By Konrad Baumeister
Hoehne's book on the SS is the most complete, authoritative, and interesting I have read on the subject. There is nothing in the formation, administration, directing and eventual destruction of the SS that is not addressed, and much is covered here which is simply never dealt with elsewhere.
From the start, Hitler had to contend with the various power blocs in his government. He had devised a system which his various paladins would have to jockey and maneuver for relative favor, which generally allowed Hitler greater room for maneuver and control, but which also at times forced unpleasant meetings and compromise. Himmler's SS was quite often at the center of these power struggles, as its grasp grew more and more ambitious and it conflicted with first the SA at home, then the foreign service abroad, and finally the Wehrmacht in the conduct of the war. The SS won some of these; they lost some, too. The bureaucratic struggles throughout Nazi Germany take up quite a large part of the book; they did not end until Nazi Germany itself did. Nazi rule was self-contradictory, anarchic and without structure; anything but the planned and directed political order it is usually alleged to have been.
As late as 1932 Hitler's position in the party and the nation was often in doubt. The 1934 Roehm Putsch, in which Hitler of all the top Nazis looks least duplicitous and may well have been maneuvered into against his wishes, is presented almost minute by minute. It is one episode among many which are treated definitively by Hoehne; others include the evolution of the racial policy, of the death camps - their planning, design, implementation and abandonment - of the peace feelers made to the west by Schellenberg of the SD and others; it contains a wealth of fascinating information.
Himmler's own grip on his institution was incomplete. Not only was he far from omnipotent even at the height of his power, his personal influence waned as the SS itself as a power center waxed. The smaller pre-war SS could be guided politically, seeded racially, and its leadership trained personally; as the organization expanded into eventually every single sphere of German life, Himmler's own control could not keep up. Much as Hitler was left as the broker of last resort in his circle, so Himmler spent more and more time keeping his competing SS police leaders, governors, recruiters, labor exploiters, camp commmanders, and death squad leaders from going at it amongst themselves.
Finally, the bibliography though dated is excellent, and the index is very good and useful. For a one-volume detailed history of the rise and fall of the SS as an organization I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
1 comentário:
isto é verdadeiramente bizarro. mesmo muito. mas pronto.
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