Eicke biography

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Though I have been held captive in my native land, a colleague brought me this from Berlin and it is a first rate book, full of very interesting details about this repugnant man.

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It especially seems to have a lot on his career in the Pfalz in the epoch prior to 1933 and 1934, which is highly revealing of the man.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

It also has a fine overview of scholarship, and especially how a generation of young Germans and others are rewriting the history of the SS.

[bigmacglenn]

Strictly out of curiosity, could you elaborate on how the history of the SS is being rewritten?
Cheers, Glenn

[Robert H]

two weeks ago in TN, last week in south Italy, 12 days time before my flight somehwere to Mexico (I even don't know yet where ...) have to order it to cut down the flight hours ...
Danke FB for keeping us updated on neue Buecher!

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Strictly out of curiosity, could you elaborate on how the history of the SS is being rewritten?
Cheers, Glenn

There is a generation of young scholars in Germany and beyond who are re examining all the sources in detail, and who give a much more accurate and complete picture of the whole, with no apologia, and with special detail to subordinates. The first draft was that of Reitlinger and then Hoehne, and some others, as well as the apologia literature by some. The new works are a collective biography in huge detail, which is revealing and compelling, at least to me. This has been my professional interest since I was a teen ager, when I decided to get a PhD in German history. I know many of these young people and they are first rate scholars.

[HPL2008]

I had pre-ordered this book as soon as I became aware (also thanks to Friedrich-Berthold) that a new scientific Eicke biography was on the horizon a while back.

Never having enough spare time on my hands to read as much as I would like, I am unfortunately not yet through it. (I'm currently on page 290, which is in the section covering the SSTK's notorious role in the French campaign.)

Anyway, it is indeed a very good title and highly recommended.

As F.-B. has pointed out above, this study is particularly enlightening in terms of Eicke's pre-1933 vita and activities, especially when it comes to his long-running feud with Gauleiter Bürckel of the Palatinate and the particulars of the "bomb affair" that landed Eicke in court and caused his subsequent flight to Fascist Italy.

Another important focal point are the circumstances surrounding his temporary stay in a mental institution, the role Himmler played in it and generally the special relationship between the two men.

These aspects of his biography are certainly covered in more depth than other studies had done before.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Well said, Andreas, and especially the early period is revealing of the whole. I am full of admiration for all these fine books. Whether it will be translated into English, however, is another issue.

[M18922]

This looks like a very interesting book. You really miss out on a lot when you don't know the German language and you see books like these.

Cheers, Pat

[Friedrich-Berthold]

This looks like a very interesting book. You really miss out on a lot when you don't know the German language and you see books like these.

Cheers, Pat

Which is why, Patrick, a smart young man like you stoops to conquer in learning German, which is easy enough for you to do from Europe. And, when you are young, this assignment is much easier than when you become a fossil like me. And you can listen to German all the time with total ease, versus my life with phonograph records and a language lab. Today everything appliance is a language lab.....

[HPL2008]

Oh, how well I remember the Sprachlabor back in school with its rows of odd, sickly-green consoles and monstrous headphones plugged into them, looking not entirely unlike some Eastern European flight control center from the stone age of space exploration...