Nazis : A Warning from History - Softcover

Rees, Laurence

Softcover

ISBN 10: 056348814X ISBN 13: 9780563488149

Publisher: Bbc Book Pub, 2002

Synopsis

'The Nazis - A Warning from History' exposes the popular myth surrounding the rise and fall of the Third Reich. The book takes a fresh look at how the Nazis came to power, how they ruled and Hitler's role within the party. It describes the horrors perpetrated on the Eastern Front, including the occupation and division of Poland, the growth of anti-semitism to its culmination in the gas chambers of Treblinka and Auschwitz, and the final months of the war when the Nazis came to reap the consequences of the suffering they had sown. It challenges the popularly accepted perception of Nazi power which focuses on Hitler as the source of all the regime's evil. Above all, it considers how a cultured nation such as Germany could be responsible for such acts of inhumanity. Included here are the testimonies of more than fifty eye-witnesses, many of whom were committed Nazis and are only now free to tell their story as a result of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Communism. Their experiences confirm that there was massive collaboration with the Nazi regime, both at home and on the war fronts, and that the terrible atrocities in the east were the work not just of elite killing squads but also of ordinary German soldiers and of local civilian populations. Laurence Rees's history of the Nazis sheds new light on the causes of the worst conflict the world has ever known. The thought provoking conclusions may not be what we would like to believe.

About this title

Review:

For this History channel tie-in book, Laurence Rees interviewed more than 50 people who were active participants of the Nazi regime. Galvanized by the unilateral collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, the subjects are now free to relate their harrowing tales. One, a Lithuanian soldier, candidly recalls his vicious crimes against humanity, in service to the Nazis. Civilians--rarely heard from until now--also tell their side of the story. Popular myth says that the civilians were victims to the Nazi spell, but instead the interviews reveal the depth of German complicity with Nazi policy. As Rees writes, it wasn't just the "quasi-divine" character of Hitler that hypnotized an entire population, "there was massive voluntary collaboration with the Nazi regime." Germany's erratic state of democracy allowed Hitler and the Nazis to open a gateway into power, as did a German populace still reeling from the "unjust" surrender and humiliating terms of defeat at the end of the First World War that gave focus and justification to their enmity. Rees's painstaking work may not be comfortable reading, but in today's hot political climate--in areas like the former Yugoslavia and the fragile state of Russia--the message echoes with significance. --Jeremy Storey

About the Author:

Laurence Rees is the writer and producer of the major BBC television documentary series World War II: Behind Closed Doors, War of the Century, Horror in the East and Auschwitz: The Nazis and the 'Final Solution'. He won the British Book Award for History Book of the Year in 2006 for his international bestseller Auschwitz: The Nazis and the 'Final Solution'. Rees' career as a writer and filmmaker, focusing on the Nazis and World War II, stretched back nearly 20 years. His body of work has won him several awards, including a BAFTA and a Grierson Award. Rees was educated at Solihull School and Oxford University and is the former Creative Director of BBC TV History programmes.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bbc Book Pub
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 056348814X
• ISBN 13: 9780563488149
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320