Book Description
From beginning to end, the captivating story of Sophie Scholl and the White Rose is an uplifting and enlightening account of the largely untold story of German resistance to the Third Reich. With details of Scholl 's arrest and trial before Hitler's Hanging Judge,Rol and Freisler, and including the leaflets that the White Rose circulated throughout the German population, this volume is an invaluable addition to World War II literature. And it is a fascinating window into human spirit. The animated narrative reads like a suspense novel.-New York Times
Customer Reviews:
A must read for a restless conscience.......2007-04-09
If you have a restless conscience then you will better understand the members of the White Rose. Like most kids in Germany in the 30's Hans and Sophie Scholl joined the Nazi youth movement and bought into National Socialism. However through their father who opposed National Socialism and a God instilled restless conscience they soon saw National Socialism for the evil it was and is. The author does a good job of making you feel the tension and stress as the story unfolds. Their dileama was how do you mount a meaningful opposition to a totalitarian state from within. Who can you trust? Gestapo everywhere and all opposition to the State outlawed.By 1940 most of the 500 or so pastors who would not bow down to Hitler were in jail or executed. By the time the White Rose decided to take action in 1942 most Germans were scarred to death of the police state they had allowed to enslave them. But there was sporadic uprising against Hitler. One interesting story in the book was when the gov't banned all the crucifixes from the public schools in Bavaria in 1941. The parents signed protest letters and petitions and even threw the mandatory picture of Hitler out of classroom windows. The protest was so strong that Hitler backed down. Its scary to think that our gov't has taken Christianity out of the classroom but Hitler couldn't. As you read the book you feel that they felt they were going to get caught but their restless conscience would not let them turn from the course of action that would lead to their deaths. As we see our own freedoms of privacy (Patriot Act), speech (Hate Crime Bills) and other constitutional rights being taken from us by an ever growing central gov't we can learn a lot from this book. At her trial Sophie Scholl said "Somebody had to make a start". They certainly did and their pamphlets and death had a lasting effect on the German people. Hans Scholl's last words were "Long live Freedom". The essence of freedom is the limitation of gov't and requires eternal vigilance. The German people allowed Hitler to much power and he enslaved them. We still have the time and ability to limit the power of our gov't but it will take a lot of work and most importantly a restless conscience. 5 stars for this book.
Amazing - a must read!!!.......2007-01-10
This book was definitely a must-read, not only for those that are interested in this time period of study, but for anyone who wants to have a better understanding of world history. It's amazing, simply put. It reads so quickly. You are definitely drawn in from the very first page to the last.
Understanding the other side of the story . . . .......2006-07-13
I bought this for research and it is terrific. It really gets into the mindset and political background of the story of the White Rose and helps the reader to understand the 'why' of the story. Not as personal as other accounts, it nevertheless is a wonderful background that will help you see Nazi Germany in a whole new light while telling the moving and touching story of Sophie Scholl.
Sophie Scholl and The White Rose.......2006-07-03
It is quite impossible to do an adequate job of reviewing this book.
Knowing that these young German students really lived, daring to risk their young lives and, indeed, losing them, for their distribution of their printed words challenging German people to act against Hitler, is unbelievably humbling and cause for great hope for mankind. Passive resistence worked. Life triumphed over death. Good was stronger than evil.
The authors, Annette Dumbach and Jud Newborn, became accomplished talents with the publication of this book alone.
Their ability to combine the biographies of Sophie, her brother and their compatriots in the making and distrubtion of the White Rose and the requisite history and analysis of the political climate in Germany during The Holcaust is masterful.
The book reads like a suspense thriller one could read in a few hours. However, their thoughtful, detailed insights into the minds and hearts of the protagonists, compel the reader to read and then reread many passages before being emotionally able to read on. This is a must read for young and old students of the human condition, a truly unforgettable book.
A very powerful and memorable book.......2006-03-25
SOPHIE SCHOLL & THE WHITE ROSE is, essentially, about the finest aspects of human nature. The White Rose members' integrity and their compassion for their fellow Germans and, more surprisingly, for the Jewish population who had endured years of prejudice and oppression followed by vicious persecution is very impressive.
To mount a secret campaign against the Third Reich, a totalitarian regime of insidious oppression and unbelievable brutality against both the German people and its conquered populations, takes amazing courage.
But to face up to that regime on an intensely personal level, without hesitation or - apparently - regret, fully aware of the consequences, is simply awesome. And it awes me that most of the White Rose members were students like myself! This is a very memorable book with a powerful message.
Customer Reviews:
Terrific insight into the women of Nazi-era Germany.......2007-07-06
This is the book I've been subconsciously looking for all these years when reading about World War II. What were the lives of German women like in Nazi Germany? There is no single answer, of course, as the answers are as varied as women themselves, despite Nazi-enforced conformity. Here are interviews with sympathizers, resisters, communists, apoliticals, rich, poor, middle class, East Germans and West. This book made it clear to me how idealistic youth could be sucked into the Nazi vortex. This is a dense book, and the interviewer does not succeed at being totally objective. However, for those interested in the topic, this is a great book.
Marvelous writing.......2006-11-05
Frauen offers good insight into the lives of German women during the Third Reich. If some questions are left unanswered, it can be attributed to the women interviewed and not to the author, who had done her homework well and asked direct questions. Having lived in postwar Germany and received the same evasive answers, I was able to nod a hearty Ja to her frustrations. The only "fault" I found with the book, and it may not have been a grave one, was that most of the women came from eastern Germany. I longed to hear from more western Germans. All in all, however, this is an excellent book, one that should sound some warnings to present day readers.
An Important Book Causing Fascination and Soul-Searching.......2004-04-22
I agree with just about all the comments of all the other reviewers of this book, both positive and critical. The author interviewed a wide array of German women that lived through the Third Reich and were able to tell about it during the time she interviewed them (mostly the mid-to-late '80s). I am as upset about the treatment of Jews in the Holocaust as anyone, yet I agree with the reviewer who pointed out that the author focused all the passion of her interviews just about exclusively to this topic. I would have very much liked to have seen more about other aspects of lives and decisions made during the Third Reich, such as the people giving up their civil rights so quickly after the Nazis were in power and then so soon after that there was no such thing as free speech and I don't know what it was like in Germany before the Nazis, but there was definitely zero freedom of the press during the Third Reich. One thing I learned that I did not know before was that people would be arrested for even the barest comment that Germany might not win the war (not to mention any criticism of Jewish stores being boycotted). Shoot, a person could be arrested apparently just for showing any outward sign of compassion to Jews or prisoners and informers were everywhere. Anyhow, it is fascinating reading and I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about this era of history. I had not realized some things before I read this book, such as the role of women in Nazi Germany. Women were definitely repressed far beyond what I had realized before. The most frustrating thing for me in reading this book was the poor translations (or poor editing of translations). There were sentences that no matter how many times I read them, they simply did not make any sense to me at all. Also, often words or phrases were left untranslated, and knowing no German myself, this too was frustrating, nicht? I also would have liked to hear less of the personal slant of the author's perspective. All in all, though, I think I would have given this book 5 stars if it has been edited to reasonable readability. Yes, some of the German style of pigeon-English would have been lost, but then again, these women (or most of them) were not speaking English anyhow; they were speaking German, and what they said was translated into English. Why not translated into a more readable English? I believe a lot more people would read and benefit from reading this book had that been the case. I love the diversity of the women interviewed -- not only in social status and roles they played during the Third Reich but also their different ways of coping and different attitudes toward life. Some lived in great fear; others made little room in their hearts or minds for fear, because they were too busy doing what was clear they must do -- whether hiding a Jew or whatever. Very interesting stuff and terribly relevant even today in a world that still has not yet learned how to come to terms with its problems without war and the crimes endemic of war.
One of the best books I've ever read.......2001-06-15
This book is incredible, one I'll re-read several times through the years. I've been living in Germany for the past three years, and will soon return to America. The people here, while VERY friendly, are quite reserved, so it's amazing that Alison Owings was able to get so many women from that era to open up about this sensitive subject. Not only do I applaud Ms. Owings's effort, but I thank the women who shared their lives and thoughts with her. We should never be afraid to look at the past - even the horrors.
What history is all about.......2000-12-21
Yes, Alison Owings writes more like a journalist than a historian. No matter. This is an excellent book and well worth reading. While Owings is much more "present" in the book than your typical historian, she writes with a raw honesty that compensates for any lack of subtlety on her part. Fundamentally, her work is an exploration of complex ethical decisions and her own reactions to them. Their story becomes part of Owings's story, and that's what history is all about. Some reviewers criticized her for not writing the book they wanted her to write. This is an unfair criticism, but does show that the topic is not exhausted. Another reviewer criticized her approach to oral history, with which, as a historian, I found no fault. I highly recommend this book for lay readers with an interest in the social history of the Third Riech. Readers who liked this book may also like Philip Hallie's LEST INNOCENT BLOOD BE SHED.
Book Description
National Book Award NomineeAmerican Library Association Notable BookAn Outstanding Book in Women's History at the Berkshire Conference of Women HistoriansFrom the collapse of the Kaiser's regime to the destruction of Hitler in his bunker, Germany has been studied, explicated, and psychoanalyzed time and again. Yet there have been few detailed investigations into the historical and cultural roles played by German women in modern times. This important book, which Kirkus called "original and intriguing," corrects this imbalance.
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating, Disturbing, Informative.......2005-02-28
"Mothers in the Fatherland: Women, the Family, and Nazi Politics," is a scholary work, but I read it quickly, as if it were a popular page-turner. I asked myself why I was reading it so quickly.
I read this book so quickly, I think, because it fascinated me, of course, but also because it disturbed me and, given how informative the book is, I kept expecting that I'd turn the page and find THE EXPLANATION that would make it all make sense to me, and give me peace of mind.
The "it" I wanted explained, of course, was the absolute evil of Nazism. The Nazism in this book is not -- for the most part -- the public Nazism of "Trimuph of the Will" or the notorious Nazism of Auschwitz.
It's the Nazism of cookie bakers and apron wearers. It's the Nazism of women breast feeding their children and dreaming of a Judenrein Germany; their hearts aflutter at thoughts of their fuhrer.
Koonz has amassed a trove of data, including personal letters, memoirs, and newsclips, that one is unlikely to encounter in other volumes.
Inevitably, her book emerges as a social history of Nazism, the Nazism of the hearth, as it were, rather than the headlines.
As alien as Nazism is, the reader cannot help but draw parallels to the present moment.
Social reformers who oppose any birth control, and who have deep convictions about woman's place being in the home, having as many babies as possible, and quietly and unobtrusively devoting themselves to making life easier for their husbands and sons who serve the state, are not exclusively a thing of the past.
This book, in passages, made my skin crawl. It certainly made me think. It did make me cry. It is a worthy addition to the scholarship on the Nazi era, and an invitation to deep thought about misogynist ideologues' control over women's lives.
nice.......2003-08-20
This is a very good pioneering study of the women's sphere of Germany during the Hitler years. I especially enjoyed the portions on Sholtz-Klink, the Nazi women's leader. And I was especially facinated by Mutter Diehl's idea of a Women's Chamber of Syndicates.
This is a good pioneering study of this topic. Further studies are needed.
Interesting and well written discussion.......2002-05-23
In her book Mothers in the Fatherland: Women, the Family and Nazi Politics historian Claudia Koonz tackles an interesting aspect of Nazi Germany and women's history. Koonz's topic is one that has been relatively unexplored, despite the vast abundance of historical writing and discussion on Nazi Germany since WWII. I enjoyed the book for the most part, and found her ideas and explanations for the many contradictions and issues women found in Nazi Germany to be satisfactory and enlightening. Using many previously unearthed documents and sources, Koonz attempts to explain how women survived and adapted during such a misogynist and time.
I found Koonz's writing to be both in-depth and comprehensive, but rarely boring or cumbersome. I think she did an excellent job of keeping the reader informed of her thought progression, and at times I felt that I was along with her looking for sources or trying to figure out an explanation to a problem. I liked her analysis of the Weimar republic and "New Woman" and how those factors influenced many women's decisions and opinions on submitting to Nazi dominance. I also found her chapter on Jewish women very enlightening and yet frustrating. Reading about how hopeless it seemed to the women when their children brought home Nazi propaganda from class provides a good example of the cruelty (and stupidity) of the Nazis. I do feel that Koonz tended to get bogged down in her examples of particular Nazi women. Although they were necessary, I feel that they ran long-winded at times. Overall, Mothers in the Fatherland is a very interesting and insightful analysis of this dark period of women's history.
wonderful.......2001-12-15
I have just finished taking a semester long course with Claudia Koonz at Duke University, and have been inspired to read more about the cultural aspects of Nazi Germany. I was impressed that she truly is as good a writer as she is professor. I highly recommend the book and highly recommend coming to Duke to take a class with her!!
Must Read for Modern German History Majors!.......1999-12-18
I was led to reading this book for a paper I did on the civil rights of women and reasons behind women's support of the state during Hitler's reign. Professor Koonz did a superb job of bring several elements together to form a large, descriptive view of the lives of all women, Christian, Jewish, Nazi, Socialist, etc. I found the interview done with Frau Scholtz-Klink, former head of the women's department under the Nazis, one of the most fascinating, especially since she has held on to her Nazism when other Germans such as Hemult Kohl have renounced and apologized for their role in Nazi Germany. For the first time in all my studies of Germany, I finally began to understand not only who, what and when but also how and why the German Weimar Republic of the 1920's could accept a dictator such as Hitler.
Average customer rating:
- A must for every serious student of WWII history.
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Women under the Third Reich: A Biographical Dictionary
Shaaron Cosner , and
Victoria Cosner
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
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ASIN: 0313303150 |
Book Description
Traditionally, the story of the Third Reich has been a story of men, yet women participated in all aspects of the war and on both sides of the Nazi flag. This dictionary, with entries on more than 100 women, shows the diversity of their roles in this turbulent and disturbing period. It includes entries on resistance fighters, nurses, entertainers, writers, filmmakers, spies, and prisoners with exceptional spirit and courage. The women represented here came from all the countries involved with the Third Reich and from many different occupations before their involvement in the war--housewives, secretaries, singers, film stars, pilots, and athletes. This volume reveals the women's perspective on the history of the Third Reich. Despite the vast number of women who supported or fought against the Third Reich, historians have often neglected them and their contributions. Researchers checking the index of a book on the Third Reich might see one or two female names--usually Anne Frank or Eva Braun. This book is the first to provide biographical information on the vast number of women who helped shape the era. It offers an opportunity to reclaim a small sampling of the women who fought against or supported the Third Reich.
Customer Reviews:
A must for every serious student of WWII history........1999-06-24
At last, someone has written this book. The stories of women on both sides of the Nazi regime have been shoved aside and ignored for too long, leaving only the mythology of Eva Braun, Anne Frank, and Marlene Dietrich. But women were important participants in the war on both sides; on the front lines, in concentration camps, in espionage, in rescue and resistance. Cosner and Cosner's Women Under the Third Reich introduces us to one hundred women whose lives impacted history. Here you will meet an astonishing variety of women, from Yvonne Nevejean, who is said to have rescued up to 4,000 Belgian Jewish children from the Reich, to Irma Grese, the Beastess of Belsen, a prison camp warden known for her brutality. Each account is well researched and documented. Appendices which reference the women by role and by country of origin are a great bonus. Informative, well-written and lively, this book is a must for every serious student of history.
Book Description
Unforgettable and deeply arresting, Let Me Go is a haunting memoir of World War II that “wonÂ't let you go until youÂ've finished reading the last page” (The Washington Post Book World). In 1941, in Berlin, Helga SchneiderÂ's mother abandoned her along with her father and younger brother. Let Me Go recounts HelgaÂ's final meeting with her ailing mother in a Vienna nursing home some sixty years after World War II, in which Helga confronts a nightmare: her motherÂ's lack of repentance about her past as a Nazi SS guard at concentration camps, including Auschwitz, where she was responsible for untold acts of torture. With spellbinding detail, Schneider recalls their conversation, evoking her own struggle between a daughterÂ's sense of obligation and the inescapable horror of her motherÂ's deeds.
Customer Reviews:
Powerful, courageous and restrained.......2007-07-18
Let Me Go is one of the most un-put-down-able books I've ever read. Though in general my husband and I have very different reading interests he also found it to be so. We each had it finished within 24 hrs. In it Helga Schneider exposes the raw emotional journey of seeing her aged and estranged mother for the last time. This is an intensely personal book focussed entirely on this exchange and to a limited extent the intruding context of Helga's childhood and Helga's previous visit decades ago. The book leaves questions unanswered, and that is it's strength. Just as some readers may find that there are no satisfactory answers in some respects, there are none for Helga. The book does not interpret it just tells you the story with an honesty that is incredibly courageous. There may be things that the reader wishes had been resolved or discussed in the exchange, but this is not the reader's story, it is Helga's story. I have read a lot of Military history and I found this book a wonderful, powerful and moving counterpoint as it illustrates the lasting legacy for the innocents even so many decades on.
I consider this book to be one of the most precious in my library.
This review is based on the hardcover edition.
Need More History.......2007-04-08
Something was missing for me in the historical recount.
She meets her 90 year old mother in a nursing home and starts asking very leading questions that suggest she should feel pity (whether she should or shouldn't isn't the point) when I was just waiting for her to head in the direction of how her mother came to believe in the nazi lifestyle in the first place. The previous reviewer is right, they pick right up where she leaves her children and joins the SS party and is viewed as a monster but I think it's responsible to attempt to understand humanity's motives and find out what the catalyst was to her drastic life change. There are even hints that she missed her old life terribly but these reasons are not explored, only pondered over by the writer in hindsight. As the famous saying goes, if you neglect to understand these situations, however painful they may be, history may repeat itself.
Overall, it was a very good read but the detail above it why I'm giving it 4 stars.
powerful and troubling, an important book.......2007-04-05
History is often written on the grand stage. The huge battles or landmark laws are recorded. The feelings of the children whose parents are caught up in the "monumental events" are rarely recorded. In "Let Me Go, Helga Schneider has given us just such an account. Her mother was a seemingly unapologetic nazi who abandoned her family to serve Hitler. Helga is now going to visit her dying mother, who is possibly suffering from dementia. Helga just needs to know, and engages in incredibly difficult conversations with her mother. Is her mother still rational? Is she telling the truth? Why would she do the brutal things that she herself describes (including tortures and nonchalantly sending another woman who offended her to be enslaved in a brothel). This is compelling reading, and an underappreciated way of knowing history. The only comment I have, and it is not directed at Schneider, but at society in general. We are always surprised when it is a woman who in engages in such terrifying acts, as it violates the stereotype of female behavior. We would probably not be as surprised if this book were written in terms of going to see her aged father.
Interesting.......2007-01-27
I enjoyed the book but kept wondering why the mother's name or the camp she worked at ever mentioned. Would have made the book more enjoyable.
Recommended.......2006-07-21
I "read" this book as a book on tape. The book on tape was VERY good due to the "acting ability" of the reader whose name escapes me. If you read the book yourself from a hard copy you can imagine a lady's voice with, of course, a German accent. I wouldn't say this is a "must read" book, but very interesting and enjoyable none-the-less---- Not boring, in other words. Email:boland7214@aol.
Book Description
We are all familiar with the stereotype of the German woman as either a Brunhilde in uniform or a chubby farmer's wife. However, throughout the interwar period fashion was one of Germany's largest industries and German women ranked among the most elegantly dressed in all of Europe. This book explores the failed attempt by the Nazi state to construct a female image that would mirror official gender policies, instill feelings of national pride, promote a German victory on the fashion runways of Europe, and support a Nazi-controlled European fashion industry. How did the few women with power maintain style and elegance? How did the majority experience the increased standardization of clothing characteristic of the Nazi years? How did women deal with the severe clothing restrictions brought about by Nazi policies and the exigencies of war? Nazi 'Chic'? addresses these questions and many others, including the role of anti-Semitism, "aryanization," and the hypocrisy of Nazi policies. The result is the first book in English to deal comprehensively with German fashion from World War I through to the end of the Third Reich.
Customer Reviews:
Nazi Chic is a GREAT Read; extremely well-researched.......2006-05-25
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the period and/or in fashion. Loved the anecdotes! Fascinating from front to back. The pictures made the book even more enjoyable.
Can't wait to see what else Ms. Guenther writes!
Terrific Book - Highly Recommended.......2006-05-25
For an unusual and insightful look into the Third Reich, I highly recommend this book. The title is a bit of a pun, as the subject material covers the Nazis' unfashionable attempts to maniplate control over female fashions and women's roles through the use of propaganda and manipulation of the fashion industry. The book is well researched, well written, and discloses new findings exposing the purging of Jews from the German fashion industry. The book also details information on the little known German Fashion Institute and the very fashion-conscious Nazi officials' wives and their hypocritical husbands. The book accurately portrays the parody of Nazi political folly, as well as the realism of the devastated German home front through the lives of German women during WWII and the millions of women in the concentration camps throughout Europe. Be forewarned - this is one of those books that once you pick it up, you won't want to put it down until you reach the last page.
Average customer rating:
- Women of the Third Reich
- Mediocre, but with some insight
- Good Research, Sloppy Translation
- Bathroom Read
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Women of the Third Reich
Anna Maria Sigmund
Manufacturer: NDE Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1553211057 |
Book Description
This groundbreaking work examines the official Nazi portrayal of women in the Third Reich as well as the real lives of eight women who were a part of the Nazi regime or played a role in its ascendancy. Many women in German high society were fascinated by Adolf Hitler and helped him to achieve political power, while women like filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl were fueling Hitler's propaganda machine. The private lives of Hitler's assistants' wives are also explored-revealing Magda Goebbels's complicity in the murder of her six children in 1945, Carin and Emmy Gring's relations with their morphine-addicted husbands, and the knowledge that Margaret Himmler had of her husband's actions as leader of the SS.
Customer Reviews:
Women of the Third Reich.......2005-09-03
This was a somewhat interesting read, well footnoted and researched, though at times boring. I was not pleased with the translation though, and wished I had bought the book in German instead. The translation can have a lot to do with the overall tempo of a book and how it is interperted. I will try it again in German and then make a final decision then.
Mediocre, but with some insight.......2003-07-03
I have read this book in the original German, and much of the problem with this version is the translation. The translator doesn't inject the book with as much verve and spark as was present in the original German-language version. The best part of this book is the chapter on Eva Braun, where Sigmund correctly dispels the myth that Hitler's sexuality was in any way perverted, or that he forced a life of celibacy onto Eva Braun. Eva's diary alone dispels that nonsense, and the diary is quoted from liberally here.
The chapter on Magda Goebbels is also interesting and reveals that Magda married her husband solely to be near Hitler, the man she really loved. What a tangled web these Nazi ladies wove!
This is part of a three-volume set and the weakness is that Sigmund throws in quite peripheral Nazi ladies, such as Sister Pia and even some actresses who scarcely knew Hitler. She should stick to stalwarts like Eva, Leni Riefenstahl, Mimi Reiter and others who were close to Hitler, either personally or professionally.
To sum up, not a bad introduction to the women of Hitler's Germany, but poorly translated and too much filler.
Good Research, Sloppy Translation.......2003-01-11
I'd already read quite a bit about the women this book is about, and still discovered some new information. The book is nicely footnoted (I'm the kind who always wants to know what a historian's source was). There are problems with the translation, however. The translator wasn't aware of traditionally accepted translations and says things like "Time of Battle" instead of "Time of Struggle." Every now and then, something seems a little off, and I'm sure that's a translation problem.
Bathroom Read.......2003-01-08
This is one of those books you may want to keep in your guest room or bathroom. It's also the right size for holding up a table :o) The chapters are short so you can probably read it over the weekend and since I don't like to start a book without finishing it I read it as fast as I could. A few insights are interesting especially the close relationships some of these women had with Jews. But the truth is most of the book is bland. If you just have this urge to buy it, then I recommend a used copy.
Book Description
Amidst the libraries of scholarship on the public deeds of Adolf Hitler, much of the private life of this thoroughly evil figure remains enigmatic. The Women Who Knew Hitler reveals a new dimension and insider’s view of Hitler, whose love life, with all its complexities, inadequacies, and brutality, is posited as lying at the very core of the tormented dictator who murdered millions and nearly destroyed a continent. Accessing a multitude of sources, including surviving documents, eyewitness accounts, interrogation reports, even U.S. intelligence files and private papers revealed here for the first time, the authors reposition Hitler in a vivid, updated form for a new generation of historians and readers.
Customer Reviews:
Kinky Adolf.......2007-05-24
The title is a bit of a misnomer. It is only partially about Hitler's women and goes on too long about the functionary who married Adolf and Eva in 1945 - a mere footnote in history at best. The authors are fascinating when they concentrate on the women themselves and their relationship with him.
For the first half of the book. I thought this could be that rarity - a work which treats Hitler in an unbiased way. But, as with all Hitler biographers, eventually they cannot resist telling us what to think about their subject. But even then the humanity of the man comes through the propaganda.
For instance, one of the witnesses in the bunker said that she saw Hitler cry just twice: once when Eva Braun returned to Berlin to share his fate; and once after the wedding. This would demonstrate to most people that he clearly loved the girl, but the authors unconvincingly try to show that it is yet more evidence of his evil nature.
Even with the obligatory biased asides, I would still recommend the book to anyone interested in the subject, the most interesting man of the twentieth century and a man still awaiting an honest historian.
These are historians?.......2007-05-06
I bought this based on the reviews and the general subject matter. It is supposed to be based on previously unknown information, etc. A book that says it is a history and does not darken one page with a foot note that specifies where they got the information to make that statement is not a history. It is a gossip column.
For a man who was "married to Germany" he sure did get around and apparently, for reasons not clear, a lot of people knew about it. That little whispers of his activities did not get around is even more interesting. An explanation of how he kept his social activities so quiet would be appropriate for a book like this.
Surprisingly Good.......2007-01-26
I had limited expectations of this book given the subject matter. Perhaps in part due to the title or the rather bad cover art, I thought it might be a throw-away text written with a bent towards the salacious. I was surprised to discover that it was a relatively moderate, well-written exploration of Hitler's relationship with women and an excellent summary of his last days.
Ian Sayer and Douglas Botting flesh out an interesting portrait of Hitler with an elevated treatment of the subject matter. Refreshingly, the authors refrain from rampant speculation and amateur psychoanalysis and present instead a rather temperate treatment of the subject. They explore Hitler's known relationships with women and attempt to provide some insight into this aspect of the man - all the while doing so against the background of the image Hitler maintained as the public man.
Despite the title, only about half of the book explores Hitler's relationships with women. The last half deals more with Hitler's final weeks and days in the bunker as Berlin falls about him. Nevertheless, the change in focus is welcome as the second half of the book is perhaps even more engaging than the first.
All in all, this book is a surprisingly good read and stands as a serious and respectable treatment on this aspect of Hitler's life.
A Different Take.......2006-05-11
Sayer has attempted what I personally consider to be a very difficult task...writing a book focusing on Hilter and the women around him. Difficult because Hilter himself was a very private person and he guarded his relationships closely. Perhaps this was the reason that I was originally drawn to this book.
This is not a expose' nor is it a typical biography. It looks at Hitler through the filtered lens of his relationships with the women...how his relationships worked, what women were attracted to him, what women he was attracted to and how his charismatic personality enabled him to overcome what many women felt was a somewhat unattractive physical appearance. There seems to have been something about him that certain women found alluring and interesting.
It is through this lens of relationships that Sayer paints a unique portrait of the man. The reader is at times almost sympathetic with Hitler. One also is afforded a closer look into the person that was Eva Braun.
I came away from this book with a more rounded picture of Adolf Hitler. Although his egomania and ruthlessness is ever present, Sayer allows a glimpse behind that and into the "person" himself. A glimpse allowed by people who actually knew Hitler or his love interests and shared their thoughts and impressions through conversations or letters.
I would recommend this book to those readers interested in seeing a different side of Hitler than those typically found in the many existing biographies of him.
Hitler's loves, life, and death .......2005-01-19
Adolf Hitler is without question one of the most evil individuals to ever walk the face of the earth. It boggles the mind that a person can commit the atrocities that he did and yet have a magnetic hold over an entire country. This book, The Women Who Knew Hitler: The Private Life of Adolf Hitler, by Ian Sayer and Douglas Botting attempts to shed some light on Hitler's psyche, especially how it relates to his dealings with women.
There is a long discussion about just what made Hitler tick. Apparently, the prevalent view among psychologists is that he had issues with sexuality and was traumatized as a child by his father. You definitely are left with the impression that Hitler was a sick, sick individual even prior to WWI and his entrance into politics.
I found the book's title to be a bit misleading. Yes, there is a lot of information to be found here about Hitler's numerous dealings (most of which could hardly be called relationships) with women. However, the book stretches on after the death of Hitler and his wife of one day, Eva Braun, and covers their cremation (in graphic detail), the fall of Berlin, and the Soviet, British, and American attempts to unravel the truth behind Hitler's death. The authors also include a significant discussion about and primary source material from Walter Wagner, the lowly civil servant who married Hitler and Braun. I found that to be a bit tedious and only tangentially relevant; some of the information has never been published previously, so it seems like they included it just to say they were the first.
The most interesting part of the book covers Hitler and Braun's relationship. Amazingly, the authors manage to (almost) humanize Hitler through their description of Hitler's physical and emotional decline as the Third Reich fell.
I recommend this book to those interested in learning more about Hitler's psychology and the women who were attracted to him. It is also worth reading for the account of Hitler's final days before his suicide.
Book Description
Guido Knopp looks at the leading women of the Third Reich and the role they played in the Nazi regime. To illustrate this theme he has painted vivid pen portraits of six famous women who were all bound up with Hitler’s regime. The lives of these women prove how the Nazis envisaged the future of ‘German womanhood’ and how things looked in reality.
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating reading !.......2005-08-30
I've read a great deal of military, political, economic histories pertaining to the Nazi era but this book lends itself to understanding AH in a wholly and completely different light. I highly recommend it.
Another pop biography on Hitler.......2004-04-08
Guido Knopp is quite famous in Germany as a pop biographer and filmmaker on Hitler. His many films on the Fuehrer have some merit, but his abilities as an author are limited, to say the least. This effort is not helped by a poor translation. I've read the book in its original German, and it loses quite a bit in the English version.
If you know little about Hitler and women, this might be an enjoyable book, though Knopp (weirdly) focuses mostly on women who had a platonic relationship with him. Eva Braun is the only women profiled who actually consumated her relationship with Hitler. Glaringly absent are a long line of Hitler's lovers: Geli Raubal, Jenny Haug, Suzi Liptauer, Mimi Reiter and others. His chapter on Bayreuth legend Winifred Wagner is the highlight of the book, though he inexplicably doesn't quote from her many, fascinating, interviews about Hitler.
The book is a decidedly mixed bag and for people with a serious background on the epoch, it's something of a waste of time.
Rather interesting...........2004-01-13
I just finished this book today, and I must say, it is pretty good. I like the angle of it. The book is basically composed of six "mini-bios" of the prominent women surrounding Hitler during his ascension to power, and throughout the 12 Year Reich.
The most intriguing character in this book was a toss up between Leni Riefenstahl and Winifred Wagner. Both had incredible influence upon Hitler, but I think Winifred had the most personal relationship. I sincerely believe that Hitler would have probably married Winifred eventually if she had not already been betroved. In her bio, you could really sense the personal relationship between the two, and how this played out during the Wagner festivals at Bayreuth during those years.
On the other hand, Hitler's relationship to Riefenstahl was much more on a professional level. Hitler appreciated Leni's artistic value, and used it to his advantage as long as she would let him. Leni Riefenstahl will always have a place among the greatest filmakers that has ever lived. Her genius in filmaking will definitely never be forgotten. If you haven't seen TRIUMPH OF THE WILL...that is a movie you should rent. The sheer emotion of it will have you wanting to see more of her...no translation needed.
As for the other ladies, Knopp treats them just as well, but it seems as if Wagner and Riefenstahl just stood out more. The bio on Marlene Dietrich was especially good, and Zarah Leander also led a pretty interesting life. I had never heard of Leander before reading this book. Magda Goebbels was quite an evil woman, and Eva Braun was just a plain ol' airhead....and my least favorite.
A couple things did stand out in Knopp's assessment. Most of these women were artistic types. Besides Eva Braun, all were either artists, musicians, and/or movie stars. This is quite interesting since Hitler loved art, and aspired to be an artist himself before taking on politics. Also, for women to be so artistic seems a bit contradictory to the Nazi standard of the "perfect Aryan woman", whose job was to produce children for the Reich and remain behind the scenes. None of these ladies fit the blonde haired, blue eyed ideal of the Aryan lady. Eva Braun would be the closest to it, I would imagine, due to her airheaded-ness and physical attributes.
All in all, this was a very interesting and revealing book. Knopp did his research well, and there are extensive notes and quotes throughout. The only complaint is that the quotes within each section that are listed through the text make it somewhat hard to read....and makes your eyes have to skip around the page. Also, the transition has rendered a few places of improper sentence structure or missing words in the text. Other than that, this book is really great....and you should try it! You might like it!
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