Hitler's First Victims by Timothy Ryback

[jeffhan373]

If you're in the mood to give yourself a nice gift this Christmas, look no further than this:

http://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-First-Vic ... st+victims

Absolutely fascinating, and totally new to me. In April 1933 a prosecutor in Munich was notified that four Jewish men had been shot "while trying to escape" from Dachau. He went out to investigate, and quickly realized that there was no intended escape, this was plain murder. He went after the SS men who did the killings, and then went after the entire camp structure, and investigated subsequent killings as well. His investigation led to Himmler transferring the commandant out...and replacing him with Theodor Eicke, which was worse.

Timothy Ryback, author of "Hitler's Private Library", includes lots of fascinating new data (to me, anyway) in this book, such as a statement made by Himmler in March 1933: "For us, the citizen of the Jewish faith is as much a citizen as those not of the Jewish faith, and his life and his property are equally protected. We recognize no differences in this regard." This attitude would radically change as the Nazi dictatorship took hold.

No SS man was ever punished for these crimes, but the prosecutor did not suffer for his efforts. He served in the Army during WW2, and died of old age in 1984. So some people could, and did, stand up to the nightmares and make their voices heard.

Nicely written, extremely interesting, give yourself something neat this year!