a categorical and determined enemy of the National Socialist state."
The second sub-chapter was entitled "The Germanic Revolution." It noted that the "National Socialist political machine was a system of envy and suspicion, fueled by a shared desire for power, and maintained by the seemingly `weak dictator' Adolf Hitler."
The third sub-chapter was entitled "Blood and Soil." This started with a telling quote: "The purity of German blood is the prerequisite for the survival of the German people." This quote was from - Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honor - 1935.
The final sub-chapter was entitled "Mission Unaccomplished: The Reichsführer and His SS." Heinrich Luitpold Himmler read Tacitus on a train ride in 1924. He still had a long way to go before he would become the leader of the SS. Himler had borrowed a copy of this memoir and lost himself in "the glorious image of the loftiness, purity and nobleness of our ancestors."
Hitler appointed Himler as head of the SS in 1929. Under his leadership the SS grew from 270 to a highly tuned machine of 50,000. While Hitler viewed this troop as his personal bodyguard, Himmler viewed his SS as the vanguard of the grest Germanic empire. His SS should form "the basis on which the next generation can make history." In its Fascist uniforms it presrnted itself as an elite. His SS persued the selection and breeding of a pure Nordic race as its "irremovable overall aim."
When Himmler learned there was an old manuscript of the "Germania" in Italy he ordered his SS to investigate. There were also far-reaching expeditions to Sweden, to the Middle East, to the Himalayas and other searches. Himmler stayed on the alert to get his coveted manuscript, and when Mussolini was overthrown in 1943, he sent troopers to search the Villa Fontedàmo, but the coveted Codex remained out of reach.
Conclusions
After WWII an Italian Count put the Codex Aesinas in a safe deposit box in the Banco de Sicilia in Florence. When the Arno river flooded in 1966 the Codex was one of many damaged objects of art. It was taken to the monastery of Santa Maria di Grottaferratta near Rome, "where monks skilled in handling manuscripts inserted absorbent paper." Their efforts were a success and this manuscript was returned to Florence, damaged, but not destroyed. .
In the introduction I wondered why Himmler had more coverage than Hitler in this book. The answer is that this is a book about the mentality of the Germans belief of a pure and superior Nordic race, and Himmler was the architect of this goal.
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