Lifts The Veil Of A Carefully Cultivated Hollywood Myth

books:

	• The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS (Classic Military History) Heinz Zollin Höhne Penguin (Non-Classics), 2001 - 704 pages average customer review:based on 24 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Lifts The Veil Of A Carefully Cultivated Hollywood Myth

Heinze Höhne spins a masterful tale of the organizational quagmire that was Nazi Germany's SS. In so doing, he punches a huge hole in the Hollywood-developed myth which usually portrayed them as evil, highly-organized and efficient automatons in films like The Eagle Has Landed. Even worse, whole generations have grown up believing such poppycock as "true history" and that Heinrich Himmler was the second, most powerful man in the regime.

Well, evil they certainly were. But organized and efficient? Not hardly. Nor was "Reichheini" [the unflattering nickname pinned on Himmler by a host of Nazi Party members and SS leaders] as overwhelmingly powerful an individual as he appears in movies and novels.

Not only was he and his "claptrap racial superiority theories" [the words of one highly-placed Nazi] more often than not ignored, but several senior SD [security branch] officers were either openly critical ["He had power but in practice he made no use of it in Germany; he and his power were a pricked balloon" - Otto Ohlendorf], or simply disobeyed his orders.

One example of this was Dr. Werner Best, his man in occupied Denmark. Under orders to round up all of that country's 6,500 Jews for removal to the camps, he simply arrange for their escape to neighbouring, neutral Sweden. He then sent a note to Berlin which said "1. Anti-Jewish action in Denmark carried out without incident .... 2. As of today Denmark can be regarded as free of Jews."

Himmler had even less control over his vaunted, fighting arm, the Waffen-SS, as top generals like Sepp Dietrich, Paul Hausser, Wilhelm Bittrich, and "Panzer" Meyer paid him no attention whatsoever.

Fully indexed with several photos of people like Dietrich, Heydrich, Himmler, and marching columns of SS, as well as the death camps, it also contains a detailed fold-out organizational chart of the structure of the SS in 1944.

Fascinating insight, this book, first published in 1966 in Germany, is sure to raise more than a few eyebrows among those of you who grew up believing the Hollywood version.

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Worth the length

This book is long but worth the time. Thankfully, it includes a glossary for those of us who don't remember which organization is which. It isn't an easy read by any stretch. An excellent book that is good if you are planning on reading more on Nazi Germany; especially the Holocaust or Himmler's negotiations with the Western Allies, etc.

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The Order of the Death's Head; The Story of Hitlers SS

Its the best book written about the Nazi history.
I used the book as Tour Guide when I was preparing Tourists groups to enter Auschwitz I made over 50 visits.
It must be mandatory for everyone on earth to read the book so the history will not repeat itself which we are close to do this day December 23 2007!
But I think its too late we are looking in to horrible times ahead of us!
Lars Lindeberg
www.Larslindeberg.com

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Fascinating Reading

Lately I have been delving into the history of the Third Reich, looking for similarities in our own clandestine government. The SS is tough reading because of its collection of psychopaths, but I am intrigued by the author's depth of information about the SS. It's reported that no one knew what went on inside the SS, yet this book is over 600 pages. You should read about Heydrich and Himmler to gain more insight about the SS.
This book is well worth your time.

Brilliant

This is a masterfully written book that does a great job in telling the story of the Schützstaffel. Hohne does a great job in keeping a 600 page book interesting and keeps the reader turning the pages. It took me a week to read the book, when something of similiar size may have taken two weeks. If you want a history of the Nazi SS and what happened from the beginning to the end, this is a great place to start. The translation from German to English is also great.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

"A monumental achievement." (The New York Times Book Review)

The SS was the terror of Europe. Swearing eternal allegiance to Adolf Hitler, it infiltrated every aspect of German life and was responsible for the deaths of millions. This gripping history recounts the strange and, at times, absurd true story of Hitler's SS. It exposes an organization that was not directed by some devilishly efficient system but was the product of accident, inevitability, and the random convergence of criminals, social climbers, and romantics. Above all, this eye-opening book describes in fascinating detail the chaotic political conditions that allowed the SS-despite rivalries and bizarre conditions-to assume and exercise unaccountable power.

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