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Official Secrets: What the Nazis Planned, What the British and Americans Knew Hardcover – October 1, 1998

by Richard Breitman (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 22 ratings
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Examines evidence of Nazi war crimes gathered by British intelligence
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Previous page
  1. Part of series
    Allen Lane History
  2. Print length
    325 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Hill & Wang Pub
  5. Publication date
    October 1, 1998
  6. Dimensions
    6.25 x 1.25 x 9.75 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0809038196
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0809038190
  9. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Historians have long debated whether the origins of the Holocaust can be traced to a German tradition of anti-Semitism that Adolf Hitler was able to channel to his advantage (a view taken by Daniel Goldhagen in his book Hitler's Willing Executioners), or whether, instead, the mass murder of Europe's Jewish population was the byproduct of the Nazi war against neighboring states (Christopher Browning's position in Ordinary Men). In Official Secrets, American University historian Richard Breitman proposes an explanation that lies somewhere in between: whereas most ordinary Germans approved of the persecution of Jews, he maintains, the German leadership nonetheless took pains to keep the facts of the Final Solution out of the public eye, fearful that those ordinary Germans might not have approved of wholesale slaughter. Widening the scope of his inquiry, Breitman points out that the Holocaust was well mapped out in the pages of Mein Kampf, which the Allied leaders had studied well before war broke out. Those leaders also knew, thanks to detailed intelligence reports and intercepted German radio messages, of the existence of extermination camps like Auschwitz and Treblinka. Breitman examines why the Allies did so little to oppose the Holocaust as it unfolded--or, as he puts it, why "the U.S. government and the British government did not try to do what might have worked." His thoughtful answers are likely to excite further debate among historians. --Gregory McNamee

From Publishers Weekly

Breitman's important, dispassionate study adds to the already considerable body of evidence that Britain's top intelligence analysts knew, as early as September 1941, that the Germans were systematically carrying out mass murder of Jews in Nazi-occupied Soviet territories and planning their liquidation in the lands they conquered. Drawing on newly declassified British decodes of intercepted German police wireless-telegraphy messages, the author, an eminent Holocaust scholar and American University professor of history, establishes the crucial role of the battalions of the German Order Police, run by Gestapo bureaucrat Kurt Daluege, the arch-rival of Security Police chief Reinhard Heydrich. Breitman concludes that many police executioners obeyed the orders to murder Jews without compunction because they had long since internalized the pervasive anti-Semitic prejudice. In this respect, his study lends support to Daniel Jonah Goldhagen's Hitler's Willing Executioners, though Breitman qualifies this by arguing that while Jew-hatred was an integral part of 1930s Germany's political and social life, the Nazi regime had to reinforce and radicalize this prejudice in various sectors of society. Breitman also reviews the failure of both the British and Americans to rescue European Jewry and delivers a damning indictment of the U.S. news media for failing to make clear to the American people the true nature of Nazism. His meticulously documented study makes a compelling case that the Western powers could have made a significant difference in saving Jewish lives earlier, if the political will to do so had existed. Editor, Elisabeth Sifton.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hill & Wang Pub; First Edition (October 1, 1998)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 325 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0809038196
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0809038190
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.35 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.25 x 9.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 22 ratings

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Richard Breitman

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
22 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

steve uk
5.0 out of 5 stars A very unsettling read.
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2015
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Fascinating and very unsettling look into the Holocaust from a new perspective.
What did the Allies know about the Holocaust and what if anything could they have done to stop it? It also looks at the German mechanism and the criminal lunatics who took part in the Holocaust and carried the horrific atrocities.
If you are interested in this dark part of history it may explain what happened.
A very balanced researched book.
One person found this helpful
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Called, Chosen & Blessed!
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!!!
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2012
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I bought this for my husband, and he couldn't put it down!
It's compelling, well-written and a must read for all history buffs and WWII enthusiasts!
2 people found this helpful
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John J. Rooney (rooney@lasalle.edu)
4.0 out of 5 stars An objective, well-balanced account of the Holocaust
Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 1999
In this account of Nazi atrocities,Richard Breitman, professor of history at American University, presents a factual picture in many ways more horrifying than dramatizations of the events.
The author draws on recently released transcripts of British intelligence intercepts of German Order Police (ORPO) radio transmissions, and he integrates this information with material previously known to scholars of the Holocaust.
Breitman presents convincing evidence that ridding Europe of all Jews was an early goal of Hitler, not one that emerged later in the war. This goal was pursued ruthlessly by the SS and ORPO with ever-increasing efficiency as the war progressed. Even when it was clear that the Germany could not win the war, its leaders continued their all-out effort to accomplish this objective.
What did the Allies know of the atrocities? During the war, the American people had heard reports of persecution of the Jews by the Nazis, but they were astounded when allied troops uncovered the horrifying extent of the extermination. Yet this book presents evidence that high officials in Britian and the United States were aware of this throughout the war. Reports from the Polish Government-in-Exile emphasized that all Jews, including women and children were being eliminated. Jewish organizations, and individul citizens in many countries were also reporting this, and the ORPO radio intercepts confirmed it.
Unfortunately, not all allied officials had access to all of the information, and there was considerable disagreement about its accuracy and relevance. Some thought the reports were fabricated or grossly exaggerated. Even if substantially true, there was disagreement over what could be done about it. Winning the war was the overriding goal at the time; everything else was subordinate to it. Thus it was argued that only working harder to win the war sooner could help the Jews.
The author is convinced that much more could have been done. German officials went to considerable trouble to keep the mass atrocities secret. And Allied broadcasts into Europe failed to give the Holocaust the emphasis it deserved. If the truth had been more widely known, more Jews could have gone into hiding; sympathetic neighbors could have given more help; and neutral and allied countries could have accepted more refugees. Despite widespread anti-Semitism in Germany and other countries, some people were sympathetic to the Jews, and even many prejudiced people would have helped save potential victims had they known they were fated for death. That the Nazis were concerned about this is evident, not only from their efforts at secrecy, but also from the vicious and incessant propaganda they used to intensify existing anti-Semitism.
Allied threats of post-war reprisals against participants in atrocities also might have been employed more effectively, although they had some impact. Italian and Hungarian leaders, for example, frequently resisted deporting Jews, in part for fear of reprisals to come.
The most disturbing aspect of Allied policy, however, was the attitude toward refugees. Rather than making every effort to accept as many as possible and to urge neutral countries to do the same, procrastination and outright resistance were common. There was much discussion, but little action. How would refugees be transported and supported? What was their legal status? Would it help or hurt the blockade? Would it give credence to German propaganda which claimed the war was being fought for the Jews?
Some officials argued that the Allies should not relieve Germany of the resonsibilty of taking care of dependent children by making efforts to accept them as refugees. Tragically, the Nazis did "take care of them."
All in all, an informative and thought-provoking work.
55 people found this helpful
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Stephen Campbell
5.0 out of 5 stars Review
Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2008
I have read this book twice. Perhaps the author repeats himself. I may even have a few minor quibbles with some of research regarding conclusions. All that does not matter. Why? Because the author makes you think twice about commonly held beliefs. A good author in this area makes you want to read his footnotes. Again why? Because what he has written makes you want to know more. The author had me bookmarking where I was reading, and his footnotes, so I could go back and forth.

This book goes into detail about the role of the German police battalions in the mass murder that resulted from Hitlers racial policies. Something that very few researchers have written about. I would rate this book, and Brownings writing on Police Battalion 101, as the two best books on the subject.
14 people found this helpful
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Tom
3.0 out of 5 stars Official Secrets about the Holocaust, and a Cover-up
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2020
In general, this book is a good introduction and summary of the British and American Governments reactions to learning during World War Two, about the Nazi killing of Jews. However, the subtitle of this book says, What the British and Americans Knew, and this is where the Cover-up occurs. The author discovered in US Government archives some records about World War Two British Government code-breaking deciphering of Nazi coded radio transmissions about Nazi killing of Jews. This somewhat limited information was more and better information than from any other known source, at that time, during World War Two, and yet the British Government or their intelligence agencies kept the information Secret from almost everyone. It is unclear how much British Prime Minister Winston Churchill knew, and perhaps the intelligence agencies mostly kept it secret from Churchill, or maybe Churchill was not interested, or maybe he thought that there was nothing he could do. And the intercepted coded radio transmissions deciphering of Nazi radio messages about the killing of Jews was kept secret after World War Two. The US intelligence agencies did not receive copies from the British until 1982. The secret reports obtained from the British were not declassified by the US until 1996. The author apparently did not have time to examine all the declassified documents that were available, although apparently without a catalog and un-indexed. The author published his book in 1998, and many documents were still secret in 1998, and apparently still secret today, either by classification, or by ignorance of their existence. However, this limited declassified information about the killing of Jews by Nazis available to the author was only briefly described in his book in only a few examples, without direct quotations, in his book, but only with references to the archive sources, which few readers will ever investigate, and this author's very limited description in his book of the secret reports is essentially also a Cover-up. Perhaps the author was afraid that a detailed description in his book of the declassified secret reports would cause the Government to re-classify the reports as secret again. And yet it seems that no one has subsequently published these declassified secret reports in any detail or in any extensive direct quotations.
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Top reviews from other countries

Mr Kits71
5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic eye opening read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 17, 2013
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This is a book I read over 20 years ago, it is very heavy going but persevere with it and you will have a better understanding of just how much the Allies knew about The Final Solution.
2 people found this helpful
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drew
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2017
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Ok
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funky_farmacist
3.0 out of 5 stars It’s a paperback
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 30, 2019
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I was expecting a hard back
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