DOC Hitler's First Victims: The Quest for Justice by Timothy W. Ryback in History

Review

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. That "journey of a thousand miles" began with single steps into evil -- the first murders of Jews and Bolsheviks. Dachau 1933.By George N. SchmidtWhen many of us were young; we were heartened by the statement "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step..." And of course being young and American; we saw that step in a positive direction. But what if those first steps were a journey into unspeakable evil that will never be forgotten as long as our histories are written for the most part by decent and civilized women and men? As we learn from "Hitler's First Victims: The Quest for Justice" (by Timothy W. Ryback); an evil journey has to also begin with a few steps. The "Final Solution to the Jewish Problem" and the Holocaust didn't begin with the German invasion of Poland (and later; the Soviet Union) or at the Wansee conference; but much earlier. And we finally have a book to explain how those first few murders; at Dachau in 1933; slowly began the process by means of which Heinrich Himmler and the SS trained and vetted the cadre of men (and a few women) who would go on to murder six million European Jews and millions of other "Untermenschen" between the beginning of Nazi power in Germany in 1933 and the final defeat of the Nazi military machine by the combined allied forces in 1945."Hitler's First Victims" tells a tiny story of a few men from the old Germany who tried to continue a tradition of justice as the Nazis began inventing the horrors of the concentration camps outside the small Bavarian city of Dachau in 1933. It is mainly the story of a German lawyer; Josef Hartinger; a prosecutor in Bavaria who insisted on leading the investigation into the first murders by the SS at the newly created concentration camp outside Dachau during the first half of 1933. Although Hartinger was not successful in prosecuting the SS men who had committed murders within the first six months after the opening of the camp; his meticulous (some would proudly say; without irony; "Germanic") documentation came alive; so to speak; later when the Nuremburg Trials brought many of the surviving top Nazis to a form of Western justice in the late 1940s and early 1950s (the Russians on the other side of the Cold War line were much less meticulous in their dealings with the Nazis they caught by the war'd end; just as they were less civilized in their treatment of Germans as their armies moved towards Berlin from late 1944 through May 1945; but that's another story worth studying at another time and place...).Joseph Hartinger learned that four Jewish detainees (most of them "communists" or socialists) had been "shot while trying to escape..." during the opening months of Dachau the concentration camp. (One of the ironies that Ryback makes clear is that prior to the days of Nazism; Dachau was known as a center for the arts!). Hartinger was a German nationalist; but not a Nazi; and he was well schooled in the law; which said that prisoners were not to be tortured or murdered in German prisons. And so; with the help of assistants; he documented the murders of the first four victims of the SS; and then went on to document more murders (and tortures) at Dachau until blocked as Nazi laws took hold in late 1933. Amazingly; Hartinger's records survived the war; and his materials proved useful to prove; at Nuremberg; that from the beginning Nazism was a criminal enterprise that murdered its domestic enemies long before its armies conquered lands east and west and its agents got a free hand to murder on a massive scale from Poland and France to Russia and the Scandinavian countries.It's worth noting the names of those first four murder victims: Rudolg Benario; Ernst Goldmann; Arthur Kahn; and Erwin Kahn. First taken into "protective custody" by the new Nazi government of Bavaria and put under SS control at the newly opened Dachau concentration camp; the four were dead within a few weeks after being taken from their families. Over the subsequent months; the Nazi guards at Dachau tortured (through beatings from the feet to the shoulders) their victims; then killed them in various ways; usually claiming that the victims had "committed suicide" or were shot "trying to escape." Josef Hartinger not only documented the fact that these men had been murdered; but even provided photographs of the back of one of the victims (Sebastian Nefzger); showing the scarring that resulted from the vicious beatings he had suffered before he allegedly "killed himself." The photo of Nefzger's corpse (one of many astonishing photographs in this book) reminded me of those photographs of the scarrings of slaves from the slave eras in the United States. But unlike American slaves; the Nazis' victims were not useful and productive "property" at the time they were tortured; so their murders were the beginning of a long road to the depths of evil not contemplated prior to what Nazism became and did.One of the appalling facts that comes out clearly in Ryback's book is that more detailed attention by reporters to what the Nazis were doing might have slowed them down early. But over and over there was a "Munich" style version of reality competing with the facts for public attention in the nations that all wanted to avoid a repeat of what then was called "The Great War." And Ryback also notes how much value Hitler placed on good public relations from the first days of his power; forcing the government to allocate special funds for positive PR in nations like England and the United States from the middle 1930s on. Sadly; as we know; it worked in many cases. In league with many of the anti-Semites and racists who formed the majority of white Americans during those years; the apologists for Nazism; from Henry Ford to Charles Lindburg; managed to keep the drums beating for "Common Sense Neutrality" despite the invasions and conquests of Poland; then France; by the German armies. It was only with one of Hitler's more arrogant mistakes -- his declaration of war on the United States following Pearl Harbor in December 1941 -- that the majority of U.S. elected officials were able to united behind the President and the war against fascism in Europe and Japanese imperialism in the Pacific beginning in late 1941 and escalating through 1945; when the sheer industrial might of the United States helped pulverize Hitler's Reich and divide Germany after forcing its unconditional surrender.But when the war ended; the question remained how did all that happen? Not just aggressive war (which was one of the Nuremberg charges) but how did the enslavement of millions of people from the "East" and the liquidation of six million Jews (gypsies; and special needs people) in the vast number of concentration camps happen? And so; that journey began when the murderers and torturers at Dachau and their Bavarian leader (Heinrich Himmler) got away with it despite the work of Josef Hartinger and his staff in 1933.And it was not as if the "world" was not informed about what was going on at Dachau long before the Germany armies conquered Poland and created the death camps the most famous of which is Auschwitz. The crematoriums at Auschwitz were first put into operation almost a decade after Himmler's SS buddies in Bavaria began murdering in 1933. And the story was told early; too. One of those tortured by the Dachau guards; a communist named Hans Beimler; escaped and published a book with the German title "im Morderlager Dachau" in 1933! But because Beimler was a commie and a Jew; it became easy for the anti-communists and anti-Semites of the democracies to continue to ignore the facts. The ignoring of the "Final Solution" began long before the term "Final Solution" was invented.This book documents its sources well; and recognizes that today one of the most important sources of information consists of photographs and documents. And so the book not only provides the critical reader with a 22-page Appendix (the complete indictment prepared by Hartinger) but 35 pages of footnotes -- and 16 pages of amazing photographs of people; places and documents. The final photograph of the gate of Dachua with the infamous slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei" (work makes you free) should to this day send chills to anyone who is trying to understand the complex roots of the histories that gave rise to our present world -- and the ideologies we still face in it.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Terrific but emotional read; highly recommendBy M. PoolWell researched; riveting book that captures the rapid pace that Germany's legal institutions were undermined and perverted after Hitler rose to power in January 1933 through the detailed examination of the first deaths at the Dachau concentration camp. Hartiger's determination for justice is inspiring; but the depravity and violence of the SS guards are disgusting and the Nazis' cynical corruption and manipulation Germany's institutions are shocking. I learned much about the history of Germany in the immediate post-WWI period that I was unaware.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Great book with some very personal stories that showed their ...By MTSMRS Avid ReadersGreat book with some very personal stories that showed their faces in this book and led to the Holocaust as we know it. Had we only seen this in the free world when it started; millions of lives could have been saved from needless deaths.