In perhaps the most thoroughly researched, scrutinizing, and disclosing book yet publishedon the infamous 11 of the Nuremberg Trial, as well as all 23 men who stood accused, authorAndrew Sangster, who has given WWII fans such outstanding biographies on Goring, Goebbels,and Himmler, as well as hitherto rarely explored subjects such as the history of France between1936-46 and European Intelligence Services Before 1936, has excelled all these and others with this totally absorbing one. Andrew sets the scene by explaining the procedures, the legalcontext, and the moments of hypocrisy in the Allies’ prosecution, ignoring the fact that theKatyn Massacre was indeed a horrendous Soviet crime, and overlooking our Allied crimes of
carpet-bombing German civilians.
In addition, this new study utilizes not only the trial manuscripts, but the pre-trialinterrogations. The views of psychiatrists and psychologist, and over-heard conversationsbetween prisoners who never knew their guards understood and spoke German provide us avidreaders with the fullest exploration of the defendants, their state of mind, and their attitudestoward the Third Reich, Hitler, and each other as they faced judgement by the victors of thewar.WWII readers will forever be appreciative of what Andrew has prepared for us and ourpersonal libraries. Furthermore, there is a book that will be forever valued by the recipientupon seeing what it’s all about on Christmas Eve or morning. So apropos is the following lead-infrom his cogent, critical, and brilliant Preface. On 17 January 1946, Francois de Menthon closedthe French case at the trial of the Nazi war criminals with the following address to the Court:“Who can say, ‘I have a clear conscience; I am without fault? To use different weights andmeasures is abhorred by God . . . . If this criminality had been accidental; if Germany had beenforced into war; if war crimes had been committed only in the excitement of combat; we mightquestion ourselves in the light of the Scriptures. But the war was prepared and deliberated longin advance. And, upon the very last day it would have been easy to avoid it without sacrificingany of the legitimate interests of the German people. The atrocities were perpetrated duringthe war, not under the influence of a mad passion nor of a warlike anger, and not of anavenging resentment, but because of cold calculation, of perfectly conscious methods, of a pre-existing doctrine.”Dictators the world over would be wise to consider such a statement lest they, too, face thehangman. As for you, author Andrew Sangster, thanks you for this superlative study of a much
needed, but terribly uncomfortable, study.
