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Two Major New Studies of Nazi Europe

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Two Major New Studies of Nazi Europe Richard J. Evans. The Third Reich at War. New York: Penguin Press, 2008. 994 pp. $40.00, cloth, ISBN 978-1-59420-206-3. Mark Mazower. Hitler's Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe. New York: Penguin Press, 2008. 768 pp. $39.95, cloth, ISBN 978-1-59420-188-2. Reviewed by Christof N. Morrissey Published on H-German (October, 2010) Commissioned by Benita Blessing (Oregon State University) Adolf Hitler, Nazism, and the Second World No one can accuse Mazower of building his War continue to exert an unbroken fascination, authorial career on micro-histories or mono‐ not only for the mainstream public but for aca‐ graphs about narrowly defined topics. His books demic historians as well. Should anyone require include sweeping histories of Europe in the twen‐ proof of the latter, these massive new volumes tieth century, the Balkans, and the city of Thessa‐ will dispel any doubts with the force of a coordi‐ loniki over half a millennium.[1] Hitler's Empire nated "lightning" attack of tanks and dive- is no less ambitious; it is an elegantly crafted nar‐ bombers against lance-bearing cavalry. In the two rative carried forward with broad brushstrokes volumes reviewed here, the social historian and punctuated by intriguing case studies as well Richard Evans and the international historian as insightful anecdotes. The book's eighteen chap‐ Mark Mazower bring their distinctly different ters are organized into three sections: the frst, brands of history writing to what is essentially the chronologically ordered, covers historical back‐ same topic: the Third Reich and occupied Europe ground up to the frst part of World War II, when at war. the Nazis acquired their empire; part 2 provides a H-Net Reviews thematic examination of the "New Order"; and the precedented speed with which they sought to last section puts it all into European and world build their empire and, perhaps most significant‐ perspective. Mazower keeps his narrative lean ly, their inability to envision or articulate a politi‐ and moving briskly. He avoids getting bogged cal future that could appeal to anyone who was down in organizational details of the Nazi occupa‐ not German. Victorian colonialism, Mazower con‐ tion and extermination apparatus, and generally tends, at least held out the "promise of political re‐ eschews German bureaucratic monikers in favor demption" for its subject peoples (Mazower, p. of common-sense English translations. Another of 586). While this thesis is compelling in many his positive trademarks is a wry sense of irony. ways, Mazower does not really explain how Nazi That is probably not the worst prism through rule in places such as Bohemia and Moravia, which to view the more bizarre outgrowths of the which he specifically cites as an example of "im‐ Nazi imagination, such as Heinrich Himmler's por[ting] the colonial model to the continent" delusions of a Germanized East, or the brutality (Mazower, p. 587), represented a decisively differ‐ and tawdriness of leading Nazis such as Hans ent approach from that which past empires had Frank. used to rule over subject European nationalities. At the same time, it must be said that Mazow‐ In fact, he likens the status of Czechs in the pro‐ er's streamlined approach does not always yield tectorate to Puerto Ricans in the United States. the detailed insights into operational maneuver‐ These questions aside, Mazower's compar‐ ings and intra-organizational dynamics that-- isons with other European empires are insightful, while never providing the sole explanation for the and it would have been interesting to see him ex‐ Holocaust or other radical Nazi projects--can plore further what role the westward expansion nonetheless be critical to understanding how and of the United States played in the Nazi imagina‐ why Nazism functioned as it did. As it stands, his tion. Much of what Hitler and Himmler had in wide-lens focus reinforces his basic skepticism to‐ store for Russia and the Ukraine, for example, ward what we can (still) broadly label "functional‐ eerily resembles the fate that befell Native Ameri‐ ist" explanations of Nazism and the Holocaust, can peoples, even if technological and ideological whether characterized as "'polycratic structures,'" means differed greatly. The author documents "administrative social Darwinism," or "cumulative Hitler's interest in tales of the American frontier radicalization." Mazower does emphasize the crit‐ and his admiration for U.S. racial and eugenics ical role played by the war in making mass mur‐ laws; the Nazis often spoke of "Jewish reserva‐ der on an epic scale both conceivable and possi‐ tions." Mazower might also have compared the ble. At the same time, however, he also stresses Soviet approach to empire, but of course this book the centrality of Hitler's wishes, both explicitly is already over six hundred pages long. stated and implicitly anticipated, to the execu‐ Hitler's Empire makes many worthwhile con‐ tion--if not always the planning--of major policy tributions. For example, it buries the outdated no‐ operations. tion that there was such a thing as a homoge‐ Mazower's leading argument about what neous Nazi racial conception of "Slavs," a view makes the Nazi empire distinct concerns its that remains surprisingly resilient.[2] Perhaps unique application of colonialism's racism and most intriguingly, Mazower places the experience brutality to Europe itself. The traditional imperial of Nazism on a continuum of long-term historical powers, he argues, had limited their colonial ven‐ trends, thereby connecting the Third Reich to Otto tures to overseas places and peoples. Additional von Bismarck's Kaiserreich and to the post-World factors that set the Nazis apart included the un‐ War II Federal Republic. In macro-economic 2 H-Net Reviews terms, Nazism and World War II did not consti‐ graphical landscape; instead, he documents in tute a historical break so much as an accelerator narrative form Nazi Germany at war. For these of developments that would eventually shape the reasons, many readers will fnd the book most postwar European order: cooperation in the coal suitable as a reference work. Teachers and under‐ and steel industries across international borders; graduates may appreciate Evans's concise and the German economy's dependence on foreign la‐ highly readable synopses of specific topics, such bor; and the westward orientation of ordinary as the T-4 "Euthanasia" campaign (which includes Germans versus their disinterest in "the East." a useful map) or Albert Speer's rationalization of Some of the players who operated behind the the Reich's war economy. Although the book's scenes to help realize the European Economic sheer length and "Germanic" comprehensiveness Community in the 1950s had previously served make it anything but a quick read, and the read‐ the Nazis in various administrative posts or er's attention at times inevitably wavers, Evans wartime planning circles. provides plenty of "wake-up" moments. Some ren‐ In contrast to Mazower's wide historical lens, ditions of the violence and moral depravity mak‐ Richard Evans's The Third Reich at War, the last ing up the Holocaust, a subject so seemingly fa‐ in a three-volume comprehensive history of miliar, carry an almost unexpected gut-wrenching Hitler's Germany under the Nazis, aims for force. The sophisticated way he outlines the inter‐ greater depth within a chronologically and con‐ play between the prosecution of the war and the ceptually more limited scope.[3] Focused on giv‐ evolution of anti-Jewish policies, particularly in ing a thorough, almost encyclopedic representa‐ chapter 3, is another real strength. tion of Germany's--and Germans'--experiences Critical notes include the author's many un‐ during the years 1939-45, Evans does not consider usual translation choices, which draw undue at‐ the continuities of German and European history tention to themselves. There may be a defensible before or after the Nazi era to the same extent as intellectual decision behind eschewing "der Mazower. A social historian by training, he uses Führer" and instead using "the leader." But why, statistics and fgures extensively, even too exten‐ for example, refer throughout to the well-known sively at times (such as when he catalogues the Nazi press organs as the Stormer and the Racial number of paintings per artist in Hitler's personal Observer, without ever giving their original titles? collection). For the most part, the author inte‐ In the same vein, Evans writes of the Roman Ob‐ grates these fgures into the narrative rather than server and the ill-fated pocket battleship "Count using tables or graphs, and there are a number of Spee." Other curious translations include "racial informative maps. Evans also makes excellent use comrade," "regional leader," and the innocuous- of published memoirs and diaries from a wide sounding "task force" or "task unit." Readers are range of witnesses at many levels of the war expe‐ left to guess that these stand for "Gauleiter," rience, including the Polish doctor Zygmunt "Volksgenosse," and "Einsatzgruppe," respectively. Klukowski; BDM (Bund Deutscher Mädel) func‐ True, even professional translators struggle with tionary Melita Maschmann; a German student, such terms and universally accepted English ver‐ Lore Walb; the German-Jewish academic and sions are not always available; the main problem well-known diarist Viktor Klemperer; Wilm Ho‐ here is Evans's consistent refusal even to mention senfeld, a Wehrmacht officer who rescued Jews; the German originals. and Eastern Front general Gotthard Heinrici. Similarly questionable word choices, or sim‐ Evans is not arguing any particular thesis, nor ply errors, crop up throughout the text. He incor‐ overtly situating his work within the historio‐ rectly gives both the chief of the Army General 3 H-Net Reviews Staff, Franz Halder, and the head of military intel‐ From Racial Theory to Racist Practice," Central ligence, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, a "von" (Evans, European History 32 (1999): 1-33.
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