What do you think?
Rate this book
Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II / the Violent Century: Weapons Book #8
SS and Gestapo - Rule by Terror
Honor For Us Means LoyaltyFrom their origin as a handful of men protecting Nazi political rallies, the SS and Gestapo grew to be the feared Police of the Master Race and subjected two-thirds of Europe to their organized tyranny. Under Himmler and Heydrich, these corps of "Aryan" elite administered the systematic genocide of European Jews and a reign of terror on all enemies of the Reich.
160 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1969
1 person is currently reading
58 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 15, 2019
I sought out this book after I saw a copy of it in one of my favorite films, La Maman et la Putain.
December 14, 2018
This is an interesting survey of the SS and Gestapo. A reasonable read.
November 15, 2025
another good ballantine book
July 30, 2025
3.5 stars. A very uneven book.
Part of the Pan/Ballantine series of monographs on aspects of WW2 which get a brief mention in larger histories, this book sums up the strengths and weaknesses of the series.
On the positive side, we get a detailed, chronological analysis of the genesis of the SS (and its twin sister organisation, the Gestapo), and its rise from a small band of thugs detailed to protect Nazi Party speakers from heckling and mob violence in the 1930s, to its apogee as a secret police apparatus operating over most of Europe, fanatical elite soldiers fighting alongside the regular German Army in some of its hardest campaigns, and the perpetrators of war crimes including the "Final Solution". There are pen-pictures of infamous and lesser-known figures in the organisation and their involvement in its growth and activities, and their role in its gradual achievement of near-complete autonomy from control by civil authorities, military commanders, or even other parts of the Nazi Party apparatus.
On the negative, the writing/editing, as with too many books in this series, is very poor indeed. Appropriately enough given the subject matter, it recalls the famous review of Hitler's "Mein Kampf" which derided it for its "crimes against the German language".
Here's just a few crimes against the English language (in a short book of 159 pages, many taken up with photographs and maps):
".......by fighting every election and winning a majority, if he could........" I think the second clause follows from the first - but never should an author in this series use one word where three will do;
"The clashes in the streets gave full rein to repressions in the mob......." Eh ? ;
".......his chief's chronic diffidence when it came to making hard or difficult decisions" .......or even choosing one adjective from many.;
{ridding Germany of Ernst Roehm} ".......became easier given Himmler's well-stocked (sic) SS and......." 'Well-manned', surely ? 'Stocking' is what you do with warehouses or cupboards.;
".......Heydrich's SD files were drained (sic) for evidence against him......." 'Scoured', possibly ?;
"They were induced to loathe their prisoners and perform acts of ordinary (sic) brutality at their expense (sic)". Surely a better word is 'casual' or 'unthinking'.......and I'm not sure acts of brutality are carried out at the victim's 'expense'. A practical joke, maybe. But not acts of brutality.;
"He prescribed the keep-fit routine for all SS men (including no less than himself)......." A classic piece of prolixity which one begins to suspect was a contractual obligation for authors in this series;
".......Gen. Fritsch's marriage to a former prostitute whose police record did not mature (sic) until after the ceremony";
"Hitler was clear about his intentions in Poland, and made no bones about it." ;
A final, fuller quotation, to give a flavour of the literary "style" of this book, and so many others in this series (not sure what the editor was doing for his money.......):
"On 20th July 1944 the attempt made on Hitler's life by members of the resistance mainly in the German army had been all-but successful, and the SS had been responsible for the immediate, on-the-spot investigations at Hitler's headquarters at Rastenburg, where the time-bomb which so nearly killed him had been placed." Ugh.
Nit-picking ? Maybe. But the author wrote many books, and screenplays, and was a visiting Fellow at an English university. If he or his editor actually re-read any of those sentences they shouldn't have made it into the final publication.
There were some historical quibbles too: the author widely quotes from the Nuremberg testimony and the memoirs of Walter Schellenberg, a minor Nazi functionary who turned "state's evidence" to escape scrutiny of his own involvement in the Holocaust. At one point he is described as "a shrewd, if somewhat unreliable observer". Hmm. Neither in the preceding nor the succeeding quotations from Schellenberg (and there are quite a few) is this mentioned. So just how unreliable ?
And a rather confused section towards the end of the book appears to conflate the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Revolt with the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. Neither was particularly a subject of this book, but they were separate events.
Part of the Pan/Ballantine series of monographs on aspects of WW2 which get a brief mention in larger histories, this book sums up the strengths and weaknesses of the series.
On the positive side, we get a detailed, chronological analysis of the genesis of the SS (and its twin sister organisation, the Gestapo), and its rise from a small band of thugs detailed to protect Nazi Party speakers from heckling and mob violence in the 1930s, to its apogee as a secret police apparatus operating over most of Europe, fanatical elite soldiers fighting alongside the regular German Army in some of its hardest campaigns, and the perpetrators of war crimes including the "Final Solution". There are pen-pictures of infamous and lesser-known figures in the organisation and their involvement in its growth and activities, and their role in its gradual achievement of near-complete autonomy from control by civil authorities, military commanders, or even other parts of the Nazi Party apparatus.
On the negative, the writing/editing, as with too many books in this series, is very poor indeed. Appropriately enough given the subject matter, it recalls the famous review of Hitler's "Mein Kampf" which derided it for its "crimes against the German language".
Here's just a few crimes against the English language (in a short book of 159 pages, many taken up with photographs and maps):
".......by fighting every election and winning a majority, if he could........" I think the second clause follows from the first - but never should an author in this series use one word where three will do;
"The clashes in the streets gave full rein to repressions in the mob......." Eh ? ;
".......his chief's chronic diffidence when it came to making hard or difficult decisions" .......or even choosing one adjective from many.;
{ridding Germany of Ernst Roehm} ".......became easier given Himmler's well-stocked (sic) SS and......." 'Well-manned', surely ? 'Stocking' is what you do with warehouses or cupboards.;
".......Heydrich's SD files were drained (sic) for evidence against him......." 'Scoured', possibly ?;
"They were induced to loathe their prisoners and perform acts of ordinary (sic) brutality at their expense (sic)". Surely a better word is 'casual' or 'unthinking'.......and I'm not sure acts of brutality are carried out at the victim's 'expense'. A practical joke, maybe. But not acts of brutality.;
"He prescribed the keep-fit routine for all SS men (including no less than himself)......." A classic piece of prolixity which one begins to suspect was a contractual obligation for authors in this series;
".......Gen. Fritsch's marriage to a former prostitute whose police record did not mature (sic) until after the ceremony";
"Hitler was clear about his intentions in Poland, and made no bones about it." ;
A final, fuller quotation, to give a flavour of the literary "style" of this book, and so many others in this series (not sure what the editor was doing for his money.......):
"On 20th July 1944 the attempt made on Hitler's life by members of the resistance mainly in the German army had been all-but successful, and the SS had been responsible for the immediate, on-the-spot investigations at Hitler's headquarters at Rastenburg, where the time-bomb which so nearly killed him had been placed." Ugh.
Nit-picking ? Maybe. But the author wrote many books, and screenplays, and was a visiting Fellow at an English university. If he or his editor actually re-read any of those sentences they shouldn't have made it into the final publication.
There were some historical quibbles too: the author widely quotes from the Nuremberg testimony and the memoirs of Walter Schellenberg, a minor Nazi functionary who turned "state's evidence" to escape scrutiny of his own involvement in the Holocaust. At one point he is described as "a shrewd, if somewhat unreliable observer". Hmm. Neither in the preceding nor the succeeding quotations from Schellenberg (and there are quite a few) is this mentioned. So just how unreliable ?
And a rather confused section towards the end of the book appears to conflate the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Revolt with the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. Neither was particularly a subject of this book, but they were separate events.
June 9, 2010
Ballantine books was the main source for WW2 books in the 60 & 70s and
this was part of an innovative illustrated series, a godsend to young history
fans. They cost $1.
160pgs w/b&w photos and ample text telling the story.
August 22, 2013
The Gestapo was Hitler secret service and enforcers. The author writes of its creation and function in the German state as well as of some of the key figures.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews