German History - Political Aspects, European Theater - World War II - Axis, German Armed Forces - Biography, Holocaust - General & Miscellaneous, Germany - Historical Biography, National Socialism, Germany - Politics & Government, German History - 1933 -
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Overview
Drawing upon previously untapped primary sources - including Himmler's own appointment books and office logs - the author conclusively counters efforts to portray the Holocaust as unpremeditated, the result of bureaucratic improvisation under wartime constraints. Breitman thoroughly examines Heinrich Himmler's character and life and explores the racial ideology and planning that led to genocide. He finds Himmler and Hitler to be complementary figures: Hitler envisioned the Nazi policy toward the Jews, and Himmler, the master organizer who controlled the SS and security forces, turned it into horrific reality.Although Adolf Hitler held the ultimate responsibility for what became the Holocaust, it was Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, who essentially laid the plans and devised the schemes that led to the killings of six million Jews. An important and engrossing book that makes evident why Heinrich Himmler should be regarded as the master planner of the "Final Solution."
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Looking nothing like the Nordic ideal he advocated, Heinrich Himmler, chief of the Nazi SS, was short, flabby and balding--his dull, pedantic exterior disguising the caustic, cowardly, Machiavellian, immensely cruel master of deceit within. Breitman, history professor at the American University in Washington, D.C., presents compelling evidence that the extermination of Jews was an early goal of Himmler, a Bavarian and lapsed Catholic, and his boss Adolf Hitler. Drawing on previously untapped German records, as well as other source materials, Breitman contends that the Nazi leadership crystallized its plan for mass destruction of the Jews as early as March 1941--months earlier than most historians have assumed. This engrossing, detailed study constitutes a powerful refutation of revisionist scholars who claim that Hitler did not plan the Final Solution in advance but instead improvised it out of either military or political frustration. History Book Club alternate. (May)Library Journal
Using all available sources, Breitman carefully traces the role of Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, in developing Nazi Germany's Final Solution, the killing of six million Jews. Breitman rejects recent claims that the Final Solution was last-minute improvisation, presenting the unfolding of a plan intended from the beginning. His task is not easy, because Himmler took care not to leave a paper trail. Though at first the reader is lulled by the low-key, professionally detached narration, horror piles upon horror and documentation accumulates relentlessly as the Holocaust takes shape, piece by chilling piece, between 1931 and 1942. Not an air-tight argument, but essential for academic collections, and recommended for all collections of any size. BOMC and History Book Club alternates.-- Nancy Cridland, Indiana Univ. Libs., BloomingtonBook Details
Published
April 1, 1991
Publisher
Alfred a Knopf
Pages
352
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780394568416