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Title: Himmler: Reichs Fuhrer-SS by Peter Padfield ISBN: 0-304-35839-8 Publisher: Cassell Pub. Date: 01 October, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An excellent, indispensable resource on Nazism.
Comment: This is an excellent book, and indispensable to the library of anyone with a serious interest in Nazism or the Holocaust. Padfield has clearly done an enormous amount of research and he uses it with with great skill and perspicacity. He clearly explains Nazi ideology (as espoused by Himmler) and the projects which gave it shape and meaning. He presents plainly both the realpolitik of Nazi government, and the public policy under which it hid it's corruption. He chronicles the growth and spread of the SS both as Himmlers personal fiefdom and the power base he used to rise to the top. His portraits of the major 'players' both within the SS and in the broader regime are drawn from eyewitness accounts and are skillfully woven into the narrative in a way which empahasises both their personalities and their importance in the history of the period.
Padfield creates a narrative of Himmler's life that takes the reader on a first class tour of the Third Reich, the upper echelons of the SS heirarchy, and the 'hell on earth' of the Holocaust created by Nazi ideology. It is particularly gratifying that Padfield never succumbs to the temptation of 'adjectival' history. He never describes events or people as 'evil' or 'monstrous', preferring to let the facts speak for themselves. He is free to do so because of the extraordinary clarity with which he presents the facts for the reader.
A particularly brilliant example is the juxtaposition of Himmler's outrage at the brutality of a hunting party he took part in in October 1941 - "Nature is so wonderfully beautiful, and every animal has a right to live." which is followed by an account of the clearing of the Riga Ghetto in November of that year (just two weeks later) carried out under his orders. "it is not a Weltanschauungs-question to rid oneself of lice; it is a matter of cleanliness." (pages 351ff)
His presentation of the micro-processes of Einsatzgruppen mass-murder is probably the best I've ever read. The methodology of dehumanising both victim and murderer by a series of incremental steps, coupled to a 'normalising' tempo which leads inevitably to the pit is vital to understanding both the brutality of the crime, and it's essentially human, militarist, 'technically dispassionate' character. As an Organisational Development consultant I find this particularly fascinating given the extent to which corporations seek to 'normalise' human behaviours to suit their own goals.
Padfield is equally clear in tracking the larger history of the Holocaust as it developed over time. He deftly avoids falling into the 'intentionalist' or 'functionalist' camps by sticking to the facts available and presenting the series of orders, actions, refining of methods, and further orders in the context of both the organisations and individuals involved, and in the tempo of the times.
The book is weakest in it's attempts to psycho-analyze Himmler which come across as Freudian psycho-babble when set against the scale of Himmlers crimes, but this is a minor quibble. The honesty with which Padfield's analysis is developed from the facts is refreshing. Where he has a theory or explanation unsupported by the evidence available to him he labels it clearly as 'conjetcture' and returns to the historical record. I have read scores of books on the Nazism and the Third Reich and this is one of the very best. An excellent resource, clear, lucid and rich with the sort of detail that illuminates reather than clutters. Buy this book! ... Aristeas.
Rating: 4
Summary: Hilter's #1 Henchman
Comment: Peter Padfield's "Himmler" is an authoritative, enlightening and engrossing biography of a man, his (un)reality, and his role in the greatest mass murder spree of the 20th century. Padfield certainly makes no apologies for Himmler, yet he presents a balanced account of how Himmler might have come to the point of cold blooded extermination he was at in 1941-44 and then his "change of heart" at the end.
Padfield spends much of the early part of the book delving into Himmler's childhood, upbringing (by a strick disciplinarian professor father, and soft mother), early adult years and his time during the "day's of struggle" - the early Nazi years. This introduction does a lot to set the scence for Himmler's life. While we certainly can't forgive the man for hwat he did and stood for, we might be able to understand more clearly the mind set behind the decisions he made. Padfield's research paints Himmler as a man who was deeply scared by his upbringing and retreated into a fantasy world which he went deeper into as time went on. When he eventually gained respect and power as one of the Nazi elite he expressed his fantasy world overtly to the world.
Himmler's years in power in Nazi Germany are well documented, yet Padfield does a great job showing not just what Himmler ddid but how he did it - from establishment of the SS and Gestapo to the Holocaust. Himmler didn't do it on his own - again Padfield is carfule not to excuse him or even take blame from him, but rather to show how Himmler created a system within tthe Nazi power structure that allowed him to orchestrate such attrocities on man kind. He was a consumate suck up to others in power - keeping with him his whole life his feelings of insecurity and uselessness, even at the height of his power.
All in all, "Himmler" is a must read for those interested in understanding the how's of WWII's crimes and how a single human can, with the aide of others, so change history.
Rating: 3
Summary: Better than nothing
Comment: To title this book as a biography of Himmler is a bit misleading. It should be titled "Himmler: Things He Did." It starts off promising, with a good account of Himmler's childhood. However, soon after that it devolves into a standard history book, covering events at great length that have already been well-documented elsewhere, events which are often only tangentially related to Himmler. In short, this book is too much a history and too little a biography.
Certainly it does a good job as a factual bio - the dates and events are all there - but contrary to what some other readers have said, there is really very little here (after the childhood section) about Himmler the MAN. Important issues such as his family life, his mistress, his personal views (except as they relate to Jews), and his personality are glossed over in favor of pages and pages of digression. Except for a precious few excerpts from speeches and the occiasional letter or communique, Padfield hardly includes any of Himmler's writing at all. And for a biography, there are almost *no* personal recollections or reminsences of the man from those who knew him. There is a real lack of anecdotes, stories, or other material which would have revealed more about his personality. Other than "He was very indecisive and probably insecure", few elements of his character are revealed.
For someone wanting a lot of facts and dates and events and names, this books is a perfectly good resource, though it's length and the density of the text make reading it a real project. And, since it (amazingly) seems to be the only full-length of biography of Himmler that's widely available in English, one really has no choice - it's this or nothing.
Padfield's editor should have used the red pen more. At well over 600 pages, the book could have been half as long and twice as good. As it is, it leaves the reader with a very good idea of what Himmler *did*, but only a general idea of what he was *like*.
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Title: The SS: Alibi of a Nation, 1922-1945 by Gerald Reitlinger ISBN: 0306803518 Publisher: Da Capo Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1989 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: The Ss: Hitler's Instrument of Terror by Gordon Williamson ISBN: 0879389052 Publisher: Motorbooks International Pub. Date: 01 March, 1994 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: INSIDE THE THIRD REICH by Albert Speer ISBN: 0684829495 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 01 June, 1997 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: The Strange Death of Heinrich Himmler: A Forensic Investigation by W. Hugh Thomas, Hugh Thomas ISBN: 0312289235 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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