SS Book review
Goodmorning guys,
I have recently bought a couple of books on the SS and came across another one ( the one shown below). But before I will purchase this one I am wondering if anyone here read this book and know if it is any good?
Thank you in advance.
Regards, Rik
Good morning Rik
I found this book excellent and very well researched. I'm not great at doing book reviews but I can say that this book is a must for anyone interested in the history of Germany at that time. I have also read another book on the subject and would recommend it to complement this one. Both are excellent. Wilko
I know the authors name (Adrian Weale) from somewhere can anyone shed any light on him?
Thank you for your reply Wilko
I think I will buy the one I posted but I will pass on the Heinz Höhne book.
That book didn't get a lot of good reviews from other members here. They did advice me to get 'The SS: Alibi of a Nation by Gerald Reitlinger, wich a bought and still have to read. So maybe also one you would be interested in?
Regards, Rik
For my remarks ("review" would be exaggerated) on that book and a few others, see post # 35 on this thread:
SS Schaftmuetze and or Muetze, alte, hohe Form
Thank you very much Andreas, very interesting books. This will help me a lot.
Thank you Rik, I will look into the book you mentioned, 'The SS: Alibi of a Nation by Gerald Reitlinge, as this is a subject that fascinates me.
Thanks again
Wilko
Also sprach Andreas! THE ESSAY BELOW IS HIS, NOT MINE.....BUT I WISH IT WERE....
Quote by slados28 View Post
Also, you always add references to interesting literature on the topics at hand but they seem to be, mostly, for the German literate --- something which I am to a certain degree but not as in being able to read an entire book in the German language. Are any of these publications that you have included here available in English?
Quote by Friedrich-Berthold View Post
The very best research on the SS today is conducted in German, and I include it thus.
The work in English is not as lively and informative, and, since I refuse to buy books on line, I buy German books in bookstores in Germany and Austria because I am a luddite.
I will think a bit about your question, but the recent bios of Himmler and Heydrich that appeared in translation and such are your best bet.
Maybe my friend Andreas can also help with bibliography as he is also at home in the German and English bibliography.
I second the recommendation of the Himmler and Heydrich biographies, but I'm afraid I can't add too much, actually.
As Friedrich-Berthold said, when it comes to a serious study of the SS' history and its main figures, the most interesting and in-depth material these days is published in German. Therefore (and because I tend to follow Friedrich-Berthold's book recommendations), the majority of material I purchase and read consists of German publications.
Still, as far as English language literature is concerned, here are a few titles found in my bookshelf that may be of interest... It's a very brief list, grossly incomplete and entirely subjective.
Let's start with two books dealing with the SS in its entirety:
Robin Lumsden's "Himmler's Black Order. A History of the SS 1923 - 45" is still a good starting point. Granted, it is in many ways dated now and not free of errors, but it is attractively presented, written in a lively style and gives a good overview of the SS' history, organisation and regalia from its beginnings to its end and, with its numerous lists, charts and tables, is still good for quick reference on a number of subjects.
Add to this Adrian Weale's "The SS. A New History", which is also a complete history of the SS. Not uninteresting, but it, too, has a few problems. For one thing, it does not offer the volume of actually new data promised in its advertising and I found Mr. Weale's practice of translating rank titles ["Captain" for "Hauptsturmführer" etc.] into English is a bit obnoxious. Also, the entire Allgemeine SS is given far too little space whereas the bulk of the book is taken up by the concentration camp / extermination apparatus. Don't get me wrong: I'm most certainly not saying this should be left out or kept as brief as possible! It's just a matter of balancing the number of pages dedicated to the individual branches of the overall organisation.
[While we're at it: "Renegades. Hitler's Englishmen" by the same author is fully recommended. It is about English (or, more precisely, British) collaborators/traitors/volunteers as a whole, but a good part of its pages is taken up by a study of the Waffen-SS' very own British Free Corps. Sure, that odd little unit had no political/historical/tactical significance whatsoever, but is an interesting footnote in the SS' history.]
On the subject of the Allgemeine SS, precious little literature is available:
Mark C. Yerger's "Allgemeine SS. The Commands, Units And Leaders of the General SS" is still a standard reference, listing information for all organisational levels and biographical data for the commanders at each of those levels.
For those wanting to learn more about the A-SS' Equestrian branch specifically, "Himmler's Cavalry. The Equestrian SS, 1933-1945" by Paul J. Wilson is an interesting and highly informative study. In fact, it is the only title exclusively dedicated to this subject. (That I am aware of, at least.)
When it comes to encyclopedic, biographical data on senior SS officers, two titles come to mind:
One is Max Williams' "The SS Leadership Corps. Volume I A-E". The biographical information on these figures is brief and condensed, and one could say that it is actually pretty much a "coffee table book" as its focus is on the photographs, but these are a veritable treasure trove of period images, personal artifacts, original documents etc. etc. From paperwork relating to Himmler's agronomic studies to views of his dead body, from Darré's baby photograph to his post-capture mug shot, from Daluege's holiday snapshots to Demelhuber's rank insignia, from Eicke's personnel file card to von Eberstein's Golden Party Badge and presentation pistol... Remarkable material, much of it never seen before. Now if only the follow-up volume would materialize...
For a wealth of more in-depth data, get "Leaders Of The SS & German Police. Volume 1. Reichsführer SS - SS-Gruppenführer. (Georg Ahrens to Karl Gutenberger)" by Michael D. Miller with Andreas Schulz and Ken McCanliss. You won't regret it. The men are covered with detailed career data, promotion dates, a listing of awards and decorations and additional notes (which are sometimes brief, sometimes extensive). An impressive work. But, again, I am eagerly waiting for Vol. 2...
As for individual biographies, I have a lot of fondness for a title first published more than a century ago:
"Hitler's Gladiator. The Life And Times of Oberstgruppenführer and Panzer-Generaloberst der Waffen-SS Sepp Dietrich" is well worth reading. A fair and balanced account, neither condemnation nor hero worship. On a personal note, the author had me with a sentence on the first page of chapter I: "Bavarians have traditionally regarded themselves as a people apart from the remainder of the German states. They speak a particular type of German, and tend to regard north Germans with a certain suspicion." Yes; that's us alright.
Of interest in terms of the Waffen-SS' personnel procurement/training system is:
"In Perfect Formation. SS Ideology And The SS-Junkerschule Tölz" by Jay Hatheway, a good study of the SS' first and best-known officer training facility. Incidentally, the author is a former U.S. Army officer who was stationed at the former Junkerschule when it was the Flint Kaserne.
(I have deliberately not listed any books dealing with militaria/uniformology, as surely this was not the point here.)
Reitlinger is among the very first books in English from the 1950s and was a path breaker, and I read it in 1968.
The next year the Spiegel series by Hoehne (Spiegel had a number of ex SS men at work in the magazine, as it turned out)
appeared, and it was soon translated into English.
I stick with Andreas' point that the newest works of merit in English are the biographies of Himmler and Heydrich.
The real "new" histories on the SS are nearly all in German, and in huge and remarkable detail.
We have cited these over and over again. Most of the other stuff in English is derivative of the older works,
and is hardly "new" in my view.
There is a very good new book on the SA, too, which should be read with any of the biographies I mention.
Andreas and I read above and beyond "collector" books, scholarly monographs where new research is presented and one is then able to
learn something about the SS unknown or otherwise poorly comprehended before.
There have been bibliographical essays on the other site that make me gag, but I will refrain from this criticism here.
Certain collector books on uniforms and, in the second instance, SS organization are often catastrophic.
There is a body of young and productive scholars writing in German on this subject, and their work is the very best.
In the thread on caps to which Andreas refers, I cited some of these works. Perhaps some of the material is translated.
There is also a very good book on the Waffen SS in French, but I have not read it.
Thank you for all the help. I have found most of the books on the list and put them on my 'want' list.
I have just started the Himmler biography by Peter Longerich and I have the Heydrich biography also (still need to read it).
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