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The Hitler Years #3
The Hitler Years: Holocaust 1933–1945
Bloomsbury presents The Hitler Years by Frank McDonough, read by Paul McGann.
Bestselling historian Frank McDonough tackles the subject in the same way as his brilliantly reviewed and bestselling titles in this series. The penultimate title in the Hitler's Germany series, the book marks the end of the Second World War, and the end of the Nazi regime, offering the lstener ia sweeping narrative tackling the major characters, significant events of this horrific period of Nazi doctrine formed in their early years of the 1920s, that would evolve into full-blown genocide of a race of people by the end of World War Two.
The Hitler Holocaust 1933–1945 describes in detail the development of early persecution formulated by Adolf Hitler from as far back as the early 1920s, placing in context what was to come once the Nazi Party gained power in 1933; the Nuremberg Laws to constrain the German-Jewish population. It covers the country’s slow slide into a pre-war policy of intimidation that would culminate in the murderous attacks on ‘Kristallnacht’ (the ‘Night of Broken Glass’). As Europe marched into another global conflict in 1939, tens of thousands of German Jews had fled the country only to be swept up as Hitler’s armies conquered all Western Europe. With the invasion of the Soviet Union, the secret meeting in early 1942 (the Wannsee Conference) would utilise the war in the east to plan in intricate detail the annihilation of the Jewish population on the continent – known to all now as the ‘Final Solution’.
The book draws together and engages with the latest scholarly research, makes extensive use of primary research, presenting a vivid and shocking narrative. A tragic and deadly period in German and European history is brought to life by one of the country’s premier scholars.
Bestselling historian Frank McDonough tackles the subject in the same way as his brilliantly reviewed and bestselling titles in this series. The penultimate title in the Hitler's Germany series, the book marks the end of the Second World War, and the end of the Nazi regime, offering the lstener ia sweeping narrative tackling the major characters, significant events of this horrific period of Nazi doctrine formed in their early years of the 1920s, that would evolve into full-blown genocide of a race of people by the end of World War Two.
The Hitler Holocaust 1933–1945 describes in detail the development of early persecution formulated by Adolf Hitler from as far back as the early 1920s, placing in context what was to come once the Nazi Party gained power in 1933; the Nuremberg Laws to constrain the German-Jewish population. It covers the country’s slow slide into a pre-war policy of intimidation that would culminate in the murderous attacks on ‘Kristallnacht’ (the ‘Night of Broken Glass’). As Europe marched into another global conflict in 1939, tens of thousands of German Jews had fled the country only to be swept up as Hitler’s armies conquered all Western Europe. With the invasion of the Soviet Union, the secret meeting in early 1942 (the Wannsee Conference) would utilise the war in the east to plan in intricate detail the annihilation of the Jewish population on the continent – known to all now as the ‘Final Solution’.
The book draws together and engages with the latest scholarly research, makes extensive use of primary research, presenting a vivid and shocking narrative. A tragic and deadly period in German and European history is brought to life by one of the country’s premier scholars.
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First published November 6, 2025
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About the author
Frank McDonough
22 books137 followersProfessor Frank McDonough is an internationally renowned expert on the Third Reich. He was born in Liverpool, studied history at Balliol College, Oxford and gained a PhD from Lancaster University.
He has written many critically acclaimed books on the Third Reich, including: The Gestapo: The Myth and Reality of Hitler’s Secret Police (2015). Hitler and the Rise of the Nazi Party (2012), Sophie Scholl: The Woman Who Defied Hitler (2009), The Holocaust (2008), Opposition and Resistance in Nazi Germany (2001), Hitler, Chamberlain and Appeasement (2002), and Hitler and Nazi Germany (1999). He has also published many other books, most notably, The Origins of the Second World War: An International Perspective (2011), The Conservative Party and Anglo-German Relations (2007), Chamberlain, Appeasement and the British Road to War (1998) and The Origins of the First and Second World Wars (1997).
He has written many critically acclaimed books on the Third Reich, including: The Gestapo: The Myth and Reality of Hitler’s Secret Police (2015). Hitler and the Rise of the Nazi Party (2012), Sophie Scholl: The Woman Who Defied Hitler (2009), The Holocaust (2008), Opposition and Resistance in Nazi Germany (2001), Hitler, Chamberlain and Appeasement (2002), and Hitler and Nazi Germany (1999). He has also published many other books, most notably, The Origins of the Second World War: An International Perspective (2011), The Conservative Party and Anglo-German Relations (2007), Chamberlain, Appeasement and the British Road to War (1998) and The Origins of the First and Second World Wars (1997).
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 20, 2025
I read The Hitler Years: Triumph, 1933-1939, The Hitler Years: Disaster, 1940-1945, and The Weimar Years Rise and Fall 1918-1933, and lo and behold we get a new entry in the series focusing on the Holocaust.
This follows the same format as the others (if it ain't broke, don't fix it) of taking events in chronological order, year by year. We take events from Hitler's ascension to power in 1933 til the end of the war in 1945, and can see the subjugation of the Jews within the Reich go from harassment to murder over time. If you've done a decent amount of reading about the Holocaust already, this isn't really anything new, but it is interesting to get the chronological view to really get a feeling for when things escalate and how it all evolves over time. That's I think what I took away from this the most, the real sense of when events were happening across the Reich, the scale of it all. This achieves that feeling very well in a way that other general Holocaust books don't quite manage.
Another good'un.
This follows the same format as the others (if it ain't broke, don't fix it) of taking events in chronological order, year by year. We take events from Hitler's ascension to power in 1933 til the end of the war in 1945, and can see the subjugation of the Jews within the Reich go from harassment to murder over time. If you've done a decent amount of reading about the Holocaust already, this isn't really anything new, but it is interesting to get the chronological view to really get a feeling for when things escalate and how it all evolves over time. That's I think what I took away from this the most, the real sense of when events were happening across the Reich, the scale of it all. This achieves that feeling very well in a way that other general Holocaust books don't quite manage.
Another good'un.
December 10, 2025
One can hardly describe this book as a fantastic read given the hideous subject it covers. In the acknowledgements Frank McDonough himself states that researching the material underpinning the content was harrowing.
I can only congratulate this eminent Liverpudlian for the quality of his work once again having read the previous Hitler years part 1 and 2.
I have read widely around the subject of the holocaust, trying to understand how such horrors could have been initiated and tolerated by human beings.
This carefully written account of the holocaust year by year goes into immense detail covering the main perpetrators and their rational for seeking to annihilate the Jewish population in Europe. It is extremely well written and based on a significant body of research and gives the reader a thorough account of the motivations of the main perpetrators alongside the historical context.
This period in our history is well researched, the suffering of the Jewish population and the level of cruelty is well known, yet we still live in a world where such atrocities are being perpetrated in the name of nationalism and religious belief. Will we ever learn from this warning from history?
“Unfortunately, although the apparatus of the Holocaust was dismantled, the warped philosophies that fuelled it did not die with it”
Thank you Prof McDonough for this excellent account of one of the worst periods in recent history.
I can only congratulate this eminent Liverpudlian for the quality of his work once again having read the previous Hitler years part 1 and 2.
I have read widely around the subject of the holocaust, trying to understand how such horrors could have been initiated and tolerated by human beings.
This carefully written account of the holocaust year by year goes into immense detail covering the main perpetrators and their rational for seeking to annihilate the Jewish population in Europe. It is extremely well written and based on a significant body of research and gives the reader a thorough account of the motivations of the main perpetrators alongside the historical context.
This period in our history is well researched, the suffering of the Jewish population and the level of cruelty is well known, yet we still live in a world where such atrocities are being perpetrated in the name of nationalism and religious belief. Will we ever learn from this warning from history?
“Unfortunately, although the apparatus of the Holocaust was dismantled, the warped philosophies that fuelled it did not die with it”
Thank you Prof McDonough for this excellent account of one of the worst periods in recent history.
November 21, 2025
More than anything else, this book makes me want to read others by this same author. That isn’t completely true because more important than seeking out other titles by Frank McDonough, I am once again left in complete and utter, disbelief that the Germans and their allies in other countries could have been such animals in their dedication to their goals. I’ve probably read at least fifty books on the history of the Nazis and WWII, yet I’m still shocked at the barbarity of their crimes.
Almost as sickening at the Nazis' crimes is the fact that these views are held dear by so many idiots today, or views very similar. How do you fight against such poisonous ideas?
Almost as sickening at the Nazis' crimes is the fact that these views are held dear by so many idiots today, or views very similar. How do you fight against such poisonous ideas?
December 29, 2025
As with his other books in the series he makes history very accessible, it was a very well written book , it is hard to write a review for such a terrible story as the holocaust but this covers the subject comprehensively and with compassion.
December 20, 2025
Excellent
The Hitler Years was excellently written. It was written on a layman's level, so anyone reading it can understand it, without getting lost in military language.
The Hitler Years was excellently written. It was written on a layman's level, so anyone reading it can understand it, without getting lost in military language.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews