The Nazis: a Warning from History

Rees, Laurence

ISBN 10: 0563387041 / ISBN 13: 9780563387046

Published by BBC Books, London, 1997

About this Item

Foreword by Ian Kershaw. 256 pages, illustrated with b/w photos, maps, bibliography, index. Red papered boards, heavily soiled, in dust-jacket. The history, published to accompany the television series of the same name, sheds new light on the causes of the worst conflict the world has ever known. Size: Large 8vo.

Seller Inventory # 023009

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Nazis: a Warning from History
• Publisher: BBC Books, London
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0563387041
• ISBN 13: 9780563387046
• Binding: Hard Cover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • History- Britain & Europe
  • Militaria

About this title

Synopsis

Britský dokumentarista přibližuje historický vzestup, mocensko-politický rozmach a pád nacistické třetí říše. Zrod nacistické ideologie, vznik a význam nacistického hnutí v německé společnosti, Hitlerovo jmenování kancléřem, konstituování nacistického režimu, expanzivní zahraniční politika nacistů a druhá světová válka. Rees se však nezabývá historií válečného konfliktu, ale snaží se postihnout podstatu nacismu - cílem je odhalit kořeny počínání nacistů a jejich spřízněnců. Populárně-naučný výklad režiséra televizních pořadů BBC.

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