The Nuremberg Interviews

Rating:
Summary: Interviews with Buckpassers
Review: Dr. Leon Goldensohn, an American psychiatrist, interviewed a number of defendants involved in the Nuremberg trials following World War II along with a number of witnesses who also were placed on trial, some of which were also put to death by hanging. All claim they were to do their assigned job, and it wasn't necessary for them to know anyone elses role in the Third Reich. Hitler, they said, kept them in the dark about what was going on and it wasn't until after the war that they learned of the atrocities that had taken place. The defendants placed the blame on Hitler, Himmler, and Bormann, all of which were beyond earthly punishment. I'm sure it was possible some of them had convinced themselves of their innocence, the magnitude of their guilt, being too enormous to accept. The text of the book is 450 pages long, but it reads along well and I'm sure you will find it to be interesting reading.

Rating:
Summary: A Fascinating Book in Many Ways
Review: Everything about this book is utterly fascinating - it contains verbatim interviews with the Nazi leaders on trial for their lives at Nuremberg, conducted by Leon Goldensohn, a military psychiatrist who passed away in 1961. Dr. Goldensohn's hand-written and typed interview notes were kept in boxes in his family's home for over 40 years. The interviews read like narratives - details of the prisoners themselves, their surroundings, their motives, are described in ways that read like a good story, although very chilling at times. Not surprisingly, each man conveys an unwillingness to assume responsibility for his part in the Holocaust. This is a must read for those interested in Jewish history but also for anyone who is intrigued in the story behind the story - how a young Jewish doctor from Newark, New Jersey was able to sit in a prison cell with leaders of the Nazi party and get them to talk so openly about themselves.

Rating:
Summary: Neuemburg interviews
Review: I am a personal friend of Eli, and first read some of this material at his home in NY. I was unable to respond to my emotions other than to say "the world has to see this". Handwritten pages of interviews transcribed every night to typewritten pages. Pages filled with the most mundane complaints concerning prision life, only interesting because these people were the architects of the most well known genocide of my life. That the author was a Jew and able to distance himself and gain the confidence of these people is nothing less than amazing. I an very pleased to see this in print, it came very close to being lost forever.

Rating:
Summary: I have a question
Review: I have read several books on Nuremberg Trials. Why is that there is so little written about Seyss-Inquart? Goldensohn's book does not even include interviews with Seyss-Inquart. Could someone explain why?

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Summary: Psychobabble it is
Review: Pschiatrists have been proven time and again to be just a motley, unworthy bunch of crackpots, loonies and charlatans. And Goldensohn was the prime example why this profession is extinct. The fact that most of the powerful people in the Reich were normal people should not astonish anyone with a right mind. It's only the demonising of them that should truly amazes the educated people.

Rating:
Summary: Difficult ,but a must-read
Review: The fact that Dr.Goldensohn could come face to face with these monsters and keep his civility and humanity intact, is a testament to the determination he had to reveal these creatures for what they were:mindless,cold,calculating and above all,always chanting their"I didn't know what Hitler was really doing.."mantra,which for most of the world,has fallen on deaf ears.However,by revealing them,he also teaches us through the interviews that ordinary men are completely capable of casting aside all morals and human emotion when a the prize of power is held in front of their noses.Suddenly,nothing elase matters but "following orders." This book needs to be made available to young people as soon as they are able to comprehend what is in it.We need to teach our children the results of cruelty,blind allegiance ,and a demonic need for power.It is never too early to begin.

Rating:
Summary: Tremendous book, feeble psychiatrist
Review: This is a great book for those interested in WWII history and/or recent German history. It will also interest those with a general curiosity regarding human nature. The book consists of interviews with the military, economic, & social leaders of the 3rd Reich, usually consisting of 6-8 pages each. Some of the leaders are fairly resigned & honest. Others are ingratiatingly blind.

The only downside to this book is the doctor who conducted the interviews, L. Goldensohn. His insufferable provocation of & condenscension to these tragic figures makes him the perfect caricature of the universally laughable early 20th century psychiatrist. It's easy to fegin moral superiority when one is on the winning side, but I suspect that he was otherwise nothing more than a shadow of the giants among men he interviews. That their system was evil everyone accepts- please spare me his pretentions.

If you are interested in this subject, however, don't let his unprofessionalism keep you from picking this up. It is a fine read.

Rating:
Summary: After all these years, bigoted terrorists still thrive
Review: To give this book anything less than 5 stars, and to imply, as the ridiculous book reviewer below, "T.S. Wing," did, that the Nazis that were interviewed for this book were somehow justifiably normal is a travesty. In fact, the book makes it clear that these men were not "monsters" but terribly human bigots and egomaniacs whose motivations were a frightening mix of self-aggrandizement, false-nationalism, and ice-cold hatred. My God: after all these years, bigots and deniers still thrive in the full shadow of long-dead Nazi goons. Thank goodness that amazon.com gives us an opportunity to refute hateful and uninformed reviews, both of Nazism and of the important profession of mental health treatment.