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Hitler's Foreign Executioners: Europe's Dirty Secret
How and why more than one million non-Germans joined Hitler's "war of annihilation"
Revealing for the first time Heinrich Himmler's master plan for Europe, this book discusses his dream of an SS empire with no place for either the Nazi Party or Adolf Hitler. His astonishingly ambitious plan depended on the recruitment of tens of thousands of "Germanic" peoples to build an "SS Europa." This book, researched in archives all over Europe and using first-hand testimony, exposes Europe's dirty secret—that nearly half a million Europeans and more than a million Soviet citizens enlisted in the armed forces of the Third Reich—to fight a crusade against "Jewish-Bolshevism." No other historian has examined the connections between these SS "foreign legions" (both police and Waffen-SS) and the Holocaust. Even today, some apologists claim that the foreign volunteers were merely soldiers "like any other" and fought a decent war against Stalin's Red Army. Christopher Hale demonstrates conclusively that these surprisingly common views are mistaken.
Revealing for the first time Heinrich Himmler's master plan for Europe, this book discusses his dream of an SS empire with no place for either the Nazi Party or Adolf Hitler. His astonishingly ambitious plan depended on the recruitment of tens of thousands of "Germanic" peoples to build an "SS Europa." This book, researched in archives all over Europe and using first-hand testimony, exposes Europe's dirty secret—that nearly half a million Europeans and more than a million Soviet citizens enlisted in the armed forces of the Third Reich—to fight a crusade against "Jewish-Bolshevism." No other historian has examined the connections between these SS "foreign legions" (both police and Waffen-SS) and the Holocaust. Even today, some apologists claim that the foreign volunteers were merely soldiers "like any other" and fought a decent war against Stalin's Red Army. Christopher Hale demonstrates conclusively that these surprisingly common views are mistaken.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published April 11, 2011
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128 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 26, 2019
Dokładne opracowanie dotyczące oddziałów (w tym Einsatzgruppen), biorących udział w mordowaniu Żydów w różnych krajach.
February 8, 2022
Excellent Book
This is an excellent study identifying those who assisted the Germans in their murderous campaigns in Eastern Europe against Jews and so-called "bandits." It identifies them by nationality and, in many cases, by name. It also explains why these individuals acted as willing, if not eager, killers. The book is not written in an academic style and is easy to read. It is comprehensive, however, and has many footnotes and an excellent bibliography. There are typographical errors and some factual errors as well, but these are minor flaws. Anyone who thinks that only the Germans carried out the killings in the East needs to read this book and learn the truth about what actually occurred.
This is an excellent study identifying those who assisted the Germans in their murderous campaigns in Eastern Europe against Jews and so-called "bandits." It identifies them by nationality and, in many cases, by name. It also explains why these individuals acted as willing, if not eager, killers. The book is not written in an academic style and is easy to read. It is comprehensive, however, and has many footnotes and an excellent bibliography. There are typographical errors and some factual errors as well, but these are minor flaws. Anyone who thinks that only the Germans carried out the killings in the East needs to read this book and learn the truth about what actually occurred.
May 12, 2015
Important and interesting content wrapped up in a very boring read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews