By the spring of 1945; the Second World War was drawing to a close in Europe. Allied troops were sweeping through Nazi Germany and discovering the atrocities of SS concentration camps. The first to be reached intact was Buchenwald; in central Germany. American soldiers struggled to make sense of the shocking scenes they witnessed inside. They asked a small group of former inmates to draft a report on the camp. It was led by Eugen Kogon; a German political prisoner who had been an inmate since 1939. The Theory and Practice of Hell is his classic account of life inside.Unlike many other books by survivors who published immediately after the war; The Theory and Practice of Hell is more than a personal account. It is a horrific examination of life and death inside a Nazi concentration camp; a brutal world of a state within state; and a society without law. But Kogon maintains a dispassionate and critical perspective. He tries to understand how the camp works; to uncover its structure and social organization. He knew that the book would shock some readers and provide others with gruesome fascination. But he firmly believed that he had to show the camp in honest; unflinching detail.The result is a unique historical document―a complete picture of the society; morality; and politics that fueled the systematic torture of six million human beings. For many years; The Theory and Practice of Hell remained the seminal work on the concentration camps; particularly in Germany. Reissued with an introduction by Nikolaus Waschmann; a leading Holocaust scholar and author of Hilter's Prisons; this important work now demands to be re-read.
#764639 in Books Jonathan Haslam 2015-09-22 2015-09-22Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.20 x 1.29 x 6.33l; 1.00 #File Name: 0374219907400 pagesNear and Distant Neighbors A New History of Soviet Intelligence
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Four StarsBy PhilipAn excellent and informative tome on the interior machinations of the old regime.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy TornikeA brilliant book by a brilliant historian0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A bland pudding.By David J KenneyJonathan Haslam has written a book on the history of the Cheka and the GRU and the rivalry (279 pages of text and 88 pages of footnotes.) Haslam failed to identify the V Cheka properly. The V; lacking throughout the book;stands for All Union. On December 20; 1917 the V KGB (FSB)was ordered to work the entire Soviet union beyond Leningrad at the expense of all other intelligence; police or judicial service. The GRU was formed in 1922 with little fanfare. No organizational charts for either service are included. Absent are documents of guidance; geographical boundaries of operation; police powers; training and weaponry. The V Cheka has its own Army; Navy; Air Force and Border Guards; 250K bodies.The GRU has very small military units. How and why did this difference occur? On 19 April 1943; the Red Army (Lt-Gen Kuznetsov) created a reconnaissance board within the Red Army to handle all intelligence previously assigned to the GRU. The GRU's dismissal almost put it out of business. No story or footnotes given here. Nothing about its revival. The Red Army used; in the main; its own agents behind German lines. Melanie McLane is asserted as having been informed by McLane that he was a Soviet Asset. No footnote. If this is so the entire history and interpretation of the Cambridge Five needs overturning and re-interpretation.. Richard Sorge famous and very effective asset in Tokyo is asseted as being up for execution upon his return to Moscow. Did neither testify to his bona fides with sufficient fervor to keep him alive and reports accepted by Stalin.? No footnote. How did Philby; by brilliant committee; work get The Venona Papers embargoed for years after their compilation when their exposure would have led to the Cambridge spies much earlier Robert Kennedy is written having met with a Soviet intelligence officer from theSoviet Embassy and in the course of theiri discussion formed the "Core" of the Crisis's. No foot not or corroboration. I can attest no such influence on the Commission existed. The British ambassador who JFK considered the brightest man in Washington after Bundy was the sole foreigner who came to know the smallest bit about the crisis. Art Lundahl ( founder and head of the National Photographic Center) Paul Nitze and RFK made critical imports to the discussions.These three with JFK's agreement; kept History lurching along in a peaceful direction. Full disclosure I was Art's navy junior; his student and I hope the friend of this great man.We worked in class from JFK's charts. Haslam ducks the comic entanglement of the KGB and GRU in Africa during the sixties and seventies. They attempted to recruit the same agents; failed to learn English; French and the tribal languages. Untanned Ukrainian junior officers strolled the streets and caused horrific scenes with traffic police and in restaurants A sight to see. Blatant misstatements; "The White House paid little attention...South America." The Canal Zone belonged to the US and the FBI had an enormous presence there. The Bureau became very interested in all of South America after fleeing Nazi leaders were said to absconded to second homes there. "U S Deputy resident" No such animal. "Artificial satellite" Never saw one. p 121 "Allen Dulles was not a very smart man." Only a very stupid or ill informed man would make that statement. All those repeat all those who worked around him knew him to be a brilliant and sympathetic man at the height of is powers n one of the world's toughest jobs. Disagreements there were; he was difficult to persuade. This book does not tell the story of the modern Russian intelligence systems. Its few pages skip from topic to topic with little depth or explication. For example; why was a non professional intelligence officer Ann Chisholm; not known as a Fort Monmouth graduate allowed to service Penkovsky? Little depth or explication here. The book begins in error; spends its middle on well traversed turf and ends in a whimper. Is this book a fraud? W.....
