Interrogations: The Nazi Elite in Allied Hands, 1945

Rating:
Summary: Confessions: in their own words.
Review: "Interrogation: The Nazi Elite in Allied Hands, 1945" is a disturbing and enlightening book. It collect the transcription of the interrogations, put to different Nazi leaders, very soon after they were captured and before they were submitted to trial.
The book address in the first part, the main issues with which the Allied were confronted, in order to mount a trial for the War Criminals. British, American and Russians, the French were incorporated later, had very different points of view and criteria as how to perform this. Who were to be indicted; which should be the charges; which will be the legislation used; who should preside the Court; who will conduct the defense; etc. These and other substantial points were being discussed even before the end of the war.
As soon as the peace was signed, all Intelligence forces started to search for the Nazi leaders. Some were captured without problem. Some committed suicide before being caught or immediately after. They were disseminated in very different kind of prisons and receiving different treatment. Finally agreement between the Allies is attained and a common list of War Criminals produced. Once they were all rallied in one prison, they were subjected to interrogation, with a standard protocol and rules.
The second part of this work centers on the transcriptions of these interviews.A very rich material emerges here. Curiously, much of it was not used in the trials, so it is little known to the great public.
From this notes, Overy, wisely select and present very significant excerpts to the reader. He grouped them thematically and adds some personal comments. Different personalities and strategies from the defendant are shown: Göring boisterous and unremorseful; Hesse faking madness; Ribbentrop trying to look confused, overwhelmed by Hitler's power; Speer pleading some guilt and penitence. A gallery of dubious characters trying to survive blaming Hitler and deflecting their guilt. The depositions of the responsible of the extermination camps are devastating: they really can not grasp the horror of what they have done.
A book to read in order to have some understanding of a dark period of Human history.
Lastly, the hardback edition is a very beautiful object in itself, first quality paper and printing is used.

Rating:
Summary: insight into the political machine and crimes of the Nazis
Review: "Interrogations" by Richard Overy is an important book concentrating on the question of prosecution of the perpetrators of Nazi crimes during the WWII during the Nuremberg Trials. The book additionally claims a few insights into the character of Hitler political and military leadership, organization of Nazi state, character of Hitler's minions and the effects of these structures of German people.

First half of the book concerns itself with some legal questions facing the Nuremberg trials, dealing mostly with the ambiguous nature of the tribunal as both legislative and judicial authority, questions of legitimacy of the trial and reconciliation of French and Russian "rational" legal traditions and precepts of Anglo-Saxon common law. Additionally, political problems and disagreements between the Allies on the nature of persecution (although not punishment) are presented in some detail. Later, main defendants and their careers are introduced and the narrative moves to the trial itself.

In the second half, one finds affidavits and interview records for major defendants dealing with the nature and character of leadership and decision making in Nazi dictatorship. Most of them deal with the enigma of Hitler and his hold on military, economic and ideological character of Nazi state. Familiar arguments of "psychological" hold the superhuman strength of Furhers character, and the personal nature of the power structures in Nazi Germany are presented.

Overall, I find the sections dealing with the nature and legal aspects of persecution the most interesting. Unfortunately, the book suffers from the duality of purpose; one could not expect the exhaustive treatment of both the legal issues facing the Allies and nature of War in the same volume. Ad-mixture of primary sources as the Appendix is useful, if however diluting of the main points. One has a feeling that those were added to increase the size of the book, since they lack extensive indexing and other research tools one expects from the professional book in history.

Rating:
Summary: Good addition to literature on the Nuremberg Trials
Review: 'Interrogations' brings some new light to the mode of thinking of many of the top Nazis. I have read both 'Nuremberg' by Persico and 'Nuremberg Diary' by Gilbert, and I feel that these books can all interplay with one another. 'Nuremberg' is the overall story of the trial and its main characters. 'Nuremberg Diary' takes us behinds the scenes, so that we see more of the psyche of the Nazis. And finally, this book, 'Interrogations', is a worthy prequel. These are the pre-trial interviews, an area that has been overlooked in the main by chroniclers of the war crimes trials. Here we get testimony concerning Albert Speer's alleged plot to kill Hitler and his cronies; the testimony of Robert Ley, which is often overlooked as he committed suicide before the trials began; and the mystery of Hess's 'amnesia.' Also, some sobering testimony from extermination camp guards, discussing how they hated working in the crematorium because of the smell, but they got used to it enough that they could eat a sandwich while working. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Greatness
Review:
There are a lot of Nazi wannabees in the world, and many of them claim that the Holocaust never happened, or more insidiously, that the Holocaust was "exaggerated" (whatever the blank that meants). There's a book of interrogation transcripts taken from Nazis after the war. It is not pleasant reading. I do wonder, in this age of PC, whether the public school system actually teaches about the Holocaust and the stupidity of Holocaust deniers.

Dieter Wisliceny, one of Eichmann's lieutenants, put the number of Jews exterminated at 4,817,700, based on personal recollection and while looking at a table (not reproduced) showing the numbers from this or that country or part of a country. He doesn't mention the Ukraine, where another 500,000 or more were killed by mobile SS units, or Germany, where his figure of 180,000 appears much too low. He does recount that Eichmann told him that Polish Jewry were the powerhouse for world Jewry and were to be completely exterminated. That amounts to over 3 million killed.

"I am convinced that with the exception of the few thousands of Polish Jews found alive in concentration camps, every single Polish Jewish individual has been killed." -- Wisliceny (p 368)

Another interrogation (more like a conversation) between two other people has the disturbing scene in which they begin to laugh as they recount how bad the area near the killing rooms smelled, but how it got to the point where one could eat a sandwich in there. That conversation ends with the man being interrogated saying that the only good thing that came out of the project was that a few million Jews were killed.

Dr. Robert Ley, a notorious and self-proclaimed anti-Semite wrote an open letter to the German people saying that the Jews and Germans had to make peace with one another, but he did so in such a slimy, unrepentant, ambivalent way that I got a little sick reading it. That [characterization deleted] killed himself in his cell rather than be tried for his criminal activities.

Other than the Holocaust, another subject somewhat illuminated by these transcripts is the conduct of the war, and the reasons behind some obvious tactical and strategic mistakes by Germany, most notably its failure to invade Britain and end the threat of a two front war. Hitler and others were concerned that the British Navy was too strong for Germany to invade. And yet, Germany opened up a second front before it was ready (if indeed it ever could have been) rather than prepare the UK invasion.

Keitel said that if the USSR could have been overcome by 1941 and forced to capitulate all would have been fine, and that he'd held that view at the outset. He also noted that Germany had only six divisions on the eastern front after the division of Poland, and that continuous guerrila warfare was going on, along with a massive buildup of Soviet forces, and increasing territorial and other demands that Hitler couldn't accept. Had the non-aggression pact not been signed, or Stalin's bluff ignored, the issue of a vulnerable eastern border wouldn't have arisen, and the overwhelming of western Europe including the UK could have gone forward. The Bismarck drew off much of the British naval strength, and that would have been the time to launch the invasion. Luckily for the world, Hitler didn't comprehend strategy, and actually didn't even comprehend tactics.

In short, this is highly recommended, but don't expect to be cheered up by it. It's a necessity to know one's enemy, and the Nazis and their current day apologists (including commentators in Middle Eastern media, where the so-called "myth of the Holocaust" is commonly believed) and comrades in arms are ours.



Rating:
Summary: Chilling, insightful
Review: There has been much analysis of the deeds, motives and consequences of Germany's Nazis, some of it brilliant, some of it rubbish, much in between. But there is simply no substitute for their actual words.
Thanks to the exhaustive interviews conducted by the allies prepatory to the Nuremberg trials and the organizing and editing skills of Richard Overy, today's readers have easy access to many of those words.
"Interrogations" lays bare the banality of evil, the chilling hate and the mindless obedience of Nazi war criminals. They also present a comprehensive account of the workings of Nazi Germany, including the leadership of Adolph Hitler. More so then in his own writings, Hitler's architect, Albert Speer provides a richly detailed account of his and Hitler's activities and mindset.
Indeed the mindset of the various interviewees is compelling subject matter to ponder. Many seem to realize in retrospect what a terrible mistake they had made. They practically seem to be speaking of someone else as they openly discuss their participation in the horrors of the Nazi regime. The detestable Herman Goring is an exception suggesting no regrets about actions or beliefs.
The book is divided by subject matter, including genocide, perspectives on Hitler, the waging of War and Rudolph Hess. Those interrogated include Speer, Goering, Joachin von Ribbentorp and Alfred Jodl.
Overy does a masterful job of introducing the topics and the people, providing background and perspectives.
"Interrogations" is an important addition to the library of any student of World War II and of the Holocaust. It also stands well by itself as a fascinating study of human nature at its most destructive.


Rating:
Summary: Don't Miss This Book
Review: This book is a gem that is only to be faulted for the sparsity of the interrogations that are printed and the pages wasted on Richard Overy's commentaries. The transcripts of the interrogations are what is rivoting. Some of them would make Broadway plays, "as is," far supassing the many fictional works about the Nazis. These are the actual transcripts of interviews with the Nazi leaders and sub-leaders after their capture and prior to their Nurenberg trial. So these are the real "first encounters" between the Germans and the Americans and British and Russians. The interviewers are terribly amateurish by and large. They bully and argue with the Nazi prisoners in ways that shut the interview down just when something important is about to be said. They missed opportunity after missed opportunity to ask follow up questions leaves the reader aching. In fact the book would be useful for teachers of courses on "interviewing techniques" both in the mental health field or the criminal justice arena -- as a "how not to interview textbook." However what does come out is of unequalled interest. There are accounts from two "bureaucrats" at Auschwitz, a captured doctors at Dachau, a mid level assistant to Eichmann -- all so horrifying that they dwarf by any measure all the secondary accounts even in memorable, unforgettable works like those of Shirer. The interiew of Van Pappen, the powerful pre-Hitler political leader, is also memorable for watching a slippery Politcal Manderin slithering out of a noose. And of course these interrogations mark the debut of what may be the most brilliant defense strategy of the twentieth century: Speer's testimony that he must take full responsibility for the crimes of the 3rd Reich even though he couldn't recall ever doing anything wrong personally -- all the while wooing the Americans by keeping tactical military information away from the Soviets. Don't miss this book!!

Rating:
Summary: Essential reading
Review: This book is essential reading for those who have read much of the European theatre of World War II and even more particularly of the Hitler regime. The transcripts of the interrogations and the submitted writings of Albert Speer alone make this book a must read- if you have read enough on these subjects you will recognize the source material the historians have relied upon, including Kershaw's excellent two volume biography of Hitler.

This book covers the gap between the end of WWII in Europe, with Nazi leaders either on the run or committing suicide, and the commencement of the Nuremberg trials. During this interim, a number of interrogations occurred with the principals determined to be culpable and subject to trial. It was very interesting to read the words of those closest to Hitler- Speer, Ribbentrop, Guderian, etc. Ribbentrop, especially, confirms his incompetence during questioning and it is not beyond belief that his defense of ignorance may in fact be true.

But it is Speer to whom the reader will recognize as the most intelligent and competent of the captured. He could not gain closer access to Hitler due to Boerrman in the later years and this may have proved to be a great tragedy for Germany. I will next read his "Inside the Third Reich" given this book.

Overall, an excellent contribution to the history of the Third Reich and highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: "Banality of Evil" is not for Everyone
Review: This is clearly an essential book for anyone interested in the Third Reich, the Holocaust or Shoah. Simply put, in their own words, rationalizations, justifications, and mystifications of the "Elite" leaders of the Reich, on trial at Nuremberg. Apparently well-treated, some were seemingly quite frank about their coming under the Führer's hypnotic spell and seeming to lose their own will, few apologetic and even fewer aware of the need to explain to the next generation of Germans what had transpired during the 13 year, not the 1,000 year, Reich. At least Dr. Goebbels, the master propagandist, had the foresight to spare his descendants the psychic pain and murdered his whole family before taking his own life.

It is acknowledged that Hitler placed into prominent positions persons with little or no background or experience in their positions of authority or domains (Ribbentrop was a champagne dealer, Heydrich a disgraced WWI Naval officer who became head of the SS non-Reich territories and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, or Czechloslovakia), placing his utmost confidence in them. And how could their have been people with "experience" in his ultimate aims, the domination of Europe and extermination of European Jewry? He had many men scurrying to act as they knew what they were doing, learning on the job, so to speak, and that, if anything, rings clear. Do you, the reader, remember a first job where you feared it would be found out you were a pretender, a fraud, a newbie? Imagine being given an entry-level job in command of thousands of slave laborers, displaced persons to be worked to the last pfennig of their worth and then destroyed, fed only enough to eek out that last pfennig of work...on the gate of many of the concentration camps (Konzentrationslagen) one sees the inscription ARBEIT MACHT FREI. I have seen the gate at Sachsenhausen, just north of Berlin, and used by the Soviets and East Germans as a prison for many years after the war. Usually this is translated as "work will make you free." I have understood a different meaning, a distinctly Germanic one. Arbeit--Work; Macht--Power; Frei--Unconfined....from my 1939 German dictionary. For, as we know, freedom is an American concept. Those three words were, at best, double entrendre or propaganda. As understood by Germans in the SS, a wholly different meaning was conveyed.

In a country where the Abitur (high school diploma) was looked upon as we in America might look upon a Master's Degree today, men of only elementary education took up the leadership in many aspects of the classless German society which Hitler sought to create. Of course, few such men went through the indoctrination of the Labor Service, mandatory for all young men issued spades to drill with instead of guns, the Hitler youth, or the concept of the Lebensborn (children born out of wedlock for the Führer).

All of these schemes, when shone under the light of day for the world to see, were doomed to failure. Yet the Elite seemed never to grasp this fact. They pursued their aims with whatever efficiency was possible, a German tradition. The trains ran in a timely manner nearly till the absolute end of the war, even after the massive bombings of major cities and bridges. Hugo Boss continued to design revisions in the war uniforms to account for shortages in quality material.

This is an essential book for a library on the 20th Century--not a "read" but a true reference work. What Germany and the European Union aspire to, and will become, has passed through the mind of Adolph Hitler and his collaborators, into the minds of the descendants of the "Täter" und "Opfern" (German for the perpetrators and the victims--to which the Germans now include the victims of Allied strategic bombing of civilian population centers).

As sure as the Persian Gulf Wars I and II were initiated in our national interest, understanding of the perpetrators of the various atrocities, and, as we know, in some cases exceptions, of the all-important period from the Treaty of Versailles to the end of hostilities in May, 1945 in Europe are part of the prologue to the 21st century. Some find history dull and heavy, but like the Law, history has a long grasp.

Read this book. More than once! My highest recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: "Banality of Evil" is not for Everyone
Review: This is clearly an essential book for anyone interested in the Third Reich, the Holocaust or Shoah. Simply put, in their own words, rationalizations, justifications, and mystifications of the "Elite" leaders of the Reich, on trial at Nuremberg. Apparently well-treated, some were seemingly quite frank about their coming under the Führer's hypnotic spell and seeming to lose their own will, few apologetic and even fewer aware of the need to explain to the next generation of Germans what had transpired during the 13 year, not the 1,000 year, Reich. At least Dr. Goebbels, the master propagandist, had the foresight to spare his descendants the psychic pain and murdered his whole family before taking his own life.

It is acknowledged that Hitler placed into prominent positions persons with little or no background or experience in their positions of authority or domains (Ribbentrop was a champagne dealer, Heydrich a disgraced WWI Naval officer who became head of the SS non-Reich territories and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, or Czechloslovakia), placing his utmost confidence in them. And how could their have been people with "experience" in his ultimate aims, the domination of Europe and extermination of European Jewry? He had many men scurrying to act as they knew what they were doing, learning on the job, so to speak, and that, if anything, rings clear. Do you, the reader, remember a first job where you feared it would be found out you were a pretender, a fraud, a newbie? Imagine being given an entry-level job in command of thousands of slave laborers, displaced persons to be worked to the last pfennig of their worth and then destroyed, fed only enough to eek out that last pfennig of work...on the gate of many of the concentration camps (Konzentrationslagen) one sees the inscription ARBEIT MACHT FREI. I have seen the gate at Sachsenhausen, just north of Berlin, and used by the Soviets and East Germans as a prison for many years after the war. Usually this is translated as "work will make you free." I have understood a different meaning, a distinctly Germanic one. Arbeit--Work; Macht--Power; Frei--Unconfined....from my 1939 German dictionary. For, as we know, freedom is an American concept. Those three words were, at best, double entrendre or propaganda. As understood by Germans in the SS, a wholly different meaning was conveyed.

In a country where the Abitur (high school diploma) was looked upon as we in America might look upon a Master's Degree today, men of only elementary education took up the leadership in many aspects of the classless German society which Hitler sought to create. Of course, few such men went through the indoctrination of the Labor Service, mandatory for all young men issued spades to drill with instead of guns, the Hitler youth, or the concept of the Lebensborn (children born out of wedlock for the Führer).

All of these schemes, when shone under the light of day for the world to see, were doomed to failure. Yet the Elite seemed never to grasp this fact. They pursued their aims with whatever efficiency was possible, a German tradition. The trains ran in a timely manner nearly till the absolute end of the war, even after the massive bombings of major cities and bridges. Hugo Boss continued to design revisions in the war uniforms to account for shortages in quality material.

This is an essential book for a library on the 20th Century--not a "read" but a true reference work. What Germany and the European Union aspire to, and will become, has passed through the mind of Adolph Hitler and his collaborators, into the minds of the descendants of the "Täter" und "Opfern" (German for the perpetrators and the victims--to which the Germans now include the victims of Allied strategic bombing of civilian population centers).

As sure as the Persian Gulf Wars I and II were initiated in our national interest, understanding of the perpetrators of the various atrocities, and, as we know, in some cases exceptions, of the all-important period from the Treaty of Versailles to the end of hostilities in May, 1945 in Europe are part of the prologue to the 21st century. Some find history dull and heavy, but like the Law, history has a long grasp.

Read this book. More than once! My highest recommendation.