Hitler's Bandit Hunters: The SS and the Nazi Occupation of Europe - Softcover

Blood, Phillip W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 159797157X ISBN 13: 9781597971577

Publisher: POTOMAC BOOKS, 2008

Synopsis

In August 1942, Hitler directed all German state institutions to assist Heinrich Himmler, the chief of the SS and the German police, in eradicating armed resistance in the newly occupied territories of Eastern Europe and Russia. The directive for “combating banditry” (Bandenbekämpfung), became the third component of the Nazi regime’s three-part strategy for German national security, with genocide (Endlösung der Judenfrage, or “the Final Solution of the Jewish Question”) and slave labor (Erfassung, or “Registration of Persons to Hard Labor”) being the better-known others.An original and thought-provoking work grounded in extensive research in German archives, Hitler’s Bandit Hunters focuses on this counterinsurgency campaign, the anvil of Hitler’s crusade for empire. Bandenbekämpfung portrayed insurgents as political and racial bandits, criminalized to a greater degree than enemies of the state; moreover, violence against them was not constrained by the prevailing laws of warfare. Philip Blood explains how German forces embraced the Bandenbekämpfung doctrine, demonstrating the equal culpability of both the SS police forces and the “heroic” Waffen-SS combat arm and shattering the contrived postwar distinctions between them. He challenges the traditional view of Himmler as an armchair general and bureaucrat, exposing him as the driving force behind one of the most successful security campaigns in history, and delves into the contentious issue of the complicity of ordinary German police, soldiers, and citizens, as well as the citizens of occupied territories, in these state-sponsored manhunts. This book provokes new debates on the Nazi terrorization of Europe, the blind acquiescence of many, and the courageous resistance of the few.

About this title

From the Publisher

Explores the little-known third part of Nazi security policy, "combating banditry"

Reveals the extent of Heinrich Himmler's role in the counterinsurgency campaign

Explains the internalization of the "manhunt" doctrine by German forces

About the Author

Philip W. Blood, formerly a senior lecturer at the University of Aachen, is now the general editor of the Wehrmacht in War series for the Association of the United States Army. A British citizen, he lives in Aachen, Germany.

Edition details

• Publisher: POTOMAC BOOKS
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 159797157X
• ISBN 13: 9781597971577
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 424