Himmler's Secret War: The Covert Peace Negotiations of Heinrich Himmler

by Martin Allen

Martin Allen has achieved pre-eminence as a researcher and writer specializing in the Second World War. In this, his third major book, Heinrich Himmler, Head of the SS, emerges as a man with a huge personal agenda. Having secured for himself an unassailable position by manipulating Hitler into wiping out the SS's left-wing rivals, the SA, in The Night of the Long Knives, he continued to nurture political supremacy for himself while Hitler fought his military war. At the heart of Himmler's Secret War is the turning point of the war when, following the German defeat at Stalingrad, Himmler recognized that Germany would lose. Through his trusted envoy, Walter Schellenberg, he devoted much energy to negotiating his intended post-war role as the man who would lead Germany. He believed his intermediary, the British Ambassador in Sweden, Victor Mallet, was in direct contact with Winston Churchill. In fact, he was the victim of a highly effective sting by the Political Warfare Executive (PWE).

Genres: World War II

300 pages, Hardcover

First published May 26, 2005

Reviews

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The nature of the concessions that the German Führer was prepared to make in order to obtain peace with Britain must have astounded the men at the head of SO1.
This was not even a deal worked out through a process of hard negotiation.It was Hitler's opening gambit...an offer so generous and pragmatic that it would be very tempting to anyone who genuinely wanted peace.
-Martin Allen describing Hitler's January 1940 peace offer (via the Vatican ambassador) in Himmler's Secret War.

[Mark Pack · Rating 1 out of 5]

Key documents this author relied on have since been shown to be forgeries, with the author a prime suspect for being the forger: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/m...

Without those fake documents, his more dramatic/sensational claims collapse, and they're so central to his work that it's best to look to other books instead.

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very intriguing look at the peace negotiations between Heinrich Himmler, Head of the SS and the second most powerful man in Nazi Germany, and the British, namely Winston Churchill. Some reviews I have seen say this book is a very clever and glorified attempt at re-writing the History books. I'm one of those who is not so sure.

A must-read for anyone interested in the intrigue of this period in History.