PDF Hellstorm: The Death of Nazi Germany; 1944-1947 by Thomas Goodrich in History

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34 of 34 people found the following review helpful. The Cruelty of Allied Forces in GermanyBy JoeIn the words of American historian and diplomat George Kennan: “The disaster that befell this area with the entry of the Soviet forces has no parallel in modern European experience. There were considerable sections of it where; to judge by all existing evidence; scarcely a man; woman or child of the indigenous population was left alive after the initial passage of Soviet forces … The Russians … swept the native population clean in a manner that has no parallel since the days of the Asiatic hordes.”Allied decisions for "resettlement" are considered in Chapter Four. Although the 1941 "Atlantic Charter" proclaimed by Roosevelt and Churchill expressly rejected territorial changes that did not meet the desires of the affected people; this did not discourage the British and American leaders from victims of this relatively unknown holocaust have later supporting the forcible mass expulsion of ethnic Germans from Eastern and Central Europe. As early as August 1942; the Allied leaders accepted the principle of forcible expulsion; which they reaffirmed at the Teheran Conference in 1943. At the February 1945 Yalta Conference; Churchill and Roosevelt further agreed to permit Stalin to use Germans as slave labor after the war; a practice that the diplomats dubbed "reparations in kind." An estimated 874.000 German civilians were abducted to Soviet ~ Russia; of whom 45 percent perished in captivity.The expulsion and deportation of millions of ethnic German civilians from Czecho-Slovakia; Poland; Hungary; Romania and Yugoslavia is detailed by the author; who remarks that "hitherto it would seem that the blackout on this period of history had been complete." While the Allied leaders at the Potsdam Conference called for the "orderly" and "humane" resettlement of the hapless Germans; in practice it was anything but.As de Zayas further points out; mass deportations were designated as "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity" by the Nuremberg Tribunal. But even as the Allied court was sentencing Germany's wartime political and military leaders to death for such acts; millions of Germans were being brutally driven from their homes.The German Expellees is a well-written; concise introduction to a chapter of what James J. Martin has characterized as "inconvenient history." These horrific events were not haphazard or spontaneous. Rather; this mass "ethnic cleansing" of German civilians was official Allie policy. For too long; the victims of this relatively unknown holocaust have remained largely forgotten and un-mourned.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The Pornography of WarBy ken satifkaYou have to have a strong stomach to get through "Hellstorm." Much of it came off as War Porn; but no doubt that was Thomas Goodrich's intent. Were some of his claims exaggerated? I have no way of knowing. But I'm somewhat skeptical as the author so freely threw around casualty counts of civilians in the millions here and millions there. One wonders how there were still millions of Germans alive after the war. Another example is Goodrich's report of tens of thousands of Germans attempting to return home after the war being beaten and robbed continually by Poles on their way back. If you are robbed of all your meager belongings once; how can you be robbed over and over?Nonetheless; the conduct of Russia (especially); the UK; and the US near the end of the war and afterward was abominable. You don't have to believe everything in the book to come to this realization. For those with an open mind who are willing to view war history; with all its ugliness; from the other side; this is a very important book. But; again; it's not for the faint of heart.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. US Brutality of Common Germans in US prison CampsBy george welchExposes a lot I or anyone who grew up right after WW2 knew about Eisenhower and a lot of the American forces hate for Germans. Surprisingly General Patton was appalled at the treatments and conditions of common Germans in the US prison camps but Ike was determined and refused to change. This brutal treatment didn’t start until they were sure all American POW’s were free.