Interrogations : Inside the Minds of the Nazi Elite - Softcover

Overy, Richard.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140284540 ISBN 13: 9780140284546

Publisher: Penguin, 2002., 2002

Synopsis

From award-winning historian Richard Overy, Interrogations: Inside the Minds of the Nazi Elite is the harrowing true story of the interviews with Nazi masterminds in the aftermath of the Second World War. How can we ever understand why those in the Third Reich acted the way they did? What could have led them to commit such atrocities in the name of the Fuhrer? In 1945, as the Nazi regime collapsed, its remaining leaders were imprisoned and interrogated for months before the Nuremberg Trials. In this searing work Richard Overy reveals the original transcripts of these little-known interviews with key Nazis: the brutal and unrepentant Goering, the selective amnesiac Hess, the deliberately evasive Ribbentrop, the courteous Speer and the suicidal Ley. For the first time, they were forced to examine their actions and speak about the unspeakable. The result is an unprecedented and shocking insight into Hitler's henchmen. 'A chilling glimpse into the minds of Hitler's chief lieutenants' J.G. Ballard, New Statesman Books of the Year 'Enthralling ... I know of no better book to explain what really motivated the elite of the Third Reich' Andrew Roberts, Mail on Sunday 'Remarkable and gripping ... the interrogations, along with Overy's incisive commentary, throw light on the dejected cast who had once happily danced to Hitler's tune' David Stafford, The Times 'Fascinating ... reveals the mindset of Hitler's inner circle' Ian Kershaw, Sunday Telegraph Richard Overy has spent much of his distinguished career studying the intellectual, social and military ideas that shaped the cataclysm of the Second World War, particularly in his books 1939 - Countdown to War, Why the Allies Won, Russia's War and The Morbid Age. Overy's The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia won the Wolfson Prize for History and the Hessell Tiltman Prize.

About this title

About the Author

Richard Overy is Professor of History at King's College London. His previous books include WHY THE ALLIES WON, RUSSIA'S WAR and THE BATTLE.

From Library Journal

Desperate rats will devour one another to survive. At the end of World War II, the members of the captured Nazi hierarchy were indeed desperate to survive. Craven and cringing, they dissembled with their captors, attempting to sacrifice one another to escape inescapable guilt. As historian Overy (Russia's War) points out, though there was never any doubt about the criminality of the Nazi regime, subjecting that regime to judicial process was very risky: if the case were not proven, the accused might actually go free. Overy presents excerpts of the pretrial interrogations that provided the Allies with much of the information they needed to convict those responsible for the war and its atrocities. Overy's descriptions of the interrogations and illuminating commentary reveal the leaders of the "master race" to be weak-willed cowards. It was typical for the primary defendants to deny responsibility for the barbarity that occurred right under their noses or to feign incredulity that such fantastic cruelty could even occur. Copiously annotated and supported by an extensive bibliography, Interrogations is highly recommended, especially for academic libraries with a strong emphasis on 20th-century or military history. Michael F. Russo, Louisiana State Univ. Libs., Baton Rouge
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin, 2002.
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0140284540
• ISBN 13: 9780140284546
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 672