 | Hitler''s Hangman: The Life of Heydrich'' Subjects: Heydrich Reinhard 1904–1942; Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei. Schutzstaffel -- Biography; Nazis -- Biography; Germany -- Politics and government -- 1933–1945; Czechoslovakia -- Politics and government -- 1938–1945; The exploits of an iconic Nazi illuminate the Third Reich's ideology and machinery of mass murder in this probing biography. A hawk-faced Aryan poster boy who fended off false rumors of Jewish ancestry, Reinhard Heydrich oversaw the Gestapo, played a key role in formulating the Final Solution, and organized the Einsatzgruppen death squads that murdered hundreds of thousands of Jews during WWII. Historian Gerwarth reduces this diabolical figure to human terms, painting him as an apolitical man drawn to the SS by careerism and whose Nazi fiancee, Lina, instigated his drift toward the party. Heydrich then embraced SS chief Heinrich Himmler's racial theories and his ethos of ruthless Darwinian struggle against Germany's enemies. The author's fluent, meticulously researched account of Heydrich's career frames a trenchant analysis of the "radicalization" of German anti-Semitic policies; as Heydrich searched fruitlessly for a place to which he could deport the Reich's Jews (none of the satrapies in the Nazi empire wanted to accept them), exclusion and expulsion gave way to systematic extermination almost as a matter of convenience. Gerwarth's fine study shows in chilling detail how genocide emerged from the practicalities of implementing a demented belief system. Photos. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. Robert Gerwarth is a professor of modern history at UCD and director of the Centre for War Studies. He is the author of The Bismarck Myth, The Vanquished: Why the First World War Failed to End, and a biography of Reinhard Heydrich. Robert's work has been translated into thirty languages.Napoleon Ryan is a British actor from London. He began his career on stage, acting in the West End and touring with plays and musicals across Britain, Ireland, and Europe. Napoleon performs on television and in films, and is also known for his work as an audiobook narrator. |
